Page 14 of Warlander Beast Cat

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. I figured he was trying to poison me, so I threw it away.”

Jenna laughed. “I don’t think Kru is the poisoning kind. His animal could just murder us if he wanted to.”

So intimidatingly true. His saber-toothed tiger was a titan.

“Look, my point is…you’ve never given me a reason not to trust you. Lucas never showed up pissed about me leaving, and the boys never mentioned it. There is no way that if they knew, they wouldn’t have given me maximum shit for it. You just listened to what I admitted to you in a moment of weakness, and then you absorbed it and carried it with me.”

Jenna’s face softened. “You’re damn right. You could tell me anything, and I’ll hold it with you.”

It was in this moment that Cadence knew Jenna deserved a good friend too. They’d grown up together, but in different circles. Jenna was cripplingly shy and had been her entire life, but since they’d been put together in the same Crew, Cadence had begun to appreciate how deep Jenna really was. “You can share anything with me too, and I’ll carry it.” Cadence looked her right in the eyes as she said that, so she could see the truth in her expression and hear it in her voice.

“I already know that,” Jenna whispered. “You’ve been very nice to me.”

“I never thanked you,” Cadence said.

“For what?”

“For your falcon saving me from Kru. You saved me and Lucia.”

“You know who else I think she saved?”

“Who?”

“Kru.”

Cadence frowned. “Kru doesn’t need saving.”

“You don’t think the human part of him would’ve been destroyed if he had succeeded in hurting any of us?”

Cadence had never thought about that before. She didn’t know how to answer.

“Kru brought me a plastic container of jambalaya, too. He also left one on Lucia’s porch. She never stays here, so it sits there still.”

Cadence didn’t understand.

“How many gifts has he brought you over the last few weeks?”

Cadence’s heart rate kicked up. A six-pack of her favorite beer had shown up on her front porch. A pack of black pepper beef jerky. Jambalaya. “A few.”

“Me too. And Lucia.”

“He could just apologize. He doesn’t have to go through the trouble.”

“Maybe he doesn’t know how to say apologies.” Jenna stood and blew on her newly-painted red fingernails. “We’re all a mess, and we all have quirks. Don’t worry, Gunner will be home soon.”

“I already told you, I’m not worried about Gunner.”

Jenna turned at the door and offered her a knowing smile. “I figured. I just wanted to hear you say it wasn’t Gunner again.”

Oh. Jenna had figured out she was watching out for Kru. Huh. Jenna had always been a watcher. A tester, and a watcher.

“I hear a truck engine,” Jenna announced as she left. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the worm farm!”

Cadence strode for the front window and peeked out the blinds again, and then when she couldn’t see well enough, she muttered, “Fuck it,” and pushed the front door open. She didn’t want him to think she was waiting on him. Definitely not. She hadn’t randomly waited on him just to wave at him and say hi and exchange shots when he got home after wherever he was during the day. Now she understood it was a legitimate job, which was kind of hot.

Way better than just fiddlefucking around in town all day.

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