Page 12 of Trouble

I can’t remember the last time I truly felt safe like that.

That’s the worst part of a loved one’s betrayal. The stolen sense of safety. Of control over oneself.

My heart pounds, the echo of it drowning out my thoughts. I take a long, slow breath. My anxiety is spiking, and if I don’t get it under control, I’m liable to spin out.

Focus on something you can feel: Cade’s hands. Something you can smell: The ocean. Something you can hear: His steady voice.

While he’s been talking, I’ve been stuck in my head. Jason has held me captive emotionally for far longer than he ever did physically.

I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, willing myself back tothe present. We’re walking on the boardwalk, the reflection of the moon on the water casting a gorgeous golden light over the bay.

“How long have you and Declan known one another?”

Cade chuckles. “I don’t remember a time I didn’t know him.”

I hum and survey the water. Lake and I are like that. We came up together in Nashville, singing and working in bars, hoping to get our big break. Hers came far sooner than mine, when she was only sixteen. She stayed in Nashville with me, though our dynamic changed greatly. Suddenly, she was a star, and I was her sidekick. In certain ways, I still am. She’s far more brave, more bold, than I am. She pushes the envelope, while I wait in the wings, watching to see how each scenario plays out for her. Often, that turns into yearning to follow her lead.

Her marrying an older man has me considering the man at my side and wondering how it will feel to be pressed down by his heavy weight tonight. Because we both know that’s where we’re heading.

Though I can’t imagine a man like Cade settling down the way Ford did with Lake. He’s got to be in his mid-forties, yet he acts like just another playboy in a bar.

I’m not judging whatsoever. That attitude is what makes me so comfortable with him. He knows what he’s doing.

Makes me wonder what else he could teach me.

“Has Declan ever been married?”

I’m not sure why I keep asking about his friend. If Cade is concerned, he doesn’t show it. He just laughs. “No. The only thing Dec is married to is stress.”

“Like I said, you make an odd pair.”

His shrug is casual. “He wasn’t always like this. Life hasn’t been easy for him.”

“Is life easy for anyone?”

Though Cade’s feet don’t stop moving, he goes just the slightest bit rigid. “No, I don’t suppose it is.”

Not liking the serious tone that’s so foreign coming from him, I shift the conversation back to Declan. “What was he like before life got hard?”

Cade rolls his tongue over his bottom lip, making it shine in the moonlight. “He was always stern, don’t get me wrong. Control hasalways been his thing.” He’s quiet for a moment, like he’s lost in thought. “He just knew how to let his guard down, I guess.”

Before I can really consider what to ask next, he guides me off the boardwalk and down a dirt path.

“His house is around the back.” Cade points to a large cape that, in the dark, appears to be a deep shade of blue.

With a hand at the small of my back, he urges me up the front steps. The simple wreath on the door makes warmth spread through my chest. I can almost hear Declan sayinglook, I decoratedto anyone who dared call him a grinch.

When we enter the house, the smell of a dwindling fire hits me. Low flames dance behind the gate in the oversized brick hearth in the corner of the living area, as if Declan has just walked away from it. Disappointment settles heavy in my belly at the thought of him getting Cade’s text and then feeling the need to disappear.

“Can I get you a drink?” Cade walks around the space comfortably, like he stays here often.

“Whatever you have is fine.”

“Tequila?” He dangles a bottle from his fingers and hits me with a devilish smirk that makes my stomach swoop. For so long, the only emotions I’ve experienced have circled around fear and anxiety. But after just a few hours in this town, other feelings are bubbling to the surface. Though it has more to do with the people here than the town itself. Namely, two people.

I’m staring down the dark hallway when Cade settles beside me on the couch, two shot glasses in one hand, the bottle of tequila in the other. “Everything okay?”

I shift my attention to him. “I hate that he disappeared into his bedroom. Feels like we chased him in there.”

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