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Planting his hands on the car, he bent and poked his head inside, bold as you please, his gaze flitting all over my face. “You all right, Addison?” A careful but loaded question.
I gave him an easy smile. “Yup. Fine.” I’d first met him back when I had my little fling with Dax. He was just as much an alpha as his older brother, not to mention a walking advertisement for sex.
The brothers looked alike in some ways, but Caelan didn’t have Dax’s mismatched eyes—his were a rich brown, and he also had the powerful build of a cage fighter. Probably because he used tobea cage fighter.
Caelan’s eyelids drooped a little. “You didn’t look fine a moment ago.”
“I just got lost in thought, that’s all,” I said with an airy shrug.
His gaze—too perceptive, too knowing—remained locked with mine. I didn’t let my smile falter or allow what I felt to bleed onto my face. But it didn’t appear to be making much of a difference.
He lifted a doubtful brow. “I look like someone you can bullshit?”
“Totally.”
His mouth twitched, but he quickly wiped the almost-smile from his face.
“Caelan?” a voice called out.
Tracking it, I saw an unfamiliar male standing a few car-spaces away.
Caelan inched his head out of my window and lifted it.
“You got a minute?” the stranger asked. “It’s important.”
A rough sigh. “Give me a sec.” Caelan once more inserted his big, nosy head into my car and caught my gaze, his eyes searching mine. “You sure you’re okay to drive right now?”
“Yes,” I replied, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel. “As I said before, I’m fine. And I really have to get going.”
He let out a resigned sigh that was laced with irritation. “All right.”
I forced another easy smile. “Take care.”
“You too, Addison.” He ducked his head out of the car, straightened, gave the hood a light slap, and then stepped back. “Drive safely. And welcome to the family.” With that, he waltzed away.
I felt my jaw drop. He knew. He knew about the pact.
I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised. He and Dax were very close, so they were bound to share such things with each other. After all, I’d told my sister about it—at this point, she felt certain I’d go through with the wedding. Evidently, so did Caelan.
Driving off, I wondered how they could be so sure whileIkept bouncing back and forth in my head fromOkay, I’ll marry himtoI’d be nuts to do this.
Even though the final preparations for an upcoming wedding I’d organized—one that would be taking place in just two days—consumed a lot of my attention, I found myself constantly chewing on Dax’s proposal and all that Brooks had advised me to consider.
Could I marry someone who took justice into his own hands and who broke the law when it suited him? Well … I certainly wouldn’t blame Dax for it. What had the law ever done for him? Nothing. But then, I supposed I wasn’t the sort to be fazed by that when I’d been raised by a man who disregarded the law on occasion. So yes, I could handle it.
Could I marry someone whose connection to a deceased death row convict would potentially touch my life at times? I’d be an absolute bitch if I held it against Dax, which I didn’t. It wasn’t his choice. Wasn’t something he had any control over. So yes, I could handle that, too.
Could I marry someone who I might never get emotionally close to? As it happened … though it might be incredibly sad, I actually could. This man wouldn’t be able to hurt me, because he didn’t have that power over my emotions. And if anything tragic were to happen to him, I would of course find it absolutely awful, but it wouldn’t destroy me.
They said it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. But when you’d lost again and again and again, you started to wonder if maybe that was pure bullshit.
But that was the thing … I didn’t like that I’d emotionally thrown in the towel. I didn’t like that I could so easily turn my back on searching for something I’d once treasured the thought of finding. It seemed wrong. Unnatural. Sad.
As such, I was still struggling to make a decision on what to do. Though, if I was honest, the more I thought about it the more I leaned toward saying yes. So maybe Caelan and Alicia were right to be confident I’d follow through with my promise to Dax. Maybe.
Chapter Five
“The vicar is cute.”
