Chapter Twenty-One
“Jesus Christ, Kill.” Keely mumbled, scrolling through her messages. Her brother had sent over a dozen. They were a vast array of “Jay’s fine” and culminated into “where are you?”.
They’d just finished breakfast and Caine was cleaning up. She’d offered to help but he’d refused. It was an odd sight, seeing Caine so domesticated. She’d been enjoying the view but became distracted with the excessive messages.
“Blowing up your phone?” Caine asked.
“Yep. God, there’s like twenty texts and six calls. That doesn’t even include the ones from Dahlia and Charley. None from Jared though.” She tapped her finger on her lips. “Do you think he’s mad at me?”
“Why would he be?”
“This is kind of my fault.”
Caine’s stare hardened. “No, it’s not.”
“But…”
He held up his hand, silencing her. “It’s mine, and his, but it’s not yours.”
She sighed, stretching her arms across the counter, picking at the napkin. “I always thought that if two guys fought over me, I’d be sleeping with both of them. Not one sleeping with my brother.”
Caine narrowed his eyes and scowled.
She wiggled her brows. “That was a little funny.”
When Caine turned, she noticed his lips twitched.
“C’mon.” Caine started across the room, headed toward the ladder in the corner.
Was he taking her to the roof? She picked up her pace, following close behind. When he gripped the ladder in one hand, she grabbed his arm. He stilled, glancing over his shoulder.
“I thought you said no one goes up there except for you.”
“I did.”
She raised her brows. “Does that mean I have to stay down here?”
“It means I’m making an exception to my rule.”
For me. Keely didn’t even bother trying to conceal her grin.
****
Caine climbed up the ladder, unlatched the lock at the ceiling door, and pushed it open. It slammed against the floor, and he climbed out. He bent down, staring into the opening below.
“You need me to come back down?”
Keely craned her neck, and she rolled her eyes.
“You really think this is the first ladder I’ve ever been on?
” She scoffed and started up. “You should’ve seen me in high school.
I mastered all the fire escapes and could do them in record time.
I’m kind of a legend.” When she climbed out the door, he grasped her forearm, but she didn’t need any help.
“Legend, huh?”
Her eyes glinted and she winked. “Never got caught by the cops when an apartment got raided.”
Caine steeled his features and watched as she turned and stilled, taking it all in. The view was incredible, and it was surprisingly, quiet at night.
Keely glanced over at the couch and smiled. “This is such a cute setup.”
He had access to the entire roof but he’d sectioned off a small part and added furniture.
Keely passed him, grabbing his hand and leading him to the couch. She had a giddy energy when she sat, pulling him down next to her.
“Is this where you bring women to win them over?”
Caine snorted, resting his arms on his knees and looking out over the city. “Like I told you, no one is allowed up here but me.”
“And yet here I am.”
Caine slowly angled his head. “Here you are.”
“This is so cool.”
He lifted his chin. “This is why I bought the place.”
“It’s a great view.”
“Not the view. For the escape.”
She furrowed her brows. “Physically or metaphorically?”
“Both.”
Caine tightened his clasped hands. He’d never really told many people about his backstory. A few knew but with limited details.
“My mom was young when she had me, something like fifteen, two years later she had my brother. Different fathers, but neither of us knew them. Lived up in Blacksburg ’til I was about ten, until she sent me up here to stay with her brother.”
“Why would she send you away at ten?”
“’Cause I was getting in fights, been suspended from school. Said she couldn’t control me anymore. Blamed it on not having a man around to keep me in line.”
“That’s a fucked-up way of thinking.”
He arched his brow. “She was a shitty mom.”
Caine could blame her age and lack of resources.
It would’ve been fair. And he’d be remiss not to take into account she had little help with him and his brother.
Barely any family support and no education set her up to fail at eighteen.
She was still trying to be a kid while raising two.
Government services only went so far. His mother had the odds stacked against her, and in the end, even at her best, which he didn’t see often, it wouldn’t have been enough.
“My uncle’s idea of making a man was to beat us into submission. It had the opposite effect on me.”
“It made you fight harder?”
It made me a monster.
Caine squeezed his hands, veering his gaze over the city. “Yeah.”
“What about your little brother?”
“She decided two years later that he needed an iron fist to get him in line.”
“She sent him to live with your uncle too?”
Caine cupped his mouth, dragging his hand over his chin.
It was rare he allowed himself to go back in time.
What was the point? He couldn’t change the outcome.
It had been different for his brother. His uncle’s tactics worked as intended.
Beaten down. Caine stepped in as much as he could, but at twelve there was only so much his own body could take fighting with his uncle.
“Yeah.” Caine drew in a breath. “My uncle killed him six months after he got there. Beat him to death then went to the bar down the street for happy hour. I called for an ambulance. But by the time he got to the hospital, there was nothing they could do.”
She gasped, and her voice shook. “Oh my, God, Caine.”
He drew in a deep breath, keeping his emotions intact.
“What happened to your uncle?”
“Got seventeen years for manslaughter.”
“Good.” She hooked her arm around his forearm and scooted closer. “And then you went back to live with your mom?”
What the… Caine jerked his head, scowling.
This was the true difference between him and Keely.
She had grown up in a loving family who moved heaven on earth to provide a safe and stable home.
That was her reality. She lived life expecting a happy ending.
He couldn’t fault her for it. In fact, his chest tightened in appreciation that she’d gotten that.
This woman and her rose colored glasses… I want that for her .
“No. She was deemed unfit, and I got placed in foster care.”
Caine would spare Keely all the details.
He only stayed four months before he ran away.
He’d lived on the streets for a year before being picked up and placed with yet another foster family.
They were decent, but he was too damaged and jaded to take what they had to offer.
He was back on the street six months later.
He’d made a few connections, worked the streets to his advantage.
At sixteen, he started working for the Underground.
And he’d been there ever since. They fucking saved me .
“At least you were safe, right?”
Caine stared back at her. Keely’s hand was gripping his arm, her knuckles whitening, and waiting for confirmation. She needed it more than he needed to unveil his truth.
“Yeah.”
Relief washed over her features, and she looked out over the city. All he could do was stare at her profile. So much innocence and contentment.
“I’m sorry you lost your brother.” She whispered.
Me too.