bChapter /bb102/bb: /bbCade /bb& /bbLa /bbPOV /b

    **Cade POV **

    I slip the spat from her hand and flip the next pancake,nding it perfectly on the te like it’s my day job.

    She res and unimpressedly says, “Show–off.”

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    “Only for you, Sunshine,” I whisper in her ear, before lightly running the tip of my nose along its shell.

    The words are easy, but their truth settles deep inside me.

    She ducks her head at that, her cheeks coloring to a soft pink, and I know she feels it too

    —that slight thrum underneath every word or action, and the tension that is not all

    teasing anymore.

    Hunter loudly slides a bowl of strawberries onto the dining table with a noisily muttered ‘public indecency‘, causing La to shove me away with her hip and a giggle on her

    tongue.

    And I let her. I let her think she was actually able to move ime /iwith that feeble move.

    Then I bump her back just enough to make her squeal andugh under her breath.

    God, thatugh. If I could distill it, I’d live off it for the rest of my life.

    After that, the morning unfolds into a messy rhythm that somehow just works.

    Xavier ps down tes on the dining table with his usualck ofmentary. Hunter refills coffee mugs like he’s running a caffeine triage unit. And I steal bites off La’s te whenever I can, mostly to hear her call me names with zero real heat behind them.

    And her?

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    Chapter 102: Cade & La POV

    She moves between us all like she’s always belonged here. It’s as if warmth and light slipped into our lives when we weren’t looking and made a permanent home of it.

    At one point, she stretches across the counter for something, and her hoodie lifts just enough to sh the room the upper part of the back of her thick and delicious thighs.

    AJ’s sitting at the table, pretending to scroll on his tablet, and I see his jaw tighten before he drops his gaze to the screen, feigning like he’s not two seconds away frommitting a felony.

    I feel it too.

    That low simmer in the air. The wanting between our bodies. The impossible restraint

    we’re all still clinging to by a thread.

    But we don’t act on it. Not yet, at least. And not here.

    I catch Hunter watching her with something tender flickering behind his usual calm. I notice Xavier’s nce lingering a beat too long before he hides behind his mug. And I spot AJ watching her like she’s gravity and he’s already in her orbit.

    And me? I just keep smiling like a lovesick loon.

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    Because this house, which, up till now, was all bricks, dust, and emotionless spaces, now

    feels full.

    Because La decided to stay, and La chose us. Because herughter hangs in the rafters now like a promise.

    And I know, down to my marrow, I’d raze this entire ce to the ground before I ever let her go.

    ** La POV **

    The room’s jovialughter slips away as I ease through the back door.

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    Chapter 102: Cade & La POV

    :

    It doesn’t vanishpletely – it just fades into the background, like sound muffled by the weight of too many thoughts.

    The early morning autumn air greets me in a nippy rush, brushing along my forearms where I pushed the sleeves of my hoodie up. It carries the unmistakable scent of wet earth and something softer, sweeter–like crushed leaves and firewood smoke.

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    I tug my sleeves down, wrap the cuffs over my hands, and sink onto the back porch’s top step where my bare toes press into the rough wood, grounding me in a solid and still

    moment.

    It’s not that I want to escape the noise inside. It’s not that I don’t love the sound of their voicesyered over the tter of mugs and the hiss of the coffee machine, the ridiculous jokes and chaotic teasing that somehow already feel like tradition.

    It’s just…a lot. Too much, too fast.

    For sixteen years, it was just Dad, Mom, and me. Our mornings had a rhythm, but it was quiet and steady. The evenings weren’t much different, just with the added daily tasks like doing homework, making dinner, and then enjoying it together around the dining

    room table.

    After Dad died, it was just Mom and me. And the moments we spent together increasingly started getting few and far between, so quiet had be mypanion. If it weren’t for Ba, I probably would have be a hermit who would eventually startle if I heard my voice after a period of disuse.

    So, this new dynamic of chaos and noise before breakfast had even settled in my stomach? It was most definitely a bit much, especially for my first morning.

    I drag in a slow breath, deeper than those before it, trying to slow my pulse. Trying to let the quiet be enough.

    The sun filterszily through the trees beyond the backyard picket fence, stretching gold across the porch railing and catching in my still–sleep–mussed hair’s strands. I let it

    touch me and let the stillness curl around me like a second skin.

    And for the first time in what feels like forever, I don’t feel like I have to brace for

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    Chapter 102: Cade & La POV

    impact.

    So I don’t. I just… sit here. And ibreathe /ifor a minute.

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    The backdoor creaks open behind me a bitter, low and hesitant.

    But I don’t need to turn to see who is there. I already know.

    Xavier moves differently from the others. He doesn’t fill a room; he settles into it. His presence is heavy, quiet, and intentional. His every step is a choice, and his every pause carries weight.

    That’s why I feel him before I see him, hear the faint creak of wood under his boots, and sense the slight shift in the air when his shadow spills long and steady across the porch.

    Still, he doesn’t speak. He just waits.

    He’s not crowding me, and he’s not pushing me. He’s just standing there, letting me decide whether I want the space or not.

    It’s something small, but between us, it feels huge.

    Chapter Comments

    R

    Visitor

    7 days ago

    what happened to the docs from thewyer about the house sale?

    5