Page 28 of Sensuous

“No, I don’t have to hang out with her. That’s not it. While you and Tim were talking, I walked over to say hi to Sadie. I got to hear Kat give her real opinion about me.”

The light turns green, and he presses his foot to the gas pedal, pushing me back in the passenger seat. “So? What the hell do you care what she thinks of you?”

“I don’t. Well, I shouldn’t. I guess hearing that I’m the world’s biggest dick and she’s sure everyone I work with hates me because my father and uncle own the restaurant I work at wasn’t exactly what I needed to hear tonight.”

“That’s what she said? Damn, she is a royal bitch.”

“She said a bunch more, but that was the main gist of it. That I got my job as head chef at CK because my family owns the place and everyone there hates me.”

A slow smile lifts the corners of his mouth as he takes a corner almost on two wheels. “Oh, so she brought out the nepotism business. Harsh.”

“Yeah, fucking harsh, but why do you look like you’re enjoying this?”

Cade shrugs as if my bruised ego means nothing to him. “I’m not. It’s just that she’s not really far off the mark. Your father and Kane weren’t exactly going to let you go work at another restaurant when you graduated from culinary school. Not that I have any issues with nepotism. I’m not exactly suffering from it either. Now that I’ve accepted that Club X is where I’m meant to be, I’m planning on keeping it once my father decides it’s time to pack it in and hang out at the pool working on his tan all day.”

Nice. My best friend thinks I only got my job because of my last name.

“For your information, let me remind you that I didn’t start out at CK as head chef. Nepotism might be part of it, but remember how I was a sous chef when I first started working at the restaurant? Stop acting like I walked through the door andhad the deed to the goddamned place handed to me, for Christ’s sake.”

“Touchy. Okay, fine. You had to work your way up, and I admit you did work your ass off to get where you are,” he says like he’s trying to make it up to me.

“I still do. Find me another head chef of any restaurant who peels goddamned vegetables and covers shifts for his coworkers. I care about that fucking business, and not just because it’s going to be mine someday when my father and Kane go the way of your father and hang out poolside all fucking day. I work my balls off to make great food because I care that CK is the best restaurant in town. So fuck you and anyone else who thinks my life is easy street because I have the same name as one of the goddamned owners!”

Cade pulls into a parking space in front of a bar we haven’t been to since he got together with Hailey. After turning off the engine, he looks over at me and grins. “She really got under your skin, didn’t she?”

“I was saying that to you, not her. Maybe you got under my fucking skin. Ever think of that?”

“We’ve known each other all our lives, Alex. I always get under your skin. This is different, though. She got to you. I’m asking why, though.”

My level of interest in talking about Kat tonight is practically non-existent, and that includes with my best friend. Ignoring his question, I open the car door and get out, desperate to find some fun in this night to make me forget the misery that woman has caused me.

My cousin runs up behind me just as we reach the door to The Pretty Dollhouse. A former strip club back in the eighties, the owners decided to keep the name when they reopened the place a few years ago. This was one of the first bars Cade and I came to when we turned twenty-one and is always a good time.

“You didn’t answer my question. Why do you give a flying damn what some woman thinks of you? The day she gave you a hard time you slept with two women. You live your life exactly the way you want to. No one tells you what to do. So who gives a fuck about this Kat person?”

I stop right before we walk in and turn to face him. “I don’t care what the hell she thinks about me. What I care about is hearing that I’m nothing but some spoiled fuck who got where he is because of his last name.”

“You know that isn’t how it happened, so forget her. Let’s go in and have a few drinks. You can look for tonight’s lucky lady too.”

Now that’s what I’m talking about. A woman in my bed is the perfect remedy for what ails me.

Or maybe tonight will be another twofer. I’m up for that.

An hour later, Cade is having the time of his life drinking and talking to old friends he hasn’t seen in way too long. I, on the other hand, can’t seem to shake off my feeling of disgust from Kat’s attack. Even the beautiful woman standing next to me trying to get a conversation started isn’t doing it.

Fucking woman! She thinks she hates me. She has no idea how much I hate her at this second.

“So what do you do, Alex?”

I paste a smile on my face and answer the woman whose name I think is Carrie. Or maybe it’s Shari. I wasn’t listening closely enough to catch it when she first told me it.

“That sounds really interesting. I never think about the people behind the food I eat in restaurants. Did you go to culinary school?"

“Yeah, and then I worked my way up from being no one on the line to being head chef.”

That comes out far more aggressive than I intended, and I see Carrie or Shari lean back away from me. Now I’m offending perfect strangers who actually want to like me.

“Sorry. I’m having a bad night. It was nice talking to you. Have a good night, okay?”

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