“Ex…Excuse me?” I whisper, talking almost impossible.
“You and me. We’ll go to Kentucky. You’ll like it there. It will feel like home.”
“How in the hell would you know that?” I ask him, exasperated.
“Because I’m there, Red and we belong together.”
“We belong together,” I repeat, stunned beyond words.
“That’s what I said.”
“We belong together,” I repeat, not really listening to him at this point.
“Red—”
“We belong together,” I say, yet again.
“She’s going to blow,” Weasel murmurs.
“We belong together.” My words are shriller this time and I can hear Larry laughing. I yank out of Cade’s lap—which isn’t easy because he’s holding me to him. “Are you deranged? Are you mentally unstable?” I growl, my voice stronger, fueled by equal portions of disbelief, anger and panic.
“And there she goes,” Weasel whispers.
“Are we going to have to go upstairs and sort your shit out again, Red?”
“You are completely insane!”
“Looks like that answer is yes,” he murmurs.
“The answer is you’re nuts. I can’t move to Kentucky with you. We don’t even know one another!”
“I think last night proved you’re lying, Red.”
“That was sex! You can’t expect me to move to Kentucky for the mere reason that we’re good at fucking!”
“I’ve had a lot of sex, Red. That’s not all we shared. And I’d say we were better than good—a fuck of a lot better,” he says and immediately I just want to cry.
“Fine,” I whisper, unable to hold onto my temper, which is not my normal. I can nurse my temper for a really long time. But, right now, I don’t want to. I’m hurting, because Cade is sitting in front of me, offering me something that is impossible—no matter how much I want it. And I do want it. Which makes me mad at myself. “It was better than good. It was phenomenal. It was unlike anything I knew could exist. Fucking angels wept,” I admit loudly.
“Christ, I don’t think I need to hear this,” Larry snaps.
“But as fucking unbelievable as it was, it was still just sex, Cade. We can’t plan a future together on just that.”
“I’ve known people plan one on a lot less, sweetheart.”
“He’s a got a point,” Larry says.
“Mm-hmm,” Weasel hums, but I ignore them both. My gaze is trained on Cade. He’s staring at me, waiting, making me want to throat punch him.
“Maybe we can try a long-distance relationship until we figure out whatever is between us,” I compromise, desperate for some kind of sign that we’re on the same page.
I should have known better.
“I already know what’s between us and you do too, Red—even if you want to deny it. There’s no ending this. I’m your man, you’re my old lady. That’s just the facts and there’s no running from it.”
My eyes dilate, and I don’t know, but I have to wonder if I don’t have steam coming from my ears.
He’s driving me mad. I wonder how he would like it if the roles were reversed. With that in mind, I decide to call his bluff.
“Fine. If you truly believe that, Cade, I’ll stay in Colorado and you move here.”
“Fine,” he says at once.
I blink. What in the hell is his game now?
“You’ll move here? Just like that?” I ask, and I refuse to acknowledge the hope that’s trying to claw its way inside of me. “Leave your home, your club, everything, to come live with a woman you don’t even truly know?”
“Heavy,” he says, his eyes not breaking contact with mine.
“Uh…Finn, he called Shaft last night. That’s why I showed up this morning. Told him he was going to be moving here and would be transferring to our chapter,” Larry answers.
“I…” I have to stop talking. I can’t say anything. My knees feel weak. Cade made plans to move here to be with me after just one night together. Who does that?
“See yourselves out boys. I’ve got some shit to work through with my old lady,” Cade announces, standing up. I want to back away from him, but I’m frozen. I couldn’t move if I tried. I can’t even put up a fight as he picks me up. I don’t have any fight left inside of me.
I’m in over my head here…
12
Keys
“You’re really planning on moving here?” Red asks. I yawn, my gaze automatically moving to the bedside table to check the time.
Midnight.
It’s been a fuck of a long day. First Heavy shows up and slams his fist into my jaw, then the small blowup in the kitchen this morning, followed by fucking the panic out of Red—a feat I was only partially successful in—then, helping her scrub the stalls of the shelter clean. She has a big adoption event planned for Valentine’s Day. I promised to help her and made her make a list of everything that needs to be done before the weekend. I did it mostly to keep her busy and focused on something mundane—not wanting her to panic again. I also planned on helping her though. Running a shelter is hard damn work—I’m completely worn out. I can’t go to sleep because Red’s brain is working overtime and I can’t risk the fear that she will try to run out on me. I’d hunt her down, but I’d rather that not even be an issue.
I kiss the top of her shoulder and squeeze her, pulling her ass in tight against my body. She fits me perfectly. Fuck, I fit her perfectly. How could she even doubt that? How could she be thinking of leaving me so easily? Shaft told me that women are damn complicated creatures, and I don’t think I took him seriously enough.
“I’m here aren’t I, Red?”
“This doesn’t make sense,” she whispers so quietly that I have to strain to hear her.
“Maybe not, sweetheart, but we make sense,” I tell her, and I can’t explain how I know that—but I do, just the same.
“I don’t want to live in Colorado. It’s beautiful, but besides Larry, I’ve never truly liked it. It reminds me of things I want to forget,” she says.
“Then we won’t live in Colorado.”
“I’m not ready to agree to go to Kentucky. Of all the places I was kicking around in my head, it wasn’t there, and Larry would be so far away,” she says.
“We’ll figure it out, Red. We have time.”
“Don’t give up your club, Cade. Not for me. I was raised in a club. I know what that means. Don’t do it. I know better than most what it means to be part of a club. You can’t give it up.”
“I’m not giving it up, Red,” I assure her, although the truth is, I’ll give it up without blinking to keep hold of her. She’s close to another panic-bitch-fit though. So, I don’t share that knowledge. I want my woman curled up against me, her body warm and pressed into mine.
“Okay,” she responds.
“Okay. Go to sleep, Red.”
“You promise you won’t leave your club, Cade?”