“Whinier? Is that even a word, Mr. 3.9 GPA?”
“Actually, it’s Mr. 4.0 now, but I’ll let that slide. Where is your boy anyway?”
“Not sure.”
“Not sure because you haven’t talked to him today or…”
“Because I haven’t talked to him since my birthday.”
“That was almost a week ago.”
“Yeah…”
“Care to elaborate for the people just tuning in to the soap opera that is your relationship?”
“We kind of had an argument.”
He gasped, placing his hand on his chest in a dramatic gesture. “Mom and Dad are fighting?”
“Shut up.”
“So what happened?”
“I’m not really sure where to start.”
“The beginning usually works.”
“Well, it started with him—”
“Hold that thought.”
The waitress came back with our shots, but first, she put a napkin with her phone number down on the table. “I’m off at midnight.”
“I can get you off by one.” He winked.
Ugh. Gross.
She pushed her tits into his arm and whispered something I couldn’t hear in his ear. Although, if the abrupt expression on Cain’s face was any indication, whatever she said pleased him.
I grabbed my phone while they continued on, checking if Leo had texted me, but nope.
He was as stubborn as a bull.
“Carry on, Mi, you were saying?”
I gazed up at him, setting my phone back onto the table. The waitress was gone.
“What was that about?”
“Her name is Veronica and she wants me to spank her puss—”
I put my hand up in the air. “Never mind.”
“You asked.”
“I can now see the error of my ways.”
“Stop stalling. What happened between you and Leo?”
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed one of the shots and took it down in one swig. At the last second, I decided to drink the other one as well.
“Damn. That bad? You didn’t even do the salt and lime.”
“I’m a professional. I don’t need the salt and lime.”
“But I thought you could lick salt off my hand and suck the lime out of my mouth.”
I laughed, throwing my head back. “You’re horrible.”
“I’ve been called worse. How much longer are you going to keep me in suspense? I’m losing wood here.”
“Fine. He took me hiking on my birthday and we ended up getting into a fight on the bridge.”
“About what?”
“The future.”
“What about it?”
“I told him that I was applying to out of state grad schools.”
His eyes widened, and he leaned back into his chair. “That must have gone over as about as smooth as sandpaper.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“And you haven’t spoken since?”
“And we haven’t spoken since.”
“I can only imagine how upset Leo must have been about the unexpected news.”
“He wasn’t happy.”
“Can’t blame the guy. He loves it here. He loves it so much he should be the honorary mascot for Monteagle. That’s how much he loves this town.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you planning on moving and starting your catamaran business?”
“I am.”
“Really?”
“I already put my down payment on my boat. It needs a little bit of TLC, but nothing I can’t handle. I’m going to live on it while I rub her down to get her nice and ready for the adventures we’re going to take.”
“You can get your hands dirty too?”
“Have you seen some of the women I’ve fucked?”
“And we’re back to that. We didn’t talk about your sex life for at least a whole minute. I think that might be our new record.”
He nodded at me. “What states are you applying to grad school?”
“All over. No particular location has a preference over another. How about you? Where are you planning on moving?”
“Virgin Islands, baby. St. Thomas to be exact.”
I beamed. “Some of my best memories come from that island.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. We used to go every summer. My dad is a rancher through and through, but my mom’s heart is with the ocean. She grew up in Florida. Met my dad on spring break during her junior year of college. He was visiting St. Petersburg Beach with his fraternity brothers and they fell in love at first sight.”
“Is that the story she told you?”
“You make it sound like it’s a lie.”
“More like a fairytale, but I know how you ladies are about the white carriages and happily ever after’s. Did she tell you your old man was her first too?”
“Dude, are you always this cynical?”
“I like to think of myself as a realist. Love is an illusion. It’s propaganda. Especially the Disney movies you girls grow up watching. The prince charming bullshit. It’s thrown into your faces before you even know how to think for yourself.”
“Wow. Who did a number on you, Cain?”
He didn’t hesitate in replying, “My parents.”
Chapter 13
—Mila—
I swallowed hard, not knowing how to respond to him. Although, I didn’t have to wonder for very long.
He swiftly changed the subject as if this conversation didn’t faze him like it did me. “You should come with me.”
“Excuse me? What?”
“Hear me out. You don’t know what state you want to attend grad school, and quite frankly the expression on your face when you were talking about schools didn’t make my cock twitch by any means. But when I mention St. Thomas, you lit up like a fucking Christmas tree.”