True. I wouldn’t have to climb the stairs to his dimly lit bedroom today.
“Good luck.” Devlin climbed into his SUV. I waved my thanks and watched as he backed out of the driveway.
Devlin and Cade had discovered last year that they were half brothers who shared a mother. I’d had to sit down and draw a flowchart to understand how that had happened. A lot of lies, as it turned out.
That development had intensified what Cade was going through. He’d learned his parentage was half fiction, and then he’d added in a car accident, injuring himself and taking him out of college. He hadn’t been the most pleasant person before the injuries. Now, even less, though at least he wasn’t slicing me with that sharp tongue of his. Some days I was surprised I was trying to help him regain his speech. Maybe this time around he’d use his powers for good rather than evil.
Remember when I mentioned I was a type A perfectionist? My drive to be praised and in general do my best was a fire I started, and one happily stoked by my father. Nothing pleased him, but that was another story. I went into my field because I genuinely wanted to help people. Cade had given up on himself and his future, and my walking away from him would almost guarantee his future would be one in his bedroom playing video games and grunting every so often.
Not that I’d actually been “helping” him lately. We’d pretty much retreated into our neutral corners over the last month. But he was outside. Major progress. I took a deep breath and forced a smile.
“Good afternoon!” I chirped. The wrench sound ceased for a few seconds before starting up again. “Are we doing your session in the garage today?” I spotted an open toolbox and a few grease-covered rags on the ground. “The change of scenery is nice.”
No comment from my captive audience. I sighed.
Most of the time I felt like I was failing miserably, but I continued to show up and try, try again. At first I’d told myself it was a favor for Paul, and then later I told myself it was my own never-say-die attitude, but now I knew why I continued showing up and pushing him.
I did it for Cade.
We were running out of time. Soon I wouldn’t have a choice of “should I or shouldn’t I.” Graduation would lead to a state board exam, which in turn would lead to a licensed full-time position. I’d be too busy to come over here and listen to myself talk.
I lifted one flat and kicked the sole of Cade’s shoe like Devlin had, backing up quickly when Cade pushed out from under the car on one of those low, wheeled carts mechanics use. The second his light brown eyes locked on mine, I froze.
He might be a royal pain in the ass, but it didn’t keep him from being the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen. I’d thought so since I first laid eyes on him at Ridgeway University. Despite our mutual dislike for each other, my appreciation of his fine-tuned biceps, tattoos cascading down one arm, and firm, wide shoulders hadn’t gone anywhere.
His lips compressed into a line as he stood, snatching up a rag and wiping his hands. He continued scowling at me. I think. My eyes had ventured away from his face to his biceps as they clenched beneath a T-shirt with the sleeves cut off.
“This is new,” I said. Meaning the car and the fact that he was standing outside. In the sunshine. “I thought you’d turned vampire. I’m surprised to find you out in the daylight.”
He grunted as he bent and put his tools away. That was his typical response. I tried not to admire the way his faded jeans clutched his backside, but failed. Cade had a nice ass.
When he stood, I averted my eyes from his well-built physique to his short, shaggy mass of sandy brown hair, and my heart stuttered in my chest.
Every inch of him was hot. From a pair of midlength sideburns to the holes in his ears where the piercings had closed because he no longer wore the studs. Tattoos snaked up his left arm, intricate designs, some colored, some not. An array of animals and symbols, metaphors for what I had never found out. Not that I had asked. There were lines we didn’t cross, and his tattoos were one of them.
When he smiled, a dimple dented one cheek, and if he really smiled, you could see rows of white teeth—not too white—he wasn’t battling a coffee addiction with Crest Whitestrips like me.
In the case of my wayward attraction to Cade, the culprit was my ex-boyfriend, Tony. If Tony hadn’t been such a dickhead, we could be looking for an apartment together and planning our engagement. He was going into sports medicine, I into physical therapy. We had similar upbringings. Similar goals. Similar interests. Well, save one. Tony Fry was most interested in seeing how many women he could date without the others finding out, and I was more of a one-guy type of girl.
That was where our paths had ultimately veered.
Cade crooked a finger, motioning for me to come closer. I took one cautious step. Then another. He smelled of motor oil, which wasn’t bad. Not on him. It mingled with the scent of his soap and gave him an earthy yet dangerous quality. Plus, Cade looked damn good with oil smeared on his shirt and across one cheek.
His eyes dashed to my lips, and back up, and then…
I was looking at his back as he walked away from me. Not into the entrance to the house on the right of the garage, but through a door on the left. Curious, I followed.
The door opened to a flight of stairs.
Okay.
One foot after the next, I followed him to the top, then peeked around the doorway. I blinked, stunned.
“Whoa.” I had no idea this room existed. The Wilson house was large, and I’d always assumed the windows over the garage were some sort of attic or storage space. Maybe they used to be, but now the space resembled an apartment. Not as big as mine, but much bigger than the bedroom Cade formerly occupied.
His bed stood in one corner, the mattress bare. A kitchenette was on the far wall, outfitted with a small sink, microwave, and refrigerator. Open boxes were stacked in the room, along every wall, and flanking an attached bathroom.
“Nice place,” I commented, meaning it. An improvement from sleeping across the hall from his father.