Chapter 9
C H A P T E R9
I’m Yours
Ella
The Past - 3 years ago
C ade was sneaking over tonight.
And for the first time, we’d actually be alone in my place.
Previously, we were always surrounded by others, whether it be joint family dinners or the spontaneous times his uncle dropped in with him and Josh to discuss ‘business’ with papá . It was hard to converse under their watchful eyes…especially when this thing between us felt so new.
We were now best friends, but it was obvious we wanted more.
Cade didn’t make any moves on me. I didn’t make any moves on him. We were carefully threading the waters, while strengthening the unexpected bond we struck two months ago since he started attending St. Victoria.
Constantly in each others orbits, we became inseparable. When he wasn’t near me, I craved his presence. When he left, I kept time based on when I’d see him next.
Obsession had curled deep inside of me, its roots caging my heart and climbing around my bones like the beautiful vines encasing St. Victoria’s castle.
Before I knew it, Cade became vital to my existence. I needed him. Could not imagine this version of me without him.
My pulse leapt when my phone lit up with Cade’s text. I recently changed his contact name to ‘Princepin’ since mine was ‘Princess’ in his, and I thought it was cute to have matching nicknames.
Be there in an hour, pretty girl. I need to do something with Josh for my uncle first. —Princepin
Okay. Text me when you get here. I can’t wait to see you. 3 —Princess
3 —Princepin
The simple heart emoji made me weak in the knees. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that he liked me more than a friend.
I’d confess my feelings tonight, I decided.
My three-year-old brother, Emilio, watched me curiously as he sat on the kitchen counter, licking the last spoonful of ice cream from his bowl. He probably wondered why his big sister was grinning at her cell phone with giddiness.
“Ella, I done,” he said sweetly, depositing the spoon in the bowl with his cute, chubby hands.
“Good boy. Let’s do some dishes, and then I’ll read you a bedtime story.”
Because I was a strong advocate for equality, I started teaching Emilio how to do the dishes, a feat that caused most of the maids in our household to stare at me with horror. Some of them were quite old-fashioned and thought this was a chore for women. Which, of course, was bullshit.
Thankfully, the maids had the night off, so we were safe from prying eyes.
I washed Emilio’s bowl and set it before him, handing him a clean washcloth. He dried his bowl with diligence, working his fist in a circular motion with all the might in his little body.
“This is fun, eh?” I crooned.
He gave me a toothy grin, nodding enthusiastically.
“Boys clean up after themselves when they finish eating.” I dried off my hands on a spare towel. “Do you understand, manito ?”
“ Sí , Ella.” He nodded, blinking those big brown eyes at me. “Boys clean.”
“There you go, Emi!” I gushed, yanking him into my arms and pecking all over his face. He cackled, loving it when I showered him with kisses. Emilio’s arms went around my shoulders as he muffled his boyish laugh in my neck. I turned off the kitchen lights and carried him up the grand staircase. “Are you tired?”
He was playing with the strands of my hair, his head on my shoulder. “Mhm. Sleepy.”
Both my parents were away for the weekend. Sometimes papá liked to plan romantic getaways for mamá and whenever they were gone, it was my responsibility to put Emilio to bed.
Once we went through his night routine and I finished reading him a bedtime story, Emilio started dozing off, his hand fisting the material of my T-shirt like he didn’t want me to go. “Wove you, Ella…”
“I love you, too,” I said tenderly, kissing his forehead.
Once my little brother fell asleep, my phone pinged with Cade’s text just as I was leaving Emilio’s room.
I’m there in twenty. —Princepin
Sounds good ?? —Princess
My parents would lose their shit if they knew Cade was coming over. Alone . He had to sneak in because I didn’t trust any of the guards not to snitch on us.
Mamá and papá adored Josh but remained wary of Cade. I noticed the fake smiles and suspicious glances they shot him whenever we were all in the same room. They found it odd how Cade and Olivia plopped into the picture, and even odder how the Remingtons remained tight-lipped on the subject of their newest children.
People in our society were speculating. Vance and Julia remained unbothered, much to everyone’s chagrin.
I wished my parents could see Cade through my eyes. On the outside, he may seem cold and reserved, but on the inside, he was sweet with a lone wolf spirit. If they tried to get to know him, they’d realize how intelligent and kind he was. And how he had the best smile with the cutest dimples.
Cade trusted me and it filled me with so much pride that I got to learn this amazing, complex guy in a way the rest of the world did not. We talked a lot. In class. In between classes. After classes. We often studied together. He helped me with my math homework and I helped him with his art class projects. The banter and chemistry between us unfolded with ease. His energy balanced mine. He was the quiet, observant, to my feisty, energetic self.
We fit together so well, like two halves of one perfect whole.
After that shared moment on the bench in St. Victoria’s courtyard, Cade, true to his words, started picking me up for school every day at 7:00 a.m. We were seen roaming the hallways and walking to classes together, while ignoring all the inquisitive looks people threw our way. I got asked many times if we were an item. So did he. But we never confirmed or denied the rumours.
Last week during a hockey game, I was cheering from the bleachers after he scored a slapshot goal, when I noticed the girls from my team fanning themselves and talking about how hot number 6 —Cade—was.
Red hot jealousy bubbled in the pit of my stomach.
Therefore, I took it upon myself to stake my claim.
Now all the cheerleaders knew he was my boy best friend. If you wanted to flirt with him, you’d have to get through me first.
And I was one territorial bitch.
Cade was mine.
All. Fucking. Mine.
Back in my room, I dimmed the lights to create an ambiance, lit some candles to have my room smelling like warm vanilla, and changed into a matching baby blue ensemble: high-waisted miniskirt with a flare, knit bralette, and a small cardigan to ward off any chill.
We were supposed to watch a movie after he helped me with our latest math assignment. While this wasn’t a date per se, I still wanted to dress to impress.
In the middle of adding another coat of my lip gloss, I flinched when I heard a rattle against the doors leading into my Juliet-style balcony.
I peered over my shoulder and saw a dark silhouette.
The scream died in my throat when I realized it was Cade.
His fist rapped against the glass surface with impatience.
Oh my God.
He was supposed to text me when he arrived. What in the world was he thinking climbing up to my balcony?
I hurried towards him and wrenched open the doors.
“Are you insane?” I whisper-shouted, dragging him into the safety of my room. “How did you get up here?”
Cade inched off his motorcycle helmet and grinned down at me with the most heart-melting smile, his dimples making an appearance. He ran a leather-gloved hand through his dark brown strands to fix them back into their usual style. “Hello to you too, princess.”
The moonlight peering through the open balcony doors illuminated the space between us. It gave his masculine features an ethereal glow and made those beautiful eyes of his appear almost silver. My goodness, he was so handsome, gazing down at me with an expression filled with pure joy.
My heart twisted painfully in its cage.
I wanted to hold him in my arms and never, ever let go.
“How did you get up here, Cade?” I repeated, failing to tame the fear in my voice. Didn’t he realize how precious he was to me? How I couldn’t risk anything happening to him?
“I used the ladder I found in your garden to climb up to you.”
Horror scalded my insides. That old ladder was on the verge of breaking apart. My parents were supposed to replace it weeks ago. The fact that Cade climbed it and reached me in one piece was a wonder.
Grabbing fistfuls of his leather jacket, I shook some sense into him. “What if you fell? You could have died! Or, at the very least, gotten badly injured! Don’t do something like that again!”
“ Ella. ” Cade grasped my hands and gave them an affectionate squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’m fine. I only wanted to surprise you.”
“That’s some surprise!” I wailed before lowering my voice. Usually, I was a thrill junkie, but not where his safety was concerned. What if his foot or hand had slipped? “That was very reckless of you.”
“I thought you liked reckless behaviour,” he teased.
“Not when it means losing you…when I’ve just found you.”
Cade’s expression fell and he exhaled softly.
I closed my eyes, having revealed too much.
Suddenly, he urged me into his chest for a crushing hug. I wrapped my arms around his waist and inhaled his familiar, comforting scent.
It was the first time we touched in a manner beyond platonic. The air around us floated with a newfound feeling I could not decipher yet but felt deep in my soul.
“I’m sorry, Ella.” He laid his cheek on top of my head. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Cocooned in his warm embrace, I could forgive anything. The feeling I could not decipher finally translated in a faint echo of home .
Clutching him tight, my forehead mashed against the place where his heart beat gently, willing my own vital organ to march to the same rhythm. “You’re forgiven, princepin.”
His smile brushed against my middle part. Cade loved when I called him that.
When I pulled away, he gingerly framed my face. “Ella, your eyes,” he remarked breathlessly.
Oh, I forgot to wear my contacts tonight. “Um, about that…”
“You have brown eyes, but your right one is tinged with blue.” He continued staring at me in amazement. “How is that possible?”
No choice but to tell him the truth, I mumbled with a bit of shame, “I was born with sectoral heterochromia and was bullied in elementary school because of it. As a result, I’ve been wearing brown contacts since high school to avoid being called a freak. If you think I’m one too, just say it now so we can get it out of the way. I know my eyes are imperfect and tend to make people uncomfortable.”
“Sweetheart, you don’t look like a freak and you don’t make me uncomfortable. I love your eyes. They’re so unique.”
I swallowed with difficulty. “Do you truly mean it?”
“Your right eye reminds me of the earth,” he murmured. “The bottom half of your iris is brown—filled with riches—and the top half is blue—filled with spirit. Your eyes, even with your so-called imperfection, are exquisite and anyone who says otherwise is just fucking jealous.”
I wanted to cry. No one in my life had said such inspiring, poetic words to me.
Cade took my insecurity and Molotov cocktailed it far into the distance, letting it burn to ashes.
“You’re so beautiful, Ella,” he husked, thumbing my cheeks softly. “Please believe me.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. The intense connection between us rose like a tidal wave and submerged us in its glory. Words of fondness concocted on my tongue, begging to be voiced aloud. He needed to know that I spent every night dreaming of him since the day I met him. He needed to know that out of every thought circling through my head, he was the most prominent one. He needed to know so many things, yet the only one I could vocalize was…
“I want to kiss you,” I finally admitted. “I’ve wanted to kiss you from the first moment I saw you. Will you let me?”
Cade’s eyes flared and he dropped a rough, “Yes.”
He was so tall and while I wasn’t a short girl, I still had to rise on my tippy-toes to reach his mouth.
Tiling my head, I gently pecked his mouth.
It was my first kiss.
A bolt of electricity crackled in the space between us at the soft brush of our lips.
I opened my eyes.
Cade watched me, observing how our first kiss completely shifted my world.
When my breath escaped my lips in a slow glide and mingled with his own, his chest bowed as he inhaled, his expression darkening with the same hunger on mine.
Slowly, my fingers trickled over the material of his leather jacket until they interlocked behind his neck, pulling him down to me. “I’ve never kissed anyone before.”
“Neither have I.”
Knowing that I was his first filled me with euphoria. “I want to do it again, querido .”
“No one’s stopping you, Ella,” he whispered, using two fingers to tip my chin up. “Do it.”
Encouraged by his response, I pressed my mouth to his again. Desperate. Hard. Longer than the last time. Until my lungs needed air.
Cade’s hand slithered to the nape of my neck. He suddenly fisted my hair and yanked.
I broke away with a gasp.
He gazed at me, enthralled and a little vexed. “Don’t play with me,” he warned. “Kiss me like you mean it, Ella. Kiss me like the possessive girl who told her whole squad they couldn’t make a pass at me.”
My eyes widened. How did he know?
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” He chuckled darkly. “You want me all to yourself, hm, princess?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m greedy. They can’t have you.”
The smile curving the corners of his lips was filled with bad boy mischief.
Cade grazed his mouth against my jaw before coming at my ear. “Want to know a secret?”
“Y-Yes.”
“I don’t want any of them. Only you.”
This time when our lips joined, it was tantalizing.
A branding, no-going-back-from-here kind of kiss that made my toes curl from the sheer gratification of finally having him as mine.
Our kiss expressed what our words could not.
We’d been longing for one another since the moment we met. Now that the longing was fulfilled, it gave hope to a future I never dreamt of until him.
“ Cade ,” I whispered as we withdrew for oxygen, barely getting a lungful before his mouth was back on mine with a broken, groaned, “ Ella .”
Our lips moved in unison, sipping from one another vigorously, falling into a thrilling dance where we learned each other’s flavour. His tongue swept over my seam and I shivered, instinctively giving him access.
A burst of stars lit up behind my closed eyelids as our tongues met languidly and I tasted mint, smoke, and a hint of sweetness. My room was soon filled with the sounds of our kisses and the howling wind coming through the ajar balcony doors.
Cade’s hands tightened around my waist, pulling me deeper into him.
My own hands delved into his hair, anchoring him to me.
I was floating on cloud nine, dizzy with the feel of him, me, and us .
Every sense of mine was permeated with my princepin. I could only hear the desperate way he uttered my name, could only smell his heady cologne, could only taste his essence, could only feel the contours of his strong body as my hands roamed. And when we pulled away from one another with mutual gasps, only to join our foreheads together, I could only see him .
He was a vision to behold.
Tousled hair, flushed cheeks, gleaming eyes, and the sweetest grin tugging at his mouth, showing me those dimples I loved.
I squeezed his jaw with one hand and playfully growled, “God, you’re so cute. I adore these dimples.”
Unable to resist, I kissed them. One by one. Over and over again.
Loving my enthusiasm, Cade laughed softly. “Are you done?”
“For now.” I gave him another peck.
He laid his forehead to mine again and simply breathed me in. “I’ve wanted to kiss you from the first moment I saw you too, Ella.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded and kissed each one of my eyelids. “Never seen a more breathtaking girl in my life. I wanted you. I needed to have you.”
A gold-tipped arrow struck my heart with his admission. “You have me, Cade.”
“You have me too, Ella,” he confessed. “I’m yours.”
Did he realize what that statement did to me?
I’m yours.
He said it with such conviction, my insides rearranged until the shape of my heart had enough space to create a forever home for him.
“I’m yours, too.”
Cade kissed me again.
Now that we’d kissed, I never wanted to stop.
I didn’t have to ask Cade where this left us. We’d still remain best friends, but now I was his girlfriend and he was my boyfriend…which had always been my end game.
My victorious smile carved against his lips and Cade pulled back, arching an eyebrow. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m going to kiss the shit out of you at school come Monday morning.”
“Sounds good.” He winked, knowing I’d want to stamp my ownership all over him in front of everyone.
“We should probably get started on that math assignment.” My fingers laced with his and I began veering him out of my room. “The faster we finish, the faster we can watch that new horror movie.”
“Wait a second.” He tugged my hand back. “I have a surprise for you.”
He shrugged off his hard-shell motorcycle backpack, and laid it on the floor next to his helmet. Cade crouched down, unzipped the bag, and plucked out a black fabric.
It was his Rangers hockey jersey. Remington was written across the back, right above the number 6 .
“Catch.” He tossed it my way.
I caught it. “You didn’t!”
“You asked for one.” His eyes twinkled in the moonlight as he peered up at me. “So I brought you one.”
I barely suppressed a squeal as I whirled around to face the full-length mirror resting against my wall. Straightening the jersey, I held it against my body and admired the sight.
“Are you going to wear it when you attend my away games?” Cade came to stand behind me, hooking an arm around my neck and drawing me back into his chest. “You promised me, Ellie.”
I smoothed my hands over the hockey jersey. It smelled like him, and I was going to sleep in it tonight. “Ellie, hm?”
“It’s my new nickname for you.”
I loved it when he gave me cute nicknames. “I like it.”
“I like you .” He pressed a kiss against my cheek, watching me through the mirror with stark craving. “And I like this little outfit you have on.”
His fingers trailed over my collarbone, teasingly snagging the shoulder strap of my bralette. The way his gaze caressed the short hemline of my skirt, I could tell just how much he liked it.
“Yeah?” I shot him a kittenish expression. “I can knit you one too if you’d like. I’m sure all the girls at St. Victoria will go gaga if they see you in one of my creations.”
He burst out laughing. “Fuck, you’re a brat.”
Cade didn’t laugh often, but when he did, it was infectious. I giggled too. “I know.”
Once our laughter faded and we sobered up, I said softly, “I like you too, Cade.”
He rested his chin on top of my head, gazing at me with reverence. “I have another surprise for you.”
“You’re spoiling me tonight.”
“I’ll always spoil you from here on out.”
Be still, my heart .
Cade drew out something he’d been holding behind his back and inched it my way. “For you, princess.”
“Oh, this is so lovely, Cade.” I clasped the small bouquet. It was made with orange lollipops and tied together with a blue ribbon.
He suddenly looked shy. “I always see you enjoying orange lollipops at school.”
It was so thoughtful of him to gift me an entire bouquet of them. “You’ve been watching me this whole time, eh? From the beginning, you’ve kept tabs on me too.”
He nodded. “Yes.”
I spun around and wound my arms around his neck. “Thank you for the jersey and lollipops. Very sweet of you. We’ve been official for less than ten minutes and you’re already the best boyfriend ever.”
Pride glimmered on his face. “Anything you desire, Ella, is yours. You tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you.”
“What if I tell you I want to ride the Ferris wheel at the carnival next week and kiss you when we reach the top?”
He tightened his hold on me like he was afraid of letting go. “Then we’ll ride the Ferris wheel to the top and I’ll kiss you.”
“What if I tell you I want to steal your leather jacket so I can paint Property of Ximena all over the back of it?”
Cade shrugged off his leather jacket and draped it over my shoulders. “Then I’ll say go for it.”
He wasn’t kidding when he said I could have anything I wanted. “What if I tell you that I want the whole world to know you’re mine?”
He pondered over this, brows furrowed. “Then I’ll go get your name tattooed on my skin so everybody knows I’m yours.”
I pretended to swoon and faint in his arms. Cade laughed and burrowed me deeper into his warmth. “You like that, huh, pretty girl?”
“Yes,” I said shamelessly. “But you’re sixteen. A tattoo isn’t legal until you’re eighteen.”
He tucked the strands of my hair behind my ears. “Sometimes, rules are meant to be broken, Ella. You want me to get a tattoo, I’ll get a tattoo. I have my ways.”
Spoken like a true mob prince. “If you get one, then I get one.”
He smiled. “Deal.”
Rising on my toes, I pressed our foreheads together and murmured one last thing, “What if I tell you that I want this— you and me—to last forever?”
Cade Killian Remington gazed at me like I created the entire universe. “Then I’ll promise you that this will last past our dying breaths until I inevitably find you again in the next lifetime, Ella.”