“I’m being serious.” I pulled out of his grip, putting a few inches of distance between us on the bed. “I’m not pressing charges. I’m not getting involved in this.”
“Little late for that.”
I grabbed my sweatshirt and jerked it over my head. My words came out muffled by the fabric. “You obviously don’t understand, but?—”
“No,youdon’t understand. I know you’re new to town, so you don’t know any better, but The O’Banion boys have been on Salem PD’s radar since they were born. Four brothers, each worse than the last, with rap sheets so long and so varied, the fuckers must be competing for the criminal heavyweight title.” His jaw locked tight as he struggled to keep his voice calm. “From what I can see, you and Georgia are fast friends. I like Georgia, I like her boys, but I’d be lying if I said I liked you hitching your wagon to hers.”
My eyes narrowed. “And why is that?”
“Because, like it or not, Georgia’s wagon is still hitched to Donny’s. And I don’t want you anywhere near him or his batshit crazy brothers.” His face gentled a bit, some of the anger sliding out of his expression as he stared at me. “I want you safe.”
Okay, so, that was a pretty good explanation.
Some of my annoyance ebbed away, but the apprehension remained. I continued to chew my bottom lip. “I still don’t understand why I have to press charges. He’s already in jail.”
“We can only keep him in holding for forty-eight hours. Once his brothers bail him out, he’ll be back on the streets.”
“That’s it? Forty-eight hours and a slap on the wrist?”
“With a restraining order of this nature, the scope is limited.” He blew out a breath. “Trust me, no one hates the system more than law enforcement. But our hands are effectively tied here unless Donny escalates, or a judge decides he’s a threat to the public at large.”
“Escalates,” I repeated slowly. “You mean if he hurts Gigi. Hurts the boys.”
Cade nodded. “An assault charge from a third party would go a long way to getting him out of their lives permanently. Adds ammunition when Gigi takes her case to court, goes for full custody.”
My mouth opened, then clicked shut again. I didn’t have a good retort to that. He was right. But before I could admit as much, his phone began to buzz. He sighed as he yanked it out of his back pocket, eyes scanning the illuminated screen intently.
“Shit.” His eyes shifted to mine. A heartbeat later, he swooped in and brushed his lips against mine in a hard, no-nonsense sort of kiss. “Gotta run, Goldie. It’s the night before Halloween. Idiots are out in force tonight, and will be all weekend until the city empties out again.” He shook his head. “Can’t fucking wait for this holiday to be over.”
I didn’t even have a chance to return his kiss before he slid off the bed and started moving toward the bathroom. I heard the sound of the medicine cabinet open, then close. I heard the zipper of my small toiletry bag. I heard the sink tap running. Normally, it probably would’ve freaked me out that he was going through my stuff, but… this was Cade. There was nothingnormalabout him. Or about the way he acted. Or about the way he made me feel.
When he returned to me, he had two white pills cupped in the palm of one hand, a glass full of water in the other.
“Advil,” he announced. “Should help with the bruising.”
I lifted my hand, palm up, and he dropped the pills into it. He set the water on the nightstand, then crossed his arms over his chest to peer down at me. I tried to school my expression into something less stunned, but it was a struggle. I couldn’t remember the last time someone cared enough to look after me.
To worry about me.
My hands curled into a fist around the pills.
“Uh,” I said dumbly, like it was no big deal. “Thanks.”
“Get some sleep, beautiful.”
With one last, lingering lip-brush, he turned for the door. Before he stepped through it into the hall, he hesitated long enough to look back at me.
“We’ll finish our talk about pressing charges tomorrow,” he said firmly. But his voice warmed a shade as he added, “And we’ll finish the rest of what we started tomorrow night at my place.”
His grin was a flash in the dark, there and gone.
A second later, he was gone, too.
Chapter Thirteen
Me? A domestic housewife? Never.
A feral housewife, on the other hand…