The Deception series boxset: FaCade, Cadence, Beneath Innocence (36 page)

THE BLOW TO THE BACK of Cade’s head knocked him out cold. I had never been more lost and broken in my whole life as when he stormed that room and witnessed Dante inside me. How would he be able to look at me like he used to?

It was hard watching Cade so indulged in his demons as he held the gun to Dante. I didn’t feel anything at the thought of Dante dying. I think a part of me was convinced he died long ago and the person in his place, claiming his face and name, was just a ghost wrecking the memories I had of a man I loved once upon a time.

What I couldn’t face was Cade taking his life. Going to prison for the rest of his life and living with taking the life of a man he shared a womb with.

How did we get to this? Cade had a bullet hole in each palm from his own flesh and blood and it was all my fault. With every passing second he remained unconscious, a little piece of me faded with him. Jenson was restrained outside and went crazy when he saw Cade bleeding and then knocked out. I was in a dream state, my brain trying to make sense of everything.

Frank held me while my body trembled and the world washed away.

“CADE!”
I SCREAMED AS I woke.

I was in a hotel. Amy was by my side, her red-rimmed eyes divulging the fact she’d been crying. What the hell was she doing there?

“Shh, it’s okay, you’re safe,” she said, tucking some of my hair behind my ear.

“Where’s Cade?”

Her eyes closed, her face contorting in pain. “He’s okay. Alex is working on his hands. I can’t believe his brother would do such a thing.” Her timid voice showed her innocence to such violence. I kind of envied her.

Standing on wobbly legs, I pushed her hands away when they reached forward to support me. “Why are you here?”

She looked surprised by my question, her eyes popping wide making her eyebrows rise high on her forehead. “I’m here for Cade.”

Yeah, the hollow black hole inside me was back, swallowing any traces of my soul. Had he moved on to her, found comfort in her? The tears sprung free, a broken dam flooding my cheeks. Death would be less painful than this. “Where is he?”

I followed her out of the room and through a corridor into another room. Cream carpets and whitewashed walls played host to the entire band, Beneath Innocence, and also Frank, Sed and Cade.

They had their trained medic, Alex, working on Cade’s injuries. Alex traveled with Cade and his security. I bet he never thought he would need to fix bullet wounds.

Cade was awake and talking to Jenson. He looked pale but stunning. Every fiber in my body hummed and pulled to go to him. Silence eclipsed the sound of everyone else when his head turned to me, the only sound was my own heart stampeding in my chest.

“Faye.” My name left him in a whisper.

People passed me, leaving the room, and before I could suck in a breath we were alone. He stood up wearing only his jeans that were covered in blood; his blood. God, Dante was insane. His muscled torso rippled and strained as he strode towards me. Bandaged hands grasped my face, his eyes watering, the deep brown almost obscuring his pupils.

His forehead came down to rest on mine. “I thought I’d lost you,” he choked, dropping to his knees before me, his arms wrapping around my waist as his face burrowed into me. His grip was so tight it was painful. I didn’t care, it made this real. He had come for me. I was with him.

My fingers swept through his thick hair, longer than Dante’s. He clearly hadn’t had a trim in a while. His shoulders flexed, the tattoos, half of which I designed for him, moved as if they were alive on his skin. His deep, raw scream that vibrated against my skin made my heart fracture.

He jumped to his feet and grabbed my hand, flinching from the pain in his palm. He dragged me into a bathroom and switched the shower on. “Baby, take off your clothes.” He was broken, his brow furrowed and his voice cracking. I wasn’t ready to do this. “Baby, you smell of him. Take your clothes off, please.”

Realization hit me like a wrecking ball. He could smell the sex on me. Hurrying to rid myself of the nightmare I’d been living in I stripped the clothes away and put them in a bin in the corner of the room.

Standing under the hot spray of water, I knew it would never clean me of my sins but I was here with Cade, not Dante. The world was back in color.

Cade watched me for a while, studying every inch of me, tears slipping from his eyes every time his gaze clashed with a bruise. My throat had black and blue bruises covering it. Cade’s hands were fisted, crimson rivers coating the once white bandages. That must have hurt like hell. I needed to ebb his rage.

I reached my hand out to him and waited. With each passing second he didn’t move, I didn’t breathe. When he slipped his hand into mine, and then his body into the small cubicle, my heart ignited. He was so selfless and forgiving; would he be if he knew it all?

“You’re bleeding,” I murmured, taking his palm and kissing the stains there.

“Alex numbed them.”

“I’m sorry.” I cried, bringing his palm to my cheek. I craved his forgiveness, his comfort, his love.

“No, don’t say that. I lost you, I’m so sorry . . . he will pay for this, Faye. I promise you with my soul he will die for this.”

Grabbing the soap from a shelf behind me he began cleaning my body, his touch soft like a whisper, an echo from a firmer touch I was used to. “I missed you so damn much. I missed these dimples.” His hand brushed over the dimples in my lower back. He dropped to his knees, soaking his jeans and creating a red torrent with the water rinsing away the blood. “I missed this tiny scar here from when you threw an empty bottle in temper and felt so guilty when it smashed that you ran over to scoop the pieces up and kneeled on a piece.” His lips kissed my knee. “I missed your unruly hair when you first wake up, the glint in your eye when you’re turned on.” He inhaled against my mound. My back arched and then shame made my entire body lock up. “I’m sorry, Faye. I shouldn’t be touching you, I know, but I fucking died when they told me you had. I need to know you’re really here. Come lay on the bed with me, please. Let me hold you.”

“I need you to hold me,” I whispered. “More than anything, Cade.”

The sorrow in his eyes darkened and I gasped when he reached down and scooped me into his arms, water dripping a trail from the bathroom back to the bedroom where he lay me down gently on the bed and curled beside me.

MY HEAD THROBBED, PAIN EXPLOSIVE in both palms, but her scent saturated me and faded everything else. It wasn’t her pillow or her memory, it was her. Her silky strands fell in layers over my chest, her soft cheek resting on my ribs. The curves of her naked body curled around my own. She was home.

I couldn’t breathe from the pure elation of having her in my arms. Nothing would ever erase how I found her. Knowing what he’d been doing to her. I wasn’t prepared for the outcome I got but I should have known not to underestimate the bastard.

“He has your tattoos.” Her voice was so small I was sure I’d imagined her words. Her body shifted from mine until she looked up at me. “He even has your tattoos. How did I break him so fully, Cade?”

Dante was a twisted fuck who dabbled in what he made. Even drug dealers never sampled their own product. Dante was creating his and it put him on the path of destruction. Faye didn’t know I once kept tabs on him. I wanted to find him when he disappeared and cut us all out of his life. When he broke her heart. I needed answers and instead found him in a volatile mood, with some whore in his bed. He didn’t want to talk or listen to me. I followed him around for a week before I determined he was never like us and would never come home. If I’d known how much of a dark path his soul had gone down I would have stepped in but I wasn’t a fucking saint. I had my own dark corners and questionable patches in my life; I never let any of it touch Faye, though. How could I let him do this to her, to us? I needed answers. I needed to know what he put her through and why.

“Faye, can you tell me what happened?”

Her whole frame stiffened against me. She pulled away and rushed to the bathroom, slamming the door closed. I heard the taps turn on and what sounded like whimpering.

A loud knock on the bedroom door startled me. I didn’t want whoever it was to hear my girl breaking, so I wrapped the sheet around my waist and went to the door, slipping out of the room.

“Hey,” Amy said, looking over me, a worried frown marring her pretty features. “How is she?”

I swallowed the scream threatening to tear me apart and shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve never felt this helpless before. How do I get her through this?”

“Patience.” Fucking patience? I wanted to fix her now, erase every bad thing he ever did to her. Amy reached onto her tip toes, slinging her small arms around my shoulders and hugged me to her. She had been a Godsend over the last few months.

The door clicking open and then shut with an “Oh, sorry” made Amy pull away. I opened the door and found Faye in a dressing gown. “I didn’t, I should have . . .”

“What, baby?”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She shook her head and lowered her eyes to the floor.

I marched over to her, raising my hand to cup her chin. She flinched, shattering my soul. Amy’s gasp brought my eyes to her. She was looking at the bruises coloring Faye’s neck.

“You never have to fear me, baby.” I pushed past the hurt and anger simmering under the surface of my façade. I needed vengeance.

“I’m sorry.”

Fuck, I couldn’t handle this.

“Cade.” Amy said my name with caution. “This was delivered to the room, it’s for Faye.” She opened her palm which had a cell phone in it. I snatched it from her.

“Who the fuck delivered it?”

“Someone left it at reception. I went down to collect it. I didn’t tell Frank, I came straight to you.”

The phone sparked to life in my hand.

Incoming call from Dante

That motherfucker! Pressing end, my eyes went to Faye who stared at the cell like it was about to explode and kill us all. Silent seconds passed as I tried to comprehend that he knew exactly where we were and was contacting Faye like he hadn’t kidnapped her at all.

Beep, beep.

Multimedia message.

The phone disappeared from my hand in a flash. Faye took off running and locked herself in the bathroom with the phone. My head felt too heavy for my shoulders; the room was spinning. Amy’s hand curled around my bicep, guiding me to sit on the bed.