Page 66 of To Tango, with Desire

Right?

SEVENTEEN

ZANE

“What do you want?”

I tried my best to control my temper, but meeting Kade in a bar at 11 PM was the last thing I needed right now. As soon as I sat down beside him, I regretted the decision. The man was swaying in his seat, clearly on his way to getting disgustingly drunk. Again.

I had no time for this shit and certainly no fucking patience for Kade’s erratic behavior.

But try as I might, I couldn’t shrug him off. Amira’s advice had me thinking twice. It was a mistake to be here, but I’d convinced myself that it wouldn’t hurt to hear him out, let him say whatever the fuck was on his mind, and then I would be done with him. I might not ever trust Kade, but at least I could listen.

I sipped at my whiskey and glanced at my phone. What I really wanted to do was call Amira and figure out why she’d been so quiet at dinner last night. She’d been jumpy, fidgety. The total opposite of her usual self. Any time I’d pressed her for answers, she’d clammed up. It wasn’t like her to be so hard to read.

Did she want to back out of the wedding? It was only seven weeks away. Seven weeks of agony, of planning and dating, and then she would be my wife. It would be worth the wait.

Kade ordered another drink. “Just like always, straight to the point. Why don’t we chew the fat a little, Zane? Reminisce about old times?” His eyes were slightly glassy. Was he mixing pills and alcohol again? Christ. I wanted to scream at him but knew it wouldn’t do any good. We’d been down this road before.

“How many have you had?”

“Lighten up, old man. This is, like, only my fourth. I think.”

I found that hard to believe.

“Kade, I have nothing to say to you.”

“So why meet me?”

I wished I’d never made that promise to Omar on his death bed, but I owed Kade’s dad a great deal for saving my mom that day. For giving me a chance at making something of myself. I shuddered at the thought of what my life might have become. Certainly not sipping the finest whiskey and expanding my empire, that was for sure.

“I have my reasons.”

“Look, I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but I have a great investment opportunity for you with an interesting startup. I know you like supporting the underdog, so I figured my old friend, my brother, would want to know.”

“Why me?”

Kade shrugged. “I need something to do with my life, ya know? And I thought you would help.”

“About fucking time you sorted yourself out.”

“I’m willing to leave the past in the past, Zaney boy.”

I laughed. “You’re willing?” I drummed my fingers against the glass. “That’s rich coming from you.”

“I had no control over Chloe’s actions.”

“I don’t want to speak of her. Or about her to you.”

“Look, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, man.”

“Ten years too late. I really don’t want to talk about the past. So either explain this business you got going or fuck off.”

Kade shrugged, then proceeded to do that. The young entrepreneurs he spoke of seemed to have potential. Their business sounded good on paper, but I would have to have my legal team look over it.

“So would you be interested in investing in them?”

“I’ll have to get back to you on that, but it seems like it’s something that’s needed in the market. There’s space for this to grow, and I might be interested in being a part of that.”