Page 63 of The Reluctant Hero

Everything Starts & Ends with You

Jake

Amanda is quiet the rest of the day. The brief question of a lawyer dampened her quickly. Her witty comments are gone as if they never existed. She’s too stuck in her own head to pay attention now, no matter what antics they try.

It frustrates Gabe and Cade to no end.

What’s going through that complex mind now?

Seeing her in the class setting did not prepare me for the reality of her. I don’t believe that her unconsciously timid act at the gym was fake. She simply wasn’t angry enough to bite back at the taunts. She’s hiding in plain sight with no one aware of what a force she can be.

I think back to the quick glares she gave me before she turned away. A subtle sign of the anger hidden underneath.

Is she more comfortable because there isn’t another woman here to compare her to? Based on the women in the class and their vile comments, it seems likely. Somewhere inside her, she knows she’s different and that strangeness makes her unwanted in their circles.

I think she’s been phoning it in her entire marriage.

Here, she’s free to be herself.

But her reactions to things are digging her into a hole she hasn’t noticed.

Why hasn’t she contacted a lawyer yet? Ace said she was very insistent on the divorce, and she’s not making it happen with the vast resources she has available. A simple no without explanation in reply.

A red flag.

Gabe and Cade will watch her relentlessly. If not for her highlighting, then for proof that she’s a gold-digger. The majority of interactions each of them has had with women haven’t been good. They both have too much money with a lot of media coverage on it. Something they planned to show their unified front for business matters outside the Matthias homegrown business of vigilante justice.

Gabe is familiar with two types. The money-hungry sex kittens that play to his tune and the step-mothers-to-be that think they can control him with no idea that his money is his own, not his father’s.

Cade, on the other hand, has experience in black widows. He got to see it from the inside as an unwitting observer until it was far too late. His guilt lies in the fact he didn’t see the signs soon enough to save his father. And that he cold-bloodedly seduced the woman with his inheritance and promises of his body to keep her close before he killed her. He’s excellent at acting. Playing the game.

But his heart isn’t in it. He had one person he wanted to be punished, and he got it done relatively quickly due to disgust. I think he joined Matthias to simply not be alone. Once his purpose was handled, he felt he had nothing left to gain or lose. Just green paper that got his father killed.

Cade’s life is overflowing with mistakes and no one punishes him for it more than himself.

Amanda could get him out of it. It’s already started. His acting is suffering under her unusual reactions to things. He’s expecting sweet responses and apologies. He’s receiving sneering glares and middle fingers.

The sexual tension between her and Gabe is thick enough to choke on. Every time she shuts Cade out, he gets moreinterested. Ace has already claimed her. Mikael is watching her and trying not to be obvious about it.

I like how the dynamic is going. She’s shaken us all up and let us drop to try and find our feet again. We aren’t her problem. She doesn’t have to hold our hands through anything.

No one is holding hers.

I think it’s time to give in to my curiosity. I have a few plans ready, but I was waiting for a more visible sign of approval to enact them. That time has come.

A discreet alarm goes off on her phone at five o’clock. She doesn’t hesitate to pack her things up and leave with an absent farewell.

It gets everyone riled up.

Cade is all over the paperwork she was working on to verify that she’s doing anything. Gabe’s expression goes cold again as his self-isolation kicks back in.

I get up to follow her.

“Hey,” Ace calls to me with a scowl.

I turn back and raise a brow at him.

“The fuck you doin’?”

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