Her eyes grow wide and I see the tears fill them. “Fuck you. You’re worse than the devil.”
She runs towards the door.
“Sure am,” he calls after her, “and I’ll rip your fucking soul to shreds!” But she’s already gone.
He drops back down. I rub my thigh vigorously. “She’s a warrior, that one.”
Caden rubs his eyes roughly. “God, she is exhausting.”
“I like her.” I stare at the door where she scrambled. “I really fucking like her.”
***
The house has been quiet since then. Alfie still follows Elodie about, but there’s a stiffness between them now. He trains her without a smile, she eats without a single word. It’s been awful. She hasn’t even bitten back at any of my inappropriate comments, and when I’ve grabbed or smacked her ass in passing, she just ignores me. How rude.
Caden’s as tightly wound as possible, wrapped in barbed wire so sharp you can barely go near him without getting pricked. I can understand it, everything around him is out of his control, he cannot get a handle on this girl. He can’t leash her. And that’s not something Caden’s used to. I definitely can’t tell him about Rosco. We’ve got four days left until The Hunt, and he’s running on less than a hair trigger now. I will not be responsible for snapping it.
But it doesn’t mean it’s not tearing me the fuck up inside keeping it from him.
Anyway, I can finally get away from this suffocating environment. We’ve got a good distraction today, I’m the lucky sod Cade’s taking on this extra excursion with, by order of Drago. Accompanied by Sarge and Bob, who are currently in the backseats.
It’s an in-and-out job. Some fuckers robbed one of his properties, a shitload of gold stolen, and we’re the suckers who get to go get it back, for a cut of that hefty gold, of course.
Caden’s been extra quiet these past few days, and I’ve tried to get him to talk about it on several occasions, but he’s locked himself up in that head of his and whacked a big old KEEP OUT sign on it.
But we’ve got a bit of a drive ahead of us, so I’m trying again.
“Do you think Elodie’s old man will come to the wedding?”
Caden shrugs, switching the music to some Iron Maiden. “Hope the fuck not.”
Blunt.Annoying.
“Surely not, right, if he hates her so much. I’m surprised he bothered to show up to the dinner.”
“Probably nosey enough to see if I’d broken her, or she’d broken me.”
I chuckle. “Both are equally likely.”
He lets out a quiet grunt.
My patience snaps. “Come on, Cade, talk to me, brother.”
“About what?” He flashes me a frown.
“Whatever bullshit is up there turning you into this reserved, mute weirdo.”
He licks his teeth, then bites his lip.
I wait impatiently.
“I’m finding it very hard to adjust to this whole relationship shit,” he says finally. “It’s confusing and it’s tiring.”
“Okay,” I say, dragging it out, urging him to go on.
He huffs, raking his fingers through his hair. “I’m seriously debating letting her go.”
My jaw drops. “What? Why the fuck would you do that?”
