Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
ANDREA
My stubbornness might earn me a straitjacket.
It’s midnight, meaning it’s been thirty hours since I’ve seen the outside of my room.
Technically, I’m allowed to roam the house, but I’m being petty.
I even skipped school today. Lilly dropped off dinner when she got home (if buttered bread and some cheese, like a biblical leper counts).
I’ve already showered four times, painted my nails, reorganized my closet, decluttered my makeup, and even made study guides for every class.
I can feel boredom fraying my nerves.
Though, if I’m being honest, it’s not only boredom. I still haven’t heard from Seba, who has sent me through the entire gamut of emotions: dejected, self-conscious, anxious, frustrated, spiteful, hurt, you name it.
Currently? I’m furious.
So naturally, I text the one person I know will piss Seba off the most. The click of my thumbs flying over the phone keyboard syncs to the quick tempo of the song playing from the speaker on my dresser.
SOS!!!!!!!! It’s Friday night and I’m STILL jailed in my room You know why?
Because I checked my phone at dinner. Know why I did THAT?
Because your stepbrother is an indecisive IDIOT.
Now I’m locked up and I swear to FUCKING god if I have to spend even another ten minutes alone in here with my thoughts, I’m gonna explode! !!!!!!!!!!!
The check marks turn blue. I gnaw at my bottom lip until it stings.
Cade:
Does your window open?
I hate the male species.
Of course it opens you Q-tip head but fresh air isn’t going to miraculously fix this situation
The carpet might as well be on fire from the figure eights I’ve paced. Not only has Seba been MIA, but now Cade has left me on read. At this point, I’m ready to reserve their burial plots so the bastards can lie side by side six feet deep in their own bullshit.
A knock abruptly interrupts my internal spiral.
The phone falls from my hand as I stare in utter disbelief at my window.
My second-story window.
On the other side of the glass, standing on the three-foot-wide strip of roof below the sill is Cade.
He waves.
It’s so unexpected and ridiculous that I laugh. Rushing across the room, I unlatch and shove it open.
“Did you climb the tree?”
He shrugs. “You sent out an SOS.”
Goddammit, my stupid heart is skipping beats.
“You’re a maniac.”
“It's in poor taste to insult your savior.”
“Forgive me, Lord Warren.”
He hums, a wicked smirk unfurling. “That would sound even better on your knees.”
I roll my eyes. He holds out a hand. I take it, letting him help me onto the roof.
A gust of cold air fills my nose and stings my cheeks.
He reels me down beside him. I hug my knees to my chest and huddle closer— for warmth.
Definitely not because he smells so fucking good I could get high off whatever that cologne is.
Solitary confinement screwed me up.
He pulls a cigarette from his pocket, pinching it in his lips and flicking a Zippo over the butt. The cherry blooms against the darkness, casting a red glow over his pale skin. After taking a drag, he offers it to me.
I don’t smoke, but I accept it anyway.
One puff and I’m hacking up a lung.
Cade chuckles and takes it back.
“Why the fuck do you like those things?” I wheeze.
He rolls the cigarette between his pointer and thumb. “Quiets the voices.”
“Ah, yes, those pesky voices do hate the taste of ash.”
A full smile. It’s blinding like a comet— bright and fleeting. Leaning against the house, he dangles a foot over the ledge and blows smoke rings to the sky.
“Your stepbrother’s mixed signals are getting really fucking old.”
He snorts. Coughs. Smacks his chest. Mutters something like, tell me about it, and coughs again.
I glare at him. “I’m glad you find this hilarious.”
He clears his throat and shakes his head. “It isn’t remotely.”
“Yeah, real convincing.”
That stupid smile. Our shoulders bump. My gaze drops to my hands as I fiddle with the drawstring of my hoodie.
“My dad wants Seba for something.” I don’t know why I’m bringing this up. Ok, maybe I do. The ominous conversation I overheard has been eating away at me ever since.
Cade’s eyes drill into me. “I take it, you don’t want that.”
I scoff. “He’s not the compassionate, benevolent pastor he pretends to be.
He’s cold and cruel and controlling. And the people in his circle?
They’re no better. Bottom line, from what I’ve heard, I’m worried about their motives for recruiting Seba.
And with his current vanishing act? Yeah, none of it is sitting right with me.
What if they saw us together and threatened him? ”
He blows a stream of smoke out of the corner of his mouth. “As concerning as this holy cult is, I don’t think that’s the reason.”
I twist to face him. “Do you know something I don't?"
“When it comes to Sebastian…” He sighs. “I'm beginning to think I don’t know shit.”
“That makes two of us,” I huff, picking at my cuticle. I sneak a glance at him. He’s checking his phone.
“Your boy toy?”
“Nah, that’s over.”
I want to ask what happened, but his scowl makes me hesitate. Minutes pass in weighted silence: him smoking and me stewing while I trace the constellations twinkling above us. The same stars I laid under with Seba. A shiver slides down my spine. I shift closer to Cade’s warmth.
Fingers pinch my chin, turning my head. My heart pounds. The look in those piercing eyes is predatory, boring into me with unrestrained desire and luring me closer by the second. Smoky breath ghosts my lips, feather soft and laced with threats.
I should stop this. We’re both just looking for comfort. I’ve been cooped up too long. I’ve lost my mind.
I lean in.
The faintest taste of him awakens something buried deep in the recesses of my being. If I kiss him fully, I can’t go back. The line I’m toeing blurs. Hunger roars within me, voracious and desperate. It’s so overwhelming, I break away.
“We shouldn’t.”
A challenge flares in his heady gaze. “You don’t want me.”
Oh God, how I want you.
I shake my head.
His thumb smoothes over my bottom lip. “Because you want him?”
Denials perch on my tongue but don’t break past my teeth. I watch him absorb the unspoken admission.
Another pass of his thumb. “What if I do too?”
Time stops.
“Want him?” I ask. It’s barely a whisper.
A sinful grin unfurls on that wicked mouth. “Want you both.”
A hundred thoughts explode in my brain— thoughts so sinful I don’t know how I haven’t been smited on the spot.
“But… It’s wrong.”
He tilts my chin up.
“Is it?”
Then he retreats, absorbed by the shadows, leaving me stunned and alone on the roof of my own home while that small question plays on repeat.