Page 106 of Love Me

With her inching toward the center of the room and sitting on the edge of the bed, she signals she is here to stay. I am about to call Dane to ask him about a place to crash, but I remember he’s with Abi. I hope they make the best out of tonight.

“Where are you going?”

“No idea.”

My hands shake and I clench and unclench them. It’s more out of weakness than out of anger. I desperately try to get a grip on myself.

“Did Kaden do something?”

He didn’t choose me, and I am drowning in misery. I wanted him to choose me, show me that I’m above everyone else for him. I would have said it’s the same for me. I kept my vows too. My soul is yours. That almost kiss with Dane was just payback at seeing him and Abigail, and I craved his reaction. But after discovering the truth about him, I can understand better the pain I inflicted on him.

“Celine.”

Bailey touches my arm, pulling me away from my train of thought.

“I have the perfect place for you,” she says and hurries out of my room. Not even a minute later she returns and offers me a note and a set of keys. I put the keys in my back pocket, then take the note and see an address.

“Maybe you’ll find some answers there.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“We’re not enemies, and I want us to be the united front we need to be.”

I hug her, and she says, “If there are two people who can turn love from bitter to sweet again, it’s the two of you.”

No, we can’t.

“Thank you. Can you keep this a secret, please?”

“Promise.”

I know Hunter would stop me one way or another and I am barely hanging on. Mia has her own issues to deal with. Plus, she needs me focused, and here I am, wallowing in this sea of pain, drifting farther and farther away.

I leave my phone on my nightstand and get in the car, following the GPS. Fifty miles later down the East Coast, the road leads to a green landscape appearing to enter the ocean. Atop the lush terrain sits a white house. It’s all so quaint, beautiful, and peaceful.

The stars pepper the sky, with the moon hanging from it. All light seems to be cast on this house perched on the cliff.

Reaching the door, I twist the key in the lock, letting myself in.

I switch on the lights, and a spacious living room and kitchen open before me. Beside the front window sits a piano. A railing leads to the upper level. The blend of steel and stone creates a modern touch.

I go on a discovery tour and find five bedrooms and six bathrooms all decorated in a nautical theme.

In the main bedroom, I walk toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. The curtains are blue, the same as the duvet on the king-sized bed. The pale gray walls and white furniture create a homey ambiance. In the corner is a small desk. My heartbeat picks up when I lift the picture of me and Kaden when we were younger. Where am I?

Next, I yank open the drawer and discover hundreds of letters, arranged in ribbon bound stacks, one on top of the other.

I take them all with me to the bed and lean my back against the bedframe. Looking up, I see the the sky through the glass paneled ceiling. I squeeze my eyes shut. Why would Bailey send me to his place? Because I know it’s his.

Tears pool in my eyes, and my fingers shake so badly the letters scatter around me. Trying to calm my erratic heartbeats, I push myself up and open the terrace doors, inhaling the fresh, salty breeze deeply.

I see something from the corner of my eye, and I rush back downstairs. When I step out on the porch, I turn left and follow the cobblestone path to the glass dome. There doesn’t seem to be a key, and I can’t see inside the tinted glass.

I return to the house and remove my clothes from the duffel bag, placing them in the closet next to a few pairs of jeans, shirts, and sweatpants already hanging inside. I lift one of his T-shirts to my nose, Kaden’s heady scent intoxicating me.

Oh, Kaden. Come home. I’m here, baby. Where are you?

I change into one of his shirts, needing to feel him close. On the bed, I switch on the lamp, the dim light casting an intimate glow.

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