Page 39 of Follow Me to Your Heart
“I will.”
We sealed our words with a kiss, but deep down, something worried me Cage would learn things the hard way.
I was trying,but I hadn’t learned.
I hadn’t learned how to put myself, and Korren was right. It affected the people around me. Too many people depended on me, so letting them down wasn’t an option. All the while, I was letting myself down by not living how I desired to.
Since it was Christmas break, Korren was going back to Camden Cove to stay with her father. She asked me to stay for a few days, but I couldn’t promise her anything. I’d been at O’Shea’s beck and call lately. When Red and I suggested he clean house, I didn’t expect him to take me along for the ride. While I was honored that he’d chosen me, the shit was draining. It was consuming me in more than one way.
“Babe?” Korren called out to me, snapping me back to reality.
“Yeah?”
“What’s on your mind? You were in deep thought. Talk to me.”
I exhaled and dragged my hands down my face. Korren stopped packing, strutted over to me, and straddled me. Automatically, my hands cupped her ass. I rested my forehead on her collarbone, slowly inhaling her scent. Her hands stroked my locs as she laid her head on top of mine.
Barely above a whisper, she asked, “Are you okay, Cage?”
“Truthfully, KoKo, I don’t know. I feel like I’m everywhere, but I also feel like I’m stuck if that makes sense.”
“It does. You haven’t had to, . . . you know, . . . end a life, have you?”
“Nah, thankfully. It’s been months, but it’s the other shit weighing me down. I’m being pulled in so many directions, and I don’t know which way to go.”
“It’s only because you’re allowing it. You do know you have control of your life, right?”
I lifted my face to peer at her and placed a soft peck to her chin. “I’m trying to get it together, baby. I am. Right now, I need to be inside you. Take my mind off everything, Korren.”
Once we showered and got dressed again, I took Korren’s bags down to my car while she got Nema and locked up. My phone rang in my pocket. I didn’t recognize the number calling, so I ignored it and got in the car. Whoever it was called right back.
“Who’s that?” Korren asked, studying my screen.
“I don’t know. You can answer it if you want to.”
I chuckled as she eagerly took my phone and slid her finger across the screen. “Hello?”
“Where’s Cage?”
Fuck. It was Lorie.
Without a second thought, I instructed, “Hang up. I don’t know why the fuck she’s calling me.”
“You know exactly why I’m calling you. Don’t try to act clueless around your little bitch.”
I snatched my phone from Korren and hung up on Lorie, instantly blocking the number she called from. Whatever games she was trying to play, I wasn’t with it. Korren told me about their encounter a few weeks ago. Lorie was lucky I didn’t find her ass then, but she was testing the waters.
Korren was too quiet for me. She was staring out the window, face the color of a fire truck. Nema’s little body shook from how Korren’s legs bounced. Her mouth was twisted. When I reached out to touch her, she jerked her body away.
“Korren.”
“Why was she calling you, Cage?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out myself. I haven’t spoken to her since you told me to block her.”
“Mmm.”
“Look at me.”
