“We met Jace at the gym and had lunch. Cade and I came back here and I mowed the grass. Exciting stuff.”
She laughs and snuggles closer to me, entwining our legs together.
“We have to tell Cade tomorrow,” I whisper.
There’s a long pause before she whispers back, “I know.”
I settle my chin on top of her head and we focus on the show. Eventually, we both fall asleep, wrapped around each other like we’re terrified we’re about to be pulled apart.
Light shines through the blinds when I open my eyes. I glance at Thea’s clock beside her bed and see that it says it’s a little after eight. She blinks her eyes and yawns, slowly coming awake.
“Hey.” I smile down at her.
She smiles back, her eyes still closed as she stretches her arms above her head and nearly punches me in the process. After a moment she says, “Morning,” and her voice is thick with sleep.
Prue lifts her head and looks at me with wide begging eyes. I overslept and she’s probably desperate to go out.
Before I can move, though, I hear my bedroom door close, and footsteps walking down the hall and stopping in front of Thea’s door.
You know that feeling you get before something bad is about to happen? The one where the air around you goes still and your whole body grows cold? Well, I feel that right now times ten.
The door swings open. “Thea, have you seen—” Cade doesn’t finish his question as he finds Thea and me in bed together. We could try to play this off innocently, like I fell asleep in here watching the show—which is true—but the way we’re tangled together hardly appears innocent.
Thea sits up, panic all over her face. “Cade—”
Cade clenches his jaw, his blue eyes filled with a fiery rage that’s directed smack dab at me. “She’s my little sister!” he yells, shaking his head rapidly back and forth. “How could you do this? I told you to never go there and you fucking promised.”
His breathing grows rapid and the vein in his forehead looks like it’s about to pop. He looks like a red version of the Hulk with the color he’s turning.
He looks torn between running the other way and sacking me on the floor. I’m prepared for either option.
“My sister,” he repeats. “I can’t fucking believe you.” His hands flex at his sides.
Thea is silent beside me, but I think she’s crying.
I push the covers back and stand. “I love her,” I say, holding my head high.
Cade snorts. “You think you love her?” He shakes his head rapidly back and forth. “You’ve never even had a real girlfriend and you think you love her?”
I grow angry. “Because it’s always been her!” I yell back. “Always,” I add softly, glancing at Thea. She looks back at me with wide, surprised eyes and parted lips.
Cade’s eyes widen in surprise when he hears the truth in my words. He places his hands on his hips and tilts his head to the ceiling, exhaling a heavy breath. When he looks back at us, there’s no mistaking the hurt in his eyes. “So, you guys are together?”
Thea looks at me and I look at her, communicating silently. She slips from the bed and goes to her brother. She looks up at him, clasping her hands together with nervousness. “Actually,” her voice shakes, and I know she’s crying this time, “we’re married.”
It’s like all the air has been sucked from the room. We’re all eerily quiet, waiting for someone else to say something first. Cade shakes his head and says, “What did you say?”
Thea bites her lip, stifling a sob.
I step up behind her, placing my hand on her hip. “We got married in Vegas.”
Cade shoves his fingers through his hair. “I can’t fucking believe this. I need to get out of here.”
Before we can say anything else, he’s pounding down the steps and the door to the garage slams a moment later.
Thea turns her body into mine, sobbing into my chest. Her brother means the world to her, and we were ready to tell him, so having him find out this way isn’t good.
The door to Cade and Rae’s room down the hall opens and she pokes her head out, meeting my gaze over Thea’s head.