Chapter 27 Grae
GRAE
“Thanks for picking me up,” I said as I dropped my backpack onto the floorboard of Roan’s truck and buckled my seat belt.
He simply grunted and started the engine.
I glanced over at my second eldest brother. I’d become an expert in reading his facial expressions over the years. I had to be when his words were so few and far between. “What’s wrong?”
Roan kept his eyes on the road as he pulled into traffic. He didn’t say anything for a few moments. That was the thing about Roan. When he did speak, he chose his words carefully. “Worried about you.”
My heart clenched. Crud. I hadn’t thought about how all of this might be affecting Roan.
While he had the gruffest exterior of all my brothers, he was the most sensitive.
Maybe because he was such an observer of the world and took everything on his shoulders, but he was an empath through and through.
“I’m okay,” I said softly. “I’m being careful. And staying with Caden means I’m behind a ridiculously over-the-top security system.”
The Peaks not only had guarded gates but also people patrolling the grounds. They had to when their guests ranged from billionaires to celebrities to world dignitaries.
Roan’s gaze flicked to me. “How’s that going?”
My mouth curved. “You want to talk about my boyfriend?”
He grumbled something indiscernible under his breath.
I just laughed. Roan wanting to have girl talk wasn’t something I was used to. “It’s good. Really good.”
I couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice.
Roan slowed at a stop sign, studying me more carefully. “He going to stick around?”
My stomach tightened at the question. “We haven’t gotten that far. We’re taking things one day at a time.”
Roan grunted. “Don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Relationships pretty much guarantee you’re going to get hurt at some point. That’s life.”
“Don’t get why people put themselves in that situation,” he mumbled. “Dumb.”
I stared at my brother. He was so kind—gentler than anyone would ever expect—and it broke my heart that he was so dead set on not allowing anyone into his life.
“Sometimes, I think how much we open ourselves to potential pain is the same amount we make ourselves available to joy. You can’t have one without the other.”
Roan’s grip on the wheel tightened as he turned onto the road that led to The Peaks. “I’ve got plenty of joy.”
But I wasn’t so sure about that. It wasn’t that Roan didn’t have good things. He did. He had our family, a job he loved, and a house that was his haven. But I couldn’t imagine that he wasn’t lonely. And that made an ache settle deep in my chest.
Roan slowed at the gatehouse as a security guard stepped out.
“Welcome to The Peaks. Are you a registered guest?” the guard asked.
I leaned across the cab of Roan’s truck. “I’m staying with Caden Shaw.” I handed him my ID.
“Ms. Hartley. Welcome back.” His gaze flicked to Roan. “I’ll need your ID, as well, sir. Just to make sure you’re on the list.”
Roan grunted and handed him his driver’s license.
The man referenced a tablet and then nodded. “Please, go right ahead.”
The gate instantly began to open.
Roan scoffed as he rolled up his window.
“Shut up,” I mumbled.
“Too fancy.”
“It’s a resort,” I defended.
Roan just shook his head and kept driving.
A couple of minutes later, he was pulling up to Caden’s house. He put his truck in park and then shocked me by pulling me into a hug. “Please, be careful.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I hugged Roan back. “I am. I promise.”
A second later, Roan released me. “Call me if you need me.”
“I will.” I grabbed my bag and slid out of the truck.
Making my way up the steps, I pulled out the key Caden had given me, then unlocked the door and stepped inside. “It’s me.”
The alarm beeped, and I hurried to punch in the code. I shut the door behind me, locking it and rearming the security system.
“Caden?”
There was no answer, but I’d seen his G-Wagon in the drive, so I knew he was home. Maybe he was getting a workout in downstairs.
I headed down the hall and into the living room, pulling up short.
Caden sat on the large sectional, staring out the back windows. His expression held nothing but defeat and maybe a healthy dose of grief.
Everything in me constricted. “Caden?”
He turned to face me, lines of strain around his eyes. “Hey, Gigi.”
I crossed the room, sinking onto the sofa and letting my bag fall to the floor. “What happened?”
Caden shook his head. “Nothing. Nothing new, anyway.”
Anger stoked deep in my belly. “Your dad or your brother?”
“Gabe. Started shit during a meeting with the event planner. Mom got so upset she ran off crying.”
God, I wanted to junk-punch that man. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t think I can keep doing this. I think my being here is only making things worse.”
My breath caught in my throat. “You want to leave?”
Caden looked at me then. “It’s the last thing I want to do.”
I swallowed down my panic and took his hand. “Do you think it’s time to consider finding another job?”
It killed me to say it because I knew the chances of that job allowing him to stay in Cedar Ridge were slim to none. And what would that mean for us?
Caden’s hand tightened around mine. “I’ve fought for this for so long. To make my dad proud. To make Clara proud.”
My thumb traced an infinity symbol on the back of his hand. “You know Clara would be proud of you. But that’s not because of anything you’ve done with any hotel. It’s because of the man you are. Kind, loyal, caring.”
Caden’s fingers pulsed around mine.
I took a deep breath. “But I don’t think you’ll ever get that from your father. You could save the world from nuclear disaster, and he’d still find fault in you.”
A sad smile pulled at Caden’s lips. “Am I a superhero now?”
“You know what I mean. He lives to pick you apart, and it kills me that you let him.”
Caden’s jaw hardened. “I keep thinking if I try hard enough, if I become more of the man he expects me to be—”
“Screw that!” I snapped. “That just means you’d become like him, and that’s not a very good person. You’re better than he’ll ever be, and I don’t want you to lose that.”
Caden shifted, framing my face in his hands. “You make me want to be a better man.”
I closed the distance between us, brushing my lips across his. “You don’t need to be better. You’re already the best.”
He wrapped his arms around me. “I’ll start looking to see what else is out there.”
I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “Good.”
“We’ll find a way, Gigi. I’m not going to lose you when I just got you.”
I burrowed into his hold. “I don’t want to lose you either.”
The beeping sound pulled me from sleep, and I shifted in Caden’s hold, groaning.
“What time is it?” he grumbled.
I sat up and reached for my phone. An alert from my glucose monitor flashed on the screen. Crud.
I swung my feet over the side of the bed.
Caden sat, instantly on alert. “What’s wrong?”
“My blood sugar’s trending down. I need to get some juice.”
He quickly got to his feet.
“You don’t need to get up with me.”
Worry filled his eyes. “Of course, I do.”
I pressed my thumbnail into the pad of my forefinger to keep from snapping at him. “I’m used to this. It’s no big thing.”
But Caden still followed me into the kitchen. My phone alerted again as my blood sugar dipped lower. I picked up my pace, grabbing the orange juice from the fridge.
Caden was waiting with a glass, and I filled it.
“What can I do?” he asked, concern lacing his words.
“Can you grab me a protein bar?”
He nodded, disappearing into the pantry.
I chugged the juice.
Caden unwrapped the bar and handed it to me. “What will this do?”
I took a bite and chewed. “I need the instant jolt of the sugar in the juice, but this will help slow the absorption because there’s fat and protein.”
My alarm went off again, and I muttered a non-curse.
He gripped the edge of the counter. “Maybe we should go to the hospital.”
I shook my head. “This happens sometimes. Hopefully, I can get it in check.”
“Hopefully?” Caden gritted out.
I winced. “Occasionally, I get into a cycle that’s harder to break. But I’ve got the pump for a reason.”
“But it’s clearly not doing its job,” he growled.
I took another bite of the protein bar. “It is. My body just gets out of whack sometimes.”
A muscle along Caden’s jaw ticked. “What do we do now?”
“We?”
Annoyance flickered in those hazel eyes. “You and me. We’re a team. I’m not leaving you to deal with this alone.”
Pressure built behind my eyes. That was exactly how I’d dealt with my disease for most of my life. Alone. Because when I let people in, they tended to hover and try to take over, thinking they knew best. But here Caden was, simply wanting to help. To support me however he could.
I cleared my throat. “Now we go back to bed.”
He looked somewhat skeptical.
“My alarm will wake me up if I need to do anything. Maybe grab another bar just in case?”
Caden nodded and dipped into the pantry again. He reemerged with the entire box, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
He shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.”
I poured myself another glass of juice in case I needed it, and we headed back to his bedroom.
We climbed into bed, and Caden pulled me into his arms. It was then that I felt the tremble in his muscles. I looked up at him. “Are you okay?”
He stared down at me, so much emotion in his eyes. “Nothing can happen to you.”
The thread of panic in those words set me on edge. “I’ll be fine.”
Caden held me tighter. “Promise me.”
“I promise.” But I wasn’t sure those words were truly mine to give.