‘I know the song your cells sing,’ Lachlan says with soft, apologetic certainty, dark grey eyes moving between Kade’s own.‘I knowyouno matter what name you wear or how time has shaped you.You’re all I have left to care about in the time I have left to care at all.’
Time.
Kade hisses under his breath and pulls away, lifting Lachlan’s t-shirt to expose the gothic tattoo no longer drawn around aVI, but aV.
Tonight it’ll becomeIV.
‘Fuck,’ Kade mutters, angry.
‘It’s all right.’
‘No.No.The book.You were going to give me the book so I could…’
So he could what?Riley needs the book to give to Lee but Kade could read it before he hands it over, couldn’t he?Find a loophole somewhere.
Therehasto be a loophole.
Lachlan says, ‘I still will if you want.’
‘Show me now.’
‘I don’t want to leave the grounds.’
‘Why not?You drove me here.’Kade has one bitch of a headache coming on.‘Your van is close by, right?’
‘You need to eat something,’ Lachlan says with flatline certainty.
It irks Kade enormously, irrationally.‘Why is all this happening?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘This fuckingmessthat used to be my life!Nothing seems right anymore.Everything feels weird, like.Like I can’t unsee how fucking weird it is that nobody has a last name here,’ he tells Lachlan in a breathless, quiet rush.‘And everyone’s names are only four letters, and I just don’t get why Riley doesn’t want me to leave.Why?I’m not weak, I can take care of myself.’Kade’s throat swells with thick, jagged things he doesn’t want to admit.‘His knuckles were red like he’d been fighting but it wasmewho fought last night.Why was he resting?What happened?My life was perfect before you.I understood it.But now…’ He trails off.
Lachlan says nothing.
Somehow that hurts worse than anything else.
Kade wipes his eyes.‘Whatever.Justcascading failures,I guess.’
‘You’re not a failure.’
Embarrassed for breaking down, Kade shuts off hard.
‘So, what else do I get from you?The languages thing?Might as well tell me while you’re still here, right?’
‘You were already multilingual before we met, but I did teach you both some sign language.’
‘What else?’
‘Kade—’
‘Come on, you said you know thesong my cells sing.Tell me what else about me has your fucking fingerprints all over it, Bodyguard.’
‘I know you’re angry with me.’
‘Yeah, no shit!You broke in here, gunned down eighteen members of my fuckingfamily,and you turned my world inside out!Yeah, I’m fucking angry with you, you prick!You never tell me anything, but you teaseeverything.You keep saying you’ll be honest but you’re not.You and my boss are having whole conversations behind my back.You make me feel like a child whose life has been a play!I fuckinghateyou, and if you expect different from me just because of a kiss, then you can fuck off.’
Lachlan looks genuinely hurt.‘Do you think it’s easy for me?’
