Chapter 14
14
Charley
W ho knew having multiple orgasms would be such a mood booster?
For the first time while I’m doing the mundane tasks in the morning, it doesn’t feel like a life sentence. Scramble the eggs. Fry up the bacon. I can text Cade if I want. Make the toast. Pour the orange juice. I could even see him soon if I want.
My phone dings, and I take it out of my pocket.
Cade: Good morning, Sunshine. I still wish you would’ve let me drive you home last night. You’re not letting me be chivalrous.
I smile, tapping the side of my glittering purple case.
Me: At least I texted you this time.
Cade: Sounds like you want a reward…
Why does everything out of this man’s mouth sound so dirty? He could charm the pants off a nun, I swear.
Me: I don’t know if my body can take it.
Cade: Well, now you just threw down a challenge.
I slip my phone away before my cheeks turn to ashes alongside Dad’s breakfast. I fill up his plate and take it out to him. A newscaster drones on in the background while I return for my own plate and juice.
It’s been a while since I ate with my dad. When I was growing up, we ate every meal together. Then, one day, everything changed. I can’t remember the exact day, but there had to have been a definitive cutoff. The day he went from being a participating member of the family to deciding life was too much.
He started eating his meals right where he is now, and it hasn’t changed in years. For a year or so, I ate with him. Then I switched back to the dining room table like I saw everyone on TV doing. But then I realized it was just me. And one person doesn’t make a family.
So I decided then and there that I would eat wherever I wanted. Well, today, for no other reason than I want to, I set my plate on the tray and start to eat alongside Dad.
The thing about eating with a recluse, though, is that you can’t ask them normal questions. Questions about the weather were out. Questions about whether they saw the accident on Main Street yesterday were out. It makes for limited conversation, but Dad glances over at me out of the corner of his eye while I shovel scrambled eggs into my mouth.
“ Mmm .” My eyes close. The perfect amount of garlic.
“What’s that?” he asks.
My eyes fly open. I nearly forgot that I wasn’t by myself. “The eggs are good,” I say, and it feels like I’m holding my hand out, waiting to see if he’s going to grab it or not. He still hasn’t spoken to me much since the away game.
“They are,” he mutters.
I can’t help my eyebrows from shooting up. I can’t remember him ever giving me a compliment on my food before. The only thing out of his mouth were orders on what to make, though he’s relaxed on that a bit. Except for when I tried to cook him healthy meals.
Avocados. Egg whites. Chicken breast. Broccoli.
He screamed at me like I’d taken someone’s life. That’s when it dawned on me that, to him, it probably was like that. Food is his life.
Nowadays, I cycle through old staples. Or I order out and have it delivered. The decision-making is all mine, but I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or if it’s another example of Dad pulling away from his life.
I polish off a piece of toast with my orange juice and then head upstairs to brush my teeth before taking Dad’s plate into the kitchen and rinsing it off. On the TV, the news is showing footage from a fire in the next town over. “Sandwiches are in the fridge,” I remind him while I grab my bag. “Practice is tonight, so I’ll order you a pizza?”
He grunts in response, so I take that as a yes.
“Bye, Dad,” I tell him, lingering behind his chair. In so many ways, he doesn’t look like the Dad that I remember. Except from the back. His light-brown hair is getting shaggy again. I’ll have to cut it soon. “Love you. See you later.”
I walk toward the door, and I see him turn to face me from the corner of my eye, but I keep walking. He never says it back. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard those words from him, but for whatever reason, today it doesn’t sting as much.
I start off for school, grimacing at the front yard again. It’s been a week—two?—since the neighbors asked me to mow, and I still haven’t done it yet. I need to add that to my to-do list because it looks worse now.
I put it right out of my head and keep the smile on my face as I walk to campus. Every day, the air is getting brisker. This morning, my breath makes clouds in front of my face. But once the sun has been out longer, it won’t be as cold.
Turning down the next block, I almost stumble when I spot a vehicle ahead that comes to a stop and reverses before heading in my direction. It’s not her vehicle, that’s for sure. Unless she got a new one… My stomach starts to churn. She hasn’t tried to make contact in years, and I wouldn’t know what to say if she did.
Part of me wants to run back to my house because that’s the last place she would show up, but instead, I straighten my shoulders and keep walking, chin in the air.
The car slows, and I start walking faster. The window rolls down. “Sunshine, what the hell are you doing? Didn’t you see me waving at you?”
“Cade?” I freeze in place, peering over at the car. It’s sleek and black, not new but trendy with a low profile.
The driver’s side door opens, and Cade unfurls himself from the seat like he’s running out of the tunnel before a football game—all swagger with a cocky smile.
My knees go weak when he saunters toward me. “Who else would be following my baby around?” He grabs my hand and maneuvers me with my backside to the car, my feet on the cusp of the curb as he leans in close. “I needed to see you.”
Like a jack-in-the-box, my heart jumps in my chest violently. “But you don’t know where I live.”
“I saw you leave one day, so I knew you were out this way. I just didn’t know exactly where.”
“It could be anywhere,” I stammer. Getting the full force of Cade’s charm is overwhelming on a good day, but when he has his perfect body pressed against mine, my mind blitzes out.
He shrugs. “I guess I’m just good. Or lucky. I’ll take either.”
My brain fries as he lowers his gaze to my lips. He’s going to kiss me. I can feel it in my bones. What scares me most is the way I want him to. Like I need it more than my next breath.
“I needed to do something,” he says softly, then moves forward, his lips covering mine. Slow at first, like he’s letting me get used to the idea, then all bets are off when I start to kiss him back. He groans low in his throat, then nips at my lips before sliding his tongue against mine in a dance of desire.
As embarrassing as it is, I’ve never been kissed like this. The way it makes my heart ache and my core clench is like the perfect opposites. Cade reaches down to grab my ass, and I moan into his mouth. Every time I think he’s going to end it, he returns for another taste, his hand coming up to grip the hair at the nape of my neck. I follow along for the ride, using the crash course he’s giving me to kiss him back. A swoop of my tongue, a shared press of lips while we wrangle our breaths before we do it all over again.
It’s the longest kiss in history. I used to feel bad, thinking I was so far behind than everyone else my age, but this kiss makes up for it. Cade’s gentle but insistent touch. The way his arms grip me. It’s an experience felt with my whole body, from the curling of my toes to the frantic flutters of my heart.
“Goddamn, Sunshine,” he groans against my lips. “I didn’t know what I was missing.”
I swallow, waiting until I can form words. “I think that’s my line.” His breath still fans over my lips, and despite the cold, my cheeks are on fire. “You kiss like you give oral. It’s an adventure.”
He drops his forehead to mine. “What are you trying to do to me? I’m already addicted. I’ll take you to my room right now and we’ll explore every part of each other.”
“Every?”
“I want to know every inch of your body, Charley Heywood. I want to decipher every sigh, every moan. Our perfect language, just for us.”
“I knew it. You really are a Romeo.”
“I swear, I keep time now by the last time you texted. The last time I heard your voice. The last time I saw you.” He leans down to press his lips against mine, encouraging me to open for him. I do, and we lose track of time again, savoring one another.
Finally, he pulls away. “I think my favorite way to tell time now is this. When my lips were last on yours.” The corner of his mouth turns up. “Mmm, it’s been an eternity.”
He shifts forward, and I meet him in the middle, swiping my tongue across his seam until he opens for me. Reaching up, I graze his cheekbones with the pad of my fingers, then trace down his chiseled jawline. “You make me want to forget everything I should be doing today.”
“Don’t tempt me.” His gaze moves above my head, and his lips pull apart into a grin. “We should get going. There’s a lady over there walking her dog, and she keeps side-eyeing us.”
I bite my lip as Cade opens the passenger door for me. The smell of vanilla hits me, and I peer over to find an air freshener hanging in his car below the rearview mirror. Other than a ChapStick in one of the cup holders and his bag in the back seat, the interior is immaculate. Heat blows in my face, so I adjust the vents. It’s been a very long time since I was in the front seat of a car. Dad sold his years ago when he couldn’t drive anymore. Now, I walk to the grocery store and back. Perks of living in a walkable town, I guess.
I feel like a princess when Cade gets in the driver’s seat and reaches over to put his hand on my thigh.
I don’t know what otherworldly being made Cade Farmer, but I’m glad they did.
“Part of me wants to whisk you away, but…”
“Life?”
“Commitments,” he corrects. “Right now, I don’t care if it’s football, classes, or a lunch with my mom, I’d rather be with you.”
A warmth spreads in my chest. “But commitments.”
“But commitments,” he agrees. His eyes spark a little. “However, after those commitments, you’re mine.”
I don’t know how anyone expects me to pay attention in class thinking about Cade’s promise, but I get through the day doing just that. I look for him after exiting every room. I even walk through the cafeteria in between classes, scanning the rowdy football tables for Cade.
While taking notes in class, I write his name in the margins. Something in my head tells me I’m too old for that, but I have my first boy—friend? Yeah, that sounds nice. I’ve come to the conclusion that since I have my first boyfriend, it doesn’t matter what age I am, I can let part of me turn to goo. I’m so sickeningly sweet inside, I might as well be made of liquid candy.
It isn’t until after my last class of the day when I finally see him. I peer up and find Cade waiting at the exit. This time, he’s already smirking, his smoldering brown eyes teasing me whether he realizes it or not. “Come eat with me. A few of us are going to Richie’s before practice.”
“Oh, I don’t have any money,” I stammer out.
“I wouldn’t let you pay if you did, Sunshine.”
My throat suddenly thickens at the idea of eating with a bunch of other football players. What if they don’t like me? What if they tell Cade he can do better?
He walks forward and places his hand on my cheek. “The fact that you look so scared right now is driving me crazy. They’re good guys. And if you feel uncomfortable, we can leave. Promise.”
Nerves claw at my skin. I know it can’t just be me and Cade alone all the time, but I’ve barely gotten used to having him around.
“There are big, thick milkshakes and burgers the size of your head.”
“I’ve been to Richie’s before,” I tell him. “Not in a while, but I’ve been.”
“Then you know it would be a bad idea to pass it up. At the very least, you get fed an amazing meal. If you happen to make some new friends, even better.”
“You won’t leave me out, right?”
He pulls me close, placing a kiss on my temple. “If anything, I’ll be ignoring everyone else.”
The drive to Richie’s takes barely any time at all. When we park, I peer out the windshield, noting the differences. I haven’t been here since I was a kid, so everything looks newer. Fresher.
The sign outside matches the logo from the food delivery app. My dad asks me to order from here occasionally, but it isn’t as often as he used to. He once told me he and my mom came here on a date. Richie’s has been a staple in Warner for over fifty years.
I get out of the car and meet Cade at the front. Immediately, I grab his hand, more for support than any sign of affection. He smiles at me just the same, though, the curve of his mouth is so wide that it reaches his ears.
The bell above the door chimes, and it knocks me out of the staring contest I was having with Cade’s lips. The smell of greasy burgers and fries fills my senses. Overhead, the song from Footloose plays, lulling my nerves until Cade leads me to a table.
A big, hulking figure stands. “Charley, nice to formally meet you. I’m West Brooks. This is my girlfriend, Kenna.”
“Hi,” I force out, smiling so hard my eyes start to water in the corners. They both smile politely at me, easing my anxiety some.
“This is Bailey,” Cade says, motioning to the blonde-haired girl sitting next to a taller player with brown hair.
“Hi.” I grin wider when the word comes out steadier than the previous one.
“Okay, jackass,” the tall guy says.
“I just thought it was better to introduce your better half first.”
The other player, also wearing a Warner University football jacket, holds out his hand. “I’m Aidan Michaels.”
“Aidan, hi.” His name I recognize. Only because I remember them saying it over the speaker system when Cade caught the game-winning pass last weekend. Michaels to Farmer. Thirty-eight-yard reception with fifteen seconds left on the clock.
West and Kenna scoot down, and to my surprise, Cade sits next to West so I can have the outside. “You good?” he asks once I settle next to him.
“Yep. Perfect.”
Two things I learn right away is that Bailey is a Chatty Cathy, and Aidan watches her like she hung the moon. It’s too adorable for words.
Kenna and West talk too, but they’re more selective with their conversation. Unsurprisingly, Cade is also a talker. I swear he, Aidan, and Bailey could talk about the finer points of floor laminate without having any actual knowledge.
To Cade’s credit, he never pushes me to talk and lets me add my input in my own time. He doesn’t outwardly express surprise when I do contribute something, but he squeezes my thigh under the table as if to encourage me.
I’m barely stressed at all anymore. The guys have gone off on a tangent about their next opponent, and Bailey has her phone out, tapping away at the keyboard.
When my roast beef sandwich is placed in front of me, I take a big sniff. “This is just like I remember having when I was a kid.”
“Oh, you like roast beef sandwiches? Did your grandma used to make them?” Bailey asks. “Mine did.”
I blink at her, not realizing I spoke out loud. I was actually talking about the dish from this very diner, but since no one knows I’m from Warner, I say, “Yeah, same.”
People can forgive a little white lie, can’t they?
But as I lift the first bite to my mouth, I wonder how and when I should tell Cade about my dad…