Chapter Thirteen

 

Cade worked in the kitchen, putting together something for the both of them. At least since he’d been staying around more, Dean was keeping actual food in the house. He didn’t mind cooking it, if it was actually there.

Shaking the pan to rush the melting butter, he listened for the other man in the shower.

He didn’t have any idea what Dean’s plans were and didn’t want to try to guess. This was one of those things they really needed to discuss. Cade wanted him in Silo. He could move to Cassan, but he’d be an hour from his brothers and the clinic. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Except for their college years, they were never apart. They were the only family they each had, even as it appeared to be growing lately.

First Jamie, Dean and Maya, and if Duncan hung around for Ed…

A knock on the door interrupted his musings. Setting the pan on a cold burner, he ambled for the door. Expecting one of the police officers that had been around the most, he was shocked to find a woman bundled up in a coat. Standing on the step below her was, more than likely, her husband. The man was a dead ringer for Dean. Cade swallowed, slowly, as they each stared for a few seconds. By their expressions he wasn’t who they’d expected either.

“Hi,” she said, startled. She stared in bright confusion at Cade. She hunted over her shoulder, clearly looking for Dean’s car, then faced Cade again. “I thought Dean lived here.”

“He does, ma’am.” He opened the door wider. “He’ll be right out.” They walked through the door. Was he ever glad now that he’d put on his sweatshirt and jeans. Shii-it. Dean’s parents.

He offered a hand when he closed the door. “I’m Cade.”

“Ann,” she responded, slipping off a glove to shake.

He faced Dean’s dad.

“Trent.”

“Nice to meet you both.”

They stood in awkward silence.

Cade fidgeted. “Excuse me?” He spun and aimed for the bedroom. He heard zippers and whispers. He didn’t doubt for a second he was the subject of those whispers.

“Dean?” He opened the bedroom door and walked in. He found him sitting on the bed, listening to his messages.

“Crap,” Dean muttered as the message played. Horror and worry darkened his gaze. “Mom—”

“Is here.”

“Fuck!” he barked. “I told her not to come.”

“They’re both here.”

He scraped a hand down a now clean-shaven face. “Shitshitshit. Why?”

“I think we both know.” And Cade’s gut twisted because of it. “She is going to flip when she hears everything, and sees your neck,” he added quietly. It was still vivid enough to be noticeable, even days later.

Dean’s palm circled his throat. His eyes shut. A few breaths helped ease the panic in his eyes.

“Let’s get this over with.” He stood. “Did they act funny about you?”

“Surprised.”

Dean nodded absently. “Sorry. I should have told them about you before now.”

“So they meet me now. Not what I would have preferred, but I’m not going anywhere, regardless.” If he could, he’d stay with Dean every second until the person behind the attacks was caught. Even after, he had no intentions of leaving the man.

Cade trailed Dean from the bedroom.

“Hi, Mom. Dad.”

Ann engulfed him in a hug. “Did you get my message?”

“Like two minutes ago,” he replied, patting her kindly before letting her go.

“Oh, no wonder. I called two hours ago.”

“I know,” he grumbled good-naturedly. “Two hours ago, I was asleep. It’s usual at that time of the morning. I told you you didn’t have to come. There’s nothing here either of you can do.”

“We can be here for you,” she staunchly denied. “We have a hotel room at that place outside of town, where we stayed before.”

Dean let out a slow breath. “Okay.” Resigned. Cade really felt for the man.

“Have you eaten?” Cade offered. Might as well keep going as though nothing was wrong, until something changed that.

“Just the nibbles on the flight,” Dean’s dad replied, taking a bit more interest in the conversation with the mention of food.

Ann scowled at her husband. It appeared she wasn’t as willing to give Cade a mother’s stamp of approval. Not yet.

Cade didn’t take affront to her attitude. He had to pass criteria.

“Cade was making breakfast,” Dean explained.

“Sounds good to me.” That earned Trent another dirty look.

“I don’t mind,” Cade said, turning for the small kitchen. Better to get out of the direct line of fire.

“Why is his hair so long?” Cade heard the abrupt whisper.

Dean snickered. “Because he likes it that way. And so do I.”

“You always were drawn to the bad boy types,” she complained.

With his back turned, Cade bit his lip to not expose his laughter.

He heard Dean urge his parents to take seats in the living room. “He has tattoos, too.”

Dean’s mother groaned, making her son laugh. “Come on, Mom. He’s a great guy. He’s been sticking with me through it all since everything started.”

Cade tried to not listen but the house wasn’t overly large as he put together omelets and bacon. Dean regaled them of meeting Cade, the fire, meeting Cade’s brothers—

“And what happened to your neck?” Trent asked with concern.

“Uh, well.” He paused, and Cade heard the tension as it tightened his voice. “There have been other problems.”

Cade turned down the heat on the pan and spun to rest against the counter to listen, to give Dean his support.

“Someone caused a roof collapse at Gemini’s.”

Ann gasped.

“Unfortunately, we were inside at the time.” Cade knew he hated to admit to that part.

“Are you kidding?” Trent said, a protective firmness appearing as he sat straighter on his seat.

“No.” Dean slashed a hand through his hair. “So not only is there an open arson case there’s also an attempted murder investigation going on.”

Ann paled. “And what does that have to do with your neck?”

Dean searched, landing on Cade with a troubled gaze. He stayed locked on Cade as he explained, “We think the same man behind the bar fire and the collapse has a vendetta or something against me.”

“And you never mentioned any of this!” Ann cried. She leaped to her feet. “That’s it. You’re coming home. Now!”

Trent and Dean both stood. “Mom!”

“Now, Ann,” Trent tried to reason.

“This is why I didn’t say anything!” Dean shouted gruffly. He caught his mom by her shoulders and held her still, staring down at her pale, taut features. “I knew you would do this. I’m fine. Cade is staying here, or I’m there with him, until the guy is caught.”

“I lost Daniel because of that damned bar! I’m not losing you too!”

Dean shook his head at her. She remained stiff and angry as she glared while they both fought and tugged. Finally, she acquiesced and embraced him.

“The bar isn’t what got Daniel killed. You know that.” He sighed, a pain-filled sound. “Daniel died trying to keep the peace, to protect the people surrounding him. I miss him, too.”

Cade swallowed, stifling the rush of anguish. He would shatter if anything happened to Quade. He would never be the same. There was no comparing the depth of pain Dean lived with to anything he could possibly imagine. Cade would never be able to come close.

“I have no idea what ties all of this to the bar, other than it’s been the means to hurt me the most.”

Ann sniffled where she hid against Dean’s shoulder. Trent stroked her back. Cade turned around to give them some privacy.

“The police are working on it. They have suspects. For all I know, that’s why this happened.” He lifted his chin, exposing his throat. “I’m fine, aside from the bruise and the soreness I had for a day or two.”

Cade noticed he didn’t attempt to explain how he managed to escape his attacker.

Dean gently steered his mother to the couch cushion where she’d been sitting with his dad. “Now, relax. Okay?”

“We still think you should come home,” his mother persisted.

“I’m not coming home, not to Michigan.”

“It’s him, isn’t it?” she nearly whispered, though Cade had no problem hearing her.

“I’ll let you know,” he hedged. “There’s too much going on right now, so either accept it, or don’t. But if you can’t, then you might as well go home because I don’t need the stress right now.”

She huffed. Cade heard that too, even with his back turned to them.

“Fine. We are here to help.”

“Then don’t push at me about returning to Michigan. It’s not going to happen.”

Cade focused on the stove in front of him. He couldn’t help the small flair of happiness Dean’s words stirred. He was selfish enough to hope that he was the cause behind his refusal.

 

* * * *

Dean walked into the Sheriff’s department that afternoon. “Hi,” he said in greeting to the officer at the desk. “I got a message from Officer Archer to come talk to him.”

“Let me page him.” Dean was waved over to a row of seats.

A few minutes later, Kelly appeared through a heavy security door. “Dean, come on back.”

Dean joined him but waited to ask anything until they were behind the door. “What’s this about?”

“I have some photos I want you to look at of the guy who broke into your house.”

“Do you think he’s tied to the rest of it?”

Kelly looked around and lowered his voice. “I’m positive, but it’s not my call.” He opened a private room and let Dean enter. There were five pages, face down on the table. Once the door closed, Kelly said, “I’ll tell you more after you’ve made a choice, or none.”

Dean nodded. He pulled out a chair to get close and leaned over the table. One by one, Kelly flipped pages under the bright lights. On the fourth one, Dean’s eyes widened and he raised a hand to point at the table. “Him. That’s him.”

“You’re one hundred percent positive?”

Dean wracked his brain, flashes of the attack, of the face of the man there. “Cade could probably back me up. He didn’t get a real good look, but he saw enough when he ran away.” He tapped the second photo. “He’s too redhead, and this guy is too old.” He tapped another. “That leaves three possible.” And Kelly hadn’t flipped the last page yet. He studied the picture. All Dean had was the photographed face to work from, but he remembered the fleeting glimpse of the man when Cade had surprised him with his own attack. Dean had been taken by surprise, otherwise, he probably would’ve had a fighting chance against the man who’d been waiting for him.

He felt it in his gut. He knew that face even if he didn’t know the man.

“What’s his tie to Daniel’s murder? The investigator said they had suspects. Is he one of them?” Dean searched for Kelly, who was writing on a pad.

“I need to contact the case detective. He can tell you more about that.” He lowered his voice. “He’s one of two in the set with the year and model of truck typical to the tire tracks we found the morning of the fire. But I didn’t just tell you that.”

Dean stood straight, a hand landing to rest on a chair. That did sound like good news, a good clue, or maybe just a chance to get that much closer to putting all of this behind him. “Is this all you needed?”

“For now.”

He waited until he was outside by his car before calling Cade. “I’m done. I had to ID a picture.”

“That’s good though, right?”

“I have to hope so.” It had to mean they were getting closer to what was going on and who was behind it. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Leaving it up to you. Wasn’t going to assume with your parents in town.”

Dean smiled. “Such a gentleman,” he teased.

“Hey. Don’t spread rumors.”

He laughed. “Let me see what Mom and Dad are up to. She’d said something about wanting to see Gemini’s before it was gone. I tried to talk her out of it.” He trailed off, leaning against the car’s fender. Dean knew seeing the building’s carcass would be a shock for her, but she’d been insistent.

“Let her see it, and then tell her why it’s important enough that you can’t walk away.”

There was more than the bar now, though, that he wasn’t willing to walk away from. He had no idea what was going to happen between him and Cade, but he had to admit, he wanted to find out.

“Have you thought about the rebuild yet?” Cade asked.

“Some.”

“Would you be willing to bring it closer to Silo?”

Dean’s lips quirked up at the corner. “It’s something to think about.” He had a good idea he knew what Cade was hinting at. “We’ll talk some more about it.”

“Good,” he said in breathed relief. “I’m at the clinic. I promised Quade I’d help him today, so I’ll talk to you tonight.”

“Okay. Call when you’re free.”

When Dean hung up, he called his mom next to see if they were ready to go say a final goodbye to Gemini’s.

A little more than an hour later, he was rolling to a stop in front of the charred building. It looked so sad now. Burned, wrecked, and hollow.

His mother gasped as they got out of the car. “That all happened from the roof collapse?”

“Most of it.” He pointed into a corner. “Some of those planks came down about four days ago. Too much snow and ice. Unfortunately, there’s nothing from the inside that can be salvaged.” He’d be starting from the ground up when he started over. It was kind of depressing now standing there, taking it all in.

Trent stood with his hands in his pockets, a grim frown on his features. “Have you really thought about this? Do you really want to run another bar? You have a business management degree. There must be something you can do besides this.”

Dean leaned on the front of the car. There was no reason to get closer. He’d already seen enough, more times than he really wanted to count. He crossed his arms. “Honestly, I don’t know. The bar was so much a part of Daniel and me.”

“So why don’t you come home?” his mother wheedled again. “I know you wanted to keep Gemini’s after Daniel’s death.” She took a slow, steadying breath, her small gloved hands fisting to release at her sides. Dean knew it pained her. It would always cause her pain to think of her lost son. “But it’s gone now. There’s nothing left to keep you here.”

Dean tucked his chin to his chest. “That’s not true, Mom.”

“Cade?” His mother gaped at him. “Are you serious? How long have you known him? You’ve never mentioned him,” she accused.

“Since before Christmas.” He shrugged. How was he supposed to tell his parents that until about twenty-four hours ago, what they had hadn’t been serious…yet? It was still new, but he was beginning to understand what was happening between them was happening.

“But he’s…” She waved her hands.

“Let me tell you what he is,” he said with a loss of patience. “He’s a damn good vet doctor. He’s a supportive brother. He’s been here since all of this started. He’s put this whole f— this whole mess ahead of anything else in his life. He’s been a good friend to me. So he has long hair, tattoos, and a motorcycle. Big deal. It doesn’t make him who he is.”

“And a motorcycle?” she cried.

Dean covered his eyes and rubbed with his palm. “Mom.” Of course, that’s what she caught in all of that.

“Mother.” Trent put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. “Let it be.”

“But…” She waved a hand at the burned out shell. “This!”

“I know,” Trent agreed. “And he’s okay.”

Dean caught his father’s gaze and realized for the first time how all of this was weighing him down as well. He was just trying to look strong for his mom. This was a lot of the reasoning behind not wanting to tell them every little detail. Any little bit was already too much.

He pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Come on. There’s a place in town we can grab a bite to eat.”

Neither parent looked thrilled with the suggestion but Dean sincerely doubted it was for the same reasons.