He gave me an unamused sidewards glance as we smoothly slid out onto the road, one hand relaxed on the wheel, the other on the gearstick. “It’s not pretty.”
“Oh, it is.” I smiled and sat back in my seat, stretching out my legs in front of me. Cade huffed but didn’t say anything else.
“So what’s going on, anyway?” I ventured, as we shot down the winding road towards his house.
“The boys decided we’re going to the hotel to check it out.” He continued staring straight ahead, his hand brushing my leg as he changed gear. I shivered.
“The hotel from the photo of my mother? All of us?”
“Yeah. No. You. Me. The boys are checking out other places of interest.”
“What places?”
“Talk about it later.” His tone was clipped.
“Why not now?”
“Leave it.” He glanced over at me, and his expression softened slightly before he sighed. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
I nodded, and we lapsed into silence for the rest of the journey.
We pulled up on the driveway, and Caiden beeped once. The door opened and Cassius, Weston, and Zayde piled out of the house, throwing last-minute instructions at each other. Cassius strolled over to us and leaned in my open window.
“Morning, babe. You okay? Recovered from last night?” He smirked at me.
“Fine, thanks.” I was hyperaware of Caiden next to me, glaring over my shoulder at Cass.
“Someone get out of the wrong side of bed this morning?” Cassius raised a brow at him.
“Don’t start,” Caiden warned him. “Let’s get this over with. I have other plans for later.”
Why did I feel disappointed at his words?
Cassius straightened up and gave Caiden a mock salute, then headed over to his hulking SUV, where West was already waiting inside. They drove away, beeping the horn far too many times for a Sunday morning, and once the driveway was clear, Zayde straddled his beast of a bike, pulling his helmet over his dark hair. Snapping the visor into place, he shot off down the driveway and out of sight.
Finally, it was our turn to leave. I watched the sea as we drove along the coast road to Highnam, the car silent, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
When we reached our destination, apprehension filled me.
I climbed out of the car and stood, staring at the hotel perched on the cliff, where my mother had met the mysterious Littlefinger. A tall Victorian building, it had definitely seen better days. The cream paintwork was dirty, chipped, and peeling, and one of the windows had a spiderweb of cracked glass stretching across it, covered from the inside by what looked like duct tape.
“Okay. Let’s do this,” I muttered, pushing open the heavy wooden door and walking inside. The man behind the reception desk looked up from his newspaper as we entered.
“Uh. We’re here to have coffee?” I eyed him hesitantly.
“Bar and restaurant’s through there,” he recited in a bored tone, pointing at a door to our left, and resumed reading his paper.
“Friendly bloke, isn’t he,” Cade murmured in my ear, steering me into the bar area with a hand on the small of my back.
I stopped dead as we entered, and he almost ran into me. “Look!” I hissed. “That’s the table she was sitting at.”
“You’re right.” His voice was low. “Come on.” He walked over to the table tucked away in the corner and sat down, and I sat opposite him in the exact same seat my mother had been in.
I picked up a menu from the table, trying to appear unobtrusive while scanning the room. I felt really unnatural and like everyone was looking at me, even though in reality, no one was. There were about six other patrons in the room, chatting quietly and not paying any attention to us.
“Act normal.” Caiden frowned at me.
“I’m trying. I’m just nervous.”
He rolled his eyes. “Relax, will you.”
I clenched and unclenched my fists, tapping my nails on the table.
“For fuck’s sake.” He stood up. “Stand up.”
I rose to my feet immediately, and he grabbed my chair and dragged it around the side of the table so it was on the corner next to his, rather than directly opposite.
“Sit,” he instructed, folding his large body back on to his own chair. I sank back into my seat, and he leaned over to me. “That’s better.” He slid his hand onto my jean-clad thigh under the table, and I gasped. He squeezed once—a warning, then moved his hand further up. My nerves disappeared as my whole world shrank to the place he was touching me. “You doing okay, there, Snowflake?” His voice dropped, turning from annoyed to a rough caress.
I could only nod mutely. I took a deep breath and raised my eyes to meet his unreadable gaze. He stared at me, then licked his lips, slowly, deliberately.
Fuck. Me.
I gripped the edge of the table to ground myself as his hand moved higher. He kept his eyes locked with mine the whole time.
“Can I take your order?” I jumped at the cold, intrusive voice.
“Two lattes,” Cade barked out, without taking his eyes from me. I heard footsteps retreat, and then it was just us, tucked away in our corner of the room.
I swallowed hard. His hand stopped, so close to where I really, really wanted him to touch me, but really, really shouldn’t in a public setting.
“What’s going on?” I managed to get the words out, my voice hoarse.
“I’m distracting you.” An amused smirk tugged at his lips.
Why did he have to be so irritating, but so sexy? “Um. Okay?”
Before he could say anything else, we were interrupted by the waiter returning with our order.
“Two lattes.” He set the crockery carelessly down on the table, sending coffee sloshing down the side of my cup.
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.
“Chill, it’s only spilled coffee,” Cade hissed as the waiter walked away.
“No.” I stared after him, shaking my head. “No.”
“What is it?” Suddenly he was right in my face, lifting my chin so I was forced to meet his eyes.
“Him,” I said urgently.
“What?”
“Him. The man. That was him. Littlefinger.”
TWENTY-THREE
Fuck.
“Are you sure?” I stared at her, her gaze bouncing around the room, her eyes wide, her chest rising and falling with sharp breaths. “Winter!” I tightened my grip on her chin, sliding my other hand around the back of her neck, and kissed her, hard. She gasped into my mouth, then kissed me back. I pulled away after a few seconds. “Calm now?”
She nodded, looking dazed.
“Good. You sure it was him?”
“I think so. I didn’t get to look properly, but I definitely saw that the whole top bit of his little finger was missing. There can’t be many other people around with missing fingers, can there?”
“Fuck. Okay. I wasn’t expecting this. We need to get photos. West can run them through his facial recognition shit, and maybe we’ll get lucky and find a match.”
A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “Maybe…” she murmured to herself. Her blue eyes met mine. “Do you trust me?”