Fuck.It’s…a lot.
Too much. Nothing my mind can wrap around. The fact I’m half-naked with a convicted felon standing above me, waiting for me to turn him out again. A felon who served his sentence, but it nonetheless doesn’t change what he did—does?
“Do you still run them?”
“For life.” He glances at his wrist again. “Bones stepped up in my place while I was gone.”
I want to believe this is still the same Cade who wrote me all those letters, but that Cade was fake. That Cade was designed to play nice for a pen pal program.
I slide off the bed, skirt the room to my dresser, and pull on my pyjama pants. Then I linger by the door, as far away as possible.
He watches without moving. “You once told me you don’t judge by a person’s exterior. I’m asking for that again.”
“Except you just gave me your interior.”
“It’s the same interior as the man you met. I won’t hurt you. I swear it on my life.” His knuckles marked with my name come up to rest over his heart. “Say something, sweetheart.”
His expression is something only ever seen once before. It takes me back to the day he stopped me from leaving visitation, when he touched my hand and asked me to return. He was the same man standing across from me now. The man I’d been gradually growing enthralled with.
Oh, PhD studies willloveme!
“I know you won’t hurt me. I trust that much.” Words that are equivalent to three other words, given his reaction and the quick steps he takes to my side, stopped only by a palm to his chest. “But it’s a lot to take in, too. How do I go on now that I know this?”
“With me.” He reaches for me, his hand hovering midair before lowering again. A little action that says everything. “Once I take care of Victor and whoever else he has following us, I’ll introduce you to my guys. You’ll be the safest woman in the city. I promise you that.”
“This still feels so…I mean…” Words frazzle in my mind, and I shake my head. “What if I don’t want to be?”
“You lost that choice when you came to see me. When you cried my name not even ten minutes ago. I need one more thing from you…for now.”
There could be so much he asks for. “I’m scared to wonder, but what?”
“That you trust me enough to not scream when I do what’s next.”
“As long as you don’t hurt me, I can promise that.” A strange agreement, but I’ll play along. Better to keep the bigger threat contained until determining how to defend.
Cade deletes the rest of the space between us and swoops me into his arms, carrying me bridal style to bed. He pulls back the sheets and rests me beneath them. “It’s late, and we have a big day planned tomorrow.”
This is all he wants right now? Rest, I can do. If we’re not talking or touching, it’ll allow me to consider everything he’s told me tonight.
“We do?”
“Mhm,” is all he replies with as he shucks off his shoes and slides his cell from his pocket. He checks the text reflecting up at him and mumbles something that sounds like “Fuckin’ A. I got you, asshole.” He drops it screen side down and looks up at me. “It’ll be over soon, sweetheart.” He slides into bed beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist as he buries his head into my hair. “You’re so much warmer than the cell. At least give me this, Aspen.”
This…this I think I can do.
And I manage it, my eyes sliding shut as my body proves I do unwisely trust him, passing out in his arms.
When I wake, Cade is gone, the space beside me cool, and I’m so confused.
There’s a note on my pillow.
Don’t run. I have the city on lockdown. If I have to chase you again, I’ll be pissed.
See you tonight.
Happy V-Day.
Cade.
