19. Kade
CHAPTER NINETEEN
KADE
W atching her fall apart from a distance is its own brand of torture.
And that’s coming from someone who has actually been tortured on multiple occasions.
I’d take that every day of the week over watching Waverly get herself off from afar while she watches Sienna and Micah onstage.
I’ll admit, the scene they’ve just played out was hot as fuck, but I could barely drag my eyes off my girl for long enough to watch them. She was mesmerizing. Every bite of her lip, every tremor through her body, every time my brother whispered something against her ear, it was more than I ever could have hoped to witness.
You’d think after following her for years and having at least one camera in her apartment at any time that I would have caught her masturbating before now, but she either doesn’t do it, or she does it in the shower, because that’s the only room I’ve never had a camera in.
As she comes down from her release, her eyes shift from relaxed and satisfied to anxious and afraid. The change is so sudden, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen one like it flicker through her pretty green gaze.
Emmett seems to notice immediately, but she climbs over him so quickly that the poor motherfucker can’t get a hold of her before she flees toward the bathroom on the opposite side of the stage from where I’m standing.
My twin watches every step she takes before she disappears, looking torn between following her and giving her the space she clearly wants.
Too bad for Waverly that I’m not a good man like my brother is.
I’ll never give her space to run.
Never give her room to slip through my fingers.
Never allow her to put herself in a situation where she could be hurt.
Emmett sighs and rubs his hand over his face, giving me the chance to slip from the shadows and stalk after the dark-haired goddess that has us both tied up in knots.
If you had told me all those years ago when I watched him help her over the back fence of her father’s home that we would both be here, stalking her in our own ways, I wouldn’t have believed you for a second. But the intrigue I had in the girl grew the more I followed her, until it bloomed into a full-blown obsession.
The club has been clearing out for the last half hour or so, and the only stragglers are those in the private rooms and anyone who stuck around to watch Micah and Sienna, which, lucky for me, means the bathroom is empty, and when I flick my eyes around the emptying club, no one is looking my way as I slip into the ladies room.
I turn and lean against the door, keeping my body firmly between Waverly and the exit to make sure she can’t run. I catch sight of myself in the mirror across the room and run my fingers through my hair so it more closely matches Emmett’s and slip my hands into my pockets as I wait.
Despite not growing up in a normal household with a mother that dresses her twins in identical outfits at every opportunity, it doesn’t feel strange to match Emmett now, and it’s definitely coming in handy like I hoped it would.
The only closed door swings open, and Waverly appears. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are bloodshot, making me desperate to go to her, to comfort her, but I force myself to remain rooted in place.
If I want to continue to pretend to be my brother, I need to adopt some of his attributes, even if they don’t come naturally to me. The first one being patience. If I bombard her now, she could run from us both, and that’s not acceptable. It’s not safe for her.
She catches sight of me in the mirror and lets out the most adorable squeak I think I’ve ever heard, and the sound does something to my usually stagnant heart. Sure, the thing keeps me alive, beating away in my chest, pumping blood through my body. But it rarely feels anything. Except for when it comes to this woman.
“What are you doing in here?” she snaps as she turns to face me with her hands poised on her hips. There’s a natural fight in Waverly that has always drawn me to her. I saw it the first time I ever followed her. She was such a tiny thing even though she was less than a year younger than Emmett and me. It took me a while to track her down, I’ll give her that. She ran faster and further than I expected, and even with the resources at my disposal, she made me work for it.
Maybe that’s where my obsession with her began. The chase that started it all. And I haven’t looked back since.
“You’re running,” I say simply, folding my arms across my chest to keep them from touching her.
She watches me for a second before shaking her head and turning back to the mirror, muttering something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like, “That’s what I’m good at.”
“You shouldn’t be in here,” she says. She leans against the basin, taking deep breaths that make me desperate to close the distance between us.
I don’t think I’ve ever comforted anyone in my life, but for some reason that’s all I want to do for her right now.
“Neither should you,” I challenge.
She huffs out a sigh and finally turns back to face me. The red splotches across her cheeks are beginning to fade, but the evidence of her tears still soaks her cheeks. “That can’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
“Because it can’t.”
“That’s not a reason.” I’m being more confrontational than Emmett would ever be, but she needs a push that he’s not going to give her. It’s been a decade of running and of us chasing. It’s about time we took what belongs to us, so she needs to get on board.
“I’m not interested in you.”
“Lie.”
Her eyes widen, and I quirk a brow up at her, challenging her to continue the argument we both know she’s going to lose. “I’m not interested in a relationship.”
“Okay.” I shrug. “We can keep things casual.” Emmett may not be on board for that, but he’s going to have to be if he wants the girl.
“I don’t do casual.”
I sigh and shove myself off the door, closing the distance between us in a few long strides. Her eyes widen with every step I take toward her, but she’s trapped against the basin.
Once she’s in reach, I lift a hand and wrap it around her throat, tilting her face up to meet mine. “This is happening, Waverly. One way or another, we’re going to be together. You just have to decide how you want that to look.”
“Are you threatening me?” She glares. Her hands press against my chest, and she shoves at me, but I don’t budge. I have at least a foot on her and a whole lot of muscle, making me almost immovable to her tiny frame.
“No, baby girl. I’m just telling you exactly how it is.” I duck my head and brush my lips across hers, allowing myself the smallest taste of the sweetest woman I’ve ever allowed myself near, but I pull back before I can take anymore from her.
She’s not ready for me yet, and once I allow myself a proper taste, I know it’ll be all over for the both of us.
“I’ll meet you in the bar to drive you home.”
Without another word, I turn and force myself to walk away from her. I swing the door open and meet Emmett’s dark eyes across the bar. I give him a smirk before strolling toward the front of the building.
I’ll be seeing them both back at her apartment, even if neither of them is aware of it.