Between Us

Chapter 30

A/N: an extremely short chapter, sorry!

***

What on Earth was he doing here? How did he know Paris? The girl standing next to him was beautiful with skin the colour of warm amber framing a square face. Her honey-brown hair was thin but stopped near her belly and she had such long legs that she could put a supermodel to shame.

And as if on cue, Caden let go of my hand.

His expression was unreadable but he was staring straight at the both of them. Something told me that he knew them. Why else would he react as he had just now? Paris turned to us then, and her smile wavered, for just a little bit. She was the only person who would know what Caden was thinking right now and I so badly wanted to ask her.

Before I could even open my mouth, Caden strode over. I followed like a confused puppy. "What the fuck are they doing here?" he asked Paris with so much venom that I nearly took a cautious step back. If I were these two, I'd run for the hills.

"Paris invited me," the woman said, not taking her eyes off of him.

Leo didn't pay attention to either of them. "Like we said before—what a small world," he said to me.

"Leo..." I trailed off at the sharp look Caden shot me.

"You know him," he deadpanned, but beneath the calmness was something lurking and I didn't know if I wanted to poke at it.

"Yeah...um, we met at the mall. He was the guy whose number I asked for at the mall. And the pick was from his store, too." The dark distaste that flashed briefly across his face told me he wasn't too happy about it.

Clearly they had bad blood.

"And yet you forgot to text me again when we met the second time," Leo piped in. "I'm starting to think that's a sign that you don't wanna talk to me."

"No, I do!" I blurted. "I haven't had the time."

"Excuses, excuses." The light in his eyes told me he was joking—obviously.

A clear of a throat made me turn. Paris was scratching her head in exaggeration. That was when I noticed Caden. He was looking straight at me. His features were vacant but his fists were clenched by his side.

Oops.

Paris tugged on his arm. "Listen—"

"Can I speak to you, Caden?" asked the pretty woman. She hadn't even acknowledged me. Her whole attention was on Caden. His shoulders relaxed a little, although they did stiffen up when she reached for his hand. He didn't say anything as she took him away.

"What just happened?" I put the question into the air.

"Yeah, uh, we all have a bit of history," Leo said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

I turned to Paris who put her hands up. "Don't look at me! I didn't go to his other high school." Other high school? Wait, so he had moved?

"So you don't know?" Leo peered at me.

What didn't I know? What was going on?

***

After that, I didn't see Caden or the girl whose name was apparently Leilani. That made me think back to the girl in the sundress at the mall who mentioned that name. Surely it wasn't a coincidence especially since this town was so small.

I did stop Paris before she went back into the club to get more details—to ask about how she knew them, but she'd said she only ever spoke to Leo once before and didn't know him or Leilani all that well but wanted more people to party with.

And that was how Leo and I decided to cut the night short and hang out at a quiet Italian restaurant.

More than food, I wanted answers.

"How do you know Caden?" I asked almost as soon as we sat down. "What do you mean by you all have a history?"

"Wow, the lady knows what she wants."

"The lady is confused."

He chuckled before it faded away a little. He leaned forward, draping his arms across the black-clothed table. "Caden moved to our school for senior year from a different school. I don't know why but that's how he met us." The other school must have been the one he was bullied at. Did he move schools after he changed everything around for himself? "Me and Caden hit it off almost instantly. It didn't last for long. We were both into Leilani, but...she chose me over him. Now she's my ex."

That was a lot to take in.

"Why is she here with you, then?"

"That was a coincidence. I ended up coming later than Paris asked me to and Leilani was standing outside by herself." He shrugged.

Oh. "How do you know Paris if she didn't go to the same school?"

"What is this, twenty questions?" he joked.

"Leo, please."

He sighed. "We'd seen her outside of school. Her and Caden are good friends."

I sighed. Here I was, so happy thinking that I knew so much about Caden. But the reality was that I knew nothing about him at all. Two strangers literally came out of nowhere but they had everything to do with his life. With his past.

He never once spoke to me about it. He didn't have to, I knew that, but I thought we were more than strangers now.

But I guess maybe not.