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“I mean, when I came home from the hospital, all of his stuff was missing. He had been threatening to leave me for years. He finally did it. I don’t think he’s coming back. I don’t think you have to worry about him anymore.”
“Cage!” A voice called from behind me.
I turned. It was my boss.
“You can’t leave the desk unattended.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll be right there.”
I turned back to Quin.
“I don’t know what to say about what happened to you, to both of you. All I can tell you is that I’m sorry. I never meant to put you in a spot like that. If you don’t want to ever speak to me again, I get it. But, I wish you would. Maybe we could just get together and talk?”
“Cage!”
“Coming! Please, Quin. Please,” I said not wanting to leave his soft, vulnerable eyes but knowing I had to.
Chapter 11
Quin
“You know that if you go talk to him and his father finds out, you’re putting everyone you know at risk, right? Including me,” Lou asked.
Lou was right and that was the reason I never replied to any of Cage’s texts. I wanted to. When they appeared on my phone it would tear me apart. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to take care of him and relax in his arms. But I couldn’t.
Cage’s father stuck a knife into my stomach in a hospital. He broke skin. It was still bleeding when I got home. I didn’t doubt that he was capable of pushing a little harder and slicing me open. And even though I was willing to risk my life to be with Cage, I wasn’t willing to risk Lou’s life or my parents’.
“He said his father was gone,” I reminded Lou.
“But, what does that mean? Gone for the weekend? Gone for a vacation? Will he be back in a week or a month?”
“If you don’t want me to talk to him, I won’t. I’m not going to put you in danger. Tell me not to and we’ll leave through the back door right now.”
I tried not to look desperate to get his approval but I couldn’t help it. Everything in me pleaded for him to say it was okay. I needed to talk to Cage. The pain of being away from him kept me from eating and sleeping. Lou had suggested coming to the activity center because all I had the strength to do was lie in bed and he was worried about me.
“Lamb Chop, you can’t not see him because of me. You know I can’t do that to you.”
“How about this? I could talk to him and find out if his father is really gone. If I get the sense that he could be back at any minute, or if he’s coming back at all, I’ll walk away. In that case, it wouldn’t be because of you. It will be because I can’t trust him. And, if I can’t trust him, then what would be the point of being with him?”
Lou smiled. “Well, there’s a little more to being with someone than that. But I appreciate what you’re saying.”
He closed his eyes and sighed with resignation.
“I trust you, Lamb Chop. Go talk to him. I know you wouldn’t put me or anyone you cared about in danger. And, for what it’s worth, I don’t think Cage would put you in that situation either.”
“You sure, Lou. Because I don’t have to.”
Lou chuckled. “You have to. Don’t pretend that you don’t. Go. I’ll just be here climbing this wall on my own.”
Lou looked around and spotted a cute, dark-skinned guy putting on climbing shoes.
“Unless I can get that scrumptious bit of man meat to tie me up.”
“Isn’t the phrase, ‘Tie you in’?”
“You heard what I said. Go. I have some rope work to do.”
I watched as Lou walked over to the guy and struck up a conversation with him. That was immediately followed by Lou stretching in front of him. The guy was interested.
