Page 7 of Confusing Cade

“I don’t feel the same about you.” I stepped backward and gripped the auction table.

“Wow.” He angled his head. “That’s direct.”

“Why wouldn’t it be, considering the last time I saw you?” I winced at the memory.My father’s funeral.

Cade had the temerity—no, thecruelty—to show up at St. Clement’s for the service. He sat in the back, but it didn’t matter. I’d seen him. I’d known he was there.

How dare he.

“I’d tell you to leave, but it’s not my party,” I said as the band roared to life near the edge of the pool deck, launching into a medley of Steely Dan songs. “Still, as it is—”

“Just tell me one thing,” Cade said, his voice louder as he competed with the music. “One thing, then I’ll leave you alone.”

I gulped.Given who he is, that could be anything.“Fine. I’ll play your game.”

He stepped closer, and I instinctively pressed against the edge of the table, the metal digging into my thighs through my dress. I smelled his cologne, a mix of sandalwood, pine, and vanilla that wafted to my nostrils and threatened to stir something primal inside me. A decade later, and it didn’t matter. Cade Weston had been handsome then, and he was still that way now, sharpened by the passage of time but not dominated by it. And there was no mistaking that, even as every cell in my body sprang to attention, I was ready to battle with the man I blamed for so much.

He studied my face for a long time. “How’d you come up with a name?”

I squared my shoulders. “What name?”

He leaned all the way in, his lips brushing my blown-out hair, and I knew he wanted to make sure I heard the next part. “For the FanZone account? How did you come up with@marie0505?”

Oh, hell no.

I recoiled and pushed off the table, then stepped to the side, my gaze locked on him. We were not doing this. Not here, not now, and not after everything. There was no way. Cade Weston had no right to ask that question, and there was no way I was going to give him an answer.

“Fuck you,” I said instead. “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.”

Then, I pushed past him and disappeared into the thick crowd.

CHAPTER FOUR

CADE

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

Tell me how you really feel, Bella.

Not that I didn’t deserve the sentiment. Asking Bella why she chose the handle she did was far from my best line.

In fact, it wasn’t a line at all. It was just... just something I had to know. I had to understand. Something that had needled me for months and something I figured I’d never learn the answer to. Even with my all-access membership, I never intended to message Bella or contact her.

But I did look at her posts.