Rook POV
Kade hasn’t moved much since he finally let himself collapse into me. He’s still pressed against my side, his head resting against my shoulder, his breathing is slower now, but there’s still something off. He’s not asleep, but he’s not really here either. He’s stuck somewhere in his own fucking head, lost in thoughts I can’t pull him out of, so I just sit here with him, my arm around him, my hand rubbing slow, steady circles on his back.
I don’t rush him, I don’t tell him to get up, get over it, and move on.
I just wait, because for once, he’s not trying to pretend.
The car slows, the subtle shift in movement telling me we’ve arrived at the airstrip. I glance out the window and see the jet waiting, the engines already running, ready to take us the fuck away from here.
Damon is standing by the car before we even get out, his face unreadable as he opens the door. “Rose t
Rook POVKade’s fingers move to undo the rest of my buttons, and I lift my hips to help him slide my trousers down. His eyes never leave mine, and I can see the fire in them. I reach up and run my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to me.His hand wraps around my cock and I shudder at the touch, my body betraying my earlier reservations. He smirks, knowing he’s won this round, and leans in to press a kiss to my neck. The sensation of his lips on my skin sends a thrill down my spine, and I can’t help but let out a low moan.Kade takes this as encouragement and continues to explore my body with his mouth. His tongue traces a path along my collarbone, and I can feel my resolve weakening with every passing second. I try to remind myself that this isn’t the right time, that we have more important things to focus on, but it’s hard to think straight when Kade is making me feel this good.He drops to his knees in front of me and I can feel his hot breath on my cock, and I know what’s
Kade POVThe sound of Rook pulls me from my sleep. Groaning, I try to get more comfortable.“Kade,” he whispers, and I groan.“No.” I’m sleeping. He can leave me alone.“Wake up.”Shaking my head, I keep my eyes closed. “Shh.”He chuckles quietly. “You need to wake up.”“Five more minutes,” I whisper.“As nice as it has been to have you this close for the last, like, eight hours, the plane is descending, and my body is numb.”I move slightly and realize. “Shit.” I fell asleep on him. I pull back slightly, and he’s smirking at me. “Sorry.”“It was highly amusing. One moment we were talking, then you were snoring in my ear. No warning, nothing.”I rub my face, trying to wake myself up. “I slept the whole flight?”“You did. On me.” He smirks, and I nod.“Sorry. You should have woken me and told me to move.” What sort of idiot doesn’t? I remember we got cleaned up and dressed. Then he pulled me back onto him.What the hell were we talking about? My mind tries to think back. I just remembe
Kade POV“If I handle my shit, me, not you, because it’s me fucking things up, then we come back to the conversation in six months.”He groans. “Six months?”“You’re acting like it’s years.”He nods quickly. “In Rook time, that is years.”“Rook time? What are you now, a fucking dog?” I laugh, and he nods without hesitation.“If it works for them, it works for me!”“You’re delusional. Do you agree or not?” I look at him, waiting.Chewing his lip, he tilts his head before finally nodding. “Deal. Six months, and we get a kid.”“No, that is not what I fucking said.” I glare at him.“Would you even know if I did it without you?” He smirks.I glare harder. “The screaming baby when I came home would be proof you had. Six months, and we talk.”His grin widens, but at least he doesn’t argue. Instead, he stretches out in his seat, looking far too pleased with himself.I narrow my eyes. “You’re not going
Rook POVThe villa is fucking ridiculous. The kind of place you see in movies, huge windows that overlook the lake, open spaces, marble floors that I know I’m going to hate walking on in the morning when they’re cold as hell.Kade steps inside first, rolling his shoulders like he’s preparing himself for something, but I ignore it, walking straight past him and toward the bedroom. “Come on, we’re going out.”He groans behind me. “We just got here.”“And?” I glance over my shoulder, smirking. “Did you think I was going to let you sit inside and mope?”He mutters something under his breath, but I don’t wait for him, grabbing my bag and pulling out fresh clothes. By the time I’m dressed, Kade has finally dragged his ass to change too, standing in front of the mirror adjusting his shirt.He looks good. Annoyingly good. Like he belongs in this kind
Rook POVMaybe this trip really is what we needed and maybe, for once, we can actually just be.Dinner is easy. The kind of normal we don’t usually get. We order, we eat, and we talk. Actually talk, without me feeling like I have to pry every word out of him.At some point, the conversation shifts to hockey. It’s familiar territory, something we’ve always been able to talk about no matter how much shit was going on.Kade twirls the last bite of pasta on his fork, glancing up at me. “So, how pissed were you when I didn’t show up for the game?”I scoff. “How pissed? I was fucking livid. Thought about hunting your ass down and dragging you onto the ice myself.”He smirks. “Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve manhandled me.”Rolling my eyes, I groan. “Don’t try and turn this into something else. You left me to deal with a fucking rookie.”Kade c
Rook POVI swallow, gripping the edge of the table. “So, what? You’re just done with it?” I need to know, I need to try and understand his reasoning behind this. It's not a small change, it's big. It's not simply cutting back how much he plays and trains, it's stopping, entirely. I can't just, accept that, not without knowing that he's sure. Totally sure.“I don’t know.” His voice is quieter now, like even he doesn’t have a clear answer. “I just know that for the first time in my life, I have a choice.”A choice, that's what this is all about, this isn’t just about hockey at all, this is about everything. About him finally feeling like he’s not fighting for every single thing in his life. I don’t know if I should be proud of him for realizing that… or fucking terrified of what it means for us.I shake my head, trying to process this. “How do you suddenly go from loving ho
Kade POVSitting here, I watch Rook, really watch him, and I can see it. The way his fingers tighten slightly around his glass, the way his jaw tenses just a little too much. He’s worried.I get it. This is a shift neither of us expected. I didn’t even expect it. But the more I think about it, the more I know this is what needs to happen.Sure, I love hockey, and I always will, but it takes time away from work, which then takes time away from Rook. If I have to choose, I’ll take him every time, and maybe that’s the biggest difference.For years, I didn’t think I had a choice. Hockey was survival. Work was control. Everything else was just existing between the cracks. Rook just existed between the cracks. Now, I can choose, and I want to I choose him.Leaning forward, I rest my arms on the table, waiting until his eyes flick back to mine. “I’m not saying I won’t play again, Rook. I’m saying I wan
Kade POVFinally, he exhales, looking out toward the lake. “I used to imagine what it’d be like if we weren’t always fighting, you know?”I stay silent, letting him keep going.“If we weren’t always trying to one-up each other on the ice, or arguing over who was the bigger dumbass in the relationship,” he continues. “What it’d be like to just… exist together. Without all the extra shit.”I take a step closer. “And?”He shrugs, eyes flicking back to mine. “I think I’d like it.”I grin because that’s as close to a confession as I’m going to get from him.Rook sighs, shaking his head. “You’re so fucking smug right now, aren’t you?”“A little.”He huffs but doesn’t push me away when I grab his wrist and pull him closer. The lanterns glow softly around us, the lake stretching o
Kade POVRook helps me up despite my protests, and soon, we’re in the car, the quiet hum of the engine filling the space as we pull away from the runway.Rook glances at me, eyebrows raised. “So, we're heading straight home and through the back.”I shake my head. “Not yet.”He frowns. “What do you mean, not yet? You just got drugged into sleep, and you still look like shit.”I lean in slightly, lowering my voice so only he hears. “I want to go somewhere. Just us.”His brows knit together. “Where?”I let a slow smirk tug at my lips. “We never got the final moments of our holiday together.”Something flickers in his gaze, surprise, then understanding. He exhales, running a hand through his hair before shaking his head with a small, exasperated smile.“You really are a stubborn asshole,” he mutters.I shrug. “So, we going
Kade POVPain drags me from sleep, and I move slightly, opening my eyes to see we’re on the plane. I can’t remember anything after Rook getting me. I turn, and he’s sitting beside me.He looks wrecked, he’s worried. Smirking, I nudge him, and he turns to face me. “Sorry I was late home.”Groaning, he punches my arm, and I grunt. “Shit, sorry,” he mutters.“It’s fine, that was the only part of my body that didn’t hurt. Now it feels included,” I mock, and he groans.“Like I care that you were home late. Fucked-up thinking, Kade.”I shrug slightly. “Shame, if you were angry, the sex to punish me would have been fucking epic.”“You’re totally fine, clear. Go back to sleep, nob.”Smirking, I lean my head against his shoulder and hold in the groan. At least now he’s smiling and not so worried about me. “Where&
Kade POVPain drags me from sleep, and I move slightly, opening my eyes to see we’re on the plane. I can’t remember anything after Rook getting me. I turn, and he’s sitting beside me.He looks wrecked, he’s worried. Smirking, I nudge him, and he turns to face me. “Sorry I was late home.”Groaning, he punches my arm, and I grunt. “Shit, sorry,” he mutters.“It’s fine, that was the only part of my body that didn’t hurt. Now it feels included,” I mock, and he groans.“Like I care that you were home late. Fucked-up thinking, Kade.”I shrug slightly. “Shame, if you were angry, the sex to punish me would have been fucking epic.”“You’re totally fine, clear. Go back to sleep, nob.”Smirking, I lean my head against his shoulder and hold in the groan. At least now he’s smiling and not so worried about me. “Where&
Rook POVI tilt my head, watching him writhe. “You’re holding out for them, huh? You think they’re watching? That they’re waiting to see if you can handle a little pain before they decide you’re worth saving?”He chokes on his breath, his fingers twitching against the blood-slick table.I grip his chin, forcing him to look at me. “They don’t give a fuck about you. Every second you sit here thinking you’re being loyal, you’re just another second closer to dying for people who don’t even know your fucking name.”He sucks in a broken breath, but his lips stay pressed together.“Fine.” I grab his pinky, and before he can even brace for it, I snap it back. A sickening crack echoes through the room, his strangled scream tearing from his throat as he thrashes.I let him writhe, let the pain settle deep into his bones before I lean in close. “You've got a few fingers left. You ready to waste them all for people who wouldn’t piss on you if you were o
Rook POVI yank the knife out and slam my fist into his ribs. He chokes on a breath, curling in on himself, but I don’t give him time to recover before I drive my knee into his stomach. He crumples to the floor, coughing, blood dripping from his mouth.“You’re making this worse for yourself,” I warn, crouching in front of him. “You think you’re gonna hold out? You think you’ll last?”“I don’t—” His voice cuts off in a strangled cry as I grab his fingers, wrenching one back until it snaps.His scream rips through the room, raw and desperate.I grip his hair, forcing his head up to meet my eyes. “You’ve got nine more before I move onto something worse. Now tell me. Where. Is. He?”Tears spill down his face, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His lips tremble, but he still doesn’t fucking answer.“Stubborn,” I mutter before grabbing another finger and snapping it just as easily as the first. His body jolts, another scream tearing from
Rook POVThis is impossible. There’s no footage from the back of the restaurant, the lead that Lorenzo found is a dead end. I’m beginning to think that note was planted to bait Kade, and now I wonder, did he even see it? Did he walk into this blind?Every fucking move I’ve made has led me in a circle. There’s nothing. No trail, no whispers of where he might be. I’ve had a list of names from Lorenzo, people in this country who might have had the balls to pull something like this. I went through them one by one. Each name dragged in, each one screaming in pain, but all swearing the same thing—they don’t know anything.How the fuck can none of them be involved? My eyes shift to the men in the room, the ones we brought with us. And for the first time, I wonder, are they all innocent? Something isn’t adding up.Nine hours.Nine fucking hours since Kade disappeared, and my father’s words echo in my head.Find him, or he’s dead
Kade POVDanielle watches, waiting, maybe hoping that I’ll finally break. I don’t. I inhale slowly, shaking the blood from my lips, and laugh.“How long do you think you’ve got left?” I ask, my voice rough but still steady. “Every minute you waste here? That’s more time my men have to find me. And when they do? You’ll be fucking wishing you killed me the second I walked through that door.”The guy in front of me hesitates, glancing back at her, waiting for an order.“Keep going,” she snaps, her voice sharper now.He does. Another punch to my ribs, another to my jaw, but I don’t stop grinning. The pain is sharp, burning through my body, but I don’t let it show. They want me to break. They want me to plead. That’s never going to happen.Danielle steps closer, her eyes locked onto mine. “You think you’re so fucking smart, don’t you?” she
Kade POVI hiss through my teeth, more from the annoyance than the pain. “There you go. That’s a little better.”She glares, dragging the blade in a shallow cut across my side, but she’s still holding back. Testing me. I shake my head, sighing.“See, this is why you’re not going to win,” I say, my voice steady despite the sting. “You don’t actually know how to do this.”Danielle scoffs. “Oh, I don’t?”I tilt my head. “No. If you did, you wouldn’t be wasting time with this weak shit.”She presses the knife in harder, and I grin, feeling her frustration build. “You want to break someone? You don’t start here,” I say, nodding toward my ribs. “You start small. Fingers. Knees. Maybe a little nerve damage if you want to get creative.”She stills, something flickering across her face. Disgust. Uncertainty.&ldq
Kade POVHer nostrils flare as she presses the blade harder, drawing a thin line of blood. “You don’t hold the power here.”“Don’t I?” I whisper, locking eyes with her. “Then why are you the one trying to prove something?”Her grip tightens on the knife, but she hesitates. That’s her biggest fucking problem. She doesn’t commit. She doesn’t know how to follow through.“Let me tell you how this plays out,” I continue, voice smooth despite the sting on my cheek. “You keep me here, keep trying to break me, but it doesn’t work. Eventually, you get frustrated, you get sloppy, and then my men find me. And when they do, you don’t walk away from this.”Her eyes narrow. “You sound pretty fucking confident for someone tied up right now.”“Because I know how this ends.” I smirk. “And so do you.”Danielle exhale