As I slide into the driver’s seat, I can already feel Cade’s beady fucking eyes boring into the side of my head. I ignore it, and start the engine, immediately kicking on the windshield wipers.
“It’s a washout,” Cade says, his tone in one of those unreadable moments. “I saw it on the news tonight.”
“You shouldn’t be watching the news,” I mutter, throwing the truck in reverse and peeling off backward.
“There you go, being controlling again.”
I swallow the annoyance. “You got triggered by it last time.”
“No one gets triggered by anything. That’s what fucking pansies say.”
“Yeah, tell that to my shattered TV.”
Cade shifts in his seat. “It was a shitty TV anyway. I did you a favor.”
“Right.” I roar past the tree farm office and bunkhouse, noting the dirt bike and Turner’s truck. I breathe out a sigh of relief. At least one of them can stay in one place.
“He’s the new favorite, huh?” Cade’s voice drops. “He’s easier than me.”
Oh, good God. Here we go, off into one of his pity spirals.
“He’s not.” I don’t know how to explain to this shithead that Turner and I go way back—that he’spersonal.Cade is just a business favor.
There’s a difference.
“He has blackouts,” Cade comments, leaning back in the seat. “I know it. I can see it in the way his eyes do weird shit.”
“Had no idea you were so intuitive.” I punch the gate opener and pull out of the tree farm. “You’re something else, Kellan.”
He stiffens in the seat beside me. “Don’t call me by my last name. You know I hate that.”
I eye him, his face twisting in a strange way. He’s fascinating, mostly just in the way that he’s so unpredictable. One moment, he can be a rational individual, and then next he’s losing it over being called by his last name.
Under normal circumstances, I might think it’s funny.
But it’s a fucking problem when he’s wanted by multiple agencies.
“Are you locking me in your basement?” Cade asks as I take the turn off toward my own house. “Because I told you that I get claustrophobic, remember?”
“Well, you won’t stay put in the bunkhouse, so clearly, we have a problem, don’t we?” I turn to him, forcing myself to keep my tone light.
He sinks into the seat. “Fuck.”
I almost laugh. “Better than the brig, yeah? Least I won’t strip search you before breakfast randomly.”
He winces at that fact, giving me a look before dipping into silence. His eyes shift to the window, and I won’t lie, there’s something about his demeanor that tugs at something in my chest. I don’t know what the fuck he endured, but I know the problems he brings come from something way, way before he joined the Marines.
He’s got deeper scars than what we gave him.
And those are always the most vulnerable.
“At least there’s a microwave,” Cade’s voice dips low. “I can make popcorn.”
“Okay.” I breathe out a sharp exhale. “Whatever the hell makes you…” My voice trails off as I pull into my driveway, my heart jumping to my throat.Why the fuck is she here?I spot my daughter’s Jeep.
I’m not even parked before she’s flying out the front door, her eyes wide.
“Where have you been? I needed to talk to you about Mom’s new boyfriend, and… And… Wherewereyou?” Molly explodes, her hands in the air, as I step out of the truck. Her dark hair is blowing wild around her face, her petite stature looking even smaller in the light of the porchlight of my cabin. “I was about to call the fucking cops!”
