Deceptive Cadence (37 page)

I looked back in time to see James point at me with a proud grin. The girls showed a hint of dejection, before turning their attention to Sam. I smiled at James, and he grinned, rushing over to me.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my head, while I shut my eyes and breathed him in. My heart fluttered at his devotion to me.

“Alrighty, Tommy,” James said. “Now Sam’s well on his way, it’s your turn.”

About an hour later, both Sam and Tom had a girl with them and were having a great time. Harper returned to James and me with a huge grin.

“Mission accomplished! Nerds with girls!” She laughed merrily, then her gaze fell to James’ hands on my waist. “Hey, you know what? I’m tired. Cay, why don’t you go stay with James tonight?”

His grip on my waist tightened. He’d wanted me to stay the night since he moved in, but he’d never pushed it.

I shook my head. “No, Harper. If Dad found out, he’d―”

“How will Dad find out?” She folded her arms. “Just stay the night and pick up your car and stuff from my place tomorrow. He’ll never know the difference.”

“I don’t think . . .”

She disappeared through the crowd. I hurried after her, but couldn’t find her. James was right behind me as I burst out onto the street, scanning everywhere for her.

“Cadence, I could―”

I turned to him, my anxiety spilling over. “I don’t know if I could spend the night.”

He clasped my face and lifted it so I’d look at him. “Why not?”

I bit my lip as my heart melted from the love pouring out of his eyes.

“I just . . . I don’t . . .”

“It’s okay, Cadence. I’ll take you back to Harper’s.”

I grabbed his shirt around his waist and pulled him closer. “James . . .” My heart raced. I wanted to wake up with him beside me. “James, let’s go back to your place.”

THIRTY-THREE

Something shifted beside me. I awoke enough to realize someone lay in the bed with me. I sat up, startled. It had been a long time since I shared a bed with someone, and even then, the memories of Austin beside me felt hazy and more like a dream.

James didn’t notice my movement and continued sleeping. I rested my head back on the pillow and stared into his face. He looked so peaceful and content. I shifted closer to him so I could feel his skin against mine, and his eyes flickered open. His arm wrapped around me before he relaxed back into a light sleep.

I ran my fingers through his hair, amazed at how soft it felt.

“Cadence?” he said quietly, making me start. A grin swept across his face, but he didn’t open his eyes. “This is the best way to wake up. You should move in with me.”

I smiled. “James, you know I can’t.”

“Not yet, anyway.” He slowly let out a breath. His arm tightened around me, pulling me closer.

I kissed his cheek and his eyes finally opened to meet mine. “You’re so beautiful.”

I kissed him as he rolled on top of me.

After we showered, we headed downstairs to eat breakfast. On the way down, I paused at the sound of two female voices in the kitchen. James’ hand rested on my shoulder as he chuckled.

We entered the living room. Tom and Sam sat in just their jeans by the table. In the kitchen, two girls chatted quietly as they made pancakes. They were both very pretty, with long, straight, dark-brown hair, but that was the only similarity they had—one was a petite Asian girl, and the other, a much taller Greek.

They heard us enter and turned, both smiling at me.

“You must be Cadence,” the Greek girl said. “I’m Nicki, and this is Amanda.”

“Hi.” I smiled shyly.

James’ hand pressed against my back, and I couldn’t help notice them eye him over with envy.
Yes, my boyfriend is smoking hot
. I tried to brush aside my jealous, possessive feelings. “So, you’re here with Tom and Sam?”

“Yeah.” Nicki smiled and touched my wrist. “Tom and I hooked up last night, so I guess I’m his girlfriend now.”

I looked over at Tom and winked. “Nice. She’s pretty.”

Tom shrugged with a grin.

“Unlike you,” Amanda muttered.

Nicki shot her a fierce look before she smiled again. “So, you wanna help us finish up here? You know, have some girl time?”

“Sure.” I smiled back.

Amanda huffed. “I thought you meant that other girl was the girlfriend. She was way cuter.”

James caught my wrist and pulled me back against him. “Hey, Sam, tell your girl to shut up.”

Sam stared over confused, having not heard the exchange.

Amanda rested her hand on her hip. “I would have tried harder if I’d known it was this one. She’s not even pretty.”

“Amanda, stop it,” Nicki said under her breath.

I shrugged. “It’s okay. I know my sister is prettier than I am.”

Nicki blinked, genuinely surprised. “She’s your
sister
?”

James wrapped his arm around my waist. “Yeah, you’d never pick it, huh? We all went to school together, and I didn’t even know until most of the way through year ten. Their younger brother, though, could be confused as Cadence’s twin, they look so similar.”

“How long have you guys been together?” Nicki asked, trying to be friendly. I liked her—she would be good for Tom.

“Almost three years,” James answered and kissed my ear.

“She must have grown out of her good looks,” Amanda responded.

That time, Sam did hear her. “Hey! That’s totally uncalled for!”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Amanda, stop it,” Nicki said.

Amanda glared up at her. “I wanted that one.” She pointed at James. “But I settled because I thought it was that other girl.”

“Settled?” Sam stood, pointing to the door. “Get out!”

She folded her arms. “Come on, Nicki. These guys are lame anyway.”

Nicki looked across at Tom. “I think I’ll stay, but I’ll call a taxi for you?”

Tom smiled.

Amanda growled and marched out, pausing to put on her shoes and grab her handbag before she slammed the door behind her.

Sam sank into his chair. “Well, that just sucks.”

Nicki bit her lip, obviously conflicted, but then Tom came over and touched her hair, and suddenly, all she could see was him. I was happy for Tom, so I took her hand. “Come on, let’s feed them before they eat the furniture.”

She chuckled and nodded.

Nicki turned out to be wonderful. She and I got along like we’d always known each other, but I noticed Sam kept throwing icy looks at James. I had no idea what to do, so when James and I returned to his bedroom, I talked to him about it in a low voice.

“Sam’s upset with you.”

He nodded. “I know, and I don’t blame him.”

“I can’t believe she did that.”

“Yeah.” He scoffed. “I can’t believe she said you aren’t pretty. You’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”

I paused, my heart fluttering. “I can’t believe you still think I’m so beautiful.”

He clasped my face. “Every day you grow more and more beautiful.”

I jumped him, knocking him back onto the bed as I smacked my lips firmly against his—I couldn’t help myself. His hands flew up my shirt and pulled it off. As he grabbed my bra to unclip it, my phone rang on the nightstand.

“Ignore it,” he said.

I glanced over and saw my dad on caller ID. “Crap!” I shot out my hand to answer it. “Hey, Dad.”

James’ hands froze and he held his breath.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Dad’s bright voice came down the line. “I just wanted to see how you girls are doing.”

“We’re doing great,” I answered. James’ hands slid off me and he flopped onto the bed. “Harper’s living up to her name and harping on and on about Daniel.”

He laughed. “Where is she? We need to set up a time to meet this young man.”

“Ah . . .” I stared down at James. “She’s in the shower.”

“Wow, you girls really do sleep late when you have nothing to do. Well, that’s okay. Your mother, Dusty, and I are on the way over. We thought we’d spend the day together as a family.”

I jumped to my feet. “Oh! Wow! How far away are you?”

“We just barely left, so don’t worry—you’ll have plenty of time to make yourselves beautiful.” He chuckled at himself.

“Sweet! I better go tell Harper to hurry up so I can get in the shower too. I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. We’ll see you soon.”

I hung up and scrambled to find all my things. James worked at shoving everything into my shopping bags before we rushed into the hallway. We scurried down the stairs, startling the other three sitting on the couch.

“What’s goin’ on?” Tom asked.

“Cadence’s dad!” James blurted out as he burst through the front door.

“He’s coming here?” Tom jumped to his feet. “Oh man, he’s scary!”

“No,” I answered, seeing my shoes in the middle of the living room floor and rushing over to slip them on. “He’s on his way to Harper’s, where I’m
supposed
to be.”

“Wait, why does it matter?” Nicki asked.

“She’s still in high school,” Sam replied.

“What? But―”

“Cadence!” James started the car.

“Bye, guys!” I ran out.

We sped through the streets to Harper’s apartment, and James grew more stressed at each red light.

“Your dad’s gonna kill me if he finds out,” he muttered every time we stopped, running his hand through his hair.

We pulled up, parked, then sprinted to the apartment. We pounded on the door, and one of Harper’s flatmates answered, looking as if she just woke up. “What the . . . ? Oh, it’s you, Cadence.”

We shoved past her, hurrying to put my things in Harper’s room. Harper sat in bed with her laptop, and jumped as we stormed in.

“Geez, Cadence! What’s going on?”

“Dad’s on his way.”

She swore and tugged my things from James’ arms. She kicked us out so she could change out of her pajamas. We hurried back to his car, but as he climbed in to leave, they pulled in beside us.

James swore under his breath, but straightened up and smiled as they climbed out of the car. “Hey, David, Harmony, Dusty.”

Mum smiled. Dusty grabbed him and they embraced.

Dad scowled. “What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to see Cadence before work this afternoon,” James answered smoothly.

Dad stepped in front of him and looked him over. “It looked like you were about to leave.”

James cleared his throat. “No, I just left something in my car.” He bent over and was lucky enough to find one of my sweaters in the seat.

Dad raised an eyebrow, but offered him his hand. “Come on, then.”

We headed to the apartment together. Harper grinned as she burst out of her bedroom. “Hey, guys. Oh, James, you’re here too?”

I rolled my eyes. Her surprise was far from convincing, and when Dad’s eyes narrowed, I knew he suspected something. He pushed into her room and we all hurried after him. He glanced around the messy room with the air mattress on the floor.

“What’s wrong, Dad?” I asked as innocently as possible.

He glared at me before moving some clothing around on the floor. Then he came across Harper’s small trash bin. She gasped as he reached for the lid and snatched it away. “Gross, Dad. There’s tampons in there.”

He snatched it out of her hands and opened it. His eyes widened and he turned on James. “You!”

“What?”

“You promised me you’d stopped sleeping with my daughter!”

James backed out of the room as Dad advanced like a raging bull.

“Dad!” Harper yelled. “They’re
Daniel’s
!”

Dad froze and slowly turned to her. “Excuse me?”

“Daniel and I are planning on moving in together soon, and we’re even talking about getting married.”

Dad’s eyes widened as his teeth ground together. Mum grabbed his arm and stepped between him and Harper. “Harper, honey, that’s wonderful! You must really love him.”

Harper smiled warily, her gaze darting to Dad before she responded. “I do. He’s amazing, Mum. I can’t wait for you to meet him. Cadence has already met him, haven’t you?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he’s great. Tall, dark, and handsome, and very . . . polite.”

Harper threw me a filthy look. “Thanks, Cay.” She turned her attention back to Mum. “He’ll be back from his trip during the week, so if you want, we can have dinner on Saturday?”

Dad growled. “Marriage? Ha! You’re nineteen years old!”

“Wow, Dad, delayed reaction.” Harper folded her arms. “But I’m twenty soon, and we aren’t planning on getting married at least until he graduates next year.”

“You’re still too young!”

Harper pressed her hands against her hips. “It’s not like precious Cadence isn’t on that track! We all know what’s on Jimmy Boy’s mind!”

James winced. Dusty grabbed my arm and tugged me out the front door. James followed, shutting the door behind him, and thankfully the argument became muffled so we could no longer hear it.

Dusty turned to James. “She totally stayed at your place last night, huh?”

I gasped and my cheeks felt like an inferno. How did he figure that out?

Dusty chuckled. “Yeah. Nice cover, by the way.”

We paused and listened as the noise died down.

“Who do you think killed who?” Dusty asked in a whisper.

The door burst open, making us all jump. Dad glared directly at James, who stood stiff. “You, boy! Saturday, 6:00 p.m. Are you working?”

“Ah, no―”

“Good. Dinner at our house. Don’t miss it, or I’ll turn you into a eunuch.” Dad slammed the door shut.

James looked at me with raised eyebrows and gritted teeth. The door burst back open, making us jump again, but Dad focused his attention on Dusty.

“And you, son, bring a friend, or a date, or something. Your mouth causes trouble, so I want it preoccupied.” He slammed the door again.

Dusty scowled and slumped. James patted his back sympathetically. A few minutes later, Mum, Dad, and Harper emerged. Mum explained that the following weekend we would all meet Daniel at a family dinner. A wicked grin swept across Dusty’s face, earning him a backhand across his chest from Harper.

James left eagerly to avoid Dad’s burning glare. After I kissed him goodbye, I set out with my family, and, forgetting all the tension of the morning, had a great day together as a family. My brother and sister had become the best friends I’d always wanted them to be, and Mum and Dad were happier and loved us more than ever. If nothing else worked out for me in my second chance, at least my family was closer.