Chapter 13
Iknocked on Cade’s door. I didn’t know where else to go. Raven and Declan were doing things I didn’t want to think about. Nolan was… I didn’t know where Nolan was. Part of me didn’t care. The other part of me did—very much so. I’d apologize to him later.
But right now? Right now, I just wanted to cry.
“There’d better be a damn good reason for you to be knocking on my fucking door this goddamn late,” Cade growled from inside his room. I stiffened at his tone. This was a bad idea. I’d probably woken him up. Before I could sneak away, the door flew open. Cade stood there in all his disgruntled glory, his ashy blond hair awry and his blue eyes full of sleepy frustration.
And he was naked.
My gaze snapped to the ceiling instantly. I should’ve expected that. We were wolves. Nakedness was a thing. Still, it felt weird seeing him naked in a situation when shifting wasn’t involved.
“Fucking hell! Warn a guy before you knock, darling,” Cade snapped. He left the door open, hurrying away for what I hoped was clothes, while I remained exactly where I was. “Okay, pants acquired. You can come in unless you want to stay in the hall.”
“No,” I whispered rather pathetically. I shut the door behind me as he busied himself with moving shit around. Admittedly, Cade didn’t know the meaning of travel light. For a weekend he’d spend mostly in shorts—like the ones he’d put on—the man packed like he was on a month-long excursion. Even I didn’t bring this much stuff with me.
“You missed a hell of a fight night.” He kept the conversation flowing easily. Me? I stuck to the door and fussed with the hem of my sweatshirt. The urge to cry was at an all-time high as I began to crash after my fight with Killian. “After Cole got his ass kicked, that hot bounty hunter kicked at least seven people’s asses before they called it a night. Finn almost set his ass on fire. His literal ass. Lucas had a little too much fun smacking the shit out of him to help put out a fire that didn’t exist. Declan and Raven… we’re not talking about what I caught those two horny fucks doing. I’m about to sit her pretty little ass down and have a reminder conversation about consent when it comes to public play. Roan hit a fucking guy over some blonde girl looking young enough to be his daughter. However, the way she looked at him, that girl has Daddy issues. Alice is pissed I won’t throw down with her. I’m going out riding tomorrow with the Stones and Ironwoods, which is a safe bonding option. The risky injury clause in my contract makes all this shit way less fun. Darling, why the fuck do you look like you’re going to cry?”
Yeah, that was all it took. I burst into tears.
“Oh! Hey! No! Darling, I didn’t mean for you to actually start crying!” Cade exclaimed. He swept me up in a tight hug, which only made me cry harder. “What’s wrong?”
“The bounty hunter is my husband!” I wailed into his chest. Oh, I was pathetic. “And no one told me he’d be here. I haven’t seen him in three years. He doesn’t look like my husband. He doesn’t act like my husband. He doesn’t smell like my husband. And I hate fighting with Nolan!”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have connected your husband with that,” he faltered, pausing as he said it. I smacked him in the shoulder.
“Stop picturing him,” I growled. I wasn’t sure what Cade’s type was, but it seemed to fall into the category of oldest Byrnes if the joking comments he made about Declan and now Killian were any indication. “Picture my husband again and I’ll hit you. Harder.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Cade chuckled. Pulling back, his thumbs brushed over my cheeks. “Crying’s not a good look on you. You go from hot stuff to hot mess real fast, darling.”
He was trying to make me laugh, and it worked as I let out a sound that resembled a wet laugh. Yeah, I probably looked like a disaster.
“Can I stay here tonight?” I asked quietly. The last thing I wanted to be was alone.
“We can share this obscenely small thing they call a bed,” he said. He made his way around the room, moving bags and making a path to the tiny bed. “I swear, the PT beds we have in the locker rooms are bigger than this thing.”
“They put all the big beds in the family wing,” I told him.
“Dicks.”
“The trade-out is screaming children at night.”
“Yeah, not sure a big bed is worth that,” Cade replied honestly. “Don’t get me wrong, my own kids? Sure. My friends’ kids? Maybe. Depends on if their kids are little shits. Anyone else’s kids? Fuck that. Take those crotch goblins elsewhere.”
I hid my face in my hands, giggling at the stupidness of his words. I understood his stance but still.
The bed was even smaller than it looked, and the two of us were crammed together. Cade made as much room as possible for me by hugging the wall and dragging my head on his chest. The comfort was needed. However, it didn’t stop another round of tears from silently slipping down my cheeks. If he noticed, he didn’t comment on it, which I was grateful for.
“I want to go home,” I admittedly. “I can’t be around him.”
“Well…” He blew out a long breath of air. “I’ve got a lot I need to do as far as pack relationship stuff tomorrow. I can’t bail on the ride or the scavenger hunt. But we can leave right after? First thing in the morning, I’ll take you back to Cedar Harbor if you want.”
Running away wasn’t the way to handle it. I knew that, but I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t be around him.
“If you don’t mind…”
“For you, anything.” He kissed my hair. “But you’re buying all the car snacks. And I pick the music because I’m the driver.”
“Deal.” He could’ve asked for the moon and I would’ve figured out how to give it to him. I just wanted to go back home where Killian was nothing more than a bad memory.