I look into those eyes, deeper than I’ve ever dared. There’s sincerity there, and something that I’m hoping won’t have me later regretting it, but disarms me.
I drop my head, close my eyes and send a silent prayer to whoever might listen to a soul as unredeemable as mine. “Fuck. Fine.”
He sighs then moves his arms down to my thighs. My heart momentarily skips, thinking he’s about to do something terrible – because it’s Caden – but he just hoists me up and places me onto the edge of the grave. I scoot back as he jumps out himself.
I look at the hole, then the mounds of mud around it. “I guess we should cover them back up.”
Caden waves it off. “I’ll make a call. They’ll be covered before the grounds open.”
We both sit there, with our legs dangling in a grave that we just dug in the middle of the night, after he almost shot me in the face, after I ran away from him because he’s the worst person ever. And now we’re sitting together with the same resolve… about to form an alliance that will keep us under the same roof once again. The roof I thought I’d never have to see again.
I start giggling as the gravity of the situation sets in. Or it really is psychosis.
“Fucking hell,” I say through laughs, shaking my head.
I push myself up on jelly legs and Caden does the same. If we’re both wearing black, you couldn’t tell.
“Let’s go and get cleaned up,” I say, “we look like we’ve just crawled out of a grave.”
For the first time since I’ve met this terrible person, I see a hint of a smile that’s not sinister or scheming quirk the corners of his lips.
We walk in silence until we get to the entrance. Caden helps me over the gate and then effortlessly climbs over after me.
Alfie’s car’s parked behind Caden’s, blocking me in.
I turn to him, but he cocks an eyebrow at me. “We’ll take my car back. You’re riding with me.”
I fold my arms. “And what about Alfie’s car?”
“I texted him. He’s already in an Uber to come get it.”
I purse my lips.
He jerks his head and starts moving again. “You’re not leaving, Elodie. Stop being dramatic.”
Okay, I’m not leaving, but I find it funny that he doesn’t trust me not to drive his car back. A part of me would still be tempted just to drive in the opposite direction, and it makes me smile that he knows me well enough to know that.
We get into Caden’s car after he moves Alfie’s out the way, mud and water splatting all over his spotless interior.
Once we’re on the road, the soft tones of “Way Back Home” by Ed Prosek filling the car, Caden says quietly, “You fed my dog.”
I press my lips into a thin line to hide my grin. “You nearly shot me in the face.”
He tilts his head to give me an incredulous look. “That doesn’t make us even.”
I scoff, because in his absurd brain, I know he means feeding his fucking dog is way worse.
I roll my eyes like I’m fed up with him, but for some strange reason, I don’t feel fed up with him at all.
CHAPTER 50
CADEN
Elodie starts shivering, her mud-coated arms coming up to hug herself, so I turn up the heat in the car. She doesn’t say anything to me, but I feel compelled to fill this silence, even though it doesn’t feel awkward.
I just don’t know what to say.
I guess now we have a specific reason to work together, to continue to be in each other’s lives, there’s not much need for me to explain these feelings I have for her, even though I have no idea what these feelings actually are. What possessed me to drive after her in the middle of the night? It wasn’t just because of my devotion to this whole marriage thing. And I want her to know that. I just have no clue how to voice it.
