Part 13 (1/2)
”That is because you are not my true love.” Ahmed turned away from the group and walked away.
”Deep, but true.” Cade rolled his eyes at Miles. He looked at his watch and hoped it was late enough for him to get home and away from these busy bodies.
”I'm about to head home. Want me to give you a ride?” Cole asked.
”That would be great. Thanks for the victory party guys. Good night.”
Cade followed Cole to his Explorer and climbed in. They were at Marshall's farm, and it was only a matter of minutes to his place, but he couldn't get there fast enough. The truth was catching up with him and he didn't want to face it in front of anyone else.
”You know, I fought like crazy to not love Paige.”
”You really think this conversation is appropriate with her being my sister and all?” c.r.a.p. Now he was trapped in the car. He should have walked.
”Love happens. It's what you do with it that matters. If you embrace it, it will give you a joy you have never known was possible. If you ignore it, it has the power to haunt you.”
Thank goodness. There was his house. ”Thanks for the lift.”
”Any time. Think about what I said.”
Cade nodded and practically leapt out of the Explorer. He didn't want to hear any more about love. He just wanted to have a beer, watch SportsCenter, and pet his dog.
Cade set down another empty beer bottle and was still no closer to where he wanted to be. He wanted to be comfortably single again like he had been before Annie. Then he didn't have to worry about if she felt the same. So, he had set out to drink himself stupid in hopes to forget about his fear, his fear that his love wouldn't be returned.
He groaned when he heard the knock on the door. If it was Marshall here to give him h.e.l.l again, he wouldn't be held accountable for his actions. He gave Justin a pat and got up after he hopped off his lap. His brother just didn't know when to stop. Cade couldn't wait until Marshall fell for some woman and then he would have his payback.
Cade yanked opened the door and froze. He wondered if he had drunk too much and was hallucinating his desires. Annie stood in his doorway looking like a vision. He heard himself whisper her name as he reached for her. She came eagerly to his arms as his lips met hers in unspoken desire. He scooped her up, kicked the door shut and carried her upstairs.
He placed her before his bed and gently removed her clothes before shedding his. She reached up and with her finger slowly traced his jaw line.
”I love you,” he heard himself whisper before he lowered her to the bed.
Annie gasped for breath. She was sure she was being tortured. She couldn't breathe and her face was wet. But then something tickled her. She struggled to open her eyes against the attack. When she managed to open them, she came face to face with Justin lying on her chest. His big hairy paws were planted beside her head, and his face was inches from hers. Slurp! She was drowned again in another doggie kiss.
She gave him a pat and encouraged him to get off the bed. Cade was still asleep next to her, but Justin obviously wanted to go out. He jumped off the bed and danced around, waiting for her to get dressed.
”Okay, come on, big boy.” She headed down the stairs and into the living room. Justin ran behind her, his feet slipping on the hardwood floor as he took a corner. He regained his footing, sped past her and ran headfirst into the sliding gla.s.s door.
”Oh my G.o.d, are you okay?” Justin just ducked his head embarra.s.singly and wagged his tail. She opened the door and he bounded out onto the patio.
She headed into the kitchen in search of coffee. She needed stimulation to be able to contemplate what Cade had said last night. He couldn't possibly mean it, could he? She had never been loved before. The vulnerability of it and his potential to hurt her was downright scary.
”Good morning.” Annie looked up from pouring her coffee to see Cade leaning against the doorjamb. His bare feet poked out from his jeans, and his arms were folded across his chest as he smiled at her.
”Good morning, I hope I didn't wake you up.” She suddenly felt a little shy. Should she bring up what he had said last night? Or, what if he didn't mean it? Or, if he didn't even say it, and she had imagined the whole thing?
”No, you didn't. It was the mighty ram there.” He nodded his chin to where Justin was staring into the room, pink tongue hanging out of the corner of his mouth and matching pink bow falling out.
”I had been meaning to tell you that Trey came by my office. He seemed close to telling me more details on S2 but wanted to confront the users himself. I a.s.sume he did so. He hasn't been back to see me since.”
”That's right. He took the team over and got them to come together better than I ever could. I know one of the boys was Austin, but as you have probably noticed, he's clean now. I haven't figured out who the others were, but maybe Trey will tell you now that they're clean?”
”I'll try on Monday. Well, I better get dressed and get home. I have some paperwork I need to get to my boss.”
Cade stared after Annie's quickly retreating form as she scuttled out the door and to her car. Maybe it was the wrong move to break out the L word last night, although, it wasn't as if he could have prevented it. Those words had come tumbling out of their own volition as soon as he had seen her.
He had also seen disbelief and a little fear streak across her beautiful face before he kissed it away. Maybe he should have talked about it with her before she left, but she had seemed so skittish that he didn't think it would be a good idea. He was hopeful his plan of giving it time to sink in wouldn't result in her running for the hills, or else he'd be left chasing after her.
Cade pulled the curtain away from the window in his office and looked out. He smiled at the cloud of dust her vehicle was leaving behind. It would be a fun chase though.
Chapter Eighteen.
Cade felt the smile spread across his face as his last student left the room. He had a free period until his senior anatomy cla.s.s started. He needed to go see Annie and invite her for dinner at his parents for tomorrow night.
He had gone to his parents' house for the weekly family dinner and been cornered by both his mother and Paige. He was ordered to bring Annie to dinner or else all homemade food would be cut off. Not that he couldn't cook, but his mother made a peanut b.u.t.ter fudge pie that was to die for. On top of that, the only person she had shared the recipe with was Paige, and they were sticking together on this.
”Hiya. How is our winning coach doing today?”
”Hi, Steph. How are you?” Cade looked up and saw Stephanie in her usual black pencil skirt and matching sweater set. Her hair was pulled back into a little bun at the base of her neck. She was holding a covered plate and Cade wanted to groan.
One of the reasons he had asked her out was because she had been so kind. She had brought him homemade treats and had talked with him about his students. But, after that first date, it became weird. She was sweet, but she was always there. Now she was standing in front of him with a plate of home cooked food and a smile on her face.
”Really good. I made brownies yesterday and had these left over. I thought you would like some.” She placed the plate on his desk and he tried to smile sincerely.
”These smell great. Thanks, Stephanie. I'm just getting ready to go see Annie. My mother has p.r.o.nounced that it was time she meet the whole family properly in the form of a dinner.”
”Really? It's that serious?” she said, just a little too seriously. ”I mean, that's great. I just didn't think you'd ever get serious about someone.”
”Kinda took me by surprise, too. Well, thanks for the brownies. I'm sure they're as delicious as always. I better give Annie the bad news!” Cade stood and walked out into the hallway with Stephanie.
”Good luck at the dinner. I better get back to making up the pop quiz my junior chemistry cla.s.s is going to get this afternoon.” Stephanie walked back into the cla.s.sroom and shut her door. G.o.d, he hoped he had misread those signals. He liked Stephanie. She was sweet but not right for him.
Annie smiled at Samantha and reached out for her hand as she led her toward her office door. ”Sam, I promise, you'll do great on your SAT's. You have been studying for a year with a tutor. You're a 4.0 student. Just relax and have confidence in yourself.”
”Thanks, Miss H. I'll let you know how I do on my next practice test. Oh, h.e.l.lo, Coach Davies. Do you have the test scores back from our genetics test?”
”Yes, you'll get them in cla.s.s today. But, Sam, Miss Hill is right. You need to have some faith in yourself. You put in the time to do your homework and study and as a result you did very well.”
”How....”
”You'll see in cla.s.s.”
”Oh, okay. Bye, Miss H, Coach Davies.” Annie watched as the young girl hefted her backpack on her small frame and headed off towards her next cla.s.s.