AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I cut him off, once again saying more than I mean to. “Youweren’t the reason I left, Caden.”
His forehead puckers in confusion, and I glance at the empty glass resting in my palm.
Did he put Veritaserum in this bad boy, or what?
My eyes return to Cade’s, knowing he’s silently waiting on further clarification, and I rapidly flick through my options—not wanting to say too much but likewise aware that I can’t say too little.
“You weren’t theentirereason I left…”
I swallow roughly, my throat suddenly parched, and Caden rises to grab me a refill.
“Thank you.” He pours the clear fluid into the glass until it’s about halfway full, holding my eyes the entire time with an intensity I feel in the tips of my toes.
He tops himself up and deposits the crystal decanter on the side table to his right before taking a seat beside me instead of returning to his previous place opposite me.
“You remember that…that day when…”
When I don’t elaborate, he nods, knowing I’m talking about the day Archer died. I clear my throat before continuing.
“When we were playing Truth or Dare, I found out you’d slept with Layla and—”
“What?”
Caden’s dark blue eyes have darkened to almost black pools as his one-word question is spat from between his lips.
“When I asked Layla to tell me if she’d ever slept with you…she said she had. You were right there, Caden. You didn’t deny it.”
He stares at me with fury emanating from his usually placid features. “I don’t remember that, Summer. I don’t recall that question. Or her answer.”
I hold up a quelling palm. “Caden, it was the first time I had caught you in a lie. It wasn’t the last—”
“Bullshit, Bambi. I don’t fucking lie. It’s a dirty habit and one I’m not prone to.”
Still, I can’t let it go. Not after fifteen years of having that confirmation from my old friend’s lips play on my mind daily. “I know what I heard. You’ll not convince me otherwise.”
My tone escalates as I begin to doubt my own memories, and the idea of that makes me really damn angry, but before I can say any more, Caden catches my hand and pulls me to rise.
“Summer St James, so help me, because you are driving me insane.”
I open my mouth to speak, but he places his forefinger atop my lips, stopping me.
“Now listen to me. I have loved you since I was eight years old. You were my first kiss. Theonlywoman Imade loveto. Hell, I stayed celibate for a fucking decade after you straight-up vanished! I travelled to every corner of the damn globe for ten long years after you left, searching for your face among the crowds. Praying to a god I don’t believe in that you were around the next corner—willing myself to believe you were out there, somewhere, just waiting to be found. That you hadn’t just disappeared like a thief in the night, taking my heart with you—”
I inhale sharply through my nose and attempt to step back, but Caden’s free hand snakes around the nape of my neck, holding me firmly in place.
“No, Bam. If I’ve had to live with the pain, then the least you can do ishearit, okay?”
My eyes well with tears as I give him the barest hint of a nod.
“Earlier, when I said that I let other people guide my life, I meant it. Up until the age of twenty-six, I was so preoccupied with finding you that I had no other goals in life. I travelled extensively, Layla in tow, if for no other reason than to keep her safe from her-fucking-self. I hired a P.I., but he never found a trace…I thought you were dead…”
A tear slips down my cheek as a matching one slides from his own pain-filled orbs.
“Noah said I needed to get my shit together. To move on from you becauseclearlyyou just didn’t want to be found, so he signed me to Spellman Sounds and went on to form Misdirection…but being a singer was Archer’s dream, not mine…”
He trails off as hesitancy plays across his wounded features. When he speaks again, his words are a bare whisper.
“Youwere my dream. A life with you, that’sallI wanted.”
