CADEnce (Deception Book 2) by D H Sidebottom, Ker Dukey Page B

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