Page 48 of Captivating Mr. Second Chance

“Madison,” Kayla hissed under her breath as Dean held up his hand.

“Hey, whoa, we’re all friends here, right? My sister’s just helping him out.”

“Right,” Madison sneered at Laney. “Same game, different decade.” She tugged on Kayla’s arm. “Come on, I need to go call my husband. Check in on him.” She backed up a step but made sure to toss one last grenade over her shoulder. “He’s traveling for work for the next two weeks. To Sydney, Australia. Isn’t that funny, Laney?”

Kayla smiled apologetically, but Laney only shook her head and plopped down on the seat Dean vacated.

“What was all that about?” he asked, eyeing her over the rim of his pint glass.

Laney flitted her hand in the air. “Nothing.”

“What did she mean about sliding right back in with Ethan?”

“You know how she was. Always jealous,” she said, skipping over the part about how Madison had a right to be jealous when they were in school. Even though Ethan and Laney didn’t do anything while he was with Madison, it wasn’t as if the way they’d flirted was completely appropriate. Or the few close calls of kisses when they’d sat at her kitchen table as he helped her with math homework.

Madison had never liked Laney. Liked her even less when she’d started going out with Ethan.

“But what’s up her ass now?”

“I don’t know, Dean,” Laney said then downed her wine. “I’m the fallen prom queen. It probably delights her that I had to come crawling back home.”

He blew out an agitated breath. “That’s horseshit. You didn’t come crawling back home.” He smirked at her. “You flew on a plane.”

“You should do stand-up.”

“Maybe.” He lifted a shoulder as his eyes snagged on something beyond Laney. “There he is!”

“Hey,” Ethan said, setting his hand on the back of her chair.

She skipped the pleasantries. “Where’ve you been? You left me to circulate by myself.”

He held his hand out to Dean. “You weren’t alone.”

Laney gave Ethan a bland look, and his gaze roved over her, stumbling on her lips. “Mr. Kinney’s here, so I was talking to him for a while. He wrote me a big check.” He unfolded said check in front of Laney’s eyes.

“Five thousand!”

He nodded, smiling.

“Oh my god.” She took it from him. “How’d that happen?”

“We’ve kept in touch over the years.” Ethan lifted his hand to the bartender for a beer. “He basically got me into Princeton, and I had him read over my grad school thesis.”

“But he gave you five grand?” Dean asked, tugging at the collar of his shirt before leaning against the bar. It didn’t escape Laney’s notice how he tipped his chin toward a woman in the corner, giving her his best crooked smile.

“He won some money in the lottery a few years ago,” Ethan explained. “Put some of it away in stocks, and he’s living the high life now.” He took the check back from Laney, his index finger brushing over hers, and stuffed it back into his pocket. “Kinney’s a good guy. He deserves it.”

Dean stood up, his attention still on the corner of the bar. “All right, you guys good?” He didn’t wait for their answer. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Once he walked away, Ethan took his place, standing next to Laney, his arm along the back of her chair, his fingers brushing the ends of her hair. “How’d you do?”

“Nothing concrete yet. Besides the judgy eyes.”

“Judgy eyes? From who?”

“Madison.”

He shifted, covertly peering over his shoulder, probably for her. “I think you’re imagining that.”

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