“Don’t you fuckingdarepour those down the sink,” Cade’s father growled. He stood up, and Aiden stepped forward as if he was actually willing to jump into this if necessary. Cade raised two hands, one facing each of the men.
“Mom, where’s the paperwork? Did Mrs. Bennett help you do your taxes last year?” The woman worked for one of the local charities and spent most of her time helping people do what it took to qualify for different programs.
“She did,” his mother said slowly. “The stuff’s around here somewhere.”
Cade nodded and headed for the sink. “You going to look for it?” he asked, and he slowly poured the two drinks into the basin.
There was a moment of tense silence. Cade’s parents were stubborn. But they were also drunks, and poor. Cade was using their weaknesses to get what he wanted. He was stepping on whatever was left of their pride, pushing them around, making them crawl. But he needed to stay in school, and he’d rather hate himself for doing this than hate himself for going back to whoring.
“Check in the living room,” Cade’s father finally said. He was talking to Cade’s mother, who took off like a drunken sprinter, staggering into the front room. Cade could hear her rummaging around and took his own opportunity to pull the forms out of his backpack. He’d won. They were going to sign.
“You proud of yourself?” his father growled.
Cade didn’t answer. Instead, he gave in to temptation and let himself look at Aiden. The golden boy didn’t look so golden anymore. He was staring at Cade, his expression unreadable, his skin actually a little gray in the weak light of the kitchen.
“Like I said—you’d have been happier if you’d stayed outside.” Cade didn’t smile. This was his life, and Aiden had wanted to see it. Now that he had, he’d understand. And as soon as he could, he’d run like hell.
Chapter Eight
The wholething took less than ten minutes. Ten minutes for Cade to humiliate his parents and destroy whatever fragile relationship he’d still had with them. They’d filled out the forms and Cade had stepped away from the bottles of alcohol, and neither of his parents had even looked at him.
“Make me a drink,” his mother had said, but she’d been talking to his father, not to him. And she’d sounded tired, and old. Beaten.
“Have they ever tried to get help?” Aiden asked now. He and Cade were outside, walking down the street away from the house, but Cade couldn’t really remember how they’d gotten there, and certainly had no idea where they were going.
He struggled to find an answer to Aiden’s question. “Not really. They’ve done programs a couple times, but it was always because somebody made them. No more money unless they did AA. That sort of thing.” He shrugged. He had no idea why he’d let Aiden see all of it. He supposed maybe he’d wanted someone to witness it. If he was going to hurt his parents like that, he should make sure he was hurting himself too. He’d let Aiden see what his parents were like, so he’d had to show Aiden whathewas like, as well.
And Aiden, to his credit, hadn’t run away. He was responsible. Compassionate. He’d started something, driving Cade up to the city and following him inside, and now he wanted to finish it. “You should come stay at my place,” he suggested. “I told you how much my mom loves houseguests.” Cade wasn’t surprised by the invitation. He already knew Aiden had more generosity than common sense.
But Cade knew what needed to happen. “Nah. I’m going to head back down to school.” He looked around and got his bearings. “You okay going back to the car by yourself? It’s not that late yet—you should be fine.”
“What? God, Cade, you don’t need to worry about me getting to my car! But you’re right, it’s not that late. We haven’t had dinner. You want to get something to eat? If you still want to go back to school tonight, I can drive you down later. No problem.”
“No.” Cade said it firmly, and he stopped walking and turned to look at Aiden straight on. “I don’t need to be babysat. Thanks for driving me up here, and thanks for the loan. I’ll pay you back the next time I see you. But I’m good now. Thanks.”
Aiden frowned. “You don’t have to pay me back.”
Yeah. Right on cue. Aiden’s intentions were good, of course. But Cade didn’t really need to be reminded that for Aiden, sixty dollars was nothing. He could give that kind of money away without blinking. For Cade, it was almost a week’s worth of sandwich making. “I’ll pay you back,” he insisted.
“Okay. Whatever. But right now—”
“Right now you can go back to your plans. I appreciate that you’re trying to help, but everything’s fine now. So I’m going to go home, get a good night’s sleep, and get some studying done tomorrow. You’re going to go see your parents and your dog and your housekeeper. And tomorrow you’ll not get anyone pregnant at your mom’s gala. Everything can go back to normal.”
Aiden’s expression was hard to read, and he didn’t say anything for a moment. His voice was quiet and his gaze didn’t leave Cade’s when he asked, “What if I don’twantto go back to normal?”
Cade stepped backward and put his hands up in front of him. “That’s your call, I guess. But it’s got nothing to do with me.”
“It’s goteverythingto do with you!” Aiden frowned, and then he took his own step backward. “Okay. That was a bit over the top. Sorry. But….” He stopped talking, and after a moment, he smiled. It didn’t look quite as genuine as usual, but it was pretty good. “Yeah. Okay. You’ve got stuff to do, and so do I. That’s cool. I’ll… I don’t know, I guess I’ll see you Monday? If I come in for lunch?”
“Sure,” Cade agreed. He wasn’t quite sure what was behind Aiden’s quick change, but he supposed it wasn’t any of his business. “I’ll have the money for you then.”
“Okay,” Aiden agreed. He waited, then nodded. “Okay.” He half turned, then turned back. “Last chance? Dinner, a drive, a bed? Delicious pancakes for breakfast, a nutritious lunch, and a gala? Tempted by any of that?”
Cade was tempted byallof it, except for maybe the gala, but that didn’t mean he would give in. “I’m good, thanks. I’ll see you Monday.” And because Aiden didn’t seem to be leaving, Cade turned and started walking. He didn’t let himself turn around, and when he hit the first corner, he took it even though there was no reason to head in that direction. He needed to get out of range as quickly as possible. He needed to remove the temptation to turn around and look for Aiden, because there was no way he could be made happy by what he saw. If Aiden was still there, watching, Cade would feel guilty and be tempted to go back. And if Aiden was gone….
Thatshouldbe what Cade was wishing for. He should want Aiden gone. Then they could both put this little adventure behind them and get on with their respective college careers. Cade could get back to being the Monk, and Aiden could get back to being the Golden Boy. Never the twain would meet, and the universe would rebalance.
What if I don’t want to go back to normal?Aiden’s words came to Cade’s mind, unbidden. But Aiden didn’t know what he wanted. He thought it would be a fun adventure to experiment with a different life. He knew how lucky he was in a way that allowed him to list his advantages, but he didn’t reallyknow. He didn’tunderstand.
