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“Age has nothing to do with the dynamic I’m referring to.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I think it’s a relationship style you’d greatly benefit from. And you can find out if I am right. Stay here until this shit storm with Antonio passes. Let me handle everything else.”
Oh, sure. Stay here with the handsome stranger and let him take care of my every need, and cater to my very personal desires. Yeah, that’s not crazy it all…
It was so crazy, and yet, it sounded so good.
“What’s the catch?” I asked, narrowing my gaze on him. “Do I have to pimp myself out every night? Run numbers? Move drugs?”
Kade seemed to hold back a snicker and rolled his eyes. “No, none of those things. I’m part of the largest law firm in the entire country. I don’t have to resort to illegal activities to make ends meet.” Kade chuckled, in spite of our odd topic of conversation. “Just what sort of people have you been hanging around?”
“Not a good group, apparently.” I scanned his face as if searching for some sort of tell, but came up short. “Are you, like, a lawyer?”
“No, but I help represent other lawyers. I’ve got a lot of knowledge under my belt, but law school wasn’t my cup of tea.”
My eyes shifted down to his pants, wondering what else he had under his belt, but his eyes followed mine, and he smirked.
“You’re annoying as fuck.”
“What unit of measurement is that?”
“Ugh. Never mind. It’s a good thing you’re handsome or I would have been gone by now,” I fibbed. We both knew I couldn’t have gone anywhere yet.
“You think I’m handsome, Caity-bug?”
“Don’t call me that.” Deciding I had had enough of this circular conversation, I retreated to the living room. I plopped myself down on his couch and curled my legs up underneath me. He followed me, of course. I bit my lip, and glanced in his direction. “I can’t stay here, Kade.”
I wanted to. I really did. This tiny part of my heart wanted to lie and tell me that Kade was different than everyone else in my life thus far, that his concern was genuine, and that he wouldn’t let me down. My brain told me I was crazy to believe such wistful nonsense.
“Why not?”
Expelling a deep breath, I tried to pull the thoughts swirling around into my head into some sort of comprehensible explanation. “I’ve been let down by everyone starting with my parents. Those lousy good-for-nothing fucks who couldn’t even stick around to raise the baby they made together. My mother was a teen, or so I’ve heard, and my father was a druggie of some sort. I wish that I had never been born.” Tears poured down my cheeks, and it pissed me off. “Stupid, stupid,” I muttered, frustrated as fuck at how freely my emotions flowed around him, after having been kept behind carefully guarded walls for all these years. Huge tears spilled out. The faster they fell the angrier I got, but then something unexpected happened. Kade wrapped an arm around me, pulling me tightly against him, and I cried into his chest.
“Let it out, Caity-bug,” he cooed, rubbing my back. “They should have taken better care of you, but they’re not here. I’ve got you. Let it out,” he soothed.
I sobbed so fucking hard his shirt had several big soaked patches on the front of it by the time the tears subsided. A heavy burden lifted off of my heart, my shoulders, and I pushed out of his arms with a lighter touch than usual. I’d learn to gage my strength at some other point, perhaps we could work on it together.
No. No. Stop it.
You won’t seem him past tonight. This meant nothing.
Kade handed me a box of tissues.
“I’ve never shared that with anyone.” I wiped my eyes, hating how vulnerable I’d become since the minute we’d crossed paths, and his kindness irritated me even more. “I haven’t relied on anyone to help me. I’m not going to start with you.”
“Why not?” Kade cocked an eyebrow as he asked me the same question again. “Give me an actual reason.”
“I-I don’t even know you,” I said, stating the obvious.
“What do you want to know?” He leaned back against the cushions and draped one arm across the back of the couch. His fingers brushed my neck as he situated himself, and I longed for them to touch me in other places.
Goddammit. What was he doing to me? Where had that thought even come from?
“I’m an open book. Go ahead and ask me.”
“Why did you help me the other night? I’m aware of how much worse it could have been, especially if you weren’t there, but it doesn’t make sense. I could have been some crazy fugitive. A drug dealer. A thief, a hardened criminal. You knew nothing about me, and you brought me into your home!”
“You were nearly unconscious in the middle of Devil’s Park. You do know what sort of shit goes down there, right?” Kade pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath before releasing it. “I figured it would be rather obvious to you. I’ve seen bad things go down with my own eyes. It wasn’t safe for you to be there at all, especially not at night. The risk to my personal safety in case you were some nut job was worth it. Had I just left you there, I’d never have got over the guilt if I’d found out something terrible happened.”
“Okay…” I paused and considered his answer. “Well, you’re an admirable guy, but plenty of others would have let fate play out however it was meant to and not taken such a big risk.”
