Page 31 of Cultivating Caden
“Quade, I—”
“My job is to protect people. You’re my people, and that makes your friends mine too. I will do what I have to in order to keep them safe, even if it’s from you.”
In that moment he had the insane desire to kiss Quade. He didn’t understand why. Caden wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of guy. He wanted a relationship. He’d dated exactly two men in his twenty-six years. Neither one ended well.
His first love had been Chris. Caden had met him a few weeks after starting school. He’d been captain of a bunch of teams in school and had come to college with a 4.02 GPA. They sat up at night and discussed everything from philosophy to entomology. Chris was bright, studious, and had no bad habits that Caden knew of. And then one day, during an argument over spiders, Chris grabbed him and kissed him. That led to him taking Caden to bed, where Chris took Caden’s virginity. They spent the whole weekend holed up in Caden’s room, where Chris had Caden in every way he could imagine—on his knees, bent over the bed, lying on his back while he plowed Caden’s mouth. It was fucking glorious. Then, when the weekend was over, Chris said it wasn’t working out and left.
Caden had been devastated. He’d called home and told his mother what happened—leaving out the sex bits—and she reminded him he was loved. The next day she arrived at his room with dishes full of Caden’s favorite foods. The two of them sat there and commiserated over love and loss.
A year later, Caden decided he wanted to take part in a ten-day business course that would teach him everything he needed to know—from bookkeeping to hiring and firing employees—to open his own flower shop. When he arrived at the hotel, he was in awe of the people who’d come. The one that caught his attention the most was Gary. He was a big man, with broad shoulders, tree trunk-sized legs, and a barrel chest. He was, in Caden’s eyes, the epitome of a man. Gary had been older by ten years, but he’d swept Caden off his feet when they’d met. He was big as life and charming enough to make Caden’s knees weak. Gary had wined and dined him, making grand promises, and one night, Gary invited Caden back to his room, where the two of them practiced their own version of theJoy of Gay Sex.
Then he told Caden his wife was having a baby and he was going back home to her.
Caden had cried after that. For a long time. He’d been so sure he was in love with Chris, thought they could have a life together, but apparently he was just a convenient fuck who wouldn’t say no, and Gary was no better. Caden had to admit, when it came to men, he was stupid. Unfortunately, this time there was no mom to call. She died a few months after returning home from helping Caden mend his broken heart. Now? Caden was alone in the world.
When he got back to school, he went to an ice cream parlor off campus and ordered the biggest, most disgustingly sweet sundae they had and attempted to eat himself into a sugar coma. He’d taken two bites when Matt and Kieran sauntered up to the table.
Kieran smiled at him. “That’s going to make you sick.”
“I don’t care.”
Matt reached out and picked up the dish. “You will when it goes to your hips.” He dumped the concoction in the garbage, and then he and Kieran slid into the booth.
“Whatever you think, he’s not worth it.”
That intrigued Caden. “What makes you think it’s a he?”
The two shared a glance, then snickered. Kieran reached out and put a hand over Caden’s. “Honey, many things you may be, but a straight boy isn’t one of them. Now, tell us all about it.”
He didn’t know them from Adam or… well, Adam. But the story spilled out before he could stop himself. And just for added humiliation, he threw in Chris as well. If they were going to have a good laugh at his expense, then they might as well know the whole thing.
When the story was done, Matt growled. “Okay, I was wrong.” He turned to Kieran. “Sweetie, go buy another sundae. Get three spoons. We can’t let our lamb eat alone.”
They pigged out, eating the whole damn thing. After that, the three of them were tight friends. Where you found one, you found them all. They’d talked about trying a threesome once, but Caden had already gone through enough pain and losing these two men wouldn’t fly. Besides, Matt and Kieran were so in love, it was almost sickening. He couldn’t imagine anyone else being in the middle of them, and they admitted it wouldn’t ever happen with another guy, but Caden was special. And that made himfeellike he was.
So instead of being lovers, they decided instead to be best friends. And what a friendship it was. They rented a small house together, worked on projects for school, talked about growing up gay. For the first time in a long while, Caden had a family.
And if Quade had to kill him to keep them safe? Well, that was a risk Caden was willing to take.
