“Sure,” he said, shrugging as a humorless smirk crossed his lips. “To your face, they’re all smiles and peace. Then they stab you in the back with a rusty knife and carve their name in, just so you never forget who not to trust.”
I blinked, tilting my head at the weight of his words. “That’s…also oddly specific.”
His grin returned, softer this time, looking at me with something warm—amusement, admiration, maybe both. “You’re nothing like I expected either. Though, to be honest, you already made quite an impression on me back at Coastal.”
“I did?” I asked, genuinely surprised.
“Are you kidding? I left Coastal thinking my team had it under control, but you bested fifteen of my men. If they hadn’t played dead when they did, they’d have ended up like the first two you killed in cold blood.”
His words took me back to that chaotic night, the memory still vivid in my mind. “You mean after you killed Rex.”
Caden went rigid, all warmth stripped away and replaced by a cold, steely resolve. “Rex shouldn’t have hit you,” he said with an edge of protective fury.
I didn’t know how to respond to his sudden intensity, so I simply nodded, unsure of how to broach the topic that had brought me here in the first place.
After a moment of heavy silence, Caden cleared his throat, shattering whatever it was that hung thickly between us. His voice was hesitant, almost uncertain, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to ask the question but couldn’t help himself.
“How, uhm, how is James doing?” he finally asked, the words stumbling out as though they had a mind of their own.
I shrugged, trying to appear indifferent. “I wouldn’t know.”
“What do you mean?” he pressed, confusion creeping into his voice.
“He left before I could talk to him.”
“Hewhat?” Caden hissed, his words dripping with outrage.
“No, it’s not like that,” I hurried to clarify. “Jackson made him leave. So it would be my choice.”
Caden’s brow furrowing in concern. “What do you mean?”
I sighed deeply, the magnitude of what I was about to say almost crushing me. Slowly, I recounted what Jackson had told me, laying out the difficult decision now laying before me.
“So now you have to choose between going back to Cyclos and talk to James or…staying here,” Caden said, his voice flat. It wasn’t a question; he was merely reiterating the stark reality I had just shared with him.
“Yeah. Pretty much,” I muttered, feeling the knot in my stomach tighten.
I looked up at him and saw the moment his eyes closed, as if he was bracing himself for what was coming. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “That’s what you came here to tell me?”
A massive lump formed in my throat, and I had to swallow hard before I could answer. “Yeah,” I whispered back, the word barely audible.
Caden nodded slowly, his expression unreadable.
“I’ve been hiding out here, and I’ve loved every second of it, but I have to confront James about everything, and figure out where we go from here,” I confessed, trembling with uncertainty.
Caden swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing visibly. “You think you might get back together with him?” he asked.
Why did that feel like such a loaded question?
“I don’t know,” I admitted, my thoughts swirling. “I feel like I fell in love with a version of him that doesn’t exist. And he was manipulated into loving me. How can that be real?”
“If the feelings are still there, then they’re real,” he said with quiet conviction. “No matter how hard you try to ignore them, if they’re there, you’re stuck with them. Willingly or not.”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” I observed, studying his face for answers.
He didn’t smile, didn’t respond for what felt like an eternity. Then, finally, he spoke. “I think James lied because it’s what he was trained to do. Not because it’s what he wanted to do. If you truly love him, give yourself a chance to do just that. Don’t deny yourself a real shot at happiness. He might be worth it.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise, caught off guard by his words. “I thought you couldn’t stand the guy,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
