Page 6 of Collision of Winters
He was the one who’d made me accept I was gay. And I’d been so relieved whenever he’d broken up with a boyfriend. They hadn’t been good enough for Wade anyway.
Last but not least, we were both involved in kink. Not the same communities, of course. That would’ve been awkward. I didn’t know if he was even part of a community.
On second thought, I wasn’t either. Not anymore. Everyone I knew in Dallas had witnessed my arrest, and I hadn’t heard from them since.
Wade climbed the steps outside and soon entered the cabin, and he glanced around before his gaze landed on me.
“We have no food,” I said.
“We have plenty of food,” he replied. His feet remained on the doormat as he reached over and set a container of something on the kitchen counter.
I scrunched my nose. Um,wherewas this food? Because I’d rummaged through the cupboards above the sink and counter, and I’d only found some dry goods. We couldn’t live off that every single day.
After taking off his boots and parka, he went over to the nearest window where he had a big wooden chest. He gestured for me to join him, so I pushed off all the blankets.
As I walked closer, I saw the chest was packed with more dry goods. More flour and pasta and rice and cans.
“The shed is its own freezer,” he went on. “It’ll be even colder soon. We’ve got a storm system comin’ in.”
Just great.
He closed the chest again, then pulled his hoodie over his head and walked over to the basic kitchen. “Whatever you do, don’t leave food outside,” he told me. “We have quite the population of predators, and they don’t all hibernate.”
Fucking fantastic.
“Won’t they snack on the dogs?” I asked.
He let out a chuckle. “They might try if I don’t get there first.” He grabbed two pots from below the counter—a skillet too. “The dogs are my alarm system. Once they start barking, I head out with my shotgun. Which sounds worse than it is. The bears don’t really come close unless there’s food lying around.”
Had I mentioned I was going to die here?
“Where are the dogs when you’re not around?”
Wade furrowed his brow and cast me a look over his shoulder. “They come home with me, of course.”
“Oh.”
I didn’t know.
I wasn’t as close to Wade and Chris as I would’ve liked these days, and it wasn’t only because we didn’t live in the same state anymore. They saw each other all the time, and Dad and Chris even worked together. When I’d lived at home, we’d had dinners often.
I couldn’t actually remember the last time I’d visited Wade’s ranch.
“So what’s the plan here?” I walked closer to the kitchen and leaned against the wall next to the bedroom door. “How am I gonna get my shit together and become perfect like you and Chris?”
He huffed a gruff laugh. “Since when are we perfect?”
Bitch, please.
Maybe Wade didn’t expect a response, because he moved on as he emptied two cans of crushed tomatoes into the smaller pot. “We don’t have a big agenda, Kayden. We just know that since you moved three years ago, shit’s gone downhill. You’re not happy anymore, you’ve gotten into trouble with the law, and we barely see you.” He slid me a brief look. “Three months in jail is nothing to scoff at. You have a record now.”
I swallowed hard and did my best to keep my face composed.
My stomach twisted painfully.
“Yeah, well. Every family needs its black sheep, I guess.”
He frowned and shook his head, adding garlic paste and some seasoning mix to the tomatoes.
