Page 106 of Rope Me In

“I bet you were amazing.” His tone is sad, the kind of sad that makes me want to pull him in my arms and hug him, tell himit will be alright. I keep the pressure of my hand on him steady and inhale an easy breath as if any sudden expression will spook him.

“Kade, what happened?”

He clenches his jaw, his eyes moving from the night sky to his flask. “I think I need help, Presley.”

His statement stuns me, words I didn’t expect to hear sinking through me like a stone to the bottom of the ocean. I swallow and try to maintain my composure. “What do you need help with, baby?”

The endearment slips easily from my lips, and he finally turns to me. His hardened gaze dips to my mouth as if he can’t believe I said it, either, then his composure fractures. His features relax slightly, and he starts blinking rapidly as he struggles to stop tears from falling.

“I don’t know.” His voice cracks, and my heart shatters at the confusion in his words. I want to give in to my desire to pull him into my arms. I want to comb my fingers through his soft hair and tell him that it’ll all be okay. But Kade isn’t someone who appreciates lies, and the truth is, Idon’tknow that.

I trail my hand up his arm instead and rest it on his elbow. “It’s okay,” I assure him. “We can figure it out together.”

His eyes stay glued to mine for a moment. Then as quickly as the softness in his gaze arrived, it leaves. His expression turns hard. “You should go.”

He pulls his arm away from me, and I shake my head. “I’m staying.”

“Presley.” Kade sighs. “Please go.”

I don’t move, and I’m not planning to. He can say whatever he wants to me, but I’m not going to leave. The Presley that arrived in Randall would’ve, but not this version of me and not after what we’ve shared together. Not after how he’s stood by me and helped me work through my own hardships.

“Presley,” he says again. “I don’t want you to see me like this.” He whispers the second part, but I hear it all the same.

“Like what?”

His head drops to his chest, and for a moment, I think he won’t answer me. But then he barely whispers, “Weak.”

If my heart wasn’t already shattered, it would be obliterated now, because the man before me is anything but weak. Gently, I grab the wrist of the hand still holding the flask. He looks down at it, and I stroke the soft skin over his pulse.

“Tell me what happened to make you feel that way.”

Kade presses his eyes shut then releases a sigh. “They didn’t want to talk about the dude ranch. They wanted to talk about my, um…”

I don’t say anything as I wait for him to finish, though internally, I’m livid for him. The fact that they lied to him again only makes my blood boil, and I have the urge to run up to the house and give his family a piece of my mind. It’s a feeling I haven’t ever felt to this extent before, the desire to protect someone with my whole being.

I squeeze Kade’s wrist to assure him once more that I’m here. At the touch, his tired eyes meet mine again. “They wanted to talk about my drinking—about my depression.” He says the last part with such shame in his chest, which only serves to make me angrier. I hate that he feels the need to be ashamed of it or his coping mechanisms.

While Kade hasn’t said he has depression to me outright, I understand he struggles with it and have known since I met him. Our night at Devil’s Rock, what he shared with me about his life and his accident only deepened my understanding of it, of him. And while I haven’t lost a loved one or been faced with a failing business like he has, I know how it feels to think nothing will ever be okay again, like nobody would care if you were gone. My parents have only ever proved that to me time and time again.

“Kade—”

He pulls his wrist from my touch and starts to pace the loft floor. His steps are heavy as he drags one hand through his messyhair while he grips the flask in the other. Eventually, he stops and holds the flask out to me, his hand trembling.

“I didn’t even drink anything. I haven’t—God, Presley. I haven’t even been drinking at all. I told you at Devil’s Rock I was trying, and fuck—” He pulls at the ends of his hair.

Unable to hold myself back any longer, I take a few steps to him and wrap my arms around his waist. His body stiffens, and I think he’s going to pull back, but then he sinks into my arms like a deadweight and begins to shake.

The clunk of the metal flask falling to the floor seems to vibrate up through my feet as Kade’s arms wrap around me. He grips me so tight against his chest that my breath whooshes from me and I gasp for air, but I don’t care. I crush him tighter to me as he hides his face in my neck, his wet tears dropping to my skin.

“Feel whatever you need to feel.” I repeat the words he’s said to me so many times now. “Let me take care of you.”

His shoulders shake in silent sobs, and I rub my hands down the length of his back as his heart releases all the emotions he’s been holding in. Regret riddles me when I think back to Devil’s Rock, how he expressed to me he wasn’t sure what happened the night of his accident. I should’ve paid more attention to his words, to what hewasn’tsaying. He’s been through a lot in such a short amount of time—it’s no wonder he’s having a hard time, why drinking and women became a crutch for him. I’d want to numb myself, too.

“Kade,” I say against his ear. “Listen to me, alright?”

He doesn’t respond; he just grips me tighter.

“You’re not weak.”

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