Bound by Lies: Bound #1 (Adult Romantic Suspence) (21 page)

I look down through the gap of my shirt and I can see his
thumbs pressing into my hips and the length of him disappearing inside me. This
forbidden view pushes me over the edge. I come apart around him.

He pulls me flush against him as I ride my orgasm out. When
my Earth stops moving I am weak and limp in his arms. He picks me up and
carries me to the bed, setting me gently down on the mattress. I don’t argue
when he keeps me bound and blinded. We make love until we are both exhausted
and spent.

In the early hours of the morning, I’m lying with my back to
him, wearing a shirt and a pair of briefs. Like always, he is dressed. I can
feel the warmth through his clothing as he holds me from behind. And it is just
like it has always been with us. Except this time, Cade is in my bed. In my
bed. He fills out the space in my sheets with his body and his warmth and I
wonder how I ever slept in this bed without him. He pulls me closer against him
and his fingers tuck between the mattress and me. I exhale. I feel safe.

But I don’t sleep.

Is this safety that I feel with Caden an illusion? I still
have so many unanswered questions, now even more so. Will I still leave this
city? Is there actually a connection between Caden and the Tyrells? Or is the
matchbook just a coincidence?

I need to know.

I watch the pale dawn begin to light up the curtains. It has
been a struggle to keep myself awake, but I have managed it. I shut my eyes
when I hear Caden shift behind me. He is waking. I feel the mattress depress
when he lifts himself up onto his elbow. I can feel his eyes on me. With the
softest touch, he tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. I hope he can’t feel
my pulse thumping under the skin of my neck, otherwise he would know that I am
awake.

He places a light kiss on my shoulder and slips out of bed.
I listen intently as I hear him gathering his things. My body surges with
adrenaline and I have to restrain myself from moving until I hear the door
close behind him. I jump out of bed and tug on the first pair of dark jeans and
sneakers I can grab.

Here is my chance to follow him.

When I get downstairs to the lobby, I’m surprised to see
Caden is walking down the sidewalk away from my building. I thought he would
have come here by bike. I had picked up my car keys in anticipation of having
to follow him in my car.

I slip out the front door and dart behind the small hedge
that lines the property. There are very few people out this time of the
morning, so I have to be extra careful; I can’t get caught. I need to know
whether it is safe for me to trust Caden.

My breathing is loud as it heaves in and out of my lungs.
Too loud. Everything is too damn loud. My heart, my breath, my steps. I am
convinced he can hear all these things. But he doesn’t. He is too far away to
hear the way my body thunders inside.

My skin is jittering with adrenaline as I watch him walking
away. I am perched on the tips of my toes, my calf muscles tight and ready. He
turns the corner and I race along the street after him, light on my feet so as
not to make noise. I reach the corner he disappeared around. Did I lose him? I
breathe out a small sigh of relief when I peek around the corner and see his
wide figure still making its way down the street.

My eyes follow him until he turns again. How far will he
walk? Where is he going?

I follow him like this through several more streets. Now I
peer around the corner of a fence. Partway down the street, he crosses the
road. My eyes widen when I see him turn into the driveway of a small
residential building. No. Is this where he lives?

It can’t be. Caden lives four blocks from my home. Four
blocks?

Is this just a coincidence? Or does this mean something?

I never want to involve anyone else in my business with
Caden, but I am desperate now. I thank myself that I had the presence of mind
to grab my phone on the way out of my flat. I only have three numbers
programmed in there. Dixie’s bar, Dixie’s mobile and Mick’s mobile.

I ring Mick. He picks up on the third ring.

“Kid, you’d better have a bloody good reason to call me this
early in the God damn morning.”

“Mick, I need your help.”

Immediately I hear the change in his voice and alertness in
his tone. “What’s wrong?”

I take a deep breath. “It’s a long story, but I need you to
help me break into someone’s flat.”

Then I hear him muttering. “Jesus, kid, what the hell have
you got yourself into?”

“I have a good reason. Will you help me or not?”

There is a long pause. “When?”

“I’m down the road from his building, waiting for him to
leave. You don’t have to help me. But I’m going to find a way in with or
without you.” Preferably with you ‘cause I’ve never had to break into a place
before. I’ve had to sneak out. But never in.

Mick mutters a string of curses. Then he sighs. “Text me the
address. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I eye the street while I wait for Mick to show up. The
streets in this part of town are only just wide enough for two cars. The
sidewalks are either nonexistent or cracked and broken and littered with large
overflowing bins. The sky has begun to lighten and I bite my lip nervously.
Soon the world will be up. I keep an eye on the front of Cade’s building, but
he hasn’t come out yet.

A car pulls up to the side of the road near where I am
waiting. It’s Mick. I hop in the passenger seat. He nods hello and turns the
corner to park at the end of Cade’s street.

“Has our man left yet?” he asks.

“No.”

“You wanna tell me about him and why we’re planning on
breakin’ the law for this guy?”

“His name is Caden Thaine. At least, that’s the name he gave
me. But I found another wallet on him and all the ID in there says his name is
Harper Lexington.”

Mick’s brow creases. “Harper Lexington? Sounds familiar.”

“His family was murdered fifteen years ago. It was in all
the papers, that’s probably where you know it from.”

“Huh.”

“Anyway, I followed him here this morning. He lives here. Or
at least, that’s what I think.”

Mick frowns at me. “What is this man to you? Did he hurt
you?”

“No. No, nothing like that.” I decide that if I am dragging
Mick into this then he deserves to know why. “We’re seeing each other but he’s
hiding something and… he may be connected to my past somehow. And that isn’t a
good thing.”

Mick scratches at his chin.

“I think I love him,” I say in a small voice. “You have to
help me, Mick.”

“Ah shit,” Mick says. “Alright, kid. I’ll help.”

I squeeze his knee. “Thanks for doing this, Mick.”

He grunts. But I can tell he appreciates my thanks.

It doesn’t take long for Caden to reappear out his door. I
sit up in my seat. “There he is.”

“Careful with those claws, woman.”

I look down and realize I have grabbed Mick and my nails are
digging into his thick forearm. “Sorry.” I snatch my hand back.

We watch from the safety of the car as Cade sits on his
motorbike and rides away. I slide down into my seat as he flies past us and
around the corner.

“Do you know where he’s going?”

I shake my head.

“How long he’ll be?”

Again, I shake my head. Mick snorts, and I sense that he is
groaning in exasperation at me on the inside.

“Al-bloody-right. We’re just gonna have to hope he ain’t
just gone out for a pint of milk. Let’s do this before the whole dang
neighborhood is awake and taking their dogs for a shit.”

We get out of the car and walk towards the building side by
side.

Mick talks low to me as we walk. “So I did a bit of quick
digging into the property records before I came. There are five flats in that
building. One on the ground. Two on the other two floors above. Most of them
are rented to couples, but there is one which doesn’t supposedly have a lease
on it. But the listed owner has a different address than this one. My best
guess is that the owner leases it out to your guy cash in hand. It’s one of the
units on the top floor.”

I nod. I am listening, but my ears are peeled for the sound
of Cade’s motorbike returning. My skin jitters and I feel ready to run a
marathon. My eyes are darting around me and come to rest on the windows of the
top floor. What will we find?

At the lobby door, Mick reaches under the hem of his shirt,
where I see a small black kind of tool bag strapped around his waist. “Keep a
lookout, kid.”

I keep one eye out on the street while he fiddles with the
door. Within seconds it’s unlocked. I can’t help but feel scared at the fact
that it’s this easy to gain access to anyone’s building. I think about the
locks on my door and pledge to have them upgraded.

If I stay.

We slip inside and climb the stairwell to the top floor.
Cade’s apartment is supposedly the first door closest to the stairs. Mick
presses his ear to the door. “I don’t hear anyone in there,” he whispers. “You
still want to get inside?”

I nod. I’m not walking away until I find out what the hell
is going on. I
need
to know.

“Alright. Keep an ear out for anyone coming.” He bends to
the lock and puts his tools to work again. After a few seconds Mick has
breached that lock, too.

“After you, kid.”

I nod and push open the door. I know immediately that Cade
lives here because I smell his scent of musk and wood smoke. The apartment is a
studio. It looks old and little cared for; cracked walls and the smell of mold
hangs in the air under Caden’s scent. The small kitchenette on the left is
aged. There is no microwave, only a small fridge. The only other furniture in
the place is a double bed and side table. Through a door I can spy what looks
like a basic bathroom. Another door, I assume, is a built-in cupboard.

I frown. If Caden has so much money, why is he living in a
place like this?

“I’ll go stand by the window and keep a lookout,” Mick says.
“Don’t dawdle.”

I nod and head to the bathroom first. The bathroom is just
big enough to fit a toilet, a small basin and a standup shower. I open the
medicine cabinet. Inside, a single glass holds a skinny toothpaste tube and one
toothbrush. One toothbrush. Which means that Cade lives here on his own.

I crouch down and open the cupboard under the sink. One
general purpose cleaning spray, a rag and a half-empty pack of four toilet
rolls. I am about to close the door when I notice a small flap of tape hanging
down from the top of the underside of the cupboard. I lean in and peer under
the sink. There is a gun taped to the underside of the sink. I run my finger
across the black steel. It’s a Smith and Wesson, but it’s bigger than the one I
have in my bedside drawer. Why does he keep a gun? I stare at it until my knees
hurt from the tiles. Then I close the cupboard doors and get up.

I step out from the bathroom and head for the cupboard.
Inside there’s a suit jacket, a white button-up shirt, two pairs of dark pants
and one pair of denims hanging up. Folded in a drawer are several dark shirts
and a jumper. A handful of briefs and socks occupy another drawer. A single
pair of brown shoes sit on the open space at the bottom. More evidence that it
is just Cade living here. But this can’t be everything he owns. Where are the
rest of his things?

Then I realize that Caden mustn’t live here. This must be
where he stays when he is in town. If so, where is his real home? I search the
drawers for any hidden things. I lift up the shoes and peer behind the dark
space. Finding nothing I place them back down. I frown. Did the base sound
hollow when I placed the shoes down? I pull out the shoes and tap at the base
of the cupboard.

It is hollow.

I feel around until my fingers find a break in the wood. I
slide the thin wood base out. Underneath is a safe built into the floor. I test
the handle, but it is most definitely locked.

“You don’t know how to crack open a safe do you?” I call out
to Mick.

I hear him grunt. “I could… if I had the tools and the time.
But I have neither.”

Dammit. I’m not going to find out what he keeps in his safe
today. I replace the lid and the shoes, then stand and shut the cupboard doors.

As I move around the bed, my fingers skim along the dark
blue cover. This is where Cade sleeps when he’s not with me. Why has he never
invited me over? Why, if he has a place here, do we meet in hotel rooms?

I stop in front of the bedside drawers. Besides a lamp and a
half-empty glass of water there is nothing on the surface. I open the only
bedside drawer. Inside it is a single manila folder. I frown. I take out the
folder and open it. Inside there’s a stack of photos. I can only see the top
one. It is a photo of… me. I am standing on the road I recognize as my street.
The photo is grainy and I’m not looking at the camera. My stomach clenches.

What the hell?

I flick through the rest of the photos. Me. Me. Me. All me.
From various angles. Wearing various clothes. Outside my house, outside my gym,
outside my work.

Cade has been following me. And taking photos.

This must have been what he meant when he said he had
followed me in the last few weeks to make sure I was okay.

And I can’t decide whether I feel that this is creepy or
kinda sweet in a messed up sort of way. Then I see a photo that makes me stop.
In the picture I am standing at a set of traffic lights outside of the place I
sometimes get my coffee. I am wearing my hair up in a ponytail and I’m in
workout gear, obviously coming back from the gym. I’m holding a takeaway cup in
my hand. But it’s the shirt that gets my attention. That white t-shirt with “nerd”
written across it. I love that shirt. Correction. I
loved
that shirt.
Some douche knocked their frozen raspberry slushee drink over me in that shirt.
I couldn’t get the red stain out, so I had to throw it away.

But that was during the first week or so of me moving to
this city – almost eight months ago. Which means that this photo was taken
before Cade and I had ever met. The realization sends a stab of fear through my
heart, making my chest constrict. Cade was stalking me before we even met. He
knew who I was before he saw me at the club.

The folder slips from my hands and the photos of me go
everywhere. My face scatters across the floor and under the bed.

“Shit.” I hear Mick say. I look around and see him peering
through the curtain of the window. “I think your boy is coming back.”

Oh God.

I start to collect the photos from the floor. Mick rushes
over to help.

“What the fuck, kid?” he demands when he sees that the
photos are all me.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” I say. I can hear my voice is
shaking. But I refuse to admit to myself yet that Caden deliberately inserted
himself into my life for some reason.

I take a stack of photos from Mick’s hand and I shove the
photos back into the folder. I don’t have time to put them back in the order
they were in when I found them. Hell, even if I did have time I don’t remember
what order they were in. I drop the folder back into the drawer and slam it
shut. Mick is already at the front door.

“Come on,” he hisses.

I run over to him and we slip outside, Mick relocking the
door behind me. I cringe when it makes a loud sharp click as it shuts. I creep
to the top of the stairs. I lean over the railing but quickly jump back when I
see the top of Caden’s dark head below. And I hear the steps of boots echoing
up the stairwell.

“He’s coming,” I mouth. I’m not sure what Caden would do if
he found me here. But I don’t want to find out.

Mick starts to wave frantically for me to hurry the other
way down the corridor. I run with him, trying to keep my feet light. The echo
of Caden’s footsteps follow me down the corridor and they get louder as he
climbs the stairs, getting closer.