Chapter 34
Isat in the living room, drumming my fingers against the leather armrest, unable to shake the image of Cade's face when Logan had her pinned against the wall.
The shock, the fear, but also something else, something that didn't quite fit.
My skin itched with unease as I replayed the scene in my mind.
Logan's hand around her throat, the bruises forming almost immediately, too quickly to be from his touch alone.
"This is fucked," Ryder muttered, pacing in front of the fireplace. His usual manic energy was concentrated into something darker, more dangerous. "You saw those bruises, right?"
"Yeah," I confirmed, leaning forward. "They were already there. Logan barely touched her." Ryder stopped pacing, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. "And when I tried talking to her, she just started crying and ran off to her room."
"Did she say anything about how she got them?"
"No." Ryder's blue eyes darkened. "But someone put their hands on her, and I want to know who."
I nodded, feeling that familiar protective instinct surge through me. After everything Cade had been through with the revelations from her mother, the thought of someone hurting her, marking her without our knowledge, made my blood boil.
"What do you want to do?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
"You need to talk to her," Ryder said, his voice dropping to that dangerous register that meant he was barely containing his rage. "She trusts you the most right now. I'll go deal with Logan, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." I raised an eyebrow.
"You're going to stop him from doing something stupid?" A ghost of Ryder's usual smirk appeared.
"Ironic, I know. But between the two of us, I'm not the one who just grabbed our girl by the throat, so I think I've got the moral high ground for once." I sighed, pushing myself to my feet.
"If someone's hurt her, we need to know."
"You're the only one she'll talk to right now," Ryder said, his expression unusually serious.
"Find out what happened, Cole. If someone touched her..." He didn't finish the sentence, but he didn't need to. We both knew what would happen to anyone who dared harm what was ours.
As Ryder headed for the front door, I made my way upstairs, each step feeling heavier than the last. The thought of Cade hurting, hiding something from us, twisted in my chest like a knife. When had I started caring this much? When had her pain become my own?
I stood outside Cade's door for a long moment, gathering my thoughts. I could hear faint movement inside, restless pacing, the soft sound of drawers opening and closing. I knocked gently.
"Cade? It's Cole." The movement stopped. A beat passed, then another, before the door cracked open. Cade stood there, her blue eyes rimmed with red, her purple hair dishevelled. She'd changed into an oversized t-shirt and shorts, as if trying to armour herself in comfort.
"Hey," I said, keeping my voice gentle. "I thought maybe we could do some maths work." She blinked at me, clearly surprised by the mundane suggestion. Then her lips quirked into a reluctant pout. "Maths? Now?"
"Best time for it," I said with a shrug. "Keeps your mind busy." She hesitated, then stepped back, allowing me into her room.
"Fine. But I'm not promising to be any good at it."
I entered, careful to leave enough space between us. Her room smelt like her, vanilla and something floral. I'd come to associate it with comfort, with home, and the realisation unsettled me.
"We'll just review what we covered last time," I said, pulling out a textbook and some notes from my bag.
I settled on the edge of her bed, spreading the materials out.
Cade sat cross-legged at the head of the bed, putting a careful distance between us.
I watched her from the corner of my eye as she flipped through the pages, her slender fingers trembling slightly.
The bruises on her neck were stark against her pale skin, finger-shaped marks that someone had left there.
Someone who wasn't Logan. The thought made my jaw clench.
"So, um, we were working on derivatives, right?" she asked, not meeting my eyes.
"Yeah," I said, forcing myself to focus on the textbook.
"Let's start with this one." We worked in relative silence for a few minutes, but Cade was distracted, making errors on problems she'd mastered weeks ago.
Her eyes kept darting to the door, as if expecting someone to burst in at any moment.
When she fumbled a simple calculation for the third time, I decided to take the risk.
"About what happened downstairs..." I began carefully. Her body tensed immediately, her knuckles whitening around her pencil.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Cade-"
"Please, Cole," she whispered, finally looking up at me.
The vulnerability in her eyes stole my breath.
"Can we just... not? Just for now?" I studied her face, noting the fear, the exhaustion, the silent plea.
Something had happened, something beyond Logan's outburst, but pushing her now might only drive her further away.
With a slow nod, I turned back to the textbook.
"Alright. Let's try this problem again." Relief flooded her features, and she leant forward, letting her hair fall like a curtain around her face as she focused on the numbers.
I watched her bite her lower lip in concentration, a habit I'd come to find endearing.
The bruises on her neck peeked out from beneath her hair, a stark reminder that someone had hurt her.
And I was going to find out who, one way or another.
We'd been working for about twenty minutes when the door flew open without warning. Ryder stood in the doorway, his blue eyes gleaming with mischief, though I could see the calculated intent behind his casual posture.
"Are we studying, or is this foreplay?" he asked, sauntering into the room and flopping down on the bed beside Cade. "Because I gotta say, maths has never looked so sexy." I shot him an irritated look.
"You're distracting her, Ryder. She needs to focus.
" Ryder caught my eye, giving me a pointed look that spoke volumes.
He had a plan, and it wasn't one that involved algebraic equations.
I understood immediately, Ryder believed he could seduce the truth out of Cade, using pleasure to lower her defences.
It was manipulative, yes, but if it meant finding out who had hurt her, I wasn't going to argue.
"Aw, come on, Cole," Ryder drawled, leaning closer to Cade. His hand settled on her thigh, just above her knee. "Our girl deserves a break. She's been working hard." Cade rolled her eyes, but I didn't miss the way her breath hitched when Ryder's fingers traced small circles on her skin.
"I have not. I've been terrible at this."
"Bad at maths," Ryder agreed, his voice dropping to that silky register that meant trouble, "but so very good at other things.
" A blush crept up Cade's neck, and she laughed nervously, caught between embarrassment and arousal.
I recognised the shift in the atmosphere, the air suddenly charged with something electric and dangerous.
This wasn't about studying anymore. It was about Ryder using his particular talents to break down Cade's walls.
I began gathering my notes, feeling like an intruder in a moment that was quickly becoming intimate.
"I should probably go. I’ll erm… leave you to it," I said, though the words felt hollow even to my own ears.
"Why?" Ryder asked, his eyes never leaving Cade's face.
"Don't tell me you're suddenly shy, Cole.
Not after everything we've shared." Heat rushed to my face as memories of my encounters with Ryder flashed through my mind, his hands, his mouth, the exquisite pain he inflicted with such precision.
Cade's eyes widened slightly, and I knew she was remembering too, that night she'd watched us on Ryder's surveillance feed.
"Ryder," I warned, but he just grinned, unrepentant.
"Why bother sitting alone watching in your room, when you could just stay right here?
" he asked, his tone light but his eyes intense as they locked with mine.
The implication was clear: he knew about my voyeuristic tendencies, my habit of watching the feeds, of seeking that vicarious pleasure.
Fuck, he even sent me the links to the ones he had recorded.
I glanced at Cade, mortified but unable to deny the charge. Her face was flushed, her eyes darting between Ryder and me, but she didn't seem disgusted or frightened. Just uncertain.
"It's just us, Poison," Ryder murmured, his attention shifting back to Cade.
His fingers trailed higher on her thigh.
“Besides, Cole'd only run off and watch on the camera, anyway. Might as well keep him where we can see him, right? Keep him out of trouble?” He then grinned at me, “Or maybe in trouble.”
Cade said nothing, neither inviting nor rejecting my presence.
The silence stretched, heavy with unspoken desires and fears.
I should leave, I knew that. This was a manipulation, a calculated move to extract information.
And yet, the thought of walking away, of not being there for whatever happened next, felt impossible.
With a defeated sigh, I set my materials aside and moved to a chair in the corner of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. I couldn't look at them, but I couldn't look away either, caught in the gravitational pull of what was unfolding on the bed.
"That's better," Ryder said, his voice a caress. "Now, where were we?"
I watched as Ryder's hand slid higher on Cade's thigh, his touch possessive yet gentle. She shivered, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment before she caught herself and straightened her spine.
"Ryder, I don't think-"
"Shh," he hushed her, leaning in to brush his lips against her ear.
"You think too much, Poison. Always in that beautiful head of yours.
Let me help you quiet those thoughts for a while.
" His other hand came up to cup her face, thumb brushing over her cheekbone with surprising tenderness.
I shifted in my chair, uncomfortably aware of my own cock beginning to get hard at the sight of what he was doing.
Guilt and desire warred within me, guilt for watching this manipulation unfold, knowing what he had planned, desire for both of them, for the connection they shared, for the possibility of being part of it.
"Now, Poison, tell me what happened," Ryder whispered, his lips ghosting over her jaw. Cade stiffened, trying to pull away, but Ryder's hand slid to the nape of her neck, holding her in place with gentle firmness.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she stuttered.
Ryder let out a dark chuckle that I knew well.
This was when he was most at his genius.
With some people, he would use hammers and knives to get their confession.
With the chosen few, his fingers, his lips, his teasing touch were all his weapon of choice.
"Yes, you do," Ryder said, his voice a dangerous purr. "Those bruises weren't from Logan. They were already there. Someone put their hands on you, and I want to know who."
Cade's eyes darted to me, panicked, seeking help or escape.
I remained frozen in my chair, torn between intervening and letting Ryder's strategy play out.
If someone was hurting her, we needed to know.
And if manipulation was the only way to find out, well, I sat back in the chair and watched, keeping my face devoid of emotions.
"It's nothing," she insisted, but her voice wavered. "I'm fine."
"You're lying," Ryder said, his hand sliding up into her hair, gripping it just firmly enough to tilt her head back, exposing the bruises on her throat. "And you know what happens when you lie to me, don't you?"
A small sound escaped her, somewhere between a whimper and a moan.
I gripped the arms of my chair, my knuckles turning white with the effort it took not to move.
Ryder's eyes flicked to mine briefly, a silent communication passing between us.
He would push her, but not too far. This was about protection as much as possession.
"Tell me," Ryder demanded, his voice dropping to that dangerous register that brooked no argument. "Who touched you?" Cade's eyes filled with tears, but there was defiance in the set of her jaw.
"No one. It was an accident."
"Bullshit," Ryder growled, his patience visibly thinning. His grip in her hair tightened fractionally.
"Those are finger marks, Cade. Someone grabbed you. Who was it?" She shook her head as much as his grip would allow, tears spilling down her cheeks now. "Please, Ryder. Just let it go."
"I can't," he said, his voice softening slightly. "You're ours to protect, Poison. If someone hurt you, they answer to us." A bitter laugh escaped her.
"Protect me? Like Logan protected me tonight?" Ryder's expression darkened.
"Logan lost control. He was wrong, and he knows it. But this-" he traced the bruises on her neck with his free hand, making her shiver-", this wasn't him. And whoever did this needs to pay."
I watched the struggle play out on Cade's face: fear, guilt, the desperate need to keep her secrets. Whatever had happened, she was terrified of us finding out. Which only pointed to one person in my eyes, one person who she would be afraid of us knowing she was talking to. And I had to know.
"Was it Damien?" I asked quietly from my corner, unable to stay silent any longer. Cade's eyes flew to mine, wide with shock. The colour drained from her face so quickly I thought she might faint. And I knew I was right.