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CHAPTER 4

KADEN

“…and that was when I decided to become a lawyer.”

My heart stopped the moment Rhodes said those words. We’d driven through the night, both too wound for one reason or the other.

Fine, I was simply horny. I wanted to bury myself so deep inside of my little prince, we’d never come up for air again.

Now we had breakfast and were considering to just book into the motel down the street.

“Lawyer?” I echoed. “Shouldn’t… Haven’t you been away for college?” He could have collected a shit ton of experience there.

“Stayed close to home. Especially because I didn’t want to take out a massive loan. Living at home and working my high school job on the side helped.”

My mouth went dry. I never had studied law—never even considered it because I too often was on the wrong side of it—but I knew how much work that was, even in less prestigious schools. “You must have been exhausted a lot,” I whispered.

His expression was somber. “Hence me not having any experience at all. You know, virgin and all.”

I forced a grin. “If you took your toys up the ass, you aren’t a virgin,” I pointed out. I’d snuck a glance at the bag earlier and realized… There were so many possibilities.

He glowered at me. “Fine, a human dick virgin.”

I assumed the only reason why he said it so easily was because there was no one but the server and us in this diner.

“Not much longer.” The words were out before I even realized I was thinking them.

He sat up straighter in his seat, as if he was ready to bold right now. “Seriously?”

I laughed at his eagerness even while something squeezed tight inside my chest. “Don’t look so surprised. You are hot as fuck, and so damn sexy. If I don’t bury myself in you soon, I’m gonna punch someone.”

He leaned forward, fluttering his lashes in an attempt to flirt. It was cute, adorable at best, and yet, somehow on him, also sexy. “How soon?”

I pecked his lips because he was that close, then pushed him back into his seat. “You wanted to talk.”

At least it was what he’d said when he’d parked the car.

His expression fell. “True.” Then he picked up where we’d left off with the original topic. “It was hard, for a while, but I loved it, enjoy the idea of righting wrongs. I haven’t quite settled on what exactly I want to do, except criminal law, but… You know, if I can just save one innocent soul from going to jail, I’ll have done good.”

My heart thundered. “You are such a savior.” The words were meant to be a tease, but came out half a snarl instead. I felt defensive because I was one of those people he probably would try to get behind bars instead of saving them.

“We had this girl in our class, and… She’d been beaten, regularly. We all saw it. People knew. The teacher knew. No one did anything. Her father… He was… I mean… When I asked later, in high school, why no one helped her, she told me she and her mother couldn’t afford it, couldn’t afford help.

“It made no sense to me, and I figured if a lawyer at least would get him for domestic violence, they might have been safe, but…” He shook his head.

I could imagine the rest of the story by the way his eyes closed for a long moment.

Clearly, she’d not made it.

“And you want to help those kids. Pro bono?”

He nodded, but then sighed again. “However, I also know there are people who get accused of crimes they never committed. People who cannot afford a lawyer. So… I could be one of those lawyers.”

My phone burned a hole in my pocket, my mother’s updates constant and unanswered, and I wondered what he’d think if I told him that he actually was sitting here with a guy who’d beaten a man into the hospital.

A guy who was hoping every day that he’d get a notification that the guy hadn’t made it.

I shouldn’t be here, not with him.

I didn’t deserve to be here with Rhodes.

Because I was so focused on my thoughts, I didn’t realize that my phone was ringing. I scrambled for it, surprised because my mother never called, and worried something had happened to her.

“Mom?” My heart was racing.

“You can’t come back,” she said, her voice breaking. She was sobbing heavily. “You can’t come back. Someone saw. The police are looking for you.”

My heart dropped. I’d not exactly planned to go back just yet, but overall? Yeah, that had been the plan. I’d wanted to go back, wanted to see my mom, wanted to?—

I exhaled. “Are you?—”

“Fine,” she interrupted. “But they want to get you for assault and battery with the intention of killing. They are going to lock you up.”

When she put it like that… “Okay, I’m staying away,” I muttered, then told her I loved her and hung up.

It was only when I looked up again that I realized Rhodes had heard every single word in this quiet place—and now looked at me as if he finally could see the monster he’d not wanted to believe me to be.

Rhodes

With the intention of killing.

The words echoed inside my brain as I shot out of my seat and ran out of the diner. I’d heard the words, had seen the truth of them on his face, and yet…

I couldn’t see Kaden being what I just heard him to be.

Also… How close had I come to being another hitchhiker-murder-case?

I doubled over when black dots danced in my vision, my breath coming even shorter. I rested my palms on my knees, trying to regain my bearings, but I couldn’t.

He’d touched me.

I’d slept next to him during the drives, had trusted him.

They always say the bloodiest murders come in the prettiest packages. No wonder he’d turned pale when I told him I was a lawyer.

“Little prince, are you okay?” His hand come to my back, and I straightened, pulling away.

“Don’t touch me,” I snapped, my heart thundering my chest. I looked at him, saw him, and yet…

He was still Kaden.

He still had the bad boy look that made me weak, and he still had those lips, lips I’d been dreaming about.

His expression was pained, the anguish written in all of the lines of his face, and I nearly snorted. What right did he have to feel that? “I’d never hurt you,” he whispered. “Never.”

And as I looked at him, I freaking believed him.

“Not me,” I retaliated, “but others. You hurt others. How close did I come to be blood on your hands instead of cum?” I didn’t care how many people heard us; I was too far gone because…

I was too far gone.

I’d fallen for him, closed off and unknown as he was to me. I still smiled to myself when we separated in the evenings to sleep, still wished he’d reach out to brush a strand behind my ear just because I craved his casual touches.

And to think I’d wanted to talk to him because I wanted to see if somehow, we’d be able to work something out… Something beyond sex and permanence.

Oh god, he’d gotten all my firsts.

“It’s not like that,” Kaden insisted, his eyes pleading. I didn’t know what he was asking for, just that part of me longed to run to him and wrap myself in his arms to forget what I’d heard.

I pointed at him. “Who was that on the phone?”

“My mom.”

Of course. Only a mom would love her son enough to make him run instead of handing him in. She’d try to protect him no matter what. Jesus, what had I gotten myself into?

He stepped closer, arms raised as if he was approaching a wild animal, and my mind stuttered to a halt. I did not have all the facts, and I’d been with him for days. He could have hurt me a thousand ways to Dallas and he hadn’t.

“What happened?”

His expression turned hard, those dark eyes colder than I’d ever seen them. “I walked into a house, found a man there, and beat him to a pulp, which I only stopped in because my mother came in after me. I’d have killed him if given the chance. And I would do it again.”

The way he said it had me swallowing because… Yes, it was calculated, but it also was anything but cold.

In fact, there was so much heat in his voice, lethal heat, I had to believe him.

“You wanted to kill a man.”

His shoulders dropped, and he looked defeated. “I still want to.”

I turned away from him, walking in circles for a few minutes.

“I’d never hurt you, Rhodes. Never. But I would kill people if they hurt you,” he said, unprompted.

His voice begged me to believe him, and so did my body.

I turned back to him, holding his gaze, trying to figure out what I was thinking except for “he didn’t kill you yet, but he can sure as hell give you pleasure, and you wanted that” and “you’d know if he was a bad guy”.

During my studies I’d prided myself in being able to read people better than most, and it had made me one of the best in my class.

My gut told me there was a vital piece of information I was missing.

“I would have let you tie me up,” I said, betrayal dropping from each word.

“And I would have worshipped your body, licked and sucked on every part before making you come before untying you and…”

My heart stumbled to a stop. “And?” I asked, terrified and horrified because my dick wanted to raise at that statement.

He swallowed. “And I might have even held you afterward, cuddled you if you’d have allowed it. Spent the night in your bed.”

The images slayed me worse than he could with any knife.

“Unlock your phone and give it to me,” I demanded.

Kaden hesitated merely a second, resignation crossing his features. I redialed the last number that had called him, then waited.

“Kaden?”

“Who are you?” I asked instead of answering.

“Gabriella Azriel, and you? What are you doing with my son’s phone?”

“Mrs. Azriel, this is Rhodes, the guy your son has been road-tripping with. In how much danger am I?” I asked as I held his eyes.

She coughed. “Excuse the fuck out of me? He’s a good guy and if you imply anything else?—”

“You said he’s wanted for assault and battery.” I left out the last part because I couldn’t say it again.

She snorted. “It’s none of your business.”

“I guess my next call is to the police then.”

I wasn’t that guy, and I hated making the threats. “Asking about the scars on his back. Ask him about the ones on the insides of his thighs, Rhodes. Or better yet, don’t pick up strangers if you fear they’ll all want to kill you. Tell my son that I love him, and I’ll never stop doing so. Goodbye.”

She hung up, and I lowered the phone. Out here he probably hadn’t been able to hear what she’d said, but I also didn’t need him to.

We’d never gotten naked together. I’d only ever taken out his dick, not lowered his pants, but I realized now it had been intentional on Kaden’s part.

Finally, I handed his phone back. “Let’s get back to breakfast and the diner,” I said to him, and the relief that flooded his features nearly floored me.

I knew the second I had a moment I’d google his name, and I was very certain about what I’d find: an article stating a son had tried to kill his father after years of abuse.

Frankly, I suddenly wished he’d succeeded, and I wasn’t sure what exactly that said about my character.