Page 25 of Cultivating Caden
“Come on,kid. Let’s go.”
Ten turned to Caden and waggled his eyebrows. “Don’t worry, I goat this.”
Pushing him out the door, Quade turned around and gave a cocky grin. “You okay with two of us taking you out to see Sanctuary tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Great. We’ll pick you up for breakfast. Assuming this little bastard gets a clean bill of health.”
Ten huffed. “I can tell you the scores they’ll give if you want.”
Quade reached out and ruffled Ten’s hair. “No, I’ll wait for the doctor’s report.” He tilted his head in Caden’s direction. “And I’ll let you know what they say.”
“Okay, sounds good.” What came out of his mouth next was unexpected. “Listen, I know you probably don’t do vegan stuff, but if you want to stop by for some pizza later… I mean, if you’re not busy.”
“Sure, I can do that.”
Caden was sure he heard Ten whisper, “Yes!” as Quade led him out into the hallway.
Once the door was closed—as much as a broken door could be—Caden shook his head. Ten was too much, and Quade was…. He wasn’t even sure what he’d call it. Intense, definitely, but he could also be kind toward Ten, even almost fatherly. The interaction between them warmed Caden’s heart.
Caden groaned. What the hell was happening to him? He scarcely remembered why he wanted to leave. He had friends, a life. He couldn’t stay. When Quade came back, he’d have to make him understand that they couldn’t keep him in Sanctuary.
But….
He was oddly comfortable here. He enjoyed Ten and his youthful exuberance, Quade and his moody glowers, and he absolutely loved the apartment he was staying in. It was warm, inviting.
A thought struck him. Were they doing something to make him want to stay?
He didn’t want to believe it, but what other reason could there be? Matt and Kieran were waiting on him. He was already overdue by several days, if what Ten said was right when he’d been in the infirmary being patched up. He hadn’t thought much about his friends, and that wasn’t like him. They’d been his best buddies since college, had gone through thick and thin together. When Matt asked Kieran to marry him, Caden had been the best man in a very unorthodox ceremony.
And though everything in him told him to call them, Quade had trusted him. Had explained why he couldn’t leave. And if what he said was right and Caden did have some kind of weird ability, what would happen if he hurt Matt or Kieran? Killed them? The thought was too much to bear.
A knock on the door startled him. He turned to find a young blonde woman there, tool belt at her side. She gave him an infectious grin. “Quade said your door had, in his words, ‘an accident.’”
“Yeah, and I bet it’s not happy about it either.”
She chuckled. “You met Ten.”
“Yup. He seems to know a lot about stuff.”
She gave a slight shrug. “Ten’s a good kid. Quade keeps him in line as best he can. It hasn’t been easy since he lost his family. Every time someone says he’s welcome to stay in their home, Ten pulls away. He says they’re not the right fit. So he spends his days shuttling between families.” She hiked a thumb toward the door. “Is it going to bother you if I fix this? Won’t take but half an hour.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
She reached into the tool belt at her side and drew out a hammer, but then her eyes went wide and she turned back to Caden. “Oh, sorry! Sometimes I forget my manners. Like, all the time. My name is Greta.” She extended a hand, which Caden took. “Resident handywoman and chief of operations for Sanctuary.”
“Caden. And I have no clue what I’m doing here.”
She stepped back, slid the claws of the hammer under the molding of the doorframe, and popped each section off in one smooth movement. “You’re here for the same reason all of us are: to keep the outside world safe from us, and to keep us safe from them. When I got here, I just wanted out. I thought I’d die down here, but… Sanctuary isn’t just a place, it’s an ideal. The community thrives because we all work together to make it so.”
They didn’t say anything else. Caden dialed the number Ten had given him and ordered two pizzas, then turned and watched Greta work. Her fingers, though rather stubby, were deft and nimble, and where he’d be bitching at the door, she smiled and hummed softly while she worked. In twenty minutes, she put her hammer away, the door looking as good as new.
“How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing. Quade’s covering it since he caused it. Don’t worry, he breaks a lot of things. We ended up giving him a discount for all the business.”
Caden chuckled. “How the hell did you get it fixed so fast?”
