Tied Together (The Cade Siblings Duology #1)

8. Alana

CHAPTER 8

Alana

Brad walks in and passes the hostess stand, motioning to the bar to let her know he will be sitting there. He doesn’t smile at her or tell her hello. He doesn’t even speak words to her, just walks past like she doesn’t even exist and he owns the place.

I know my brother is in the restroom, but we need to make a run for it. This restaurant is not big and it’s only a matter of time before he notices us.

“Cam, do not turn around,” I whisper under my breath. “Brad just walked in.”

What does she do?

She turns around. And lets out the loudest gasp ever.

“Cam,” I groan in frustration.

“Sorry, I was just so sure you were joking.”

“Why would I joke about something like that?”

I get James’s attention and he comes right over.

I reach up and pull at the collar on his uniform shirt, bringing his ear down to my mouth.

“Listen,” I whisper. “You know that guy over there, the blond in the too tight suit?”

“I know the one.”

“I need you to make this the worst experience he has ever had at a bar so he never comes back. If Angel has a problem with it, tell him to come talk to me.”

Angel owns and operates the restaurant and he loves us. I know that if he knew the situation, he would fully support our alienation of this particular patron.

“And I also need you to box up our food and bring it to us to go.”

“Woah,” he says as he leans back away from my face. “What did that guy do to earn the poor customer service treatment and run you out of your booth?”

“He is a sorry excuse for a man. That should be all the motivation you need to help us out here,” Cami whispers through her teeth.

He must see the stress on my face, because he nods stiffly and turns to get to work. I notice him speaking to the bartenders on shift tonight and subtly pointing my ex out.

None of them go over to speak to him, instead jumping around him to serve every other person at the bar.

“Good plan,” Cami says while gulping down her margarita. “Get him to never come back and also hustle out of here so he doesn’t see us. You have to chug your margarita now, though.”

“There are worse things in the world.”

I pick up my glass, remove the straw and suck it down.

I pull my phone out and shoot Charlie a text, telling him we have to leave but leaving out the reason why. He hates Brad and if he knew he was here he would come rushing out of the bathroom ready to throw down. I’m hoping he might make it out without even noticing Brad’s presence and we can just tell him Cami has a stomachache or something.

James brings over the food and tells us it’s on the house.

We stand and begin to make our way out of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the only path to the door is behind the bar. This means I have to walk directly behind Brad and pray he doesn’t notice it’s me.

I think I’ve made it. I pass where he’s sitting on the barstool and I let out a breath that gets stuck in my throat as a warm and clammy hand wraps around my wrist.

“Alana?” There he goes using my full name again. “I thought I heard Cami’s laugh. Always hated that laugh.”

I’m pretty sure my best friend curses at him under her breath.

“I’m sorry,” Cami pops her head into his line of sight, blocking his face from me. “Do we know you?”

I wish I could see his reaction to that line, but she’s in the way.

He doesn’t speak for a second, clearly taken aback, but he doesn’t let go of my wrist either.

“Alana, why haven’t you answered my messages?” he asks, like we didn’t break up a full year ago.

“I didn’t particularly want to. Please let go of my hand,” I reply calmly.

He has never been physically aggressive with me. Verbally? That’s another story.

Even so, the contact plus the environment and the fact that he smells like this wasn’t his first drink of the night, is enough to have me on alert.

“Please, can we just talk? I have a lot I need to say to you.”

“I don’t want to talk, and I don’t need to hear your excuses. We broke up a long time ago, let it go.”

“Let it go? You were the love of my life. I could never let it go. I can’t believe you would say that.” He gets louder towards the end of the sentence, his hand tightening around my wrist and making me wince.

We have drawn the attention of the people around us and I can see James out of the corner of my eye starting to walk toward us. I raise my opposite hand up to stop him, not wanting to cause a scene.

“Brad, you’re hurting me. Please let go,” I say in an even tone.

He looks down and drops my hand like a hot iron, almost seeming like he didn’t even realize he had tightened his grip.

“I’m sorry. Shit.” He runs his hands through his hair.

Now that I am looking up close, he really looks like he is having a rough go of it. His eyes are sunken in, purple and blue underneath, and his hair is dirty and in need of a cut. Not that I cared.

“Brad, I am going to say this once and I don’t want to have this conversation again. I have no idea how you can sit there and say that I was the love of your life. You treated me like absolute garbage and said the most disrespectful and hurtful things to me and about me. If that is how you treat someone you love, you need some serious help.”

With that, I turn around and start walking out, only slightly registering the applause that has broken out in that section of the restaurant.

Out on the street I take in a deep breath.

“Babe,” Cami says as she stumbles through the front door. “That was epic.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it epic but…it was something. I honestly just want to put on stretchy pants and watch a trashy reality show.”

A second later, Charlie comes pushing through the front door and meets us on the sidewalk. I can tell from his relaxed posture and confused face that he didn’t see Brad inside.

“Sorry we ran out on you. Brad showed up and I really didn’t want to deal with it,” I tell Charlie.

“Brad Buttehole?” he says with wide eyes, turning his body like he is about to walk back into the restaurant. The first time I told Charlie Brad’s full name, he didn’t stop laughing for a full five minutes. Even though it isn’t pronounced like the word butt, I can see how the similarity is humorous. We joke about it often now.

“No need to go in and defend your sister’s honor. She just gave him quite the verbal beating,” Cami says as she grabs his arm and pulls him back towards us.

I can tell my brother isn’t happy about not confronting my ex, but he nods his head.

“Want to come eat at my place?” I ask them as we start walking down the street towards our apartment building. I hold the bag of takeout containers in front of Charlie’s face to show him we didn’t leave without the food.

“Sure, Lan. I haven’t been over to your place in a while,” Charlie replies.

“Yeah, that’s because we always hang out at your fancy apartment, Mr. Hockey Man,” I say back with a smirk. He rolls his eyes and shoves me playfully.

“I’m down. I need to run to my place and change first, but I’ll come over right after and we can eat.”

Cami and I live in the same apartment building and it’s only a few blocks away from where we work, which is only a few blocks away from the restaurant. It’s pretty great.

“Okay, great. I think we are on the episode where Kristen finally admits to sleeping with Jax.”

Charlie groans at the names I call out, realizing we intend to watch one of our favorite shows. He hates it.

“You’re right, I forgot about that. I’ll hurry, I’m excited.”

“Can’t we watch something we all like? Like, I don’t know anything but Vanderpump Rules ?”

“No,” we reply in unison.

We reach the building, say a quick hello to the doorman, and ride the elevator up to the fifteenth floor. We split directions when we step off, Cami going left and Charlie and I going right.

I unlock the door, drop the to-go containers on the coffee table and walk to my bedroom to change. My apartment is in a really nice building, but the unit itself is pretty small, which is customary for New York City.

It’s roughly 650 square feet and has enough room for a loveseat in the living room and a queen size bed in the bedroom. It’s small, but it feels cozy and I like it.

As I pull my sweatshirt over my head, I hear the front door unlock and open.

“I brought beer!” Cami yells back to me.

“You’re an angel. Will you pull up the episode?” I shout back.

I hear Charlie groan again through my closed door and I snicker to myself. He loves us enough to put up with our reality TV, which means he must love us a lot.

I finish getting dressed, push my feet into my slippers and step out into the living room.

Cami is already bundled up on the couch, Charlie sharing a blanket with her and their dinner in hand. She plated mine for me on a paper plate and has already popped the top of my beer.

Thank God for brothers and best friends.