I had pictured this moment in my head every day for the last eight years. Wondering and imagining what it would be like to see her again. Sometimes it was electric. We were hungry and desperate for each other. Fireworks and sparks and cheers from the crowd as we rode off into the sunset, everything right in the world once again. But sometimes I was angry, still bitter from the way she had left. Wanting to make her hurt the way I had, make her explain why she had so selfishly left like our family meant nothing to her, like I meant nothing to her. Most times, I was the same heartbroken and confused teenager I had been on the day she left--the wound still fresh and her return only rubbing salt in it. Yeah, I had had plenty of time to visualize how this moment would go.

Never in my wildest dreams, though, did it involve Sadie showing up out of the blue in a sinfully skimpy Brodo uniform, claiming she was here to be Alex's new bartender. I knew her better than that. There was about as much truth to that as there was to us being involved in her parents' attack, but none of that mattered to her. She didn't wait long enough to let anyone explain, and that was what hurt the worst.

"I'll handle it from here, Dante." I growled, never taking my eyes off of Sadie. She pursed her lips, curious as to what exactly I meant by that. Maybe it was the way my personality had hardened since she last knew me, but I enjoyed watching her squirm. Most people wouldn't catch on to it through her tough exterior, but I made my living reading people, and I was even better at it with Sadie than most. It had been that way since were toddlers, and apparently time hadn't changed that.

"Yes, boss." Dante diverted his eyes as he headed for the door, both embarrassed and irritated at my rebuke.

"Oh, and Dante," I whirled around so he had to look me in the eye. "If I ever catch you treating Sadie, or any woman, like that ever again, I'll slit your mouth from ear to ear. And you can tell all the men that same thing. Are we clear?"

Dante's eyes widened, not expecting my hostility, and nodded sheepishly. He was one of my best men but I wouldn't tolerate that kind of behavior from anyone. He should have known that by now.

Dante shut the door quietly behind him, and I turned back to Sadie slowly.

"You didn't need to do that, Brandon." She glared, as if I had been the one in the wrong. I held back my laughter. She had been here all of sixty seconds and was already bossing me around.

"I didn't do it for you. Dante knows that that kind of shit won't fly around here." I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my emotions in check.

"Oh."

"Jesus, Sadie." I shoved my fingers through my hair in pure frustration. "What the fuck are you even doing here?"

Sadie sighed, looking down at her feet.

"Answer me." I said harshly.

"I'm here because I needed a job." She said softly, still refusing to meet my eyes.

"Bullshit." I spat. "You expect me to believe you left a steady nursing job in Colorado to come out here for some part-time bartending gig?"

Her face twisted. "How did you know I'm working in Colorado?"

This time, I couldn't help but laugh. "Is that a serious question?"

"If you knew where I was all this time, how come you never came after me?" She frowned, hurt by my admission.

"Because I'm not going to chase after somebody who has made it clear she wants nothing to do with me." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Brandon." She shook her head in exasperation. "It was never about me not..." she pressed her lips together, leaving me waiting on the edge of my seat for the end of that sentence. "It doesn't matter now. I don't like this anymore than you do. The point is, I need the money. I had some time off and figured I could come back here and take a side job while I was getting paid for vacation at the hospital."

"And you had to fly across the country to do that?" Nothing about this story was making sense, she was definitely hiding something.

"New York pays more. And besides, I thought I could get a job easier. People know me around here. I never expected I would have to come to Alex, but nobody else will hire me because I'm associated with you guys." She continued to spin her web of lies. The story was somewhat believable, and maybe another person would've fell for it. Someone who didn't know her, and the way her lips pursed when she was hiding something, or the slight change in pitch of her voice when she was lying.

"How much money do you need?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm not asking you for money, Brandon. I'm here because I want to work and earn it the honest way." She softened slightly.

"The honest way, huh? In an outfit like that?" I scoffed. Her father would roll over in his grave if he saw her right now. "Look, Sadie, I don't know what your endgame here is, but you're sure as hell not going to work at Brodo."

"I already am." She folded her arms over her chest defiantly. "Alex hired me this afternoon."

"Then you're fired." I shrugged. Simple as that.

"You can't do that. Alex is my boss." Why was she so persistent about this? None of this made any sense.

"Fine." I wasn't going to stand here and fight with her if she was going to act like a petulant child. "Then I'll go tell Alex to fire you." I turned towards the door.

"Brandon, please." She begged, reaching out and catching my wrist. The connection between us caused us both to stop in our tracks.

"Adam and I are in trouble." She bit her lip. That was the first thing she had said to me all night that I actually believed.

"What's going on?"

"We owe a lot of people a lot of money, and if I don't get it soon, Adam is going to have to drop out of school. He's weeks away from graduating. And we could lose the condo my parents left us."

The worry on her face was genuine, and she looked as if she were on the verge of crying at any second. Could there be any truth to this? She was so torn up that I was second guessing myself. I didn't completely trust her, but I also wasn't about to throw her out to the wolves if they were in trouble.

"Sadie, I swear to God, if I find out you're lying to me about this..." I warned.

"I'm not." She said quickly. "Don't you know I wouldn't have come back here unless I was absolutely desperate?"

Her words stung more than they should have, but I shrugged it off. I had to remember that years had gone by. Things had changed between us. Neither one of us was the same.

I had a hunch she had gotten herself into something way over her head, and even though I hated the idea of her working here, at least she would be close while I tried to figure it out.

My parents would flip when they found out she was back. I could already hear the pressure from my mother now. She wanted nothing more in life than for me to settle down with a nice girl, and Sadie was the ultimate prize in her mind.

"Babe?" Cass's voice traveled from outside the door. Shit. "There you are! What is taking you so long?" She smiled as she opened the door.

Sadie's eyes widened as she glanced back and forth between Cass and I in horror. Had she expected me to stay celibate this whole time? Regardless, I liked the look of jealousy on her.

"I need a minute, Cass." I gritted my teeth, irritated with the interruption. I had about a trillion more questions for Sadie.

"Who is she?" Cass's face twisted in confusion.

"This is Alex's new bartender. He was just introducing me to her." I said quickly, regretting it as soon as it was out of my mouth.

Sadie chuckled to herself, amused that I had reduced her down to just the new bartender. In reality, she was so much more to me, but how did I explain that right now?

"Oh. Well how long are you going to be?" Cass looked Sadie up and down with judgmental eyes, clearly forming her own ideas. Seeing the two of them in the same room, I realized how stupid it was that I wanted Sadie to be jealous of Cass. She was so far above Cass in every category that it wasn't even a contest. Sadie blew Cass and every other woman I'd ever seen out of the water. She was beautiful and intelligent and the most selfless person I had ever met. Even when we were children, she had dreams as big as the sky, yet she had given them all up to give Adam a better life. Cass was the cheap kind of beauty; the kind money could buy and that was only good for a good time. I couldn't even remember an intelligent conversation that she and I had ever had. Seeing her standing next to Sadie only amplified her flaws for me.

"We're actually done here." Sadie smiled politely to Cass. "It was nice to meet you, Brandon. I'll see you later." She smirked, spitting my own lie back at me.

"Oh, since you're the new bartender, would you mind getting me a glass of champagne? Thanks sweetie." Cass smirked, slipping her arm in mine.

"Sure thing." Sadie smiled, her eyes lingering on me before disappearing out the door.

I had half a mind to follow her, but I restrained myself. Why the hell hadn't I just told Cass to get lost and stayed up here with Sadie? I knew the answer to that question—it was because I wanted to her to feel like I had. I hated that I was acting so petty, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. She was the one who left, who walked away from everything we had together. Who hadn't bothered to pick up the damn phone in eight years.

Why did I let her get to me that way? I had had eight years to get her out of my system, and yet here we were. It was ridiculous. Being so calm and levelheaded was what I prided myself on--an absolute necessity in this business--and yet I was reduced to a hormonal teenage boy the second I saw her.

Who did she think she was coming in here and trying to hide something from me in? We both knew I would get to the bottom of it eventually, and God help her when I did.