Page 31 of Silent Secrets

Hadley

Istandoutsidethe doors to the library, trying to convince myself to open the door—as I have been for the last fifteen minutes. Luckily, no one has been down this particular hallway to see me during my crisis.

“Do you think it’s going to magically open on its own?”

I jump when the voice sounds behind me, face flushing. Turning slowly, I find Caiden leaning against the opposite wall, watching me with a smirk on his face. I can’t meet his eyes as I duck my head, shaking it slightly.

“Of course not.”

“Then why are you standing out here when our lesson takes place inside the library?”

I can feel him moving closer to me, stopping when I can see his feet. He reaches out and hooks my chin in his hand, lifting it until I meet his eyes.

“I know that you’re not out here hiding from me, right?”

Even though I open my mouth to deny his words, I know that he’s right. I was avoiding him. I snap my mouth closed and shrug.

“Poor Addy, she’s embarrassed about yesterday, isn’t she?”

Addy? Who the fuck is Addy? My eyes shoot up, glancing around to see who the hell he’s talking about, but there’s no one there.

Caiden chuckles. “What’s wrong? Don’t like my new nickname for you? Hunter calls you princess and Marcos calls you kitten. At least mine is based on your name.”

Oh, I’m Addy. I chew on my lip as I meet his eyes again and I will admit that I do like the way that it sounds, especially coming from his lips. “No one has ever given me a nickname before… not counting the other two, which I wasn’t.”

“So you haven’t gone mute? That’s good to know. I was beginning to wonder.”

I snort, unable to fight my smile. Caiden’s hand strokes down my cheek as he continues to smile down at me, the heat building low in my stomach. My mind shoots back to the night before when he’d winked at me, smirking just before he’d sucked Kai’s cock into his mouth.

I rub my thighs together, wet at just the memory as desire rushes through me once again.

Caiden catches the movement, his grin widening as he steps closer. “And what were you just thinking about, Addy? Hmmmm?”

“Nothing,” I squeak.

“Liar.”

Then his lips are on mine and I can’t help the quiet moan that spills from me as I open my mouth for him, our tongues twining together. There’s a lot that I can’t help right now. Like the way my body plasters against his or the way my arms loop around his neck, pulling him closer.

Caiden pulls back first, leaning his forehead against mine as we both pant. I keep my eyes closed, afraid of what I’ll see. It’s obvious that there’s something between him and Kai, but here he is, kissing me. What if this is just some ploy? After all, this is the man who’d begged me to leave Sorlphi at our first meeting.

“Addy?”

I take a deep breath before forcing my eyes open. Taking a moment, I stare at him to see if I can figure out what he’s thinking. I can read the lust in his eyes—that’s easy to see—but I also see a question there. Is he wondering the same thing that I am? Wondering if this is real?

“I’m sorry,” I say as I step back from him. “It’s been a weird morning.”

I try to ignore the hurt on his face as I turn back to the doors and push into the library. Hurting Caiden is the last thing that I want to do, but everything is just so mixed up inside of me right now. This isn’t the time for me to try to deal with this.

My heart feels like it’s being ripped out of my chest as I blink back tears. How I don’t walk into anything as I make my way to our table, I’ll never know. I settle into my usual seat as I wait for Caiden to join me. I try to force all my feelings away, trying to force everything into a box so that I can deal with it later. Except I’ve never tried to force away what I’m feeling, and it isn’t working. I’ve never been one to avoid my emotions, and it doesn’t feel right to try doing so now.

Giving up, I lay my head in my hands as sobs shake my shoulders. I try to calm myself, knowing that Caiden will be here any moment, but it’s no use. I’m just feeling too much all at once and I can’t keep it all in.

There’s a sigh moments before Caiden pulls me from my chair and into his arms. He settles back into his chair, cradling me to his body as he strokes a hand over my hair. I can tell that he’s talking to me by the vibrations in his chest where my head lies, but I can’t make out his exact words.

I cry and cry as he holds me, soothing me with his words and his touch. I don’t know how long we sit like this, but I know it’s long after the tears have finally stopped. Caiden’s shirt is soaked with my tears, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Or at least I don’t think he does. After all, no one asked him to hold me while I cried. He’ll just be lucky if I didn’t snot all over his shirt as well.

“You want to talk about it?”

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