Page 32 of Cade

Cade sat silently. He didn’t know what to say to his friend, but he knew he was getting close to being directly called out. “There’s a lot here that you don’t know,” Cade admitted.

Ryker let out a harsh laugh. “Isn’t that what I just said?”

“Maybe.”

“When you get back, I expect answers and to know how we can help. You know whatever it is, we will help you.” Ryker turned and held Cade’s gaze for a beat before letting it go.

Cade blew out a breath. Was it too much to just ask one thing in his life to go right? He mused.

“Are you explaining to him how a wedding night works?” Luke leaned over between Cade and Ryker.

“Man, don’t start your shit. She’s right there and doesn’t need to be embarrassed by you,” Cade snapped at his friend.

Luke grunted and stood up. “You really did it, didn’t you?” he asked.

“Did what?” Cade took a sip of the water in front of him.

“You actually got married. Never thought I’d see you cave.”

As Luke returned to his own seat, Cade wondered if Luke knew more than what he let on. Brushing off the thought, he laughed to himself. Luke wasn’t in on this. It was just his nonsense about not wanting a relationship with anyone.

Luke was like that, always giving them a hard time about not wanting his lifestyle of chaotic one-night stands. They’d all been through that phase in one way or another, and everyone except Luke had outgrown that time in their lives.

Dinner was a loud affair. Everyone laughed and joked, clearly having a good time. No one brought up their suspicions of Cade’s motive for the wedding and in the end, he finally relaxed.

“We have something for you,” Jake stood, getting everyone’s attention. “not that you can’t afford it or anything.” He rolled his eyes and everyone laughed. “But we thought that the two of you might want to get away for a little while.”

Jake held up an envelope and handed it to April. Cade got up and walked behind her, curious as to what was in it.

April gasped as she pulled out an itinerary. It seemed that everyone had gotten together and planned a honeymoon for them to the south of France. He enjoyed it there and while he had something else in mind, April seemed happy with this trip.

“Thank you,” Cade said to Jake.

“It was all of us, but you’re welcome,” Jake laughed. “We wanted to make sure that you both got to spend some time together before returning to work. Knowing you, the plan was probably to be back to work on Monday.”

“Actually,” Cade cleared his throat. “She was the one that I had to convince to take the time off. I was more than ready to take a honeymoon.”

“Well, you two are a matching pair,” Evan moaned.

They paid and left, heading for the Ferris wheel. April was oddly quiet now that she was walking alongside him and not with her friends. She had let him take her hand though and to anyone looking at them, they would appear as a happy couple who were just taking in the night.

Cade knew her mind was racing. It was all over her face as different thoughts ran through it. She was never good at hiding what she was thinking. He’d often teased her she needed to fix that before she finished her degree and became a lawyer.

It was the one place she did hide it. Or time, rather. When she was working, and he’d seen it a few times, she was able to keep a mask in place. Even seeing her for the first time when the restaurant was in trouble, he’d had a hard time hiding his surprise. April though, her eyes had widened a fraction and then she’d got herself under control again. If he hadn’t been watching so hard, he probably wouldn’t have noticed her slight surprise.

“Well, some of us have to work tomorrow,” Jake laughed.

“Since when do you work?” Cade joked back.

“Well, I was talking about Evan,” he shrugged.

The whole group laughed.

They made it back to the hotel and said they’re good nights to each other and headed to their own rooms. April was quiet as they made it to their room and mumbled something before quietly slipping into the bathroom.

Chapter Fifteen

April

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