I sat down next to her, and Anna placed a cup of coffee in front of me.
“I’m sorry for all those things I said to Cade last night,” I said to Abby.
“You know, I think I saw some pretty cool decorations in the storage locker outside,” Anna said to Mirabella and Cherry. It was an obvious attempt to give Abby and me some privacy.
“Let’s go check them out,” Mirabella replied.
But Cherry didn’t catch on. “Really, I was in there the other day and I didn’t see—” She stopped when Anna kicked her chair, and then slowly nodded. “Of course, we should go and have a look.”
Once they were gone, Abby looked at me.
She was pissed.
“You’ve changed,” she said. “And not in a good way.”
“Abby, I’m sorry—”
“It’s bad enough that you just left. Just turned your back on all of us. But then to come back here and treat us all like we’re trash? Who the fuck are you?”
“Good question.” I raked my hands down my face and sighed. “I thought I knew the answer to that very question. But I’m more confused now than ever.” I shook my head as if I could somehow shake my confusion free. “I’m sorry. I made a complete fool of myself and I said a lot of things I didn’t mean.”
“What Cade did to you was shit. And you’ve gotta believe how much shit we gave him for what he did. We gave him hell. We were your best friends and he hurt you, so we rallied around you. But you weren’t here and you wouldn’t answer our phone calls or our messages.” Her eyes welled with tears. “Isaac loved you. I loved you. We were here to help you through it, but you just turned your back on us. It fucking hurt. It fucking hurt like hell.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered feeling lousy. I remembered all the text messages from Abby and Isaac and how I had ignored them. Not because I wanted to but because it hurt. They were a direct vein to Cade, and he was my kryptonite.
“Good. If you’re really sorry, you’ll go and sort things out with Cade. Until then, you and me don’t have anything to say to one another.” Her ice-blue eyes found mine and I could see the pain on her face. “What happened between you and Cade affected more than just the two of you. Isaac may have forgiven you, but I’m still a little pissed. I’m still trying to work out why I was so easily cast aside. So, go and sort it out. Then maybe you and I can talk.”
My heart sank but I nodded. “Fair enough.”
“And go home.” She stood up. “You look like hell.”
INDY
Now
I decided to take Abby’s advice and go home, have a second shower, and pull my shit together. When I was feeling more human, I would find Cade and apologize for my behavior. I would be honest with him and let him know how mind fucked I felt.
But I needed another cup of coffee, and some greasy food before I faced him.
Unfortunately, fate had other ideas. As I was leaving, I ran straight into him walking out of his room.
We paused a safe distance from each other.
“Nice shirt,” he said, his eyes sweeping up and down the length of me.
I had forgotten I was wearing one of his t-shirts.
Feeling embarrassed, I clutched my bundle of clothes tighter to me, painfully aware of how short the tee was.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said, awkwardly.
He leaned against the doorway and folded his arms across his chest. “Seemed to me you had an awful lot to say last night.”
I tried to swallow the knot of shame in my throat. I hated being wrong. But worse, I hated being an ass. And something told me Cade wasn’t going to let me off easily.
“I’m so sorry, Cade. I was such an ass.”
“Yeah, you were.”
“Clearly I’m not a good drunk. I didn’t mean what I said.”
“Which part? Where you accused me of cheating on my non-existent girlfriend or when you called me a slut?”
I cringed.
I hated that word.
“Or do you mean when you called everyone here a bunch of backwater hillbillies on Harleys?” He continued. “Or that memorable moment when you told me I meant nothing to you right before you puked all over my boots?”
My cheeks burned with embarrassment. Boy, when I messed up, I made sure I did it in spectacular form.
Christ, I was such an asshole.
“All of it,” I said, shifting uneasily on my bare feet. “I can’t apologize enough . . . to you, the girls, the club. I was being an ass—”
“Ride with me,” he said suddenly.
“Excuse me?”
“You want me to accept your apology? Come ride with me.”
It was natural for me to want to argue with him, but I thought better of it and relaxed.