I hugged him hard and squeezed so tight. This hug was exactly what I needed. No questions, just outpouring love. My parents would have hounded me first, questioned me later, and maybe hug me after making the same “mistake” twice. And that was a big maybe.
But Cane was no mistake. He couldn’t be. Why would he have been brought into my life, if we weren’t meant to be something? It didn’t make any sense. There had to be a reason for this. There had to be happiness at the end of our story.
“Ready to go?” he asked after kissing the top of my head.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Cane grabbed my suitcase and carried it in one hand, using his free arm to hook it around me and walk with me out of the airport. I clung to him, and though I felt low and like the world was against me, I was comforted and whole being right next to him.
He took me to lunch at a quiet restaurant. I’d ordered a chicken salad but with so much anxiety coursing through me, I only picked at it. I wasn’t very hungry and he noticed, I’m sure, but didn’t say anything.
After lunch, we were on the way to his house. A part of me panicked, thinking maybe my parents would know where I was and would be waiting there, but the driveway was empty.
We got out of the car and unloaded in the house. A spur of relief struck me, being back here again.
I noticed Cane didn’t really say much. He would ask little questions here and there about what I wanted to do, or if I was thirsty, or if I’d talked to my parents since the hearing, to which I’d answered yes, but he wouldn’t push beyond that. That was one thing I loved about him. He knew when to give me space.
After I’d taken a shower and changed into comfortable clothes, he let me stay upstairs to curl up in his bed while he worked downstairs. It was probably the wrong thing to do though, because being alone made me think too much, and all I could think about was how miserable my life was and how maybe being with Cane wasn’t the right thing for me. The signs pointed to it. Everything bad that was happening to me was happening because of my attachment to Cane and my unwillingness to let go.
I wished in that moment I had answers. I wished a psychic could just come up and tell me whether I should stick it out with him for ultimate bliss and happiness, or if I was wasting my time.
When I looked into Cane’s eyes, I felt safe and whole, and I didn’t feel like what we had was time wasted. But when we were apart, everything was being ripped to shreds and I was drowning, and I don’t think that’s how I was supposed to feel.
I cried that night.
Cried over losing my scholarship.
Cried over Brody and Sophie tarnishing me.
Cried over losing my good friends Gina and Morgan. I would never see them again and even though we promised to keep in touch, it wasn’t going to be the same as being there.
I cried mostly because for the first time in a long time, I couldn’t rush to my parents and let them take care of my troubles. I couldn’t because they would make me choose. They wouldn’t understand, nor would they let me be free…and in that very moment, I needed freedom to decide what I wanted to do, not their chains of negativity.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
KANDY
The next morning, someone nudged me awake.
“Kandy,” Cane murmured on my lips. He kissed me on the mouth and I groaned, twisting over so my back was facing him. “Kandy…you’ve been sleeping all morning,” he chuckled.
“Sleeping is the only thing I can do. I don’t have a job and I don’t go to school anymore. Might as well stay in bed,” I muttered.
“Ha. Funny, but no.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I shrieked a bit and he stepped closer to the edge of the bed, tipping my chin. “I’m not going to let you sit around and mope. Get dressed. Today is going to be our day for a little fun.”
“Our day? What do you mean?”
“Let’s go shopping. Buy some things. Get some food to cook together.”
I bit a smile. As badly as I wanted to wallow in my own pity, that did sound nice. “As long as you promise that we get to eat spaghetti. Gah—I didn’t think I’d miss spaghetti so much but I do.”
“We’ll make it with extra sauce and extra parmesan, just the way you like it. Now come on,” he insisted, grinning as he clapped his hands. “Get dressed and meet me down stairs.”
“Okay, okay. Fine.” I shooed him off playfully and climbed out of bed. I went for my suitcase in the corner and decided on a sky blue maxi dress. I didn’t want to keep him waiting long so I freshened up and then tied my hair up, letting a few stray tendrils hang at the nape of my neck and around my face. When I was done, I met him downstairs.