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“Dad is gonna be so jealous when he finds out what I ate.” Cade wore a shit-eating grin, and I couldn’t stop my own face mirroring his.
“He has to not eat meat too?”
“Only when he’s home. When he’s at work, I’m sure he eats all the beef and bacon.”
I snorted. “Probably.” I leaned forward, pressing my palms to the cool surface of the table. “What does your dad do?”
“You won’t even believe,” Cade said, pushing closer to me and dropping his voice to whisper. “You can’t tell anyone. It’s super top secret.”
“I won’t,” I replied, my voice just as low as his.
“He’s an undercover agent for the DEA.” I sucked in a breath at his words. “He takes down drug rings.” Cade nodded, his grin not moving off his face as he leaned back in the booth, while I hyperventilated.
I knew what Hut did. Everyone knew what Hut did, and Cade’s dad was the person who could bring him down. My head spun, and I had to grip the edge of the table to stop the motion. Had Moira known who I was all along? Was this some kind of ploy?
Just staring into Cade’s eyes told me it wasn’t. He’d said his dad had been away for five months, and I hadn’t even met him. It was a coincidence, that was all. And in a couple of weeks, I wouldn't be around Hut. I’d be gone, living on my own, and starting a new life, hopefully with Brody in tow.
The thought of Brody calmed me, and I pulled in a breath. “That’s seriously cool.” My words didn’t sound like my own, but Cade didn’t notice.
“Right? No one knows though, only me and Mom because obviously I’m his son and she’s his wife.”
“Right.”
I didn’t know what else to say, so I stayed silent, but Cade was on a roll. “He said he has to go back soon, but I think it won’t be for long this time. He said something about the case nearly being finished and he just had to tie up a couple of loose ends.” Cade shrugged. “I tried to listen to some of his calls. but he caught me.”
“You should brush up on your ninja skills then,” I said, starting to feel like myself again.
Cade snorted and drank the last of his milkshake. “I got skills.” He flexed his arms, but they were basically twigs in comparison to some I’d seen. Damn, and there was Brody’s face again.
The week had dragged more than any other week. It was nearly time, though. Time to start my new life, with or without Brody. My things were packed, ready for my move-in date in ten days. All I had to do was wait for the current tenants to move out and then it’d be all mine.
“He’s here!” I wanted to turn around as Cade waved his arm frantically in the air, but he dropped it a second later. “He’s headed into the back, probably talking to Sal.”
“Sal?” I frowned, wondering why Cade’s dad would want to talk to Sal.
“Yeah, you remember Mom saying we went way back with Sal? It’s because he and Dad are tight.”
“Oh, yeah.” I rolled my eyes at myself. “I remember.”
Sal had said someone had helped him out of a tight spot before when I asked why he’d let me do tutoring here, and now it made sense. If Cade’s dad was an agent, then he’d have been able to help Sal with whatever he was in trouble with.
Cade filled the silence with his idol chatter, telling me about how many Instagram followers he had and the amount of DMs he’d been getting, and I listened with one ear while staring out the window at nothing. A few cars parked in the lot, one that looked shiny as hell, and I wondered whether it belonged to Cade’s dad. I was just about to ask when Cade looked up, his foot knocking against my leg as he stood.
“You about ready, son?”
That voice.
Everything stopped. My world really did tilt on its axis that time.
“Yeah, my tutor bought me a burger. I ate so much meat.”
Cade’s dad laughed, and goose bumps spread over every inch of my skin. The voice was one thing, but the laugh was another.
It couldn’t be.
It wouldn’t.
Things like this just didn’t happen.
