Page 146 of Scarlet Wars
“If that’s true, I needhimto tell me that.”
Caden didn’t look away from the flames. “He will,” he said quietly. “But you need to listen when he does.”
“I will,” I said after a pause, though even to my own ears it didn’t sound convincing.
“He’s worth the benefit of the doubt,” Caden murmured.
I closed my eyes only for a second. “I know.”
When I reopened them, the flicker of light danced against the stone, and in it, I saw flashes of Sean. The way he’d stood by me. The advice, the late-night talks, the hugs that held me together when I couldn’t stand on my own. All of it ran through my mind like a film I didn’t want to rewatch but couldn’t turn off.
“Sean is worth my forgiveness,” I admitted softly.
“He is,” Caden agreed, his tone unreadable.
I drew in a slow breath. “Doesn’t mean I’m not still angry at him.”
“You’re allowed to be,” he said, sounding even gentler, like he really meant it.
I turned my head. “Good to know I have your royal approval.”
Caden’s mouth twitched again, this time closer to an actual smile. “Wouldn’t want you to live without it.”
“Or without friends,” I added coldly.
“I would never want that.” He paused, then took a deep breath. “And at least with Sean, you can find yourself in the same room as him for more than ten seconds without wanting to fuck his brains out.”
Heat crept up my neck, settling under my skin until I forced a smirk to lighten the tension that was near killing me. “Who says I don’t want to fuck his brains out?”
Caden snorted, low and disbelieving. “Right. Sure. Good luck with that.”
“He’s hot, you know,” I said, then shrugged.
Caden gave a slow nod, lips twitching. “Oh, absolutely. And I applaud your generosity: overlooking the limp-dick situation he’ll have the second you take your shirt off.”
I gasped in mock shock. “Are you saying I couldn’t sway the gay?”
Caden barked out an unexpected laugh, loud, unfiltered, real. The sound rolled through the small space, breaking something open between us.
“Fuck,” he said, shaking his head. “If anyone could, it’d be you.”
The way he looked at me then—dark eyes glinting, mouth curved just so—it did something dangerous to my pulse.
I laughed too, soft at first, then fuller.
And just like that, any residual anger between us dissolved, burned off like mist.
Without thinking, I shifted closer to him.
My shoulder brushed his chest, as Caden’s arm came around me, protective, instinctive, like his body had decided before his mind had realized what he’d do.
“You know this is never going to work if you’re right all the time,” I muttered, hating how right it felt to be pressed against his side.
The hot, infuriating man beside me let out a low snort. “Good to know.”
I drew in a slow breath, steadying myself.
“Because you are,” I said quietly. “You’re right. Sean is my friend.”
