Distraction (Club Destiny #8)(22)

Bill the car salesman. Yep, Dylan definitely remembered. He also remembered how Sarah had said it wasn’t serious, only to backtrack quickly.

“Sounds like he’s invited her to some fancy party somewhere,” Jake added.

Was it serious?

Did she love this guy?

There were plenty more questions running amuck in his brain, but Dylan held his tongue.

Stop! Just fucking stop!

Despite the annoying voice in his head, Dylan couldn’t let it go.

“Do you know this guy well?” Dylan asked, again trying to keep his tone neutral. Just small talk, nothing more. It wasn’t completely out of left field. Jake was close to his aunt; everyone knew that. She’d practically raised him.

“I’ve talked to him a couple of times,” Jake said cautiously. “I didn’t think it was serious, but…”

Yeah, but she was going away with him.

Jake continued, his brows downturned, “She said somethin’ about not holdin’ back any longer.” Jake glanced around the room, obviously seeing that Nate was gone.

“How did they meet?” Okay, so now he just sounded pathetic, but so fucking what. There was a spark of something darkly possessive that had just taken complete control of him, and Dylan couldn’t stop the questions.

He seriously needed a drink.

“I don’t really know. She doesn’t talk about him much. He works at a car dealership, that’s all she’s ever said.” Jake was now looking at him funny. “Is everything okay?”

Shit no. But he wasn’t about to tell the kid that. “Fine. Just … curious. So, cat sitting? Tomorrow night?”

“Wow, Dylan.” Jake narrowed his eyes at him. “You’ve been out of the game way too long, man. That was in no way subtle.”

No, he didn’t think it was, but fuck. Sarah was going away with a guy. For some strange (and clearly selfish) reason, the idea did not sit well with him.

Not at all.

But his brain was too damn foggy for him to think rationally. Three fucking years, dumb ass. In all that time, he hadn’t made one single attempt to talk to her. Not once. Why should he care where she was going? Or who she was or wasn’t with?

His mind instantly flashed back to that night when he’d gone to her house after he’d been at the cemetery visiting Meghan’s grave. He’d known as soon as he called her that he was making a horrible mistake, but he hadn’t been able to help himself.

Dylan forced himself back to the present when he heard Jake clear his throat. He met the other man’s curious gaze.

“Is there somethin’ goin’ on between you and my aunt?” Jake questioned directly.

Dylan shook his head. “No. Why?”

Jake shrugged. “It’s just…”

“What?”

“It’s just that she was acting kinda funny … when she saw you last weekend.”

Funny how? He wanted to know but didn’t bother to ask.

“Look,” Jake said, hands on his hips. “I don’t wanna overstep, but…”

“She’s your aunt,” Dylan filled in for him. “I get it.”

“She’s more than that,” Jake countered. “She’s the woman who raised me when my own mother wouldn’t stick around.” His eyes dropped to his hands. “I don’t wanna see her hurt.”

By him? Or by Bill? Dylan couldn’t bring himself to voice those questions, either.

“I’ve seen the way she looks at you,” Jake said, his eyes not quite meeting Dylan’s. “So, if there’s somethin’ goin’ on…”

“There’s not,” he assured the kid.

“Just don’t hurt her, okay? These past few years, she’s been different. She’s been through enough.”

They both had, Dylan thought. Instead of arguing, he nodded, understanding Jake’s words as the warning they were meant to be. But now, he couldn’t stop thinking about Sarah, couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible for the two of them…

As he fought back that strange emotion that whirled in his chest, threatening to pull him under, Dylan had to wonder whether Sarah was the reason he needed to keep moving forward.

More importantly, if that was the case, was he finally in a place to tell her that she was?

“One more question…” Dylan had to ask, otherwise he would never know.

Jake cocked an eyebrow.

“I know she moved. What’s her new address?”





chapter SIX

“ARE YOU READY?” BILL ASKED, standing in the doorway of Sarah’s house the following morning, looking at her with so much hope in his eyes.

If she wasn’t mistaken, his eyes were a little puffy and he’d started sneezing the instant he stepped foot in her house. The tissue he kept swiping across his nose wasn’t ramping up his attractiveness, either.

“Do you have … allergies?” she inquired, already knowing the answer.

“Just a little,” he said, sniffing once more. “Nothing serious, though. Probably something in the air.”

Right.

Sarah observed him again, praying he wasn’t having a major allergic reaction to something. He seemed to be playing it off, but he didn’t look as though he was having too much fun at the moment. He looked…