AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Release my leg.”
I squeezed a bit tighter. Kade clasped my ankles and pressed on a point on each one which caused pain to flare up like a bad muscle cramp. I jerked my feet away from his thigh. What had gotten into me?
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, but you’re lying. Tell me the truth.”
“When you’ve proven yourself trustworthy, I will share more details, but for now I can’t get into the particulars.”
“That’s not really a good answer.”
“I don’t wish for any harm to come to you, the less you know the better at this point.” He abandoned his spot at the table and came around to my chair. He picked up my right foot and massaged the spot where he had pressed. Kade repeated the action with my left. “I’ve got a feeling that’s not going to be enough for you, though. You seem to have a listening problem.”
My head fell back on my shoulders. “If your secret tactic to get me to listen is your incredible hands, then I’m done for,” I muttered.
“Yeah, my hands have something to do with it for sure,” he mumbled with a chuckle, “but there are more important things to discuss. Are you going to quit poking at me now?”
“Why are you being so nice to me, anyway?” I questioned, throwing another question at him. I slowly tipped my head up and caught his stare. “You could have just left me to my own devices on that sidewalk.”
“One point at a time. Are you going to stop pushing or not?”
“Yes, I suppose.” I rolled my eyes. Kade released my foot, then went to the sink, washed his hands and returned to the table. We resumed eating dinner and I enjoyed the food in silence for a while, before I thought of new questions to ask him. “Do you have my car and my phone?”
“Your car was picked all the way down to its little steel bones, but you didn’t have insurance on it. Not a bright thing to do.” He leaned forward and his eyes locked on mine. “I have your physical phone, but I destroyed the sim card. You can’t just waltz back to your old life like nothing has happened. Everything has changed. Do you understand?”
I finished my bottle of water while I racked my brain for some clarity. “Nothing has changed,” I insisted, crumpling my brow in confusion. “Except, if it’s been three days, I might have gotten fired from my job. I have rent due in four days!” He wasn’t making any sense. Of course, I could waltz back to my old life. What choice did I have? “I can’t just rub my hands together and manifest a new apartment, clothes, a job, etcetera. Perhaps you can wave a magic wand and instantly have a new life, Mr. Fancy-pants, but I cannot.”
He ignored my jab and argued without reacting. “Antonio Morelli is bad news, and your life is in danger,” he repeated. “When are you going to get that? If you strut right back to your job, back around people you know, your family or whatever–you’re putting their lives in danger just as much as your own.”
I held a hand to my stomach and Joe’s words from the other night played back in my head. No one would miss you.
No. I knew it was a lie, and even if it weren’t, I refused to allow this rich pretty-boy with a god complex to order me about, even if he was handsome as sin, and had amazing massage hands.
“Thanks for what you’ve done,” I said, pulling myself to standing, “but I need to go. Please give me my phone and I’ll be on my way.”
I was ridiculously proud of myself for not falling over this time, and I was sure my face reflected that. Apparently, the food and copious amounts of water had helped immensely.
“You’re wearing my clothes,” Kade deadpanned.
Fuck. It was hard to make a dramatic exit when you needed to remove your outfit, put on another one, find your shoes, your keys, and then storm through someone else’s large townhome and leave. Not to mention I was already starting to feel dizzy again. I twisted a piece of hair around my pointer finger while I stared at him. “Whatever.”
“Finish eating,” he commanded, pointing at my plate. “Your body needs the protein.”
I inhaled sharply, but he was correct. I had been unconscious for so many hours that I had no fuel left in me, and though I might feel slightly better, the little bit I had eaten wasn’t enough to get me changed and out of here. Sinking back into my chair, I stabbed several pieces of chicken and ate them.
“I don’t mean to be difficult,” I said, trying a different tactic, “and I appreciate what you’ve done for me, but I’ve got to get back into my daily routine.”
“Your routine needs to change, or you’ll find yourself dead,” he responded firmly.
I wanted to argue, that Antonio and his gun had been no match for me the first time, but I stayed silent. It felt nice to know that someone cared about my safety, even if that someone was a very odd and bossy stranger.
We ate in silence.
I didn’t want to think about this stupid Antonio guy, but I had to. How could one man have so much power? Why would this seemingly well-to-do man concern himself with me anyhow? And when would he deem it safe enough for me to leave?
I ate the rest of the meal and realized it was the first meal I’d enjoyed in a long time. I usually grabbed a slice of pizza or a plate of spaghetti from the restaurant and deducted the cost from my tips, but Kade’s cooking was delicious. I sat there lost in my thoughts as I ate, and I didn’t even notice I had finished, until I reached for another bite, and my fork hit the now empty plate.
“That was delicious. Thank you.” It was suddenly very important to me that Kade not think I was some sort of rude, classless ingrate.
Kade smiled, and nodded, then lifted his glass to his lips, swirled the wine once, and drained the rest of it. He stood, gathered up the empty plates and then washed the dishes without replying to me.
Frustrated and confused, I joined him at the sink, intent on gaining some sort of understanding about the situation I was now in. My feet and head stayed planted. No awful dizziness. One point for Caitlyn.
