Page 12 of Darkness I Become
“You do have another choice,” Cade countered. “It just pales in comparison to the incredible opportunity to be with me instead.”
She rolled her eyes. “You really are irritating, you know that?”
“Dom would agree with you,” he replied with a grin. “Then again, he’d agree about most people. Anyway…quit stalling.”
Asha let out a long breath. Her hands were trembling, so she laced her fingers together. Despite her fire, she was still afraid—afraid of what this new life would be, and afraid of these people who most certainly didn’t have her best interests at heart. She swallowed hard before answering.
“I accept the bargain,” she said. “I’ll be your…your woman, I guess. But I have one condition.”
He waited for her to elaborate, but she nervously chewed her lip instead.
“What is it, Asha?” he finally asked, and she was surprised at how his voice had gentled. He saw her fear. She screwed up her courage one more time.
“You…you can’t hit me,” she said. “Not if you’re mad, or if I do something wrong. Because if you hit me, I might as well take my chances with the others, since they’ll almost certainly do that to me anyway. If you hit me, our bargain is broken.”
Cade flinched, almost likeshe’dhithim.He took a moment to answer, his throat working. He looked like he went somewhere far away.
“You have my word,” he answered solemnly. “I’ll never raise a hand to you. Ever.”
The bar is in hell at this point…but it could be worse.
“Alright,” Asha said awkwardly. “Then it’s a deal. What now?”
Cade seemed to snap back to reality, shaking his head. “We have to go to the clubhouse, and at the meeting, I’ll claim you as my woman. Then, everyone drinks themselves into oblivion, and I’ll show you where I live.”
“What exactly does claiming involve?” Asha asked nervously.
He chuckled. “I just announce to Angel, in front of everyone, that I want to take a woman. I already told him I was interested in claiming you, so we’ve already haggled over it a bit.”
He started walking down the right path, and she hurried after him.
“Haggled?”
“Yeah. You don’t honestly think anything’s free in the W—with the Guardians, do you? We trade for everything: food, supplies, women.”
“Love that for me,” Asha said bitterly. “So, what was I worth, then? A couple strips of jerky?”
“Give us some credit,” Cade replied, amused. “Even we value people more than that.”
He didn’t answer her question, but Asha was distracted by the scenery unfolding in front of them. The place was heavily overgrown with trees and shrubs, but in the distance, she could still see small, single-storey homes dotted the gently sloping landscape. All were connected by crumbling roads. Some even had hollowed-out, rusty cars still parked next to them. A narrow stream wound through the place, providing a source of fresh water, and a crumbling stone bridge offered passage across. It had probably been beautiful once.
“This was an old folks’ community in the Old World,” Cade said conversationally. “Luxurious at the time. Every tenant had their own house. The clubhouse, on the old golf course, is where Angel and the girls live, and where we have meetings. Everyone else lives in and around the old houses.”
“You have one too, then?”
He nodded. “I live on the opposite end of the settlement, though. More secluded, which is how I like it.”
They passed one of the old houses, and Asha was surprised by how relatively intact it was. Ivy snaked up the walls, partially concealing several small holes, and there were deep cracks in the foundation, but it was otherwise in much better shape than any of the houses she’d seen in Little River.
It gave her some small hope that living here might not be as terrible as she feared.
Cade led her to the clubhouse, a sprawling brick building with a sloped roof and a large entryway that must’ve once been a reception area. Now, it seemed to serve as a common room of sorts, with hard metal chairs and sagging sofas lining the walls, and to Asha’s surprise, potted plants that seemed to be well cared for. In the centre of the seating was an old metal barrel, sawed in half to create a makeshift firepit, in which flames were already dancing, warming the space. Three young women lounged on the sofas, chatting and laughing.
Upon seeing Cade and Asha, the young woman on the left—a pretty Black girl with long braids—called out, “Lana!”
Asha frowned, but a second later, a tall woman with long, flowing strawberry blonde hair appeared, wearing a mid-length eyelet dress that seemed inappropriate for March weather. She was probably in her early twenties, and Asha couldn’t help noticing her voluptuous figure, with full, perky breasts, wide-set hips, and ample thighs. She swallowed hard and looked at the floor.
“Hey, Lana,” Cade said in a friendly, familiar way. “We have a new addition. This is Asha.”
