Chapter 29
29
brIAR
F ate wasn’t a thing Briar Hawthorne could escape. No matter where she went, what she did, or who she talked to it was fate. She’d tried to dodge it when she was young but matter what she did fate always found a way to get her where it wanted her.
She had eventually learned to just go with the flow. It was easier that way.
Which was why she found herself wandering aimlessly through an airport trying to find the person fate was pulling her towards. She was studying faces and trying to pump herself up for another reading when it happened.
Usually she was so careful about touching people, but she was in an airport and there were just so many people to worry about that she couldn’t keep track of them all.
So when she bumped shoulders and lived through a torture session, she was shocked and horrified. It immediately made her cry. She’d never endured torture before. But this person had recently undergone torture .
Briar stood stock still as the rest of this woman’s life whirled in her mind.
Caden Quinn. Mercenary. Sometimes a thief. Ezra: dead. Quinn: dead. Her fault. Nathan Savage: a shining beacon in the darkness that was Caden’s life. Death, murder, suicide, guilt—so much guilt.
Briar cried harder.
This was the person fate was pulling her towards.
Caden Quinn and her fucked up life.
“Excuse me.” Tears still streaming down her face, Briar went after Caden. “Excuse me!” Too loud, people turned around to eye her and the commotion she was making. The amount of times she’d been embarrassed because of her goddamned gift was staggering. She was used to it now.
Finally, Caden turned around.
“Hi, Caden?”
The woman was shorter than her and pale. Unstyled dark hair fell to her shoulders and darker eyes looked startled at her name being spoken. Her face was sharp and angular. Her dark brows were pulled down in consternation.
“My name is Briar Hawthorne. Nice to meet you.” She didn’t offer her hand but nodded and smiled.
“Do I know you?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know my name?”
Now, this was always the part she hated. No one ever believed her, and she sounded ridiculous. Besides the fact that there wasn’t a name close enough to do justice to what she could do. So she always just settled on psychic.
“I’m psychic.” Which never went over well.
“And I’m a duck.” The woman rolled her eyes and turned on her heel to leave.
“Wait!” Briar caught her elbow and was assaulted with even more of Caden’s miserable life. “Wait, please. Can I talk to you for a second?” Briar ignored the tears streaming down her face and tried not to look entirely pathetic.
“Why? There’s a whole airport full of other people for you to harass.” She gestured around her and huffed out an annoyed breath.
“There’s something important you need to hear.”
Caden glanced at her phone and then around at all the people coming and going and finally sighed. “Fine. What is it I need to know?”
“Do you mind if we sit down?” Briar pointed to a bench several feet away and waited for Caden to head there before she started walking.
“Okay, we’re sat. What do you have to say to me?” Impatient, the woman glanced at her phone again and then at the passing people.
Briar wasn’t sure where to start. What could she say that Caden would believe? Probably nothing.
“What would make you believe me?”
“You tell me.” She scoffed. “You’re the psychic.”
“Okay, just listen then.” How was she supposed to put this in a way that this woman would believe? “You have had a very hard life.”
“Who hasn’t?” Caden nodded and looked around like she was losing interest in their conversation quickly.
“It wasn’t your fault. None of it was.”
“Hmm,” was her only response.
Okay, so that approach wasn’t working. Time to change it up.
“Your sisters Ezra and Quinn.” That got her attention. Her demeanor shifted abruptly, a dark, threatening presence replacing her previously calm exterior. Briar threw her hands up. “Wait! Wait! Don’t become Scary-Caden.”
That seemed to deflate her a tiny bit. But she continued to look menacing.
“You have thirty seconds to explain how you know those names.”
“I already told you—I’m psychic.”
“Yeah, right.”
“It’s true.”
“Fine, if you’re psychic, how many fingers am I holding up?” Caden put a hand behind her back and arched an eyebrow at her.
“Can I touch you?”
“Sure.”
Briar gingerly touched her shoulder and was assailed with living the life of Caden Quinn once more. She had to dig through everything to find the fingers.
“You’re flipping me off.” How nice of her. “So one.”
“Wow.” Caden looked truly impressed. “Great guess.”
“It wasn’t a guess.” Briar was getting annoyed now. “I’m fucking psychic.”
“Fine, you’re psychic.” Caden rolled her eyes again and shrugged. “What is it you want to tell me?”
“Hear me out, okay? Don’t interrupt.”
“Fine.”
“Quinn being murdered by your piece of shit father wasn’t your fault. Ezra dying from breast cancer wasn’t your fault. Your team being set up and then killed wasn’t your fault.”
With each sentence, the smaller woman’s face became paler until she was as white as porcelain.
“You walking away from Nathan and the potential happiness that he represents is your fault.”
Caden’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she just shut it completely. Color slowly came back to her face. Finally, she opened her mouth.
“You don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Don’t I?” Feeling snarky, Briar made a face and said, “I am psychic, remember?”
“No, you don’t.” Caden shook her head. “Because if I had just been?—”
“Whatever you’re going to say is stupid and self-pitying.” Briar held up her hand to stop what she knew was going to be a lot of guilt and self-blame. “You were a kid, a sister, and a teammate. You are not God. Get over yourself.”
Perhaps she’d been too abrupt? Usually, Briar was much more gentle. Caden had driven her to the point of snapping, and now she regretted not keeping her cool.
“Look…” Briar rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m sorry not to be more gentle with this. But if nothing else, do it for Ezzy and Quinn. They’d want you to be happy.”
Caden looked too pale again and her eyes were distant, but at least she seemed to be contemplating what Briar had told her.
“I hope you’ll choose happiness, Caden.”
Briar straightened and walked away. She had done what she could for Caden. She had tried. And maybe that would be enough to nudge Caden toward the light.