Page 145 of Scarlet Wars
When the line went dead, the quiet came rushing back in, with his gaze still fixed on me.
The chill crawled back into my skin, so I cleared my throat and broke eye contact first. “Gonna, uh…see if there’s a blanket or something nearby.”
Caden gave a single, wordless nod, but his stare followed me all the same.
THIRTY-FOUR
EMMA
I’d lingered in the other room far longer than necessary, pretending to search for a blanket, mostly trying to get my pulse under control.
By the time I returned, Caden had built a fire from some scraps of wood he’d found somewhere outside, I presumed. The flames burned low but steady, throwing long, amber shadows across the walls. Our soaked clothes hung from a makeshift line above it, steam rising in thin curls, smelling faintly of smoke and river water.
He didn’t look up but tossed another piece of wood onto the flames. “Rachel called back,” he said, his tone as even as the fire crackle. “Confirmed the US shot down the drone. We’ve got a few hours of free range before anyone else notices we’re not dead.”
He glanced up then, pupils catching the firelight. “Let’s warm up, then head back out and save that annoying ex-boyfriend of yours.”
I snorted, arms crossed to hide the shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. “He does have some redeeming qualities.”
A corner of his mouth twitched, though it wasn’t quite a smile. “I’ll take your word for it.”
I almost hated how familiar that half-smile felt, how it punched the air out of me, every single time. And I realized, somewhere between all the fights and the blood and the bad choices, he’d stopped being the guy who got under my skin and had become the one person I couldn’t seem to scrape out of it.
But there was still so much hanging between us…
No weakness, Emma. Grow some balls and talk to the guy.
I shifted in the doorway, then forced the words out that needed to be said. “Can we talk for a second?”
Caden didn’t answer. He crouched near the fire instead, feeding it yet another piece of wood. Sparks snapped between us, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the flames or the distance he’d built.
I moved closer, step by step, until the heat from the fire brushed against my skin. “Please, Caden. Don’t shut me out. You’re my best friend, and I don’t want to lose you over this.”
That finally made him look up at me. His expression didn’t change, but something in his eyes did.
“I’m not yourfriend, Emma,” he said, voice low and dark, barely restrained. “Friendsdon’t look at each other like they’re one second away from dragging each other to the floor and fucking the air out of their lungs.”
My heart stuttered as the words rang with a lot more truth than they should have.
He drew a slow breath, then added, quieter, “But do you know who is your friend? Sean.”
I looked away, swallowing against the tightness in my throat. “I know.”
“Do you?” he pressed. “Because he has been a brother to you since day one.”
“A friendship born out of guilt,” I snapped before I could stop myself, unable to avoid the subject any longer.
Something softened in his features, not enough to call it empathy, but close. “Though that might be true, everything he feels for you is genuine,” he said, gently. “Yes, it started out with guilt. But everything after your first meeting at Cyclos was real.”
I blinked hard, fighting the sting behind my eyes. “Was it?”
He nodded once. “Every single second.”
The silence that followed was rather heavy.
Finally, I exhaled, the fight draining out of me.
I sank down beside him, close enough to feel the warmth seeping through the air between us.
