Only one clue is solved on this one. It’s a five-letter word for fun. Written in bold black ink is my name. BELLA.
That’s not the right answer. I’m more than just fun, but maybe that’s all I am to Barrett. Maybe that’s all I’ll ever be.
Chapter 45
Barrett
“Dinner and a movie?” Dylan claps a hand in the center of my back. “I’m flattered, but you won’t get to first base with me. Eden can set you up with someone. She’s got a friend in her office. You’ll be rounding third base by midnight if my fiancée makes the call right now.”
“What?” I motion for him to step into my apartment. “How the hell would you know how far a woman is willing to go on the first date? You’re engaged, Colt.”
“Eden’s a gossip. I get the goods on everyone she works with.”
“I’m glad I’m not a prosecuting attorney working in the office next to her.”
“You and me both,” Dylan laughs. “You said dinner and a movie. I don’t see food and the television is off.”
“I have some leftover pizza in the fridge.” I jerk a thumb over my shoulder toward the kitchen. “There’s beer too.”
“That covers the grub.” He takes off in search of the days-old pizza. “What about the entertainment?”
I debated this all day. After seeing my dad, I needed a neutral ear to listen to me talk. Dylan’s the guy who fits that bill. The problem is I have to confess sins from the past that he knows nothing about.
He’ll give me hell for keeping things from him, but it’s more than that. I’ve always been the one preaching to him about letting go of the past, but I’ve got a firm grasp on mine.
Shoving both hands in the front pocket of my jeans, I start at the place that makes the most sense to me. “I saw my dad today.”
With a piece of pizza in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other, Dylan approaches. “Where? In the newspaper? Who even reads those anymore?”
“My office.”
His chewing slows. He swallows hard. “You’re bullshitting me.”
I move past him to take a seat on a chair. “I swear he was in my office. Showed up out of nowhere.”
With a thud, he drops onto his ass on the couch. “Jesus. If you’re going to ride this penthouse thing out, you need a new couch. Do it for me. This is hard as a bag of rocks.”
I huff out a laugh. “I’ll work on that.”
He places the bottle of beer on the table. “What did old Adler want?”
The only thing Dylan knows about what happened when I was fifteen in New York is that it set me on a month-long weed and beer bender.
It was the middle of summer, so I hung out at his place. He tried to pry the details about what happened out of me, but I always read from the same script. I told him I was drunk and that my dad caught me with a beer and sent me back to Chicago on the first available flight.
I was sent back on the first flight, but the damage I’d done far surpassed a few too many beers.
“Remember that summer when we were fifteen?”
He shoots me a look. “We smoked too much weed and plotted out the next big video game that would take the world by storm. That was supposed to be our ticket to fame and fortune.”
Smiling, I nod. “That’s the summer.”
“He sent you back to Chicago three weeks early.” He takes a pull from the bottle of beer. “Did he finally decide to apologize for being a dick?”
Sucking in a breath, I steady myself. “Is was more than beer that got me kicked back to Chicago.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he leans back on the couch. “It was Bizzy. The accident.”