Page 13 of Cade

Chapter Six

Cade

Cade sat by the pool, looking out over the waterfall feature he’d had installed. He didn’t swim much, but the sound of the water was relaxing and the whole setup was unlike anything you’d find in the city. It was something he insisted on, making the feature unique but realistic, if not out of place.

He loved living in the city and the convenience that came with living there, but one of the first big purchases he made was this house outside of the city in the suburbs, just for him to retreat to, away from everyone and everything.

His friends visited often, and he used to host parties out here that would last an entire weekend, but he hadn’t done that since a client tried to force Lauren into something she wasn’t interested in. It had been an absolutely awful thing to see her scared like that. Since then, it was close friends only.

If anyone so much as thought about doing that to April, he’d… well, he’d do nothing because she wasn’t his. Even if he was thinking about changing his mind about her, he ruined any chance of that on their fake date.

His mother had chosen his drive over to call him, and that had set him in a particularly foul mood. There was no getting out of the date that late and he couldn’t calm his anger, so even though he didn’t mean it, April took the brunt of his emotions.

Cade wished things were like they had been with her. If they were, he would have told her everything and she would have found some way to soothe him or put it into perspective. Hell, she probably would have found a way to make him laugh.

Damn, he missed her. He’d never admit it out loud, but he missed her since he pushed her away the first time. It was worse now that she was actually just a phone call away. Somehow, the date only made it worse because he didn’t get to see her. He probably would have caved, though, if he would have seen her face crumple when he hurt her feelings.

Kayla hadn’t let up on him either, wanting to know what happened. It meant that April hadn’t said anything about the way he treated her, which was weird. He expected her to tell Kayla what an ass he was.

Instead, he’d told on himself that he was in a bad mood before the date started and had been rude. Kayla was understanding, knowing that there was family drama behind things and that was the reason he was late, but now she wanted to know exactly what he’d done and why he wasn’t willing to fix things.

He laughed and shook his head at himself. There was no fixing anything between them. He’d made sure of that more than once.

Cade tossed back the rest of his beer as his phone rang. The caller was a number he didn’t recognize, and he hesitated to answer. He didn’t want to work this weekend, and it was likely a client.

On a sigh, he answered it anyway. “Cade,” he said to the caller.

“I know damn good and well who I called. What a shitty way to answer the phone,” his father’s voice boomed through the phone.

Stunned, Cade took a moment to gather his thoughts, ignoring his snide comment about how he answered the phone. “Father.”

“Yes, amazingly, I know who I am, too.”

He had a thousand questions going through his mind. Cade needed to know what he wanted from him and his friends and why he was doing the things he was doing. He also wanted to keep him on the phone long enough to send a message to Ryker’s tech guy and have him trace the call.

“What do you want?” Cade asked. Sticking with his normal brusque demeanor, he tried not to let his father know that he was eager to talk to him.

“I want you to stop playing these games,” his father shouted.

Cade was mid-text and paused, confused. “What games?” He wasn’t the one playing them, his father was. He finished the text and sent it off, hoping the man was paying attention and would trace the call.

“I know you were at that restaurant to meet a stranger,” he bit out.

“First, I didn’t hide that I was going, so I’m not even going to bother asking you how you know. Second, my dating life is none of your business.” Of all the places this conversation might have gone, this was definitely nothing he would have guessed.

“I raised you better than to be out there dating random people in the dark, doing who knows what in the dark, and probably setting yourself up with a gold digger like your secretary. Hell, it might even be her. Maybe she lets you and Jake share.”

Cade clenched his fists and stood. He was in need of a punching bag before he used a wall instead. “Don’t talk about her like that. You don’t even know the woman, and she’s not with anyone but Jake.”

“I guess he’s got plenty of money for her for now. I’m sure she’ll be hitting on you again before too long.”

“What the fuck is your problem?” Cade demanded.

“My problem is my son is out there acting a fool. You let one of your best clients go over that woman!” He was yelling now and Cade could picture his round face as red as a cherry by now.

“He tried to hurt her!” Cade shouted back. He forced himself to unclench his fist and take a deep breath.

“She asked for it and you need to wise up before some little whore comes and takes all my money.”

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