Jane picked up her fork, shoveling the egg into her mouth, while Cade sat down on the bed next to her and watched her eat.
“The day you left your phone in my room and I didn’t know it, I tried calling you several times. You told me you would come back to the clubhouse in a few hours, and when you didn’t show and my calls weren’t answered, I began to get mad. I know it was juvenile, but it didn’t make me any less angry. When you showed up and caught me with Demie, I felt like shit, but then I pushed you away even though I wanted you so badly. You had left me once already at the hotel in Corpus Christi, and when I couldn’t reach you, my pride took a hit. It seemed like I was always the one chasing after you. Stupid, yeah?”
Jane remained silent, eating her food, wishing he would just leave.
“I couldn’t get a decent night’s sleep after you left Corpus Christi. I thought that, after I fucked you, wanting you would ease up. It didn’t. It only became worse.
“Every morning, when I woke up with a different woman next to me, I intended to get on my bike and leave town, just like I’ve left every other place I’ve stopped in. But I couldn’t this time, because I would be leaving you behind. Even though I knew I had screwed up what was between us, I kept thinking about you, hoping to be with you again.”
Jane set her fork down on her empty plate. “I’m finished. Will you go now?”
Cade took the tray and set it down on the nightstand. “I’ll go, but I’ll be back tonight. Crazy Bitch said your new favorite restaurant is the steakhouse. I’ll bring you dinner.” Cade stood up, putting out a hand to cup her cheek. “I’m sorry about the baby.”
“Go away, Cade. Please, just go away. I don’t need this right now.”
“I know you don’t, but I’ll be back, anyway. The doctor told Crazy Bitch you need to gain at least fifteen pounds, and I’m going to make sure you do. Then, when you’re healthy enough, I’m going to put another baby in you.”
Jane picked up the tray sitting next to her and threw it at him. “You can’t replace what I lost!” she cried out. “It’s not like going out and getting a new puppy when the old one dies.”
“No, it isn’t,” he said hoarsely. “But it will be a part of you and me, the beginning of the family I intend to have with you.” He picked up the scattered dishes, placing them back on the tray before going to the door, where he stared back at her mercilessly as she sat crying.
Opening the door, he went out and reached back for the handle. “By the way, I called your boss at Popeye’s and told her you quit, and if she gave you your job back, I would make sure the brothers came to eat there for all their meals.”
He barely managed to shut the door before her bedside clock crashed against it.
Chapter 23
Jane was sitting on the couch, playing with her cat, when Cade knocked on the door later that day.
“Don’t open it,” Jane told Crazy Bitch.
Her friend went to the door to look out the peephole. “The dude is standing outside with bags of food.”
“I don’t care. Don’t—” Crazy Bitch didn’t wait to listen to the rest of her sentence. She just opened the door.
“Give me the bags and get lost.” Crazy Bitch blocked the doorway.
Jane heard Cade’s determined voice and knew Crazy Bitch wasn’t going to win this battle.
“I brought enough for all of us. Either I come in, or I take the bags with me.”
“Fuck.” Crazy Bitch moved back from the doorway, letting him inside.
“Are you feeling better?” Cade asked when he saw Jane sitting on the couch.
Jane didn’t answer him, still angry about losing her job at Popeye’s.
Cade simply grinned and set the two large bags on the coffee table in front of her. As he reached inside the bag and pulled out an aluminum foil covered bread roll, Jane couldn’t help herself. She started salivating at the smells coming from the bag.
“I’ll get us some plates,” Crazy Bitch said as she went to the kitchen.
Cade sat down next to Jane. She was about to warn him yet wasn’t given a chance.
“What the hell?” the cat was swatting at Cade’s arm.
“That’s Manson. Get used to him.” Crazy Bitch came back in and pulled a chair closer to the coffee table. She then took out three round aluminum trays and gave one each to Jane and Cade before she took the last one for herself.
Not able to resist the temptation any longer, Jane took off the cardboard top and stared down at the thick T-bone and mashed potatoes with asparagus.
“I hate asparagus,” she told him, about to put the offending vegetable on Crazy Bitch’s plate.