Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,41
earlier that such an expensive suite didn’t even have a balcony or windows that opened, but Cade welcomed the inconvenience.
Nobody could scale this building and get in through the window.
“There’s a gun in the safe if you need it.”
“You already told me that.” She bounded from the bed and wrapped her arms around him from behind. “We’re going to be fine. Go see your father. It might be your last chance.”
Cade had struggled with the decision of whether to go through with his meeting with Kevin, but Jenna had pointed out that once Prospero relocated them, Cade might not have another chance to see his father.
He threaded his fingers through hers and kissed her hand. “I left the phone number and address of the bar by the telephone. Use the hotel phone to call, not your own cell.”
Moving to his side, she saluted. “Got it. Now you’d better get going.”
He pulled her back into his arms and wedged a finger beneath her chin. “I love you. Never stopped.”
“I never stopped, either, not even when I hated you.”
He ran the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips, and then sealed his mouth over hers. She melted against him, her body warm and pliant.
She pulled away first because he wasn’t capable. They touched foreheads, their breathing shallow and erratic.
“We’re going to start over, Cade. I won’t even say we’ll begin again when this is over because it may never be over. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to have a life together, aren’t we?”
“I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen. Last time...”
She placed a finger over his lips. “Last time doesn’t matter, either, only the future.”
He kissed her again and grabbed his jacket. “You’ve got a gun. Don’t be afraid to use it.”
He stood outside the hotel door until he heard the chain slide into place. Then he tracked down the security guard he’d hired for the night to let him know he was leaving.
Cade headed west on the I-40. Before calling Kevin to set up this meeting, he asked the hotel staff to recommend a place on the outskirts of the city where a man could get a drink and have a conversation.
He didn’t know what to expect from his reunion with Kevin, but he didn’t want the awkwardness of someplace too quiet and formal or a rowdy club scene. The sports bar the concierge recommended seemed like the perfect spot. Kevin insisted he’d have no trouble getting there by eight o’clock that night.
Cade would’ve preferred to meet during daytime, but Kevin couldn’t make it out any earlier and Cade and Jenna might be on their way to parts unknown tomorrow.
The traffic thinned out the farther he got from Albuquerque’s city center. He glanced at his cell phone in the cup holder. Nothing from Jenna, although he’d been gone just twenty-five minutes. And nothing from Prospero. Why the silence on that end? Nobody had even called him to give him news about Jim—the whys and whens of his betrayal.
He shoved his foot against the accelerator. People turned traitor for lots of reasons—ideological, love and money—always money.
A neon rattlesnake curled around a lighted sign that read Ted’s Sports Bar, although what a snake had to do with sports, Cade didn’t have a clue. Maybe it was a holdover from the previous bar to inhabit this lonely stretch of road.
Cade cruised into the busy parking lot, swiveling his head from side to side. Trucks, motorcycles, minivans and the occasional luxury sedan hinted at an eclectic clientele.
Would he recognize Kevin after all these years?
He parked and strolled through the door of the bar, his new boots scuffing the wood floor. Jenna hadn’t been the only one shopping yesterday. Cade figured he’d pick up a pair of boots to fit into this southwestern town, but he passed on the cowboy hat.
Two flat-screen TVs blared with the same basketball game, barely competing with the loud voices and laughter that cascaded through the room. How exactly was this atmosphere conducive to conversation? At least all the activity would drown out any awkward silences between him and Kevin.
Cade’s gaze traveled around the room, flitting over clutches of people drinking and socializing, focusing in on old, solitary, sick-looking men.
Then he heard the chuckle above the cacophony. Unmistakable. He jerked his head in its general direction and he was pretty sure his eyes were bugging out of their sockets when he spied Kevin.
The old, solitary man he’d been seeking had a seat at