Chapter 89 It looks like he has been waiting for you

Chapter 89 It looks like he has been waiting for you


Lake could not believe Caspian had not figured it out yet. He laid it out in simple terms.

"Look, Madison likes Sebastian. Would not it be good for her to be the one who gets him to forget about Michelle?"

Caspian finally got it, and a small smile touched his mouth. "I thought you had quit on me."

The waiter came back with their drinks and set them down. Lake picked his up.

"I could never do that," he said.

They sat quietly for a bit. But Lake noticed something. After the waiter left, Caspian started drinking like there was no tomorrow. He ordered more bottles, too.

"Caspian, what is going on with you?" Lake asked, his own drink forgotten now. He was worried.

Caspian did not want to talk. This was his own private hell, his own mess to deal with. "It is nothing," he muttered.

Then he seemed to remember something. He pulled out his phone and made a call. "I need everything you can find on a man named Rush Hendrix. I will pay you double."

He was already drunk from drinking so much so fast. He was not in good shape.

Putting the call together with how he was acting, Lake guessed the problem had to do with Rush.

"What did that guy say to you?"

Caspian just shook his head and threw back another full glass. His voice was flat and hollow when he finally spoke, full of a deep regret.

"It is not about him. It is me, Lake. I did all of this. I should have finished things with Sienna for good when I married Elara. I should have paid her to leave me alone."

He drank another glass right after, and Lake understood. All this time, Caspian had been holding all this pain inside, hiding it behind that cold, distant face he showed everyone.

"Do not beat yourself up. It is over now," Lake tried to say, but Caspian would not hear it. He felt like he deserved to feel this awful forever.

"No. You do not know the things I did. The things I did not do. I was never there for her when it mattered. And she was my wife." Saying it out loud broke him. He put his head in his hands and cried, really cried, like a child.

Lake was stunned. He had never seen his best friend like this, not ever. The strong, quiet man he knew was finally showing the broken part underneath.

He felt for him. He put a hand on Caspian’s back, trying to comfort him. He tried to take the glass away, but Caspian grabbed the bottle instead and drank what was left.

"How do I get her back?" Caspian’s words were rough, the alcohol burning its way down. "I do not know how to do any of this. How to win a woman."

Lake frowned at that. What did he mean? He had been with Sienna for years.

"Just do what you used to do for Sienna," he suggested.

But Caspian shook his head. He thought Lake just did not get it.

"I never did anything for Sienna unless she asked. We just... liked each other from the start. Our families knew each other. It was easy."

He picked up the empty bottle and looked for the waiter, but Lake shot him a look that said do not even think about it. He was not about to take Caspian to the hospital tonight.

Some people drank to forget their problems. For Caspian, it just made them bigger.

"I never had to try. But Michelle... she never asked me for a single thing. I do not even know what she likes."

Caspian felt completely worthless. His whole life, he had fought with his brothers for control, but he had never once fought for his own marriage.

Now, he would give it all up if it meant he could have Elara back.

Hearing it all, Lake felt helpless too. He had never been in love, not really.

"Caspian, if you want her, you have a lot of work to do. Let me think about how to help. But first, we need to go home."

He tried to help Caspian stand, but Caspian pushed him away. "I do not want to go there. That is not a home. It is just a house. I lost the way she used to smile at me. I can not even look at her now."

The waitstaff and even the manager were staring, shocked to see a man like Caspian fall apart. Lake did not know what to do. He knew his friend was hurting, but he had not expected this.

"Get it together, Caspian. Unless you are giving up on her, you have to start somewhere. Do not quit before you even try. She is worth the fight."

Lake could not just sit back and let someone else take Michelle. For all three years she was gone, she had never been with anyone else. That had to mean something.

"She is so different now. When I am near her, it feels cold. Nothing is like it was," Caspian said, his voice thick. He was angry that the waiters would not bring him more to drink.

Lake had no more advice to give. By the time they finally left, Caspian was so drunk he could not even walk straight.



Madison pulled up to her apartment building. Sebastian was with her, holding the bags of food. There was a car she recognized parked out front. As soon as it saw her, the driver’s door opened and a man got out.

Sebastian watched the man approach. "Do you know him?" he asked. "It looks like he has been waiting for you."