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“Brown.” Her voice is so close, right next to my ear, and I’m sure I can feel the warmth of her breath on my face. “With reddish tones in the right light.”
I picture the combination, building an image of her in my mind. At least in my head, she’s beautiful.
Footsteps approach, and then Cade says, “You two look cozy.”
Chapter Sixteen
Laney
AT THE SOUND OF HISbrother’s voice, Darius snatches his hand away from mine.
I glance over at Darius.
I have so many questions I want to ask him about when and how he lost his sight, but I don’t want to look like I’m prying. Not that he seems to be holding back on what he’s asking me. I know it’s stupid to treat him any differently than I would anyone else, but it’s not even because of his disability. It’s because he’s Darius Riviera, and I watched him perform on stage with an entire orchestra and full house completely absorbed by him.
“Don’t you have anything more productive you could be doing?” Cade’s eyes narrow and dart between us.
Darius sits back and folds his arms over his chest, apparently unbothered by Cade’s presence, despite how he’d jumped away from me. “I’m on the lookout stint.”
“I wasn’t talking to you. I’m talking to her.”
He jerks his chin in my direction.
I let out a sigh. “I didn’t think it would matter if I sat down for ten minutes. It’s not as though we don’t have plenty of time on our hands.”
“You’re the one who talked about the berries. The least you could do is help.”
I always thought that I was a spikey, anger-filled person, but compared to Cade, I’m practically a little ray of sunshine.
Is he jealous? That’s definitely the vibe I’m getting off him. I assume he’s jealous that I’m taking up Darius’s attention ratherthan him being jealous of Darius talking to me. I believe he’s jealous of Reed and me as well, and the thought brings back the memory of waking to find Reed’s hard cock jammed up against my spine. I know it wasn’t his fault—men wake up that way, and with the floorspace being so small, he had no choice but to have his mattress right next to mine. I tell myself it didn’t mean anything.
I get to my feet. “Okay, fine. I’ll help gather some.”
If it’ll keep Cade happy, I’ll pick berries until my fingers drop off. All I want is to keep the peace. We have enough to worry about without fighting each other.
“Where did Reed go?” I ask, leaving Darius behind and stepping down the couple of steps that lead off the porch and onto the surrounding land.
“To search for a water source. He’s got it in his head that we’re going to need one.”
“Do you think we’re going to be here that long?”
He shrugs. “How the fuck should I know? Your guess is as good as mine.”
Nerves flutter in my stomach as we put more distance between us and the cabin. I’m fairly certain Cade won’t actually do anything to hurt me—his bark is worse than his bite—but his tongue can be cruel.
We reach some of the clumps of bushes I’d spotted during our hike here. I hadn’t paid much attention to them previously, but now I do, checking the small, deep purple berries and the shapes of the leaves. They look exactly like blueberries to me, but it’s not as though I’m an expert.
I hesitate, and then quickly pick one, pop it on my tongue, and chew. I hate the thought that I might be poisoning myself right now—the thought of getting an upset stomach out here embarrasses the hell out of me—but only the familiar and comforting taste of blueberries coats my tongue.
I grin at Cade. “Definitely blueberries.”
“Not that they’re going to go any way to filling us up.”
God, he is such an asshole.
“At least they’re something,” I spit.
He doesn’t reply, so I turn my back on him and use the lower half of my t-shirt to gather the berries to take back to the cabin. For each one I gather, I put another in my mouth. They don’t come any fresher than this, and even if Cade is turning his nose up right now, if he’s right in saying that we might be here awhile, he’ll be grateful for them.
