Page 46 of Jake

She looked at him like he lost his mind. “I’m honestly scared of what will happen if we try.”

“You’re probably right.” He sighed, leaning forward to tell his driver where they were headed now. “Tomorrow night, a real date, no interruptions. We will go to dinner and then find something else to do.”

He thought she was going to argue at first but was pleased when she didn’t. He knew she still had some reservations about their relationship, mainly the money. On the one hand, he appreciated that she wasn’t greedy and wanted to spend his money, but on the other, it made some things awkward.

“Yeah, okay,” Lauren answered.

It wasn’t exactly a resounding yes, or excited, but she hadn’t argued, so it was still a win.

They pulled up in front of her building and he stood to help her out of the car, handing over her things. He gave her a small kiss before she walked away and noticed the blush the small amount of PDA had caused. She’d have to get used to it.

He waited until she was in the building before sliding back into the car and heading to Ryker’s. There was no point in going home without her there just to wait a little to leave again.

Ryker’s home, like everything in his life, was dark. He prided himself on being the brooding type. It made most people leave him alone but still attracted the women. It was like he was dark and mysterious, and the women ate it up.

His apartment building was bright and airy downstairs in the lobby. It was only when you entered his apartment that you felt like you were in a basement with how dark it was.

Cade was there already, a beer in his hand, talking to Ryker. Ryker looked relieved when Jake walked in.

“Man, he’s been here for hours. You talk to him,” he said as Jake approached the two men in the living room. He didn’t lower his voice or anything, just pretended Cade wasn’t listening and got up.

“What’s going on?” Jake asked, taking Ryker’s seat.

“I’ve been doing everything right, you know?” Cade said.

Jake nodded. Cade was really torn up and he was starting to feel bad about leaving earlier, instead of staying to help him deal with his father.

“He thinks I’m such a fuckup all the time, like the business would fall apart without him. I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.”

Jake arched a brow at him. “Do what?”

“Run his company, be his lackey. This was supposed to be better than working for him, but he’s still got his hand in so much shit.” Cade downed the rest of his beer and set the empty bottle down on the end table.

“You told him that?”

Cade nodded. “I finally admitted all the bullshit that was getting to me, and he just called me a pussy and told me to man up.”

“What did Catherine say?”

“Oh, that’s even better. She showed up in the middle of it and told Father that if I left then she would to. He practically burst, went off on us both. We left him there, just walked out.”

Jake was stunned. He never expected him to stand up to his father that way, much less for Catherine to join him.

“He’s been calling me nonstop since I left. I’m not answering. Fuck him,” Cade said with a sad sigh.

“Agreed, fuck him, let’s get another beer.”

He sent a quick text to Lauren, letting her know he had found Cade and would make sure he was good. Not waiting for a reply, he slipped the phone into his pocket and followed Cade to Ryker’s kitchen.

Cade handed him a beer and grabbed one for himself. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Cade admitted.

“We are going to go play some pool instead of cards for now and not think about it. Everything can wait and it doesn’t need to be solved tonight.”

Jake clapped his friend on the back and led him down the hall to the open lounge area that Ryker had with a pool table and lots of TVs and was more like a bar than some bars he went to.

Chapter Fifteen

“You have to choose something,” Catherine said, crossed-legged on Lauren’s bed as she debated a dress to wear to dinner.

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