“It sounds crazy?” he asked, shaking his head. “I don’t need to calm down. I need to talk to my brother.”
“Patton—”
“Give me a minute,” he bit out. The truck fell quiet while he processed this new information. Did Zach know about this? Or the DWI? “What about the DWI?” he asked.
Cady turned in her seat. “How did you know about that? Oh, you...you did a background check on her?” Her voice was high and pinched. “Did Zach ask you to check up on her? Or did you take this on yourself?” She waited, but he didn’t say a thing. “How is that fair? We all have mistakes in our past, Patton. But not all of us have the resources to track it all down like you do.”
He wasn’t about to apologize for protecting his family. “I’m guessing the DWI is why Bianca doesn’t drink?”
But Cady wasn’t talking. And when he looked over at her, she was staring out the window—her arms crossed over her chest, red faced and breathing hard.
“You can be pissed at me, Cady, I get it. But you need to understand this isn’t about attacking Bianca. I’m trying to stop this wedding, remember? The wedding we both disapprove of.” He breathed deeply, his stomach churning. “Does Zach know this? About the DWI? And the engagements?”
“How can you say you’re not attacking Bianca? You want to use her past to make her...her unfit to marry your brother.” She shook her head, ignoring his questions. “Did he ask you to run the background check?”
“What does it matter, Cady? It’s done.” He shook his head. “Clearly, they don’t know each other. They sure as hell shouldn’t be getting married.”
“And the best way to stop them is tear Bianca apart? It will destroy her, Patton. No matter what you think of her, she’s a good person. Surely you can see that?” Her brown eyes were fixed on him, demanding some sort of concession. “She’s been through so much—”
“We’re talking about facts, Cady.” He swallowed back the regret.
Cady’s stare was hard, unblinking and cold. “Guess the cake and the stripper are overkill at this point, huh?”
“Cady...” But what could he say.
“What was I thinking? What were we doing?” She shook her head. “I’m such an idiot.”
He heard the frustration in her voice and it tore at his chest. He was tempted to drive past Bianca’s shop, to try to talk through things. But there was nothing to say. As much as he cared about Cady, he had an obligation to his brother—his family.
He pulled into the parking lot of Bianca’s Jardin and turned off the truck.
“Do me one favor,” her voice was soft, thick.
He didn’t look at her. “What?”
“Don’t do this publicly,” she pleaded. “You don’t know what she’s been through. What her family has been through.”
He glanced at her then, still reeling from everything he’d learned. “Cady, this is always what we’d planned on doing.”
She shook her head. “Not like this.” Her eyes were huge in her pale face.
“You really thought a cake mix-up and an ex-girlfriend would be enough?” he asked.
Her anger roared to life. “I don’t know what I thought, Patton. I don’t have a vast experience with this sort of thing. Yes, I wanted to stop this—to prevent them from getting hurt. But you’re using information that’s private. Damn you, Patton, you’re making me betray Bianca.”
“I’m making sure my brother knows the truth about the woman he’s engaged to.” He slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “Facts that my brother needs to know.”
“Was this your plan all along?” She choked out the words. “Get to know the best friend. Soften me up. Charm me into bed. Make me fall for you. So you can get all the inside trash on Bianca?”
The ground seemed to fall away beneath him. His lungs emptied, and his heart shuddered to a stop. He stared at her. Make me fall for you. Her words sliced through his heart, making him realize he’d just lost everything he wanted. Cady. Loving him.
“Well, here’s another fact for you. You are an asshole,” she snapped, pushing out of his truck and into the shop before he could put together a rational response.
He stared after her, his heart thumping and his chest aching heavily. What was he supposed to do now? Ten seconds ago, it had been crystal clear. Now he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t want to lose Cady... He swallowed, staring blindly through the windshield.
But he couldn’t keep this from Zach. Bianca was making life choices on the opinion of her grandmother and the old woman’s dreams—hardly a solid foundation for a long-term commitment. Marriage to someone with commitment issues, regardless of the circumstances, was a bad idea. He ran a hand over his face. What the hell would happen when the old woman dreamed Zach was no good? Would Bianca dump him? His brain was working overtime when Zach came striding out of the flower shop, heading straight to Patton’s window.
He glanced at Patton through the glass, his face lined with concern. Patton rolled down the window. “Hey.”