Page 65 of Break Me
Caden hooks his hand beneath an elbow, other hand on his chin as he stares at me, and I’ve got the unsettling feeling he can see right through me. He’s always been able to. It goes both ways.
“You keep telling yourself that,” he says softly. “Just like I kept telling myself I hated Riley.” A shadow crosses his face with those words, and I know he really regrets that. “But you like her. And you’ve been pushing women away for too fucking long. She’s still here, isn’t she? Even after you showed her Thames? She’s still downstairs with my girl. She could’ve run off. She could’ve stayed in your stupid SUV. But she’s here.” He shrugs. “I don’t know what might happen between you two. Maybe nothing. But maybe…” He puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Maybe something.”
“He threatened her,” I admit to him. If we’re all confessing our feelings and shit, I might as well own up to some more of my mistakes.
The hand on my shoulder falls away and I watch Caden tense up. “What.” It’s a demand, not a question.
“He threatened Ava,” I clarify. “The both of them, actually.” I pull my phone from my pocket. “He text me from a burner phone. He knew we were at Crate.”
For a second, I wonder if he’s going to try to punch me. I see the vein in his neck straining under his skin. But he swallows and waits, waiting for me to say something else. Something that’ll calm his ass down.
But I’ve got nothing.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that?” he bites out.
“I’m going to find him,” I reassure him, because that much is true. “And he’s going to disappear.” I glance down for a second before meeting his gaze again. “I just hope your mom is ready for that. Because whatever we feel for those girls down there…Maria once felt something like that for your dad.”
He turns away from me, swearing under his breath. I see his back muscles flex as he crosses his arms, still not looking at me.
“My dad is a fucking monster.” He shakes his head and I watch him let out a breath. “We aren’t, Benji. I don’t give a fuck what you say. We aren’t like that.”
I don’t bother disagreeing with him. But we both know I am just like that.
