Page 48 of Cade

CHAPTER 27

Weston

When I woke up, I was aware of two things. My arm had gone numb, and Cade was wrapped around me like a damn lemur on the bed. I shifted us, careful not to jostle him too much and wake him.

His lips parted just enough that I could hear tiny soft snores, his dark eyelashes standing out against his sunlit skin. The light of morning bathed him like an angel, and I couldn’t help but think that’s exactly what he looked like in my arms.

I steadied my breath as I ran my fingers through his soft hair, my heart lifting as he sleepily moaned out a sound of contentment from my touch.

I want to keep you and this moment forever.

However, that was the moment my pain in the ass parents decided to call me. Or more accurately, my pain in the ass father.

The annoying call broke the spell of perfection, and Cade shifted in my arms as I regrettably pulled away.

“Yes, father?” I said probably much harsher than I’d meant to, but I was still a bit tired, and as far as I was concerned it was still too early to deal with Rhodes Family Drama.

I had just woken up, for fuck’s sake.

Like the businessman he was, he didn’t even address our tense discussion at last night’s barely eaten dinner. Instead, he just steamrolled right over it, launching into his serious dad tone.

“I’m holding a meeting today on the fifth floor, conference room A. Your presence is mandatory.” His tone conveyed all business, commanding and with little room for refusal.

A part of me instinctively wanted to refuse on principle, because there was nothing I hated more than being forced into anything.

Especially by my father.

Fencing lessons, boarding school, a job I didn’t think I was qualified for.

But I also knew that my father rarely spoke to me like this.

I could count on my hand the number of times he’d sounded so serious, his tone making his order seem absolutely imperative.

Which made me sit up straighter, my muscles tightened. Everything about his words caused panic to form in the pit of my stomach.

This can’t be good.

Cade groggily mumbled something beside me, but it was white noise as I tried to focus on finding my own voice.

“I understand,” I said, my own voice not betraying how truly worried I was.

If my presence was mandatory, I knew this was probably it. The day I’d been dreading since that summer before I’d graduated.

“Be there at ten o’clock. Don’t be late,” he said curtly, before hanging up on me, leaving me to stew in my panic alone.

The sound of a toilet flushing in the background pulled me from my waking nightmare, reminding me I wasn’t alone. I turned to see Cade strolling through the doorway, stopping as our eyes met.

I noted the time on the nightstand clock read eight thirty. I had exactly an hour and a half until the damn world came crashing down.

My only thought was I wished I could have spent it with Cade. Curled up under the covers, kissing him until he begged me to stop. Ordering room service and just laying in bed watching terrible hotel movies.

But life just wasn’t fucking fair, sometimes.

“Who was that?” Cade asked as I climbed off the bed, pulling off my shirt. I folded it neatly and set it on the left side of my suitcase, doing the same with my slacks until I was down to my briefs. I could feel Cade’s eyes on me, the heat of his gaze. I reached for a pair of clean slacks and a lilac silk shirt.

“My father. Unfortunately, I have an early meeting today,” I said without inflection.

“Oh, okay,” Cade said softly, his voice full of unspoken words.

---