“I heard ya,” he chuckled. “But I ain’t quite sure what ya want me to say, Clay. I basically had to bully my way into your life, so what’s anyone else gonna think? You’ve got a reputation around here, and I know ya don’t care about it, but...I mean, yeah, it’s there for a reason. It’s ’cause no one else knows much about you. I’m sure ya could ask some of the guys, and they’d probably know what ya look like naked and some of ’em know how ya like your dick sucked, but they couldn’t tell ya what your favorite color was, what your momma’s name is, or what kinda books you read.”
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“You answer those questions.”
“Ya like history books, real and fake history. Your momma’s name is Catelyn; your daddy’s is Scott.”
“Color?”
“Err…blue?”
“Purple, close enough,” I said with a sigh, fiddling with my water bottle. “I mean, like I said, I can’t really argue with him, but it’s...I don’t know, it’s harder hearing it confirmed by you. Even if you don’t know my favorite color.”
“That’s a stupid thing to know about someone,” he muttered. “I never shoulda used it as an example.”
I smiled. “So, what do I do?”
“I mean, what can ya do? Maybe stop hidin’ shit from people,” Cade said with a shrug.
“Right, because you’re the picture of sharing everything that’s going on with you.”
“Don’t go turnin’ this around on me. We weren’t talkin’ about me; we were talkin’ about what’s going on with you. I know what I can be like, but you’re the one who’s havin’ a hard time dealin’ with how someone else saw ya, so that’s the problem right now.”
I huffed. “Fine, whatever. Still brings us back to square fucking one, doesn’t it?”
Cade stared at me for a moment before clicking his tongue and getting up. “Hold on a second.”
“What?” I asked in bewilderment as he went over to the pad by the door, tapped for a second, and then closed the window he’d been looking at. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll be right back,” he said and walked out, leaving me staring at his back in confusion before the door closed, leaving me alone with my bewilderment.
He was only gone about ten minutes, but I paced the entire time, trying to figure out what he was doing. I spun around when the door slid open, and before my lips could so much as part, I stopped when I saw he wasn’t alone.
“You,” I said. I could hear the odd tone in my voice and quickly repeated, in a far more confused voice, “You?”
Isaac blinked at me, his lips curling slightly before he turned to look at Cade with an expression I couldn’t see. “This was your emergency?”
“I didn’t say emergency,” Cade said, shrugging his broad shoulders. “I said it was important.”
“Hmmm,” Isaac hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m retired. And while I don’t want to make assumptions about your personal funds, I’m not sure either ofyou could pay my original prices, even if I were to consider a discount...which I’m not.”
“Oh Christ,” I groaned. “Please, I don’t care that you were an escort, but c’mon, man, if you keep bringing it up, then you’re not allowed to call me out for being a horndog.”
“He’s kinda right,” Cade said in an almost apologetic tone. “It don’t matter to us what ya did before ya came here. You can be more than an escort.”
Isaac glanced between us with a thoughtful expression, then grunted. “I thought I was coming here to help Cade, and instead, I get a neat insight into myself, and a correction that I definitely needed. Life is a weird and wild thing, isn’t it?”
“Look,” Cade said, stepping forward, and, for the first time since I’d known him, his voice dropped so quietly I couldn’t hear what he said. I was so shocked that he was even capable of whispering that my realization that I couldn’t understand what he said came too late. Cade pulled back, giving Isaac a sheepish shrug as if to apologize for whatever he’d said.
“Wait, what the fuck was that?” I asked.
Isaac raised a brow before turning back to Cade. “I can’t promise anything.”
“Not askin’ ya to,” Cade said with a shrug. “Just don’t forget what I said.”
Isaac snorted. “Again, no promises.”
