Low didn’t look convinced, but she smiled. Her long red hair danced in the breeze, and I was once again reminded of the fact I would be completely jealous of her if it wasn’t for the fact that she was happily married to Marcus Hardy, Cage’s former roommate. I wasn’t around when Marcus and Willow had met, but apparently it had been a love-at-first-sight kind of thing. Cage had fought Low on it, but in the end she’d loved Marcus.
“I thought I’d stop by and see if you and Cage wanted to have dinner over at our house tonight. Preston and Amanda are coming too. Marcus and Preston went deep-sea fishing this weekend and brought back a lot of fish. We’re going to fry them up and we’d love for y’all to come too.” I knew Cage would enjoy visiting with all his friends. He’d been so busy with baseball, he hadn’t had time to see anyone but Preston Drake, who played on his team. Preston was the reason Cage had been brought into this circle of friends. It had been Preston’s circle, and when he and Cage had met, he’d set up Marcus moving in with him.
“Yes. We would love to. What can I bring?”
“Cage goes on and on about your biscuits. Could you make some of those and that chocolate pie you made a few months ago when we came over?”
I smiled and nodded. “Sure can.”
Low glanced back at the stairs that led up to the apartment. “And you’re sure everything is okay? I know Cage can be difficult at times, but he has a good heart and he loves you.”
I shook my head and stopped her from going any further. None of this anxiety she was feeling from me was about Cage. He was perfect.
“Cage is wonderful. I’m fine. I was just on the phone with my dad. I need to talk to him about college tuition next year. That kind of thing.”
Low seemed to relax a little. “Okay, good. I just. . . I don’t think that boy could make it without you. Since you walked into his life, he has transformed. He worships the ground you walk on, and I just don’t want him to mess this up. He can make stupid decisions sometimes, but he means well.”
It was moments like this I was reminded that Low was his family. She was all he had, really. She may not be older than Cage, but she defended him like an older sister would. It endeared her to me even more. “I love him. I always will,” I assured her.
Low grinned. “Good. Sorry if I came off a little protective,” she said.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less. I’m glad he has you.”
Chapter Two
CAGE
Something was off tonight. I wasn’t sure what, but something was not right. Marcus seemed nervous. Low seemed anxious, and I couldn’t concentrate on either of them because Eva seemed withdrawn. I took another long sip of my beer while I sat on the sofa, listening to Preston rattle on about next week’s game. I was fighting the urge to go grab Eva from the kitchen and drag her into another room to find out what was wrong.
Since I’d woken up from our nap earlier today to find her gone, something had been off. Eva had been all smiles and telling me about Low’s visit and invite for tonight, but she’d been worrying about something. I wanted to know what. I had to fix this shit. I didn’t want her worried.
“Cage?” Preston’s voice broke into my thoughts. I jerked my gaze away from the kitchen door and looked back at Preston. He was different now that he was with Marcus’s sister, Amanda. He used to be the playboy who was known to sleep with more than one girl a night. But then, that had been why we bonded. Once I’d been that guy too.
“What?” I asked with more of an edge to my voice than I had intended.
“Have you seen that game coach has of the Buccaneers from last week? Their pitcher is insane good.” We were playing the Buccaneers next week. Preston was stressing over losing for the first time this season to them. I had bigger issues.
“Yeah, we got it,” I informed him, then set my beer down and stood up. I had to talk to Eva. This was going to drive me nuts.
“Where you going?” Preston called out. I didn’t reply. I heard Marcus say something, but I ignored them both and headed for the kitchen.
As I pushed the door open, my eyes scanned the room until I found Eva standing at the sink, washing her hands, while Amanda bubbled on happily about something she was telling them.
Eva smiled, but I could see that her smile wasn’t real. Her mind was somewhere else.
“Hey, Cage.” Amanda beamed at me, and Eva’s head snapped up and her eyes locked with mine.
“Could I steal Eva for a minute?” I asked without taking my eyes off her.
Eva dried her hands on the towel beside the sink and glanced back at Low and Amanda. “I’ll be back to check on the biscuits in a minute,” she told them then walked over to me. I held out my hand until she slipped hers into mine, and I led her out the back door of the kitchen. I didn’t want to walk back through the living room. Preston asked too many damn questions.
“Are you okay?” Eva asked as I closed the door behind us. I turned to look at her.
“You tell me, because I don’t feel like you’re okay. Something’s wrong, baby, and I need to know what it is,” I said without letting go of her hand.
Eva started to say something then stopped. She closed her eyes tightly and let out a frustrated sigh. I was right something was wrong with her. I moved closer to her, ready to protect her from whatever it was that was bothering her. I hated not knowing when she needed something.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart? Let me know so I can fix this shit,” I whispered, letting go of her hand and grabbing her waist and pulling her even closer to me.