Chapter 67
CADE
Our Apartment
We walk back into the apartment without saying a word.
It’s nearly two a.m. and we all are exhausted.
I drove us home from the warehouse, hands white knuckled on the wheel, trying not to look in the rearview mirror.
Bella was curled up in the backseat, quietly pressed into Lex’s side, his arm around her shoulders like a shield.
None of us spoke, we just let the weight of the night sink in.
Now, she walks through the door like a ghost. She shrugs off her leather jacket, lays it over the counter without a care. Then she disappears into the bathroom. The door clicking shut behind her.
Lex and I stand there in the entryway, both of us still catching our breath.
“You okay?” he asks, his voice low.
I don’t answer right away. I don’t know how. Finally, I shake my head. “I don’t know. That was…”
“Brutal?” he offers. “Unrelenting?” He looks toward the closed bathroom door, then back at me.
“That was Bella. That’s her darkness, Cade. The part most people don’t see until it’s too late. The part she’s had to bury so deep just to survive. Tonight? That was justice fucking served. Raw, real, and unapologetic revenge.”
I run a hand through my hair, trying to steady myself. “Are you gonna go in after her?”
“No, babe. You are.”
I blink. “Me?”
“She already knows I can pick up the pieces,” he says. “I’ve done it. I know how to hold her through it all when she breaks.” He glances toward the closed bathroom door. “But this time, you need to.”
Lex steps closer, voice soft but steady. “She needs to know both of us can pull her back from it. When the emotions get too strong, she needs to know that she doesn’t have to fight them alone. If she’s going to let you have all of her, you must see all of her. And still choose stay.”
My throat goes dry. “But what do I do? How do I help her? I’m not you, babe.”
Lex leans in and presses a kiss to my cheek. “You go in there and you figure it out.”
He walks into the kitchen like nothing happened. Like he didn’t just hand me the most important moment of my life. He grabs a glass and pours himself a drink while rubbing a hand over his face.
I go over and stand at the bathroom door, staring at it like it’s a locked vault that I don’t have the code for. Steam curls out from beneath it, thick and silent. My fingers hover over the knob. I turn it and step inside.
The room is heavy with heat. The mirror’s fogged over.
She’s on the shower floor naked, knees pulled in, back to the tile, the spray pouring over her like it’s supposed to cleanse her of everything.
She doesn’t look up. She just sits there.
Her arms wrapped around herself like she’s trying to hold her soul together.
I undress, then slide the door open, and step inside. I drop to my knees in front of her, voice barely above a breath.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
She lifts her head. Her eyes are wrecked. Red, panicked, swimming in unshed tears.
“I had to do it,” she chokes out. “I had to. For what he did to me. For,” her fingers drift to her Dylan tattoo. Her voice breaks. “Please don’t hate me, Cade. Please, please don’t leave me.”
I wrap my arms around her, pulling her in, skin to skin, heart to heart. Water soaks us both, warm but unrelenting.
“Hey,” I whisper, holding her tightly. “Shhh. I’ve got you.”
She starts to shake in my arms as the tears start to flow faster.
“Shh,” I whisper into her hair. “Just breathe, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
She gasps against my shoulder, her body trembling. I stroke her back, slow and steady, anchoring her as her tears flow freely.
“You did what had to be done,” I say against her temple. “And I’m so proud of you.”
She lets out a sob. This one different. Softer. She melts into me, letting me carry her weight. Eventually, she looks up. Eyes glassy.
“You’re not scared of me?”
I shake my head. “Never.” I lift her chin to make her look at me. “I love you.”
She stares at me like she doesn’t deserve it. “Cade, I love you too.”
I lift her off the ground in one smooth motion. Her legs wrap around my waist, her arms around my neck, and I pin her gently to the shower wall, kissing her like my life depends on it. Her fingers clutch at my shoulders, holding on like I’m the only thing keeping her alive.
I pull back. I set her feet down, slow and careful, like she’s made of something sacred. And then I drop to my knees.
“Cade…”
I look up at her, hands sliding slowly up the backs of her thighs. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
I lean in, tongue tracing her heat, already slick and begging for me.
I start slow—soft circles, gentle pressure—until I feel her knees start to tremble.
Her fingers thread into my hair, tight and desperate, but I don’t stop.
I don’t rush. I know her. I’ve learned every inch of her body like it’s art.
Like it’s holy. I know exactly how to make her come undone with my mouth, and I do, savoring every second of it.
Because this isn’t just lust.
This is love.
This is mine.
I flatten my tongue, dragging it slow and deep before thrusting it inside her, licking her open, tasting her like she’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted. Her moan echoes off the steam-slicked tiles.
I look up at her, eyes locked with hers, my mouth still warm from her skin.
I pause just long enough to whisper, “I love you so damn much, Bella.”
Then I dive back in, sucking her clit like a man starved, like I need her to survive. She rides my face like it’s the only way she remembers how to feel. Her moans grow louder, sharper. She screams my name on her lips like a prayer. A fucking hymn.
Her fingers tighten in my hair, and I feel it. The way her thighs start to tremble against my shoulders. The way her hips jerk just slightly, chasing every flick of my tongue.
She’s close. So damn close I can almost taste it.
“Cade,” she gasps, her voice cracking.
I slide one hand up to her hip, the other gripping the back of her thigh to steady her.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I murmur against her skin. “Let go for me, baby.”
She does.
Her entire body seizes for half a second, then shatters.
A strangled cry rips from her throat as her orgasm slams through her.
Her knees almost give out, but I hold her firm, tongue still working her through every wave, every aftershock.
She shakes against me, her hands flying to the slick tiles behind her searching for something to ground her.
But it’s me. I’m her anchor. And I’ve never loved her more than I do in this moment—naked, raw, broken and still completely glorious.
I press one last kiss to her inner thigh before standing slowly.
Watching as she sags back against the wall, chest heaving, cheeks flushed, eyes glassy with tears and relief.
A low whistle breaks the silence. “Well, that was fucking hot as hell,” Lex says, his voice full of that wicked cocky humor that only he could pull off after a night like this.
Bella leans her head back against the tile, still catching her breath. I glance down at her and she meets my eyes, lips twitching into a small, exhausted smile.
We both look toward Lex and just shake our heads. He’s already opening the shower door, naked and shameless. His hand wrapped firmly around his cock stroking himself for the world to see.
“You gonna stand there stroking it or get in here and do something with it, babe?” I ask, voice low and lazy.
He steps in like a predator, ice-blue eyes locked on Bella before crashing his mouth to hers with a hunger that makes my breath hitch all over again. God, I’ll never get used to this, to them. Watching them. Loving them.
Lex lifts her up, pins her to the tile, and drives into her with one brutal thrust that has her crying out into his mouth.
I wrap my hand around myself, because there’s nothing more beautiful than watching Bella unravel, especially at Lex’s hands. The way she clings to him. The way he holds her like a sinner clutching salvation.
“God you guys,” I moan, stroking myself, eyes never leaving them. “A masterpiece the two of you, I could watch this all day.”
Water rushes over them, cascading like it’s trying to wash away the madness we just survived. But it can’t. Nothing can. This right here, this is how we heal. Together. With our mouths, hands, and hearts intertwined as one.
Lex lets out a deep groan as he finishes, burying his face in Bella’s neck as her fingers claw into his back. He lowers her slowly, carefully, like she’s the most precious thing on earth. She almost slips but Lex steadies her, then glances at me.
Before I can speak, he pulls me in, grabbing the back of my neck and pressing his mouth to mine. I melt into it.
Bella’s soft voice cuts through the steam.
“Lex…” She bites her lip, all wicked and sweet. “Turn him around. Hold him still for me.” Lex grins, already gripping me. And I swear to God, I don’t know what I did in a past life to deserve this kind of love but I’m never letting it go.
Lex’s hands tighten around my arms, turning me toward Bella as my back hits his chest. I feel his breath ghost against my neck—hot, hungry, dangerous.
“Hold still, Cade” she purrs, sinking to her knees in front of me.
My heart is already pounding. She looks up at me. Her eyes, dark with mischief and fire, locking with mine as she licks her lips. She doesn’t blink, just slowly takes me into her mouth.
It’s not just the heat or the pressure or the way her tongue swirls around the head of my cock, it’s the look. That unbroken stare. Like she’s branding me from the inside out. Like she’s saying this is mine without ever having to utter a single syllable.
Lex’s lips find my neck just as she sucks me in deeper.
His kiss open-mouthed, teeth grazing just enough to make me groan.
My fingers twitch at my sides. I want to grab her hair, want to bury myself deeper, but I can’t move.
Not when Lex is holding me like this. Not when Bella’s mouth is full of me.