AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I think I know where he is. Do you want to go with me?”
Chapter Twelve
Kru’s invite had touched her heart. Do you want to go with me?
Willa had messaged Cadence early this morning saying, You better be taking care of your man and not headed to work this morning. I will tase you if you show up. Landon is taking your shift. Pray for me.
And so yep, Cadence was getting a random morning off work right along with Kru today.
Currently, he was showered and had eaten the entire casserole. Seriously…he ate the entire thing in one sitting. It seemed to be doing him well though because he was moving less stiffly, and joking more often.
Last night, she’d thought there was a possibility of her losing him, and now he was driving them up a winding, one-lane mountain road she didn’t recognize.
“You think Gunner is up here?” she asked, just to make certain.
“Yes, and if he’s not, I can still show you my jobsite.”
“Why would he be at your jobsite?” she asked softly as they crested the final curve in the road and came to a stop along a thin road. Ahead, she could see piles and piles of logs organized by size.
“Because I know how it is for a man,” he told her. “For me, when I fucked something up, I would quietly try to fix what I could.”
“And that’s why you kept giving us presents after you went on the attack in Damon’s home?” she guessed.
“Yeah. I still have a present for you.”
As he pulled around a huge stack of logs, she spied Gunner’s truck parked on the side of a muddy road.
Huh. Kru had called it.
Big, badass, dominant, rare shifter, but he could step out of himself and have empathy for someone else. That was so attractive to Cadence.
“I’ll wait here,” she said.
“You sure?” he asked.
With a soft smile, she nodded. “He probably won’t appreciate me there.”
Kru leaned over and kissed her lips. When he pulled back, he said low, “See, that’s the thing. If you’re beating yourself up, any kind word from anyone, no matter who it is, matters.”
He winked at her and then shoved open his door and exited, leaving Cadence to watch his back as he limped toward where Gunner was stacking logs by himself, a deep limp evident.
Geez. Kru was so different than she’d originally thought. He was so much deeper, so much kinder, so much more understanding. So much stronger.
She watched him approach Gunner slower, and then come to a stop ten feet away from where Gunner was working. Gunner was very busy avoiding looking at him.
He tossed another huge log onto the pile that had clearly been demolished by whatever had happened yesterday.
Kru was talking, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. After a few minutes, Gunner threw up his hands and yelled. He went off. He just…lost it. And Kru stood there quietly, his hands remaining in his pockets, absorbing whatever Gunner was saying.
When Gunner let off a roar that rattled the mountain, Cadence thought she would fight him. How dare Gunner shit on the one he’d nearly gotten killed. How dare him.
But…
Kru dropped his head and limped to a giant log that sat on the edge of the clearing looking down the mountain, and she watched Gunner pacing. She watched him run his hands through his hair and spit. She watched him throw a log at the pile and demolish the work he’d just done.
And then…
She watched him lose that angry energy. She watched him calm. She watched him keep looking at Kru’s back, and she watched his eyes soften.
