Page 75 of Stupid Dirty

Today was fine. Dad didn’t show up, but that’s something I should get used to.

I won the race and got more money for the house deposit fund.

Cade got hurt, but it wasn’t anything serious, and his friend was there to patch him up.

Now we have the rest of the day to spend together.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong. There’s no reason for this mounting sense of dread that’s spreading through me, sinkingits fingers into my rib cage and threatening to shake me until I scream.

Something terrible is going to happen. I just don’t know what it is yet.

The clatter of the roller door opening snaps my attention back to reality. Cade is standing there, also dressed in soft sweats and a hoodie. His hair is still wet from the shower and he’s got a gentle smile on his face—a smile just for me—that eases some of the tension that was threatening to choke me earlier. Behind him, the sunset spreads across the horizon like a bloodstain.

I blink against the red-tinged glare, making Cade’s silhouette fragment and multiply until it’s superimposed over everything else.

“Hey,” he says. “Help me with my bike.”

We don’t talk much as I unload it for him, but my gaze keeps straying to the tape on his fingers and I know he clocks it. He’s watching me with a soft expression, but there’s concern there. Which only confirms that I’m acting as weird and spun out as I feel.

Once everything’s put away, I expect Cade to try to drag an explanation out of me. What I don’t expect is for him to grab my shirt front and march me backwards until my back hits the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

I barely catch my breath before he’s kissing me deep and dirty enough to take it away again.

When we finally break for air, our bodies are pressed flush, with all of his weight leaning me into the wall and his half-hard cock digging into my hip. He only pulls back a couple of inches from me, enough so we’re still sharing breath and there’s nowhere for me to escape his gaze as he pins me under it.

“What was going on today? In your head?”

I could play dumb, but there would be no point. Cade and I both know that my behavior was weirder than usual.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

There’s a pause as Cade takes a deep breath, in and out, and the silence feels like it’s crushing both of us. Cade never stops staring at me, and I hold on to that like a lifeline.

“Were you upset that your dad didn’t show up?”

“No.”

It’s not technically a lie. Upset isn’t the word I’d use, anyway.

Cade squints, and I feel like a puzzle he’s trying to solve.

“Were you jealous of Tristan?”

Now I squirm, because that’s much more embarrassing, and closer to the truth.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t like it when you’re hurt. But I also don’t like it when he touches you. It’s not about how hot he is, it’s just about him being not me. It all ties together and makes me feel…something. It’s hard to pick apart how much of it is rational and how much of it isn’t.”

Cade hums like that makes sense, even though it very obviously doesn’t.

“I know we don’t talk a lot about whateverthisis.” I try not to hold my breath, as a tiny voice in my brain tells me this is it, this is the moment that Cade tells me I’m too crazy and he’s over it. “But you know I’m yours, right?”

Fuck. I did not know that.

“I like that you’re protective of me. It’s new for me. I might actually like it too much.” He chuckles to himself, continuing to advance on me like I’m a meal he’s about to devour. “But there’s no reason for you to be jealous, okay?”

As he speaks, his hand moves to cover my crotch. Just the proximity of him had been sending my blood rushing south, and it doesn’t take long before I’m fully hard in his hand.

Cade sinks to his knees, using his uninjured hand to pull down my sweats and free my cock. Which only reminds me he’s hurt,and whether or not I’m horny for him should be the last thing he’s worried about.

---