Page 192 of Ride With Me

Finally, I handed his phone back. “Let’s get back to breakfast and the diner,” I said to him, and the relief that flooded his features nearly floored me.

I knew the second I had a moment I’d google his name, and I was very certain about what I’d find: an article stating a son had tried to kill his father after years of abuse.

Frankly, I suddenly wished he’d succeeded, and I wasn’t sure what exactly that said about my character.

CHAPTER 5

RHODES

I couldn’t stop watchingKaden, and when his anxiety didn’t let off, I reached across the table and linked our fingers.

“Did he touch your mom, too?” I asked quietly into the explanation of fishing he was just giving me. We’d returned to the food and had talked about nothing important, but I couldn’t hold back any longer.

Kaden’s eyes snapped up to mine. “I… What?”

“You wouldn’t have beaten him up if it was just about you.”

He snorted. “I’m a bad person, little prince.”

I shook my head. “No.” I’d known it from the moment he’d gotten in the car with me, having smiled the smile he had.

And I knew it with how he treated me, more than careful, always tender, even when I wondered what it would be like if we were rougher with each other.

Iknewhe was a good person.

“I’ve been in a lot of fights. I can’t keep a job. I’m not a good person,” he insisted.

I licked my lips. “So, he touched your mom, too. Beat her, huh? And she couldn’t get away because?—”

“He’d have found her.”

There was something he didn’t say, something— “He’s a police officer.”

The fear that flashed through Kaden’s eyes was enough of an answer. “You know, I really, absolutely don’t like that topic. And if you’re not gonna run anymore, can we talk about the weather again?”

Happily. I got out of my seat and walked around the table, then slid into the booth next to him, pulling my plate closer while turning my back to the rest of the diner. I slid my hand up his thigh. “Yeah, amazing weather,” I said softly, my touch tentative.

“Naughty,” he replied, but there was a smile on his lips as I rubbed my palm across his dick in his pants. It didn’t take long, and he hardened, then panted.

I leaned in and kissed him, just briefly, then I started the topic of weather up again, telling him that I read how wet the Midwest could get.

My pressure got more, and he shifted even uneasier, but his eyes stayed on me, lips parted. “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice whisper soft.

“Distracting you. Doing what I want to do. I’m always horny, remember?”

He cupped the back of my neck, kissing me so thoroughly that I forgot what I was doing, just getting lost in the way the touch of his lips possessed me.

He eventually pulled back. “Motel? One room, one bed? We can make a role play out of it, pretending there was no other choice but for us two straight dudes to share the bed, and then?—”

“Yes,” I breathed against his lips. “Just yes.”

He chuckled, then his gaze softened even more. “That word will be my undoing, little prince. You could ask me to sell my soul for you, and I’d do it as long as you whisper that word.”

Oh, my heart…

We paid, then got into the car together. I guided it down to the motel, but before we got out in the parking lot, Kaden touched my knee. “Rhodes, I am serious. I’d rather cut off my own hand than hurt you.”

I placed my own hand above his, squeezing softly. “I believe you.”

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