“Your sister or your niece?”
“My niece. I don’t know how it’s possible when she’s not even my kid, but I see so much of myself in her. She’s going to be a problem. For herself and other people. She’s only eight, and she’s already got all these ideas, and she doesn’t like seeing things not go the way she thinks they should. She’s got such a sense of right and wrong, and she’s got one hell of a temper.”
“Hmm, yeah, I can see how you can see the similarities.”
“Fuck off,” he said with a laugh, but he burrowed into my chest. “Fuck you.”
“Ya already did,” I said, and then frowned. “Which I ain’t against, by the way, but?—”
“But you prefer to do the fucking.”
“Is it wrong to say yeah?”
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s never wrong to want what you want, Cade. Not with us anyway…I hope.”
I want you.
That’s what I wanted to say.
But I didn’t.
“Good,” I said instead, feeling like a coward as I held him close. “Then maybe right now is a good time to admit that I want some food.”
His laugh was a little fragile, but it was still pure in its mirth. “God, top or bottom, your first thought is food, isn’t it?”
“I’m hungry!” I protested with a pout.
“You’re such a man,” he said affectionately. “Come on, you, let’s get some food in that belly.”
I didn’t know if it was a fix for the problem, but at least I had him smiling again.
That had to count for something.
WALKER
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
“I’m sorry.”
Words I’ve used millions of times, but they weren’t my voice.
“Stop!”
Another word that I’ve screamed, but it wasn’t my?—
Snapping awake, I felt heat pour through me, frenetic and crazed, but under control, as if I was under fire. My breath caught, and without thinking, I got it under control and looked around. I realized I was in a room, Cade’s room, and its low mood lighting was casting heavy shadows. That wasn’t what had woken me up on high alert, however.
No, it was the man next to me, a bundle of nerves and?—
“Grk,” I managed as Cade covered me suddenly, his hands wrapping around my throat.
Panic scrabbled at my chest, but even then I could see it in his eyes; open as they were, they were blank and unseeing. He was lost, maybe in a dream, maybe in a memory, or maybe in some combination of the two that didn’t differentiate.
“Cade,” I rasped out, but it didn’t make a difference; his distant stare didn’t matter.
He was going to kill me.
