Page 6 of Saving Cade
Cade continued to sip the water. He leaned back and put his hand to his chest.
“Has it stopped bleeding?”
“I think so.”
That was a relief. She didn’t want to think about what might happen if he bled out in her car. Stupid. Why didn’t she let him walk into that bar? Oh, yeah. Because she knew he would get picked up by the cops, and she felt bad he was injured because of her.
“Nice car.”
The ‘88 Mustang was Travis’s baby. If he did call the cops, it would only be to get his precious car back. “Thanks.”
“Stolen?”
She jerked her head toward him. How did he know? But when she saw the expression on his face, she realized he was just fishing around. And she’d reacted. “No,” she said, her voice flat.
“Right.”
Cade didn’t believe her, but she couldn’t get mad at him. She’d taken Travis’s car. She was pretty much a car thief.
“So, what happened?”
She wanted to tell him it was none of his business, but for some reason, she felt the need to get validation for what she did. “I got tired of being his punching bag.”
Cade’s grip on his water bottle tightened and it made a crinkling sound. “Your boyfriend hit you?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Husband. Well, ex-husband.” Why was it so hard to admit? Maybe because marrying Travis had been the worst decision of her life. And maybe because it made her look like another stupid woman who wouldn’t leave her abusive spouse.
Cade looked like he wanted to rip apart something. “How long?”
“How long, what?”
“How long did that go on?” he said, a hard edge to his voice.
Meg drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I’ve been with him on and off since high school. We married young. Too young, I realize now. And when it got bad, I filed for divorce. I thought it was over between us, but he convinced me to go back.” Admitting that was hard, but Cade didn’t seem judgmental.
He gave her a long, searching look. “No going back this time?”
“No,” she said quietly. She’d had enough. He was not going to change.
Cade settled back into his seat. “If you were married, then it’s not stealing.”
“His name is the only one on the registration. He got the car in the divorce settlement. It’s his.” She hadn’t wanted to take his car, but the only other option was taking a bus, and she didn’t have enough cash to do that and rent an apartment.
They drove in silence for a while before Cade turned to her. “Are you in any danger?”
“Only if Travis finds me.”
“Then we’d better make sure he doesn’t find you.”
Her heart pounded. “We?”
He stared at her, an expression on his face she couldn’t quite read. “I can help you if you let me.”
Meg stared at the man. He was crazy, right? “What can you do? The police are after you.”
“I have a place in Colorado. It’s not owned by my parent company, and it’s not in my name. No one will look for us there.”
Her hands grew sweaty on the steering wheel. “I thought we were going to part ways in a few minutes.”
