"Baby, I'm not going to hurt you." He tread carefully, thinking his reaction had set me off.
"I know." I whispered, eyes locked to his.
His head jerked with surprise. He gently pushed me back on the bed to cover my body with his. He stroked my face tenderly, like I was made of glass.
"This swine, Jimmy, he got a last name?" Cade asked carefully, his quiet tone still shaking with anger.
"Yup." I said slowly. "O'Fallhan." I told him on a slight whisper. Something flashed through Cade's eyes, something too quick to catch, recognition?
"You know him?" I asked softly.
"No baby." He said stroking my head. "What prison is he in?"
"Ummm, Attica." I answered, having memorized all but his prisoner number, needing to know where he was, where he would be for the rest of his miserable life.
"Why?" I added, getting a bad feeling.
"No reason babe, just need to know that fucker is locked up, or else I would hunt him down and kill him. Still might." His voice was even, too even, like he didn't trust himself to raise it.
Cade's reaction rattled me, he was obviously really angry, for me. More importantly, it showed how much he cared about me
"No honey, he doesn't deserve to die." I stroked his cheek. Cade directed a dangerous look at me. "A man like that, being locked up for the rest of his life, is exactly what he deserves. Death is too easy for him." I watched as the look on Cade's face turned to a sad sort of pride.
"You are the strongest woman I've ever met." Cade's mouth descended on mine and he kept me distracted, helping to keep the demons at bay.
I was lying on top of Cade, sated from yet another round of love making, tracing my fingertip over the skin on his left pec. I had never really had the time to inspect his tats up close. And man, they were kick ass. He was covered, but not it stupid, poorly done scribbles, he was a work of art. He had a huge tat, spanning his chest, two doves, one on each side, pulling a script, which read ‘keep the faith'. Then above his left pec, he had intertwined a set of scales, with Peace on one side, Order in the other. His full sleeve started at the top of his neck, with a huge angel, sprawled from his shoulder, spanning his back and arm. His forearm became so thick with tats, I was engrossed discovering them all I actually lifted Cades arm to get a better look. I forgot for a second that he was an actual living, breathing man.
"Like what you see baby?" He growled.
I peeked up through my eyelashes at him.
"Your tats are the shit." I whispered back, and his eyes got that funny intense look they had when I was wearing his tee.
"You hungry babe?"
"What?" I was thrown at the abrupt change in subject.
"Food? You know the stuff we eat to survive?" He asked deadpan.
I burst out laughing and didn't stop for a wee while. I knew Cade was starting to get pissed off when he hauled me up his body and growled. "Babe."
"Sorry honey, I think that's the first time you have actually attempted something resembling a joke." I wheezed, wiping a tear from underneath my eye dramatically. "I decided to savor in it."
I smirked and he just stared at me. He then picked me up, walking us to the kitchen before unceremoniously plopping me down on his kitchen counter.
"Cade!" I jumped off the counter as he pulled out bacon and eggs out of the refrigerator.
"What woman?"
"I don't have any clothes on." I said stating the obvious.
"Not planning on walking out the door anytime soon babe." Cade set a fry pan on the stove before walking back up to me and setting me back off the counter. He stayed there, standing between my legs, hands either side of my body.
"Besides, I like the view. And I like knowing, if I feel like it, I can fuck you, no barriers to worry about." He gave me a quick bite on the breast to make his point, then cupped me between my legs. My eyes rolled back into my head for a bit, that area highly sensitive.
"Yeah but I am sitting naked on your kitchen counter, it's not very hygienic." I breathed out.
Cade smirked. "I don't give a fuck babe, in fact I may never wash that counter again. Now stay." He ordered before turning back to the stove.
My temper made its appearance.
"Did you just order me like a dog?" I whispered menacingly.
Cade eyed me. "Nope. Dogs listen a fuck of lot more than you."
I huffed, wide eyed and decided to ignore him. I gave myself a proper look at his kitchen, it was quite big, for a bachelor pad. All the appliances were stainless steel, not brand new, but nothing to sneeze at either. His countertops were white, his cupboards brown. It ran into a sort of dining area at the back of the house, where a cluttered wooden dining table sat, and beyond that a set of French doors looked like they led out to a patio area. Without being able to stop myself, my gaze went back to Cade, putting bread in the toaster. Unlike me, he wasn't naked. He had put on his jeans, commando, top button undone. He had his back to me, and I got the chance to marvel at the huge tattoo covering his whole back. It was similar to his patch, the grim reaper riding a bike under a road of skulls, with script reading ‘Sons of Templar' at the bottom. The background was flames and they were so vivid they looked almost real. Even though I wasn't a big fan of skulls and crossbones, I had to say it was awesome. I realized we had been sitting in silence for quite a while, not uncomfortable, I guessed with the amount of words we had shared throughout the day, silence might be good.
"How old are you?" I asked, curious. He was definitely older than my 25 years but I couldn't quite figure out how much.
He glanced at me from the stove. "I'm thirty two."
My eyes popped out. "Seriously? Wow, you are an old man."
He turned off the heat. "You didn't seem to mind an old man fucking you ten minutes ago."
"No, well as long as you don't put your hip out." I continued teasing.
"Don't you want to know how old I am?" I asked after he didn't reply.
Cade glanced at me. "Already know how old you are Gwen."
That was a surprise. "What did you do a background check on me or something?" I joked, my brows narrowed when he just looked back at me.
"Did you seriously do a background check on me?" I asked in a sharp tone.
"Babe as soon as I saw you outside your house knew I had to have you. Just had one of the boys look you up so I knew what I was working with. I hardly call looking up your Facebook page a background check." He replied amusement dancing in his eyes.
I opened my mouth then closed it again, unable to think of a response to this. Cade turned back to our food.
A phone ringing made my jump and Cade heard it too.
"That's yours babe. Ignore it. I only just got you without interruptions I don't need drama from your crazy best friend." He turned back, expecting me to obey.
But I didn't, of course. After scowling at his back for the comment about Amy, I leapt off the counter and ran in the direction of the ringing. I wouldn't normally, but that was Ian's tone! I hadn't heard from him in months, due to him being in fuck knows where doing fuck knows what. I worried about him all the time and wasn't going to miss a chance to talk to him. I skidded into the foyer where I found my bag and searched through it as my phone kept ringing.
"I'm coming I'm coming" I chanted hoping it wouldn't ring off. I grabbed it then put it to my ear. "Hello!" I shouted breathless.
"Ace!" I heard Ian yell. It was slightly fuzzy but man it was good to hear his voice.
"Ian! Thank god I was getting worried! Hold on one second." I quickly put the phone down and grabbed Cade's tee which was thankfully at the front door. I felt weird talking to my brother while I was standing here naked.
"I'm back. Ian I have missed you so much. Where are you? When are you coming home? Are you okay?" I shot at him, thinking I might have inherited my mother's trait when it came to phone conversations.
Ian read my mind. "Jesus Ace, you're as bad as Mum." I heard the laugh in my brother's voice and smiled.
"Can't tell you the answer to the first two, but yes I am fine." He reassured me sounding healthy enough.
I breathed into the phone, letting out the worry I didn't even know I was carrying. "I'm so glad to hear that Ian, it's so hard not hearing from you for months at a time, I get so worried!" My voice raised a bit at the end. "I think you should retire, get an office job, something where you don't have the possibility of getting riddled with bullets." I ordered voice shaking, I guess I was a bit raw from the days events.