“About fucking what?” he snaps, turning his head towards the front of the room.
Immediately, my hand snaps out to grab his jaw, forcing him to look at me again. “Don’t you fucking look away from me.”
And there it is.
It was subtle and fleeting… but I saw the flash deep in his gaze.
Burn for me, baby…
He lets me hold him here for a moment, before he reaches up and smacks my hand away with a heavy exhale. “Everyone needs to get off my fucking back.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Baby, the only place I want to be is on your back.”
He shoots me a glare and rolls his eyes, and I smile.
But the heaviness inside him once again bleeds out as he rubs a hand over his face with a sigh.
“Want me to take someone out?” I ask.
His head turns quickly towards me with his brows drawn together. “The fuck?”
I shrug. “This would go a whole lot easier, Doc, if you just told me what the fuck is going on.”
He tips his head back against the wall behind him with his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He’s quiet for a moment, and I wait.
“My department head met with me yesterday,” he says eventually. “With some heavy ultimatums.”
I nod, and just keep watching him.
“He doesn’t fucking get it,” Cade mutters, quietly. “No one fucking gets it.” He exhales hard and shakes his head as though he’s quickly trying to move past that thought. “And I need to go to Moncton this weekend. My brother is visiting with his wife and kids, and my parents want to make a whole weekend out of it. He’s been giving me a hard time, too.”
“About?” I ask, even though it’s fucking obvious.
Cade’s jaw ticks as his eyes cut towards me.
But I just tilt my head and wait.
“He’s worried,” he mutters.
I nod again, letting my gaze drift towards the mug on the desk at the front of the room, then back to him. “And does he need to be?”
He shakes his head… but I notice the hesitation.
“No,” he says, with far less conviction than I think he meant to give. Then he pulls in a breath. “I love him… and my parents. I want to see them, I just…” He closes his eyes and lets the air out of his lungs. “I just can’t deal with all this shit. I just… I don’t…” he trails off, like he’s searching for the right words.
I watch him as he quietly collapses, like the wave he was just talking about. Moving but trapped, stuck in a system that used to lift him up, but now just drags him under.
He’s tearing his life apart while everyone around him tries to piece it back together.
Meanwhile, I’m doing everything I can to hold mine up, while people line up to pull it down.
Different edges, same fucking blade.
“If it gets to be too much… just let me know. I’ll come take you away,” I say.
His eyes narrow with confusion. “And how exactly would I do that?”
I sigh, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my phone.
