Unattainable (Undeniable, #3)(87)

“I didn’t want to!” I cried. “Your dad made me leave! He told me I couldn’t ever see you again and that I couldn’t ever come back here! He told me he was going to kill me if you died!”

Cage released me so abruptly that I, still flailing, fell forward and face first into a pile of clothing. The very second I managed to get to my knees, Cage was on me again, roughly turning me to face him and pinning me down.

“You’re lyin’,” he spat. “You f*ckin’ left me again. You keep leavin’, Tegen, it’s what you’re f*ckin’ best at.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Yeah,” he hissed. “You motherf*ckin’ are!”

I stared up at him, into his angry eyes and his beautiful face. He looked exhausted, broken down, and high as a f*cking kite.

My gaze traveled lower, to the scars all over his chest, and my eyes began to fill.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” I whispered. “You shouldn’t even be smoking, let alone doing drugs. I’ve read so much about it, Cage. Once a lung collapses it’s vulnerable to all sorts of things. It could collapse again or you could get an infection—”

“Shut up,” he bit out.

I stopped talking and let my tears fall instead.

“I woke up,” he said. “And you weren’t there and I thought you were dead. I thought that motherf*cker had taken you out too.”

My tears fell faster.

“And I was tryin’ to get out of bed,” he continued, staring down at me. “But I was in too much pain and then they were restrainin’ me but I was fightin’ them off, yellin’ for you.”

I couldn’t breathe now; I was crying too hard.

“And then my old man is there and he’s tellin’ me you were just f*ckin’ fine and you weren’t comin’ to see me.”

He paused for a moment and I blinked furiously, trying to clear my eyes.

“You tellin’ me he lied to me? You tellin’ me you were there, that you wanted to be there and he wouldn’t let you?”

A sob erupted past my throat. “Yes,” I choked out.

For a long time we just stared at each other.

“You tellin’ me anything else?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” I sobbed. “I’m telling you I love you. That I’ve loved you since I was eight years old and I’m telling you that I never stopped. Not once.”

Cage’s eyes closed and he shuddered through his next breath. Then his face dropped into the crook of my neck and his body went limp, falling heavily over top of me.

“Don’t leave me again,” he whispered.

I didn’t even have to think about it.

“I won’t,” I whispered back.

“This shit between us ain’t ever gonna be perfect,” he said hoarsely. “People ain’t f*ckin’ perfect, meanin’ love ain’t perfect. But f*ck, bitch…”

He lifted his head and looked into my eyes.

“I love you,” he said. “I don’t want nobody else. And that should be enough.”

“It is,” I whispered tearfully. “It really f*cking is.”

And it was. It was enough because he was enough. It was enough because I was enough for him. My faults, his faults, and all. We were enough.

Suddenly, I felt ready for whatever life was going to throw my way. I wanted to meet it head on and beat the holy f*ck out of it, because this man was mine, he’d always been mine. I’d known it the day I met him and nobody, nothing, was going to keep me from him any longer.

? ? ?

Cage was praying to what-the-f*ck-ever was up there that this wasn’t a drug-induced hallucination. That she was really here, telling him she f*cking loved him, looking like…

Looking like Tegen. She looked like his Tegen, his Teacup. Her red hair was cut short, not nearly as frizzy as it used to be; it was wavy and he liked it. She was wearing her glasses again, thin black rectangular frames, a smaller version of the pair she used to wear.

She had on a simple black dress, not quite formfitting but tight enough that he could see the outline of her curves. They were small, but they were there, and she was f*cking beautiful.

Gone were the lip and nose piercings; gone were the hemp necklaces. All that remained were the ear plugs and the tattoos, which he loved.

He’d loved all of it, actually—the Tegen he’d grown up with, the Tegen who’d come home from San Francisco all grown up, and the woman she was now, a sexy, yet quirky combination of both.

For the first time in a year, Cage wished he wasn’t high but at the same time if he wasn’t all f*cked-up, he might actually break down and cry like a little girl. And he really didn’t want to do that.

So, in order to avoid all that bullshit, he bent his head and tried to kiss her, but she turned her head away. Panic raced through his overheated system.

“Tegen,” he growled. “Don’t play f*ckin’ games with me.”

Her tear-filled eyes filled with angry accusation. “You just f*cked that girl, Cage.”

His nostrils flared. “It’s been a year since I’ve seen you.”

Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “I know,” she said. “I just…no more girls, right?”

“You mine?” he asked.