“Your father—”
“Not my father,” I corrected.
“Is the head of a prestigious school. He deals with private information all the time.”
There was no use pointing out that data pertaining to Stark Academy should be kept at his school office, or that she couldn’t actually know what was on all these drives unless she’d looked, which I was willing to bet she hadn’t done. She’d find some way to stand by him no matter what was said, no matter what I found.
So instead, I cut to the chase. “Always so eager to defend him. To protect him. You’re so good at it. I can’t even imagine what kind of mother you would have been if you’d ever tried to use that instinct to protect us.”
“There it is. The blame. I was waiting for it.” She’d come into the office now, and if it felt like foreign territory or a line she shouldn’t have crossed, she didn’t show it. “You don’t know shit about what I’ve done for you.”
I let out a sardonic laugh. “I know what you haven’t done. Frankly, that’s all I need to know.”
Her eyes flashed with anger, then looked at Jolie, who had slunk away to sit on the chair. Jolie had been raised to avoid conflict. I couldn’t blame her for still having the urge to back away.
But that made me all the more eager to keep her out of it. “Don’t look at her. She’s not under his thumb anymore either. And despite not being your flesh and blood, she needed you to protect her too. We were kids, for Christ’s sake.”
She stared again at Jolie, pointedly this time. “You’re really not going to say anything?”
I looked from one woman to the other, realizing there was an unspoken conversation happening between them that I wasn’t privy to. “What? What am I missing?”
My mother folded her arms across her chest, and Jolie sighed. “Carla is the only reason I was able to get out of here, Cade. She helped me escape.”
There were too many arrows in those two sentences. Too many hits to the heart. “My mother helped you? Escape?” The language alone shed light on what those years had been like after I’d left. He hadn’t changed. Of course, he hadn’t. It didn’t matter that she was an adult.
So why had she fucking stayed?
There were other questions closer to the tip of my tongue. “And she knew where you were all this time?”
“No, no,” Jolie insisted.
“I’ve had an email,” my mother said.
“She had an email,” Jolie confirmed.
Not only had she let my mother help her, but she’d let her stay connected as well.
This was the shit I hadn’t wanted to know. This was the shit that only threatened to make painful memories hurt worse.
And the biggest sting? My mother had helped Jolie when she’d never helped me. “Fabulous. She can help you now then too.”
For the second time that night, I stormed out on my mother.
This time Jolie followed sooner than she had before. She caught up with me before I’d made it to our room.
My room.
“Cade, please don’t…” she said behind me on the stairs.
I swung around to face her at the top, sweeping my arm around her waist to catch her when my turn had taken her by surprise.
In my arms, she breathed a sigh of relief, and fuck if I didn’t breathe it too. “Jolie...fuck,” I said, pressing my forehead to hers, pulling strength from her touch.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know if I should tell you. I’m—”
“No, no. I’m just glad that you got out of here.” It wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t all the truth.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. She wrapped an arm around my neck, and I could feel there was more she wanted to say, more she wanted to explain.
I just…
I couldn’t hear it.
I forced myself to focus on something solid. Our plan. “I’ll try to get back in there in a little while. There’s still a long time before morning, and she hasn’t kicked us out, so we still have a shot.”
I sensed her smile before she leaned back, and I saw it. Then she held up her other hand to show me a ring of keys. “All the extra keys to the cabin. I grabbed them from the drawer while you two were arguing.”
I almost laughed.
And then I did laugh. She hadn’t been slinking after all. She really wasn’t the girl she’d once been. She’d gotten a backbone, and I kept forgetting to see it.
I made a silent vow to recognize it more often. Then kissing her, I tugged her into our room—because as long as we were in this house together, it would be our room—and made another silent vow that, from now on, I was only concerned with the present.
The past needed to stay where it belonged—in the past.
Seventeen
Cade
Past
* * *
“There are so many freaking bugs!”
I glanced up from my tire scrubbing, expecting to see Jolie swatting away mosquitos. Instead, she was frowning down at the windshield. “I never realized how dangerous cars were to insects. And what a terrible surprise that has to be, flying along, minding your own bug business and then wham! Their little guts are just caked on here, too.”
I shook my head and stood up, then made sure to touch as much of her as possible as I moved her out of the way. “I’ll take gut cleanup. You can take over scrubbing the tire rims.”
“You mean you’ll take over my dirty work for me?” She gave me the cutest little smile and blinked her eyes coyly, as if that hadn’t been her plan with the comment all along.
“I wouldn’t be too excited—the rims are covered in mud.”
She scowled as she examined one. “How about I work on soaping up the rest of the car?”
I grinned. “Sure, sure.” Honestly, she didn’t have to ask. She knew I’d take all the shit parts of the task. I’d even let her sit the whole thing out if I didn’t think her father would have something to say about it.
But she knelt down to work on the tire rim after all, and when I gave her a questioning eyebrow, she shrugged. “I felt guilty.”
“For fuck’s sake. Let me do the damn tires. Get scrubbing the hood.”
She bit her lip and looked at me, wheels spinning, and I knew she wasn’t thinking about whether or not to take me up on the offer but about how much she wanted to kiss me for it. Or just that she wanted to kiss me in general. It was a look I knew well. A look I often found myself giving her in return.
Four months into being a real couple, and the secrecy only got harder.
Only eight more weeks, I told myself. Eight weeks until graduation, and then we’d be gone. It was the mantra we’d adopted, the countdown. It was hard to imagine how we’d made it through before we had each other, because even with her, two months felt like an eternity.
Though, right at the moment, things weren’t actually that bad.
Jolie echoed my thoughts. “I have to say, as far as chores go, I’d rather be scraping mud and bugs off Dad’s car. It’s almost not even a chore.”
“I don’t know. Could be better if you were wearing a bikini.”
She blushed as she rolled her eyes. “You see enough of my body as it is.”
“Never.” Sneaking into her room every night was most definitely not enough.
But we were both in good moods, considering. The sun was out, a rare April Sunday when the temperature hit seventy, and we’d just come off of spring break. While Stark hadn’t taken us anywhere, he’d gone up to his cabin for the week to hunt, which meant we’d not only had a vacation from his cruelty, but also we’d had more time to be with each other without him around, dictating our every second. We’d kept our hands to ourselves—mostly—since my mother was still around, and spent our hours reading to each other and listening to music and planning our future.
Best spring break I’d ever had, hands down.
I paused my bug scraping to watch her lift up on her tiptoes to clean the car roof. How a girl could look sexy in a white T-shirt and lo
ng swim shorts, I had no idea, but she did. Forget the bikini. I was half hard without it.
Walking past her to dip my sponge in the bucket, I glanced toward the house, wondering if anyone would see if I smacked her on the ass.
“Don’t do it,” she whispered.
She was so in tune with me, it was scary.
She turned her head to peer at me. “I heard Dad telling Carla he might take her away for a second honeymoon to the Bahamas. Which is a little weird since they never went on a first honeymoon.”
Stark was such a tightwad with his money, I couldn’t imagine him splurging on a vacation, but he’d been somewhat generous since he’d returned from his hunting trip on Friday, suggesting we get a new dishwasher and redo the driveway. “Maybe he lied about going hunting and went gambling instead. It’s like he suddenly hit the jackpot.”
“This car has definitely been to the cabin. And he gets like this sometimes. Splurges for a few months every couple of years. Not on us, of course. Stuff for himself. But point is, if they’re going on a trip—house to ourselves.” She tried to waggle her eyebrows and failed.
God, she was so adorable it hurt.
“Wait—your father’s going to take a trip while school’s in session?”
“No, the summer.” She came flat to her feet, realization dawning on her face. We wouldn’t be here this summer. “Oh.” It took her a second, then she grinned.
It was strange to think of a future not tied to this hellhole, and I’d been here less than a year. I couldn’t begin to understand how she felt. It was hard not to feel like her hero. We hadn’t even left yet, but just knowing it was on the horizon made me feel like I’d already rescued her.
Cocky, maybe.
But I could admit she’d already rescued me too.
Her eyes suddenly focused on something behind me, and the grin disappeared. “That’s for you.”
Students had returned earlier that morning, but very few ever wandered all the way back here, so I already guessed who it was before I turned to see Amelia Lu standing at the edge of the property.
“Sure, Cade, I’ll take over the work while you go get cozy with your girlfriend.” As good as she was at hiding things, Jolie’s resentment toward Amelia was obvious.
“You could come talk to her with me.”
“Because it’s natural for stepsisters to tag along like a third wheel,” she said sarcastically. “Good thinking.”
I wanted to tease her about her jealousy and then pull her into my arms and kiss her until she felt reassured, but both were off limits in the daylight. After dropping my sponge in the bucket, I took a smaller risk and playfully tugged on the back of her ponytail. “Be right back.”
I jogged to the edge of the drive, Jolie’s stare heavy on my back.
“Careful,” Amelia said when I was close enough to hear her. “You guys look awfully cozy.”
“We’re washing a car together. I’ve barely touched her.” It was easy to get defensive considering how much I knew I was holding back.
“You don’t have to touch each other. You guys have googly eyes that can be seen for miles.” She was teasing me, and she was warning me, all at once.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re probably right.” I sighed. “Is that why you’re here? Checking up on us?”
“Figured I should probably come say hi to my boyfriend after being gone a week.”
Amelia was the one person in the world who knew about me and Jolie, and no, I wasn’t worried about her telling anyone. I’d been nervous about talking to her when she came back from winter break, sure that she’d guessed and intent on convincing her otherwise.
But she was too smart to buy it, and after everything, she deserved the truth. Thankfully, she’d promised to keep it hush. A few weeks later, she went a step further and offered to continue to pretend to be my girlfriend, to throw off any suspicions around campus. She had her own motivations, it turned out, since she’d moved on from booty calls with me to booty calls with the new Latin teacher and appreciated being able to use me to explain her frequent hickeys.
Jolie knew about the arrangement, of course, and appreciated Amelia for it, though she understandably didn’t like it.
And I tried to pretend I didn’t like how much it bothered her.
“I suppose that does make sense.” Sure I saw movement at the front window, I stepped closer to Amelia, hoping we looked intimate. “I’ll get in trouble if we talk long, though.”
“With Headmaster Stark or Julianna?”
“Both.” I laughed.
“Then I’ll get out of your hair. But, hey—have you heard anything about Bernard?”
“Bernard Arnold?” I barely knew the guy. He was a junior, fairly quiet, the broody type. “What about him?”
“He’s missing.”
“Missing?”
“He missed check-in, so his RA called his family, and it seems there was a mix-up—dad thought mom had him, mom thought dad had him—one of those preoccupied and divorced parent situations. They’re doing some investigating with other family and friends, but basically it looks like he never left.”
“So he was here the whole time.” There were always a couple of students who stuck around for the shorter breaks. Scholarship kids, usually. Kids who couldn’t afford a quick trip home.
“No. No one’s seen him since Friday before break.”
“Fuck.” I glanced back at Jolie, wondering if she’d heard anything about it. “Does Stark know?”
She nodded. “I heard the dorm parent called him a few hours ago to ask if he should contact the police. Stark said to give it until tomorrow.”
He was so obsessed with his image, it totally made sense. The asshole probably wanted an internal investigation so he could clean up his rep before anyone found out one of his students ran away. “Let me know if you hear anything?”
“Yep.”
This was the awkward part—the goodbye. If Stark was watching, and there was a fifty-fifty chance he was since he was hyper attentive where his daughter and I were concerned—then our goodbye would be best with a little oomph.
But I hated going that far with the ruse, especially when I knew Jolie was watching.
Amelia made the decision for me, pressing up on her tiptoes to give me a quick kiss on the lips. “It’s just a kiss,” she said innocently when I jumped away too quickly. “Julianna can take it. Heaven knows she’s not a prude.”
Sensing I was already in hot water, I didn’t press the conversation further. “Bye, Amelia,” I said and headed back to the car.
It was obvious Jolie wasn’t speaking to me before I’d tried to engage her in conversation. Hell, I couldn’t get her to even look at me.
“Come on, Jol. You know it’s for show.” I picked up the sponge from the bucket, but I was more concerned with her than the car. “And if you’re going to be mad at someone, be mad at Amelia. It wasn’t me.”
I felt a little shitty for throwing Amelia under the bus, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t the truth.
“Mm-hmm.”
Yeah, definitely not speaking to me.
Which was maddening on so many levels. Did she think I liked the situation any better than she did? Did she think I wanted to be making out with Amelia instead of her?
And what about Amelia’s prude comment? It wasn’t the only recent reference I’d heard to Jolie’s past reputation. “At least I’m front and center about it. I have no idea what you’re doing with the boys you’re supposedly tutoring.”
That got her attention. “Are you seriously suggesting I’m messing around?”
I already felt guilty for bringing it up, but now that I had, I wasn’t sure how to back out of it.
So I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”
“That is some bullshit, Cade Warren. I’m upset about something I saw with my own two eyes, and instead of validating my feelings about it, you decide to make up some baseless drama about me so that you can feel better about yourself?”
“Not exactly baseless…”
I deserved it when she threw the bucket of soapy water on me.
She immediately clapped her hand over her mouth, but I could see the laughter in her eyes, and because I wanted to lighten the situation—and also a little because I wanted revenge—I picked up the hose, turned on the nozzle at the end, and sprayed her.
“Oh my God, you didn’t.” She looked down at her soaked shirt, her back arched trying to keep the cold, wet material from her skin.
“I did.” I was still wetter than she was. “And guess what? I’m about to do it again.”
With a shriek, she ran backward, holding her hands up as though they could protect her.
I followed after her, getting one more good spray in before abandoning the hose and chasing her. I caught up with her easily, and no longer in the sight of the front windows, I walked her back until she was pressed up against the garage.
“It makes me so fucking crazy to have to be secret about you,” I growled. Her bra was thin under the wet, white T-shirt, and I could see the details of her hard nipples clearly. “It rips me apart to not be able to tell the whole world how I feel about you.”
Unable to stop myself, I leaned in and devoured her mouth. And because I really was at the end of my rope—because I was so fucking worn out from having to be restrained—I slipped my hand down her swim shorts, inside her panties, and found the warm button between her legs that I’d become so familiar with in the last few months.
“We shouldn’t do this.” But the tone in her voice sounded more like please, keep doing this, and her own hand was stroking my cock through my jeans.
“I’m so fucking tired of shouldn’t.” I slid my hand lower, probing inside of her. She was so wet, and it wasn’t from the hose.
“I don’t know how to stay away from you.”
“Someday, there won’t be anymore sneaking around. Someday, it will be you and me going on trips to the Bahamas. Someday, it isn’t going to matter how we met or what we were to each other. The only label that will matter is that you’re mine.”
Wild War Page 15