Page 31

“Bye.”
He finished his drink and hung up the phone.
He told Marco, “You can say what you want. I’m in a good mood.”
The man looked at him with interest and stirred his drink.
After a while, he said, “You two make a very interesting couple.”
Kade leaned against the counter and shrugged, trying to come up with an answer.
He laughed and said, “A lot of people are shocked when they see us together.” After thinking about how to describe himself, he said, “She’s very small and fragile, and I’m not.”
Marco let out a funny huff before carefully picking his words.
“Does she know?” he asked, knowing that Kade would understand what he meant.
Kade nodded and bit the inside of his cheek.
“She found out.”
There was silence for a while before Kade decided it was time to leave.
After moving away from the counter, he said, “I’m going to leave.”
Marco nodded.
“I’ll make sure everything goes well on my end.”
Kade nodded, and they both walked to the elevator to get out of the Penthouse.
As he walked through the front door, Kade whispered, “Isla.”
He had just gotten home, and since it was almost 1 a.m., he wasn’t sure if Isla was still awake.
He took off his shoes and walked up the stairs, trying to make his steps light, which was hard because he was so big.
Kade started to take off his belt before he got to the room because he couldn’t wait to get undressed.
He was very tired. He was feeling the pressure of the threat to his business, and he was the last person to admit any flaws, but this seemed to be one.
Seeing Isla safe and wearing one of his T-shirts made him feel like he had just taken a shot of alcohol.
She looked happy, and he had to smile because he was the one who made her that way.
Kade took off the rest of his clothes, except for his boxers, and then carefully slid under the sheets and let out a tired sigh.
He turned to the side and hugged Isla to his chest. Then he smelt her hair and kissed the top of her head.
“Goodnight,” he mumbled. His words were slurred with sleep as he started to fade away.
*************
Isla had woken up in Kade’s arms, a position she had come to love since they had been together.
Thinking about her childhood home made her eyes hurt. Because of the bad relationship she had with her last carer, the happy memories she used to have would now leave a bad taste in her mouth.
Isla moved in Kade’s arms, trying to get rid of those thoughts and bring herself back to the present.
She wanted to focus on the present. The present was good.
She nodded her head in agreement and brushed some blonde hair out of her face. Then she froze when she heard running water coming from downstairs.
She waited a little while to make sure it wasn’t a broken pipe or something else that could be explained, but when the sound stopped and the glass clinking started, the girl whined and shook the big arm that could protect her if she needed it.
She was scared and tears started to form in her eyes when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She called him in fear.
“Kade,” she whispered in a panic, her eyes darting between him and the door.
Kade’s eyes slowly opened, and he groaned before realising that Isla was crying and acting scared and frantic.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, his voice heavy with sleep.
Isla held on to him tightly and stuttered.
“There’s someone here.”
Kade frowned and opened his mouth to ask her something, but before he could, the door to his room flew open.
“Kade, I’m g-”
Micah’s eyes got big, and he looked back and forth between the two of them in shock before calming down and saying, “Oops.”
Kade’s eyes were blazing with rage, and he sat up to block Isla’s view of him.
“Leave.”
His words dripped with authority, and Isla even flinched at the way he spoke.
Micah backed out, closed the door, and yelled a short “sorry” before walking back downstairs.
“I’m sorry he scared you, baby.” He frowned and kissed her hair.
Isla whispered shakily, “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I’m going to beat him up for coming in like that. He knows I hate it when he does that.”
Isla laughed a little and moved away from the big man.
“I’m fine, I promise,” she said with a small smile.
Kade smiled and jumped on her, tickling her sides hard.
“Really? That pretty face looks like it’s frowning.”
He made fun of her while poking her with his fingers.
Isla screamed and laughed as she tried to get away from the pain.
“I’m sure!” she yelled through her laughter, and her cheeks were now rosy and red.
Kade smiled and let go of her, but not before giving her a sweet kiss on the nose.
He said, “I’ll be back,” and put on some sweats but not a shirt.
Isla nodded, a little out of breath, and pulled the sheets up to her chin to feel better.
Kade’s mood got a little worse as he walked down the stairs, making heavy footsteps.
“Micah, you’re lucky I didn’t have my gun with me, because if I had, you would have gotten a bullet between your eyes.”
Kade turned the corner and saw his friend drinking coffee. There was already a second cup brewed and sitting on the counter.
“Coffee?” Micah asked.
Kade stood by the door and sighed before picking up the cup and drinking it.
“This doesn’t mean I’m not mad,” he said between sips.
Micah chuckled and nodded. Kade was his best friend and had known him for years, but when he got angry, he was unpredictable, and he didn’t want to be in the situation he was in right now.
“So, why did you have to come into my house without asking?” Kade asked. “Again.”
Micah grinned and tapped his fingers on the counter.
“Well…” He stopped talking. “I’m going on vacation.”
Kade almost choked on his drink when he heard what he said.
There was no such thing as a vacation in his line of work. Not unless you were very high up.
This wasn’t a government job where you were guaranteed dental and other benefits. He sells drugs.
Planned trips made people think there was collusion, and it was possible that competitors could get information about the business in painful ways.
Micah was pretty high up, though, so those risks didn’t really matter. Still, it caught Kade off guard because he’d never said anything like that to him before.
Kade asked with a smile, “Are you going to swim with the dolphins in the Bahamas?”
Micah smiled and nodded.
“Yes, actually.”
Kade laughed in disbelief.
“And what made you think of this?” he asked, resting his elbows on the counter.
Micah shrugged and set his cup down on the hard surface in front of him.
He simply said, “I want to do something different.”