Caught in the Middle

Chapter 25.5 - Extra

AN: This is an extra chapter dedicated to all of you readers out there!  Thank you so much for your support!  Just by you reading, voting, and commenting have made this story go a long  way and this means so much to me.  Thank you for everything, you're all the best!

Side note: The girl in the picture above is Elisa Vann.  She's the one Dane and Nathan knew during their college days.

Dane's Perspetive (Third Point of View)

Dane had left the car on the meter while he went to the cafe across the street from Thorton's Bookstore. The place smelled of freshly brewed coffee the moment he opened the door and he made made a mental note to visit the place in the future.

"Is there anything you would like?" a young blond girl asked him. He wasn't at the register yet but she was ready to take his order.

"Let me see what you have on your menu first," he replied. His baritone was low as he quickly scanned the menu above the counter where the cash register was.

"Sure," she said while smiling lightly. She went back to placing some coffee mugs on the counter. Perhaps, they were selling mugs too.

He found an interesting coffee that he never tried since he wasn't really into fancy coffee. But he had time to kill while waiting for Tessa to finish her shift. A half-smile crept on his lips at the thought of her. Glancing over his shoulder, he peered through the window and he was smugly amused how he could keep an eye on her. Despite the advertisements for different books they had covering Thorton's Bookstore windows, he could still make out the dark strands of her hair as she moved back and forth. There was a sweet smile plastered on her pink lips as she faced her employer.

Those lips were the same lips he had the pleasure to taste more than once. A certain part of his body responded to the memory. Just a mere glance or thought of her made him desire her.

Regrettably, returning his attention to the lady, he waited for her to notice him. When she did, she smiled again to take his order.

"I will take the Caffe Misto."

"Excellent choice," she said. "Will you like a tall, grande, or vente?"

"I'll take the medium," he finished.

"Grande it will be." The price rang up on the register. Dane removed his wallet from his pocket. As he opened it to pull out a twenty dollar bill, his fingers swept across paper but he wasn't paying attention to what it was until the cashier wasn't accepting what was in his hand.

"Uh... sir, that's not...."

His eyes flickered down at his open hand and there was a picture of three people, two guys and one girl. Instantly, memories of another time and place flooded his mind followed by guilt.

He shook his head to clear his mind. Then he pulled out a credit card. "Sorry about that."

"That's okay," she said. The cashier swiped his card on a machine. "The coffee will be served to you at your seat, sir."

He nodded his head while he put his card away but he still kept his wallet in hand as he walked to a table next to the cafe window. It was a tall table accompanied by a stool. His back was to the register and everything else. He wanted the setting to be in such a way that he was away from everything except for her.

Tessa.

There was no other women like her.

He slept with many different women and their faces he couldn't remember, but Tessa's beautiful face loomed in his mind clearly. He could easily see the brown of her eyes that reminded him of milk chocolate. The small but pert nose as the little wrinkles became evident when she smiled. And the way her luscious lips spread across her face, sparkling her eyes.