Cade’s face screwed up as if he were confused. “Safe? You promise?”
Quinn growled under his breath. All his boys were safe in his care. “You’re safe, Cade. Go back to sleep. Eric can’t hurt you again.”
A single tear ran from the corner of Cade’s eye, down his temple, to soak into the pillow. “He promised not to hurt me, but he did. Over and over. He hurt me.”
“I know,” Quinn said. “But I won’t hurt you. I promise you’re safe with me.”
Cade let out a long sigh, rolled over toward him, put his hands under his cheek like a child, and fell asleep again.
Quinn rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, contemplating all the ways he could hurt Eric Strada.
Cade
Cade groaned as he opened his eyes. He was shocked to find sunlight playing through a gap in the drapes across the comforter. He’d spent all night in his bed. So much for sneaking out. Yet, he felt exhausted from bones to balls. Worse than he had after nights of no sleep. Then he remembered his breakdown the previous night.
Oh God.
He’d lost it completely in front of Quinn.
Cade turned his head to find Mogs staring at him but no sign of Quinn. She’d curled up on Quinn’s pillow as if she was guarding Cade. “What did I do, Mogs? I made a complete idiot of myself.”
She chirruped at him as if in agreement.
He pulled a face. “You’re not supposed to agree, old girl.”
Another chirrup and a sniff.
Cade put his arm across his eyes, blocking out her judgmental expression. Trust Quinn to have a cat more judgmental than he was. “You’re right. I needed it.”
He’d suppressed the need to cry for so long. It wasn’t that he believed the ‘men don’t cry’ bullcrap. It was more complicated than that. Cade preferred emotional outbursts within the confines of his relationship with his Daddy. He knew his Daddy could handle it, handle him. Without a Daddy, he was adrift.
“I can handle it myself.”
“You can,” Quinn agreed, making Cade jump, “but you don’t have to be alone. I’m here. That’s my job.”
Cade felt his cheeks burn. Was he forever destined to make a complete idiot of himself in front of Quinn?
“Breakfast is ready,” Quinn said.
Cade sat bolt upright, panic flooding through him. “What’s the time?”
“Six. You’ve got time for a shower and breakfast before your band arrives.”
Cade stared at him. “You made me breakfast?”
Quinn leaned against the door frame. He wore a well-worn pale gray Henley, and jeans which should have been illegal from the way they hugged his ass and package.
Cade dragged his gaze back to Quinn’s face. “I don’t eat breakfast.”
“You do today.” There it was again. That calm belief that Cade would do whatever he told him to.
Cade shook his head. Quinn was not going to win every battle. “I don’t eat breakfast.”
“Then you don’t go into the studio.”
Cade’s jaw dropped. “Who the hell do you think you are? You don’t get to make that decision.”
“I’m the bodyguard who’s going to get you through the next two weeks.”
“You protect my ass. Not force-feed me.”
Quinn didn’t move a muscle. “Get your ass downstairs, and you’re gonna eat. You don’t get to choose.”
“You’re fired.”
“Whatever. After breakfast.”
Cade clambered to his knees, for once not paying any attention to Mogs’s disgruntled huff as he disturbed her. “Are you listening to me?”
Quinn drove him nuts. He just stood there like Cade was a small, annoying kid.
Because you’re behaving like one.
Cade growled at himself. “What’s for breakfast?”
“Fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, nuts,” Quinn said.
That didn’t sound too bad. “Coffee?”
“Of course. And juice.”
He sighed. “Okay.”
Cade took satisfaction in seeing Quinn’s look of surprise. Okay, so another time he might have made more of a tantrum, but today he was too tired to care.
“Have I got time to shower first?”
Quinn shook his head. “Eat first.”
Damn, he wasn’t going to get out of it.
Cade slung his robe around his shoulders and stalked out of the bedroom, Mogs hard on his heels. Quinn followed him at a slower pace.
He rocked back on his heels when he walked into the kitchen. The counter was laden with food. He turned to stare at Quinn. “How many are you cooking for?”
“I’ve got breakfast for us, the two teams, and your band. Don’t worry, I’ll replace the food.”
Cade waved his hand absently. “It’s okay. I’m just not used to seeing so much food in my kitchen.”
“I’ll clear it away at the end. Which reminds me, when is your housekeeper due in?”
“What housekeeper?”
Quinn furrowed his brow. “You don’t have a housekeeper?”
Cade licked his lips. “I never wanted anyone to find out about me.”
“Who cleans the house?”
“I do. Eric made me clean it every week. He said it would keep me grounded. I’ve let it go since he left.”
He’d loved and hated cleaning house. Eric seemed to know what chores to give to focus him. At the same time, he wanted to paint or play music.
“You need to focus on the event, not cleaning. I’ll take that over,” Quinn said. “If you feel scattered or unfocused, and I don’t notice, talk to me. We can find you something to do.”
“I like drawing,” Cade confessed.
“Does it help you to focus?” At Cade’s nod, Quinn said, “I’ll make sure you have time to draw every day.”
Cade gave him a wry smile. “It’s going to be manic for the next two weeks. I won’t have time to breathe, let alone draw.”
“You leave it with me. Sit.” Quinn pointed to a chair then ladled something into a dish.
Cade sat with a huff. Quinn put a small bowl of oatmeal in front of him.
“I don’t like—”
“Eat. Put fruit and whatever you like in it, but you’re going to eat the oatmeal.”
Cade scowled down at the bowl. It wasn’t that he didn’t like oatmeal. It was that he didn’t like being made to eat it. It reminded him of the food in foster care. He doctored the oatmeal with strawberries, whipped cream, and sugar. He waited for Quinn to say something, but Quinn was busy piling food onto a tray.
“I’m surprised you’re not cooking pancakes and bacon,” Cade said before he took his first mouthful of oatmeal.
“They’ll eat whatever I give them,” Quinn said. Then he grinned. “They’d prefer the pancakes, but I told them to quit complaining.”
Cade laughed. Then choked as a piece of strawberry went down the wrong way. By the time he’d finished coughing, blown his nose, and wiped his eyes, Quinn had delivered breakfast to the security teams.
He scowled as Quinn came back into the kitchen. “You’re supposed to be taking care of me.”