Brutally Beautiful(56)

His eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t respond at all. He quickly looked out his windows for any oncoming traffic and pulled out onto the dark road. His eyes found mine again and narrowed.

“…I took all of his money…”

His brow wrinkled.

“…It was a pretty penny…”

He bit down on his lip to keep from smiling. I sang louder.

When he finally let his smile free, I danced around the cab of the truck singing and playing air guitar, until the song ended and he clicked off the audio system.

Emptiness. It was thunderous.

With the sudden loss of the music, a heavy white-noise-roaring silence fell over my ears. It had a tangible weight to it and my shoulders felt its heavy burden. I hoped I hadn’t push too far. I hoped that being myself for a minute with him wouldn’t cause him any more damage. Shifting over, I quietly leaned my forehead against the cold window and glanced out at the darkness of the tall trees that rushed by us alongside the road. Kade must have been speeding, because the trees were blurring past my eyes too fast. I said nothing though. If he needed to drive this fast, I needed to let him. Besides, I was the mother of all lead-footers; nobody drove as fast as I did.

Pulling into a large parking area off the main road, he parked his truck in front of an all night diner that sat in the middle of an empty highway. With both hands, he tightly clutched the steering wheel until his knuckles were white from lack of blood flow. The muscles of his arms tightened and bulged, his back was rigid and his face stared straight out the windshield into the dark trees the grill of the truck was pointing towards. He had turned the engine off, so the temperature inside the cab of the truck was dropping fast and I could once again see the mist of his breath. “How do you do that?” he whispered, coldly.

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I shifted my body around to face him, “Do what?”

“Act comfortable around me,” he said, as his head turned and his intense eyes collided with mine.

Pulling the handle of the door, I pushed it open and climbed out. Standing in the open door of his truck with the dome light on, I looked at him dead in the face. “I’m never comfortable with anybody, Kade. Ever. I just deal with whatever situation I’m in the best way I know how.”

Slamming the door, I walked around the truck towards the front entrance of the diner, practically dragging his enormous jacket on the ground. Kade’s door echoed mine, and instantly, he was in front of me blocking my way, his body so close to mine, but not once…not once touching me. And, I wanted him too; I wanted him to touch me. Leaning his face closer to mine, daring me to look up at him, I did. Pain was evident in his features; confusion, struggle, and heartache were embedded in his skin. My heart broke for him.

“How?” he asked, leaning closer.

“Easy,” I smiled, hoping to lessen his tension with humor. “You just gotta find your happy place, Kade. Mine is with Tatum Channing and a bottle of rum.”

Caught off guard, his smile lit up the night, “Tatum Channing, huh?”

“Yes, please,” I smiled, walking into the diner, melting with the warmth of the air that hit me as soon as we stepped foot inside.

Without speaking, we both headed for the first booth by the exit. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. He just sat down, back against the wall, eyes scanning the handful of customers that had ventured out just as we did. I could see the tension in his rigid posture and the tightness in his jaw as he surveyed the layout of the building, and I understood, more than he would ever know, I understood. When his gaze landed on mine, his tension seemed to slacken some, but not completely and I understood that too, I was just glad to notice that I helped in some sort of relief for his coiled body.