Page 4

“You look scared.”

The words shook Jess out of her mind, and she dragged her attention away from the window. Outside, Kade was pacing in front of his truck, looking agitated, talking on the phone. She couldn’t hear a single word from here, even with her sensitive hearing. It was like he knew her range.

Cash was sitting across the table at the diner. It was all red bench seats and checkered floors, and hamburger baskets. Her appetite was non-existent right now, so she’d just been sitting here staring at that stranger out the window. She uncrossed her arms from her chest and rested her elbows on the table and began ripping up the napkin in front of her. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I suppose you can just drop me here.”

“I can go back and get your car for you.”

“I don’t have a car. I worked at the same place as my sister-in-law. I always hitched a ride with her or borrowed her car when she had a day off. The grocery store was right outside the neighborhood, and within walking distance. I made it all right.”

Cash relaxed back against the seat cushion and watched Kade out the window. “He had a plan. I bet he’s got a plan for getting you back on your feet. He’s dependable.”

She huffed a laugh. God, what a joke.

“That’s funny?”

“How did he get out of Cold Foot Prison?” she asked.

“Escaped. Well, more specifically, we were yanked out of there by Damon Daye. The blue dragon hand-picked him.”

“Why?” she asked. Oh, everyone knew who Damon Daye was. He was royalty in the shifter world, and the biggest advocate for her people. If he had come off his throne long enough to yank Kade out of shifter prison? Well, that was probably a curious story indeed.

Cash shrugged. “So far, the reasons he pulled each of us out have revealed themselves slowly. And those reasons have strengthened our Crew.”

“He’s in a Crew?”

“Cold Foot Crew.”

She nodded slowly. Jess had never heard of it. “Is he climbing ranks?”

“No. Doesn’t seem to want to. He’s just…good.”

She frowned at Cash. “He’s good?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know what he did?”

Cash shook his head. “I never asked. I figured he will tell us when he’s ready.”

“He won’t ever tell you. He’ll be carrying that secret to his grave and hoping it doesn’t follow him straight to hell.”

Cash cracked his knuckles and crossed his forearms on the table, leaning heavily forward. “You hate him, don’t you?”

“No.” She considered it. “I don’t know actually. Maybe. I don’t really know him. I just know he made a decision that messed up our plan.”

“Your plan to pair up?”

“Kind of. We had an arrangement. He was supposed to keep all the pressure off me and not ask me for my heart. We were just going to exist together, you know? How long has he been in your Crew?”

“Nine months ago was when we escaped Cold Foot. We pledged to the Crew pretty soon after.”

“Has he ever mentioned me?”

Cash shook his head slowly.

She huffed a breath, because truth-be-told, that stung a little. It was hard being so easy to forget. He was probably happy to be out of the contract with her. He was probably planning to never let her know he’d gotten out of prison.

Jess had felt stupid in a lot of moments over the years with Sister’s Edge, and right now was another one of those times.

She’d thought about him over the years, and kept his picture where she could pull it up easily.

Kade had moved on completely.

“I saw his face right after he found out you were being claimed by Connor, just so you know.”

Jess stopped ripping up the napkin. “What?”

“He looked gutted. I can see you beating the shit out of yourself in your head right now. I don’t know why he didn’t go get you right after he got out. I don’t know much of his story from before the escape. But I do know him as he is now, and he’s good. Whatever he did, he’s not that anymore. People change.”

“No one ever changes. Not really.”

Cash took one of the fries from her basket, and around the bite, he said, “I used to think like that too.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Cold Foot Crew for one. Two was my mate opened up my eyes to a lot. The world is bigger than just in here.” He gestured to his head. “You’ve been in that neighborhood, depending on people for a ride, sucked into being a rule-minder to a Crew who was trying to contract you into pairings, thinking you’re free when you’re not. You didn’t even look mad when that asshole broke that door right next to your face. You weren’t even mad, lady. That’s going to sink in here in a few weeks. Trust me.”

“Trust you, a stranger who came in and started a war in the heart of my Crew, and then left with me?”

Cash grinned and gestured to Kade, who was walking back toward the diner now. “You’ll thank me for that in a few weeks too. Trust me.”

She was still staring at Cash like he was an idiot when the bell over the door dinged a dainty sound, signifying that Kade was in here. He strode to the table and made Cash scoot over so he could sit across the table from Jess, as far away as he could. She pursed her lips and focused on eating her fries. Who knew when her next meal would be. She had her purse, so she had her debit and credit card. She had a little in her bank account, but not much, and she would need to find a place to stay. If she had her animal, she could go beast at night, but she didn’t. She would need shelter.

What town was this? She looked out the window for some sign. If it had an extended-stay motel here, she might be able to get a cheaper rate while she figured out a job.

“Are you not hungry?” Kade asked gruffly.

“I’m just…” Jess forced herself to eat a couple more fries.

“You’re just what?”

“Stressed.”

She watched the change in his expression. His stormy blue eyes softened. “It must be a lot. For me too.”

“How does me having to figure out my entire life in an instant have any effect on you?”

He swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”

No really. She was curious. He was going to drop her off somewhere and set her free. That’s what his plan was. And she would have to rebuild from scratch, and he could go back to his Cold Foot Crew, with his friend, and whatever life he’d been building there for the past nine months.

He stood and walked away. She thought he was angry, but he stopped at the front kiosk and pulled out his wallet, then paid.

“Come on,” Cash muttered.

She felt nauseous, and didn’t want to eat another bite, so she stood up easily enough and followed them outside to say her goodbyes.

Cash had parked his truck here and flown into Sister’s Edge, so the guys both headed toward their separate trucks.

“It was wild to meet you,” she called after them.

Kade turned and cocked his head. “What are you doing?”

She clutched her purse against her chest like a shield and looked down the road at the first buildings of the main drag. “This place is as good as any other.”

“For what?”

“For you to drop me off.”

“You’re an hour away from Sister’s Edge,” Cash pointed out. “They’ll pull you back in so fast. You’ll be back with Connor by tomorrow.”

“Well, maybe I’ll travel east. Or west. Or…I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders up to her ears. Her eyes were doing that stupid burning thing again.

Kade inhaled deeply and then twitched his head for Cash to go on without him.

“Nice to meet you, lady.”

“Jess,” she said. “My name is Jess.” She cleared her throat. “Thanks for getting me out of that house.”

Cash did a little salute and then gave a two-fingered wave to Kade before he got into his truck and pulled out of the parking lot. He floored it on the main road and black smoke billowed out of the back of his loud pickup.

Kade scratched the scruff on his jaw and pulled out his phone. “You can stay in Cold Foot territory until you get back onto your feet.”

“Oh yeah? You mean I can stay in your house, and we can have a plan and then you can fuck it up and leave me all alone again?” She got louder as she said that sentence and yelled the last part.

Kade winced and squeezed his eyes tightly closed. “You’re mad.”

“Disappointed, but it’s nothing new. I do appreciate that you signed the Promise contract right before you did all that stupid shit. At least I was able to avoid another contract until now.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“Prison sounds lonely too,” she threw back at him.

“You didn’t write me,” he gritted out.

“I did! I did! I wrote to you for weeks, and they all came back to me in a bundle with a typewritten note that the prisoner had refused them. You refused them, Kade! So, I stopped writing, and I swallowed all the things I wanted to say, and all the confusion, and all the fear because I was the Promised of a man who killed one of our own! Sister’s Edge couldn’t take it out on you. You were gone. Guess who was still there? Me! What was the point of writing a stranger who didn’t want me to?” Oh, she hated that shake in her voice. He had no right to see her emotions up right now.

“You don’t have to stay with me.”

“You couldn’t pay me enough,” she gritted out. “You’re a let-down man.”

He flinched and walked away, shaking his head. “Fine. Suit yourself. Settle here or go back to Sister’s Edge. It’s not my business either way.”

“I don’t need anyone!”

He slammed the door and headed back for her. “You shouldn’t talk about things you didn’t witness.”

She held her ground and he stopped a few paces away. She didn’t know what he meant, so she crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin higher, didn’t say a word.

“I didn’t kill anyone, Jess. I just took the blame for it. I heard you asking Cash why Damon Daye took me out of Cold Foot. There it is. I didn’t do anything wrong. I fucking protected the person that did it.”

“No. You did it. They found you there. You did it.”

His eyes sparked with anger. He approached slowly, closing the last few feet between them. “I. Didn’t. Kill. Anyone.”

Truth.

Wait, what? Her heart was hammering so hard in her chest right now. “Who? Who killed him?”

“Your brother. The only people who know that are Samuel, me, Derek, Tanner in his last moments, and now you. There’s the big deep dark secret of Sister’s Edge. Sometimes they need a fall-boy, and sometimes they can yank a fall-boy out of the top three ranks and make his entire Crew hate him. Sometimes they can lock him away, but they didn’t need to do that. I would’ve kept their secret. You and I both know, loyalty to Sister’s Edge trumps everything.” He pulled his phone out and showed her a picture of a house.

“What’s this?”

“A rental. I just got off the phone with one of my Crew mates, Garret. I’ve paid for two months for you up front. You can be safe there and left alone. It’s in the territory of Wreck’s Mountains, but far enough away from me and my Crew that you can just get a break from everyone and everything. You can figure your life out. And maybe that’s to go back to Sister’s Edge. Or maybe that’s to spin a globe and put your finger on somewhere random, and then grow a life there. Garret’s mate is all excited and grocery shopping for you right now. I bet she’ll have a damn casserole in the fridge for you, so you don’t have to worry about finding food right away. I hated that you just called me that.” His eyes flashed with anger again. “I’m not a let-down man. I am sorry you got caught up in all of that. I’m sorry. I am. But it wasn’t part of my plan. My plan was to follow through with the Promise, and get to know you, and maybe someday become friends. Teammates. I don’t know. I was hopeful, and then that night happened and my best friend is testifying against me at trial, and I’m sent to Cold Foot, and I have to figure out where I stack up in the pecking order in a shifter prison, knowing I was there for life. There’s the real story. I’m guessing things will make more sense to you the longer you’re out of Sister’s Edge. That’s what happened for me.” He walked away. “I’ll wait in the truck for your decision.”

And he left her there with her thoughts reeling. That’s all he’d done since she’d seen him in Derek’s house—left her reeling.

He was saying Samuel murdered Tanner. Not only that, but he had allowed Kade to take the fall for him?

It couldn’t be. It couldn’t. Maybe Kade had learned how to trick her shifter senses while he was in Cold Foot Prison. Maybe he could lie so convincingly that it sounded like the truth, even to shifters? There was no way Samuel did this. No way. No. Nope.

But…

She had seen Samuel in cruel moments. She’d seen him in bloody brawls with others in the Crew who had crossed him. She’d seen his attitude with Misty. She’d seen his draw to power, and Tanner had been dominant. She’d seen him in fights that could’ve easily gone too far and ended up in someone being seriously hurt or worse. She’d known since she’d reunited with Samuel in her adult life that he had been vastly different from the little boy she remembered, before they were split into different foster homes.

He wouldn’t do this though. He wouldn’t.

She scanned the town around the parking lot, considering her loosely fleshed out plan to gain her bearings here, in the town of…she didn’t even know where she was.

But Kade was offering her sanctuary with no pressure—if he was really telling the truth.

The house in the picture looked quaint and nice.

Can you feel him?

Her animal was so broken. Jess felt sorrow over the connection she’d lost with her. Now she didn’t know how to say much. She just repeated nonsensical things.

What should she do?

Get into the truck with a let-down man and have faith that he had changed, or stand on her own two legs and figure out her life, here, on the outskirts of Sister’s Edge.

Alone time in a house for even a few days sounded so nice. She’d been living in a Crew house for years, and there was always chaos, and it was hard to think clearly while she was navigating those dynamics.

She didn’t know what the right answer was, but right now, everything was so messed up, did it even matter? Either way, Sister’s Edge would hate her.

She waited for the feeling of sorrow to fill her stomach over that thought, but it didn’t.

Maybe she was in shock and numbing down to cope.

In his pickup, Kade rolled down the window and draped his arm out. He didn’t gesture for her to hurry up or anything. He just sank into patience and let the country music drift out of that open window.

Sanctuary for a few days sounded nice. It was a much better option than draining all of her funds to figure out a life here, in this unknown town.

She let her purse settle to her side and patted her pocket to make sure the locket was still safely lodged there. It was.

Steeling herself to take a little shot to her pride, she meandered toward his truck, and got in.

She waited for him to say something annoying, but he wasn’t gloating. Instead, he pulled out of the parking lot and at the first stop light, he turned to her and asked, “How is your arm feeling?”

Honestly, she’d forgotten about it until he’d just reminded her that it was even hurt.

The cut didn’t feel like anything at all.

Confused, she slid her hand over the back of her arm, now tucked into the gas station hoodie she’d splurged on after her last one was ruined by inconvenient bleeding.

Even putting pressure on it with her fingertips, it didn’t hurt at all. What the heck?

She pulled off her hoodie, and when her head was free of the thick material, she caught Kade’s attention on the upper shelf of her tank top. He jerked his attention to the road and looked just as surprised with himself as she felt.

Heat crept up her neck and landed in her cheeks as she readjusted her tank top. She dared another shy glance at him before she twisted her skin at her elbow so she could see the bandage better. It wasn’t bleeding through at all. She pulled the bandage out so she could see the cut, but it was completely sealed up, and looked like a silver scar under the stitches. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered.

“Is it bad?” he asked.

“No.” She met his gaze, completely shocked. “It’s healed.”

A slow smile stretched his masculine lips. “That’s a good thing.”

“Yeah.”

Can you feel him?

Her animal was here. She was confused, sure, but today, she’d been whispering to her more than any other day in as long as she could remember. If that wasn’t proof enough, the fast healing would be. It was the realization that she had some kind of connection to her animal again.

Jess caught him staring at her.

“What happened to your face?” Kade asked.

And just like that, her hopefulness faded. She made herself remarkably busy with removing the bandage. She would have to cut out the stitches. “You know what happened,” she uttered softly.

“No, I mean what happened to your scars. They’re almost gone. Did your animal do that?”

“Uuuh, nope. A surgeon did it. I’m still paying off the medical bills. I wanted to be easier to look at.”

And there were Kade’s bright blue eyes, boring into her, his dark eyebrows drawn down low. “You were always easy to look at.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“I’m not joking. Who told you that? Who said you were hard to look at?”

“It was said mostly with other peoples’ stares. And the horrified glances. I hate it when people ask me what happened. I wanted to just meet someone, and them not pity me, or looked grossed out.”

He nodded. “Well, just for the record, I thought your scars looked cool.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“No. You were always pretty. It wasn’t hard to cut your hand, Jess.” He gestured to her face. “It makes sense that Connor would be interested now. Let me guess—he’s on a run for rank.”

“Good guess,” she admitted honestly. “He’s preparing to Challenge for Third.”

“He’ll need to be paired up to hold that rank.”

“That was his plan.”

“You mean you were his plan.”

“Sound familiar?” she asked softly.

Kade didn’t look at her again for a while. He just drove and looked thoughtful as the scraggly desert trees morphed to pines. That was the thing she loved about Oregon. It held every terrain—beach, desert, piney woods, forest waterfalls, and snowy mountains. She hadn’t seen the piney woods for a while. It was beautiful outside.

“Can I roll down the window too?” she asked.

“You can do whatever you want. No one can tell you what to do anymore, Jess.”

She rolled down the window and rested her elbow against the frame, spreading her fingers wide to feel the wind. Her hair was whipping everywhere, so she pulled up her hoodie to keep it tucked back and relaxed into the seat and stretched her arm out again to the sound of the music.

Kade leaned over her, startling her, but opened the handle of the glove box, and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Then he handed them to her.

They were a pair of men’s Oakley’s, and too big for her face, but she liked them. She turned and showed him. An accidental grin stretched her lips. She must’ve looked so silly right now.

“Perfect,” he said with a chuckle.

The smile faded from her face as she saw his smile. What a smile that man had. She didn’t remember it from before. He’d always been so serious back then, but now, he was an easy smiler. She could tell. He was healing polar bear claw marks, and had taken time out of his life to come pick her up, and this couldn’t be easy on him. She was a bag of memories he was choosing to carry on his back. Some might be good memories, but she would bet many were bad.

And yet still…here he was with a smile plastered across his face. A genuine one.

Had her smile ever been as easy as Kade’s? She couldn’t recall.

How had he gotten here? Cold Foot Prison couldn’t have been easy.

“What was it like?” she asked.

“What?” he asked.

“The trial and stuff? I didn’t go. No one was allowed to except for the ones involved or who were testifying.”

He scrunched up his face. “Let’s talk about that tank top instead. Was that what you were wearing to go out with Connor?”

She tried to hide her smile. “Too modest?”

He gave a dark laugh. “You need to be wearing a potato sack around that one.”

“Maybe this is what I wear now. Maybe I’m scandalous.”

He snorted. “I wouldn’t call that shirt scandalous. The females in my crew wear freaking next-to-nothing right now.”

“It’s hot where you’re from?”

“It’s warm. They all run hot.”

“Are they all…you know?”

“No, what?”

“Are they all pretty? Are any of them into you?” She shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets and said, “You know what? Never mind. It feels so weird right now to try for normal conversation when my house is probably a pile of rubble back there. The house fell.”

“That’s not your fault or mine. Connor broke the door and hurt you. The rhino reacted. He was the one who pulled the fight into the house. That’s on him.”

“They’ll blame it all on me,” she said low.

“Nah. They’ll blame me, and you know what? That’s okay. I could level every house in the Crew, and it still wouldn’t make up for what they did to my life.”

Huh. Okay, that actually made her feel better about the house.

“Derek makes all the Crew houses take on shifter destruction insurance,” she told him, reaching for a bright side.

“Well, there you go. It’ll be rebuilt in no time.”

“Is Connor really alive?” she asked suddenly.

“Yep. Hurt but alive.”

“He won’t come for me, I don’t think. Contract talk was really new. I think he was just settling for me. There aren’t a lot of females left in the Crew who are unpaired and my age. A lot of them left over the last few years.”

“I don’t blame them. They’re chess pieces. Who all left and who all is still there?”

“Mmmm, no. That seems like spying.”

“Curiosity about an old Crew I thought I would be tethered to forever. Fair enough though, what do you want to talk about?”

“How I’m going to pay you back for the two months’ rent. How much is it?”

“Seven hundred a month. Garret gave me a family discount.”

Okay, so she owed him fourteen hundred dollars if she chose to stay. She had some of that, but not all. “Is Garret part of your Crew?”

Kade nodded and then talked about the Cold Foot Crew for a while. He told her about each of them, and about the day they escaped the prison together. The way he spoke about it all was a breath of fresh air. He cared about these people. Oh sure, he was open with the fact that they all got on his nerves in different ways at various times, especially Cash, but overall, he cared.

He shared about his life some, and she got lulled into this safe feeling that she could tell him about his old Crew too. Who was in charge now, who had moved up ranks and lost those ranks. Who was left, and who had been added since he’d gone to prison. How they had all coped after Tanner’s death.

Oh, she would get to the bottom of his claims that her brother had murdered Tanner, but for now, while they were stuck in this truck together for the next ten hours, she wanted to keep the conversation light and interesting.

When she got to wherever it was that they were going, she was going to take some time and go over all their conversations, and his reactions, and she was going to figure out exactly how she felt about all of this, and most importantly, how she felt about the new Kade.

He wanted something from her. No man did anything out of the kindness of their heart.

Jess might not know what his angle was yet, but she was confident she was going to figure it out.