Page 114 of All Our Ghosts

I stand, forcing her hand to fall to my back. "You have a lot of faith in our friendship. More than I do right now."

She smiles and it lights up my world for a brief moment. “Because I know you and, as angry as you are and as betrayed as you feel, you’ll forgive him.”

“How can you be so sure?” I ask. It's not that I don't want Cole to be out of my life. In fact, it's the last thing I want but right now it feels impossible.

“Because you forgave me and I didn’t give you a reason to but you did it because you love me.” Kadence steps towards me, almost melting into my body the way she does when she wants to be close to me. Instinctively I wrap my arms around her, abandoning the tent for the moment. “And you love him.”

“When did you get so wise?” I chuckle, pushing back tiny tendrils of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

She grins, pressing a kiss to my jaw. “I’ve always been wise, my love. You’re just stuck in that head of yours.”

“That may be true,” I say with a rasp. “But I can’t forgive him yet.”

Kadence nods. “I know.”

I dip my head to kiss her just as a chill passes through her body. "Alright, Sunflower, let's get this tent put up so we can get you warm again."

"Is that your excuse to get me naked in nature?" She laughs pushing off of me and moving to the opposite side of the tent to help me get the poles up.

I flash her a wolfish grin. "Would you blame me if I said yes?"

"Not at all." She grins. "I had the same plan."

"Did you now?"

Kadence shrugs and helps me with the second pole. Our small home for the night finally comes to life. All it needs is the rain guard but the sky is clear, and I doubt it’ll rain between now and tomorrow. The only thing on my mind is seeing her breathless beneath me. The spot we chose is tucked back into a small cove, trees separate us from the rest of the few campers around. Plenty of privacy for what I have planned for her.

I watch as she moves into the tent with our bedrolls, rolling them out for when we're ready to sleep. There isn't much I plan to do with her tomorrow for our time together. I mainly want to focus on just her. Everything feels heavy and the weight on my chest only grows with all the club bullshit that is coming to light. I know we still have to worry about Jeremy, that he is still a very real threat to my girl, but for now all I want is to spend time with her without the dark clouds hanging over us.

"Baby, do you think this is gonna be warm enough?" She asks, turning towards me. "Is it supposed to be cold?"

I smile at how domestic her question feels and how much I don't hate it. "We'll be fine darlin', besides," I reach out for her, tugging her to my chest again, "we'll make our own heat."

Kadence laughs, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Will we now?"

I nod with a soft hum.

"You're gonna have to feed me first," she coos, looking up at me. "I'm starving."

"Well it's a good thing I thought ahead now isn't it?" I give her a sly smile and walk over to the bike to grab the bag of food Ibought from the saddlebag. None of it is fancy, some snacks, a couple of pop-tarts for the morning, and chocolate. I grin at her as we both move to the picnic table and I dump the contents of the bag onto the table. "Sit," I tilt my chin towards the bench. She listens and starts to go through the stash.

"You eat like a teenager," she laughs, holding up a bag of Cheetos and a Hershey's chocolate bar.

I smirk at her. "Hey now, we were a little busy doing other things, I didn't think of stopping."

Blush creeps over her features, only making me smile harder than I have in a while. I watch as she opens the bag of Cheetos and pops one into her mouth. "I haven't had these since I was on the road."

My smile falters for a moment. She hasn't really talked about her time between Miami and here. "How long were you out there for?"

Kadence glances up at me, those green eyes meeting my own. "For a couple of weeks," she admits softly. "I felt so trapped in that house for so long that I just wanted to feel.."

"Free." I finish for her.

She nods, her smile softening for me. "For the first time in years, I didn't have to answer to anyone except myself. I lived on this shit though." She picks up the bag of cheese puffs and gently waves them around. "These and powdered donuts."

I smile at her, grabbing the bag and popping a few of the puffs into my mouth. "What brought you out this direction?"

She lets out a sigh. "It was the furthest away from everyone I knew. All of the rumors, the death threats," her voice trails off with a soft shake of her head. "I just wanted to get away from it all."

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