Page 35 of Level With Me
My stomach dropped. I’d forgotten he was there. I only vaguely remembered the event, if I was being honest. I’d stopped myself from getting fully forgetful drunk, but it was all extremely hazy.
Eli’s brows furrowed now. “You guys had separate hotel rooms.”
Were his words slurring or my hearing going fuzzy with the whiskey?
“I remember thinking you were either really weird or really rich.”
“Both,” I said. “I was weird, Lila was rich.”
“Blake,” Lila said under her breath, even as Jude laughed.
“See, this is the kind of candid conversation I was talking about,” Jude said, leaning back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head. It wasn’t the kind of conversation any of us had been anticipating, I’d say that much. Least of all me. Our client dinners were usually friendly and sometimes a little tipsy, but we usually tried to veer away from any bad blood topics.
But tonight, it felt liberating not to care.
“Lila’s parents are traditional,” I said. “They wanted us in separate rooms until… you know. After.”
Why the hell did I look at Cassandra when I said that? It was like I wanted to tell her we never consummated the wedding. I think I wanted her to know because I understood then why she was still so stiff around me. Even with that contract, she didn’t quite buy our arrangement. This dinner was a terrible idea. This project was a terrible idea. I took another swig of my drink. Her eyes met mine but didn’t stay.
A man had lied to her before, I realized. And she thought I was a liar too.
“Damn,” Jude said. “Well, Eli’s wedding was nice.” He’d either not picked up on the tension or was possibly enjoying it.
Eli lowered his drink onto the table. “What the hell is your problem, Jude?”
“What? It was.”
“I’m divorced. My wife fucking left me.”
“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t a nice wedding.”
I couldn’t tell if Jude was playing innocent or if he meant what he’d said. Either way, the tension had suddenly ratcheted up, and I suspected it was somehow my fault, for not giving a pat answer. I felt my phone buzz in my suit jacket pocket, but I ignored it.
“It was nice, actually,” Cassandra said, intervening. “As far as weddings go. On a lake… what was it, Diamond? Ruby?”
“Emerald Lake,” Eli said. He threw back the last bit of his drink.
Reese came back to take our orders. I think the whole table—save Jude—collectively held our breath while Eli ordered his food, letting it out when she left the table without incident.
But immediately after he’d ordered, Eli got up and went back to the bar.
“Should we stop him?” Chelsea asked.
Cassandra shook her head. “He’s a grown man.”
The words might not be kind, but I didn’t miss the concern in her expression. That specific look you gave when you knew someone was hurting themselves, but you couldn’t properly stop it.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said.
“Blake—” Lila began.
But Cassandra looked grateful. “That’s probably a good thing, actually.” She turned to Lila. “If you don’t mind, Lila. Eli just needs an ear when he gets like this.
“Where’s Griff when we need him?” Chelsea asked.
Her sister shrugged.
Lila gave me a smile as I stood, but I could tell she was upset. I’d smooth that out later. Maybe. Even though my urge had been to make Cassandra feel better, I was feeling a bit nihilistic.
