Page 78 of Chaos & Carnage

“Great,” Indie groaned. “This is all we fucking need.”

Chapter Thirty

The music pulsed through me as we sat at the back of the marquee, watching the women of the Kings dancing in front of us. Heidi and the tall, dark-haired beauty that was Fury’s sister twirled away, Jazz clutching a pint, long red nails wrapped around the plastic glass.

Fury sat watching from the side, frowning and shaking his head, looking entirely uncomfortable and alert. Overly alert. Like he was waiting for danger every time someone walked too close. Emmie and Suzy sat on the other side of me, chatting away, but I couldn’t hear too much of the conversation.

“You want another drink, babe?” Cade dipped down towards me.

“Please,” I waggled the plastic glass at him.

I was still freezing. I’d never fully warmed up, even after I’d swapped the cold leather for jeans and three jumpers. There were heat lamps in the marquees, suspended at the top of poles, but even they weren’t taking the edge off how utterly frozen I was.

The hard bench seat dipped beside me, the blond man returning. But he didn’t hand me a drink as I expected and now I turned to him.

“Hey, kitten,” his voice purred, jolting something deep inside of me. “Please. Alice. Don’t get up.”

“Why not?” I frowned at him.

“I’m sorry, Alice. I should never have pretended to be him.”

“Why did you?”

Caleb sighed.

“Me and Cade have always shared. Everything.”

He paused, looking at me pointedly.

“What do you mean,everything?”

“We have the same house, the same job, ride the same bikes, share our wardrobe and our women.”

I stared at him blankly, at those hazel-green eyes, not quite tranquil at this moment. Vulnerable, worried.

“When you say women…”

“It’s like how you think.”

“Why?” I struggled to ask, my words barely audible over the heavy drone of the music. But he didn’t need to hear me to know what I was asking.

“I dunno, Alice. We just always have. And then you came along. And everything changed.”

“Changed, how?”

“I don’t know that either. Suddenly, Cade didn’t want to share anymore. And when I found out about you. That he’d hidden you from me. That he hadn’t even told me about you. I was pissed off. I knew what I was doing that night. And at first it was revenge. But then when I really saw you, saw the way you were so careful with your little patients, the way you were with me…”

“I thought you were Cade.”

“I know. When I saw the way, you cared about him. I was hooked on you, too. And I knew I should have walked away. I really thought I could. I’m sorry. I should never have done that to you or him.”

“And now?” I asked, “because you’re still right here.”

“And now I should be staying well away from you. But I don’t want to.”

Caleb leaned in closer to me, and for a moment I became lost in his eyes, sucked into his energy. Energy that was deeper and darker than Cade’s. Memories of that night stirring in me. The same memories that came rushing back every time I thought of him, and not his brother. I did need him to stay well away from me. For all our sakes.

“I want you to,” I said after a pause.