“Fuck, Kade. What are you doing to me?” I rasp, and when he chuckles, his breath tickles my neck.
“Whatever the fuck I want,” he answers cockily.
I roll my eyes at his typical teenage response and gently push him away. His face falls in confusion as I let out a heavy sigh. Guilt twists my stomach because I’ve got to tell him.
“Kade…” I begin, but the sound of his stomach rumbling interrupts what I was about to say, and I chuckle when he looks embarrassed.
Still chuckling, I say, “By the sounds of it, you’re just as hungry as I am. I’ll make breakfast, and we can continue this later.”
Kade’s eyes darken at my words, becoming more brown. The stark change in color makes them almost a perfect mirror to mine. I grip the counter on either side of him, and angling in, I kiss him hard, fast, and deep before pulling back and leaving him gasping when I finally move away to prepare us something to eat.
Chapter 9
Kade
Emmett keeps diverting me, but I’m not about to drop it. I don’t know what’s bothering him so much, but I intend to find out. Unease turns my stomach as I begin to wonder exactly how bad the situation must’ve been for him to have been forced to leave town over it.
Mom was so tight-lipped about Emmett, and I know they were friends. It has me wondering…how well did they really know each other? He knew my dad too; all his life, he said, so they must have grown up together. Emmett won’t talk about my mom, or why he left town, but maybe I can get him to tell me more about my dad instead.
I need something…anything to quieten my mind from all the crazy scenarios whizzing through it at high speed. The only thing I keep cycling back to is that maybe Emmett and Dad were really close until my dad met my mom. Maybe that’s why Emmett was forced to leave? Because he’s gay and Dad wasn’t. That explanation doesn’t feel right, though. Dad never seemed the type to be prejudiced, and both him and Mom were really good about me coming out a couple of years back. I could tell there was some disappointment, but they never made me feel bad about it. They never made me feel any less loved.
I suppose if Emmett had feelings for my dad, it may have been awkward between them, but that doesn’t seem enough to cause such a rift between them all. Anyway, I hope that’s not the case; it'd be a little weird that Emmett was at one time attracted to my dad and now me. I shake the thought away. No, it must be something else. An unreciprocated crush isn’t a reason to run away, and it doesn't make Emmett a bad guy like Mom said he was.
“Emmett,” I say while slowly moving across the kitchen to take a seat at the table.
“Yeah?” he responds distractedly as he grabs some mugs to make coffee before pulling out a frying pan and the ingredients to make chocolate chip pancakes.
“You said you knew my dad all your life, but how did you know him?” I ask.
The sound of breaking china makes me jump, and I’m taken aback by the harshness of Emmett’s response. “Kade. I don’t want to talk about Preston, any more than I want to discuss your mom. Will you just drop it?”
“Why not? Why won’t you just tell me?” I persist, raising my voice.
“Because it’s fucking complicated and painful, and I just can’t!” he shouts.
“You know what? Fuck you, Emmett. You snatched me and brought me here, and that’s not okay. But hey, I accepted it because it was better being here with you than it was at home with Mom and her asshole boyfriend Shane,” I snap, shoving the chair back with an earsplitting screech of wood on tile.
I get to my feet, glaring at Emmett who is glowering back at me with an expression I can’t fathom. Right now I don’t want to know what he’s thinking.
“Keep your fucking secrets, Emmett. I’m leaving,” I tell him, stomping from the room and heading out the front door.
The weather has improved, and even though the nearest town is supposedly miles away, I couldn’t care less. I’d rather walk for hours than stay here with him another minute. He doesn’t trust me, but having abducted me, he expects me to blindly put my faith in him when he’s given me no reason to.
“Kade!” I hear Emmett’s thundering voice echo through the trees as he calls after me.
I don’t turn around, and I don’t stop. I take off at a run without looking back. Thankfully, there seems to be some sort of dirt road ahead, and I follow it. The sound of a car starting reaches my ears, and I know he’s coming after me, but I've got no intention of going back to the house with him and remaining his prisoner.
When the noise of the engine gets closer, I duck into the trees and crouch behind a bush. I don’t want him to find me. I don’t want to go back. I can’t stay with him, living a life of secrets and lies. Even if whatever truth he’s hiding hurts, I’d rather hear it and decide for myself than remain in the dark. I need him, but I don’t feel he has the same regard for me.
The pain in his voice when I questioned him makes me wonder if I should’ve pushed him for answers like I did. But the warnings Mom gave me about him combined with his evasive and defensive behavior have me thinking it’s either something big or really bad…maybe both.
One thing’s for sure, I’ll get to the bottom of it even if I have to interrogate Mom when I get home. The curiosity is a burning, unquenchable need within me; it’s almost as powerful as the feelings I’ve developed for Emmett. Is it wrong to fall for your captor?
I snort quietly to myself, crouching down farther into the bush when I see the headlights pass over the thick foliage I’m hiding behind. I’m a damned fool, but I won’t be led on or lied to. Relationships don’t work that way, and I don’t need to be as old as Emmett to know that.
The car drives slowly up and down the rough road, and the wheels carve deeper tracks into the damp soil the more Emmett travels back and forth. I stealthily make my way down the dirt road, staying within the tree-line and hiding from view whenever he drives past me. A few times I feel like he’s spotted me, but when he keeps going, I silently press on, thankful to have evaded his searching eyes.
I've no idea how long I’ve been walking and dodging the trees and Emmett, but the sky is darkening and not just with clouds, so I know it’s been more than a few hours. Night approaches, and I’m feeling the effects of not having eaten anything since the previous day. I sway on my feet, dizziness overcoming me and blurring my vision for a moment.