All of us answered in varying degrees of no, making it very clear he was not getting near the grill again.
Dad blinked. “Seriously?”
“You almost lit the umbrella on fire,” Knox deadpanned.
“That was the bullshit wind.”
“That was propane too high, and honestly, Pop, who puts an umbrella over a grill? That’s arson-adjacent, and you know better,” Ryker corrected.
“Pizza then, for hell’s sake. You kids are ungrateful.”
“Daniel, can I not be grouped in with ungrateful? I was on board with fire-hazard brisket,” Cade added dryly.
Dad narrowed his eyes at all of us. “You people could learn a thing or two from Mercer.”
“He’s still new to Bennett barbecue trauma, guys. He doesn’t know better,” I said, and Cade turned, eyeing me up and down.
“Pip, I don’t know if you’re mocking me or defending me.”
“I would never mock you,” I said deadpan.
He laughed. “You’re a shit.”
I blew him a kiss and mouthed thank you because the mood lightened and the tension loosened just enough for everybody to breathe again.
Cade had been watching me almost the entire time. Every few seconds, his eyes flicked toward my face like he was checking my reactions without making a big deal out of it.
Luke used to watch me too, but with Luke it always felt like surveillance.
With Cade, it felt like awareness. Protective. And I loved the difference.
Dad finally walked toward me then, stopping close enough to squeeze my shoulder once before looking between Cade and me carefully. “Go home tonight,” he said gently. “Tomorrow we figure things out.”
“I’m okay,” I started automatically.
Dad gave me a look every Bennett child on earth recognized instantly as the don’t bullshit me, kid look.
“I know you are,” he said softly. “That’s not what I said.”
Emotion climbed unexpectedly into my chest, but before it could turn into something bigger, Cade’s hand slid from my back around my waist and squeezed once like he knew exactly where my brain was trying to go.
“We’ll see everybody tomorrow,” Cade said calmly.
We.
The word hit harder than it should have.
So did the fact nobody argued when he guided me toward his truck afterward.
The air outside had turned colder now that the adrenaline from the fight was settling, but Cade still radiated heat beside me while he opened my door and waited until I climbed in before shutting it gently behind me.
The second he got behind the wheel again, the silence between us changed completely.
Every inch of him felt wound too tight beneath his skin. One hand gripped the steering wheel while the other rested against his thigh, fingers flexing every so often like he physicallyneeded somewhere to put the leftover aggression still tearing through him.
Streetlights moved across his face in sharp pieces while we drove through quiet neighborhoods and empty intersections, and the entire time all I could think about was the way he looked standing over Luke in the gravel.
Protective and completely unafraid.
