Cage

The moment she jumps into my arms, I feel like I’m finally home again.

She’s here, right here in my arms. I can smell her, taste her, kiss her.

Fuck, how hard I kiss her …

I missed her so much it hurts inside. I can’t describe what I’m feeling the moment I see her again and feel her body against mine, skin to skin, face to face.

I want nothing more than to hold her close for the rest of my life.

I’m finally where I belong.

My Ella …

My woman.

I’m here.

I can’t stop kissing her, can’t stop wanting to grab her and take her with me. It doesn’t matter where to as long as I can completely own her.

It’s been too long, far too long since I last touched her.

And now she’s finally here in my arms.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, sniffing. “I’m so, so sorry.”

I brush away the drops rolling down her cheeks and shake my head. She has nothing to be sorry about. I don’t care how long it took us to reunite because we did.

“I left you …” She sobs, shaking her head. “It’s not right.”

I smile, frowning as I cup her face and make her look at me. “You did what you had to.”

“No,” she says, shaking her head. “I could’ve tried harder, could’ve been there sooner. Could’ve—”

I silence her with another kiss, tired of her trying to find excuses to blame herself.

None of this is her fault. I told her to go, told her to escape. I demanded she save herself because I couldn’t live with myself if she was in danger. If she’d still be unhappy, there, in that cage.

But she’s free now. Free of the burden of the compound. Free …

Yet she still came looking for me.

Does that mean she needs me just as much as I need her?

“You came,” I say, surprised she actually found me.

Because, to this day, I still don’t know where I am, or where she’d be.

I only knew I had to be in the forests and near the rivers. But I still don’t know where she lives. Where her home is.

“Of course, I did,” she says, and I can hear the pain in her voice. She hugs me again. “How could I not?”

A warm electrical current runs through my body when she holds me so tightly.

“You didn’t have to,” I say, looking down at her. “You were free.”

“Being free means nothing … without you,” she mutters, gazing up into my eyes.

Her words undo me. Strip me of all the weight and sorrow I’ve been carrying since she left. Leave me naked and vulnerable, but stronger than ever before.

She places a hand on my cheek and caresses me softly, and I lean into her hand.

“I missed you so, so much,” she murmurs, smiling back.

I place my hand on top and say, “Me too.”

She nods. “I was so afraid … that you’d …” She can’t even finish her sentence before choking up already, and I pull her against my chest for another tight hug.

“I’m here,” I say. I know she was terrified, but she no longer has to be. I’m alive and well.

“Your wounds?” she mumbles, raising my dirty shirt to look at them.

I flinch and hiss when she touches them.

“Sorry …” she says, lowering the shirt again.

“It’s fine,” I say.

“Looks painful but someone has redone the stitches, haven’t they?”

I nod, but I don’t care about my wounds. I care about hers. What happened to her while she ran? Did she suffer? Crossing the red desert must’ve been painful. I can’t believe she made it out unscratched.

I place a hand on top of her belly and whisper, “Baby?”

She nods softly, and it puts a grin on my face. With one swoop, I drag her toward me and kiss her again, this time even harder than before.

When I take my lips off hers, I notice a stranger standing behind a tree. He’s watching us.

With furrowed brows, I stop and push her behind me. If this person wants to harm us … or her … he’ll have to go through me.

No one touches my woman.

The stranger clears his throat, and his eyes widen as he realizes I’m staring straight at him. He takes a step back, so I take one forward.

However, Ella immediately jumps in front of me, blocking me from chasing after him as he runs.

“No,” she objects. “That’s my friend.”

“Friend?” I make a face. I don’t understand.

“Someone I like,” she says, still holding out her hands. “His name is Bo.”

“You like?” That word only makes me more enraged, and I point at myself and say, “You like me.”

She snorts and shakes her head for a second. “No. Yes, I like you too, Cage. But I like you in a different way. I love-like you. I need you, physically.” She tilts her head down. “I don’t love-like him and don’t need him physically.”

Her words only confuse me more.

She sighs out loud. “Just don’t hurt him, okay?”

She grasps my hand and squeezes. Her small hand cradling mine feels so natural, so good… I don’t want to ever let it go. It calms me down and makes me realize she really is mine.

As if she’s saying I don’t need to fight anyone off because she will always belong to me, no matter what.

“C’mon. Let’s go home,” she says with a smile brighter than I’ve ever seen before.

The sun cascades on her hair as white as the moon in the sky, and her body still looks so appetizing even without a dress. Was she always this pretty? This beautiful in the light of day?

I wonder if things are going to get better now that I’ve finally found her again. Now that I’m finally going to see her home.

With a soft hand, she pulls me through the woods. Halfway through, we come across that same guy staring at us from a distance. He’s leaning against a tree, watching us as we appear from the woods. He seems agitated, his muscles tight and clenched. I wonder why.

If she likes him and he likes her, does that mean he’s nice to her?

Did he protect her while I was gone?

Did he take care of her when I couldn’t?

Or is there more that I simply don’t understand?

As she pulls me closer, I can feel her hand squeeze mine harder until we reach that guy named Bo.

She makes weird symbols with her hand. I don’t know what she says, but he seems to understand.

“I figured it was him,” he says, and then he gazes at me. “So … you’re the Cage.” He sticks out his hand. “Name’s Bo. Nice to meet you.”

I stare at his hand and wonder what I’m supposed to do with it.

Is this what people always do when they just meet?

“Okay …” He clears his throat and lowers his hand again.

Ella makes some more strange gestures with her hand, even grabbing his arm, but he leans away. With furrowed brows, he keeps nodding.

“Got it. I’ll just … leave you to it then,” he retorts, turning around and walking away with slumped shoulders.

“What’s with him?” I ask after he’s gone.

“He’s …” She sighs. “It’s complicated.”

“How?”

She glances at me and then gazes at the ground again as we saunter through the woods.

“People don’t know how to act around you. They’ve never met anyone quite like you before.”

What is that supposed to mean?

“Why?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I don’t know. They’re just not used to someone who doesn’t know how to… act. How to behave, socially. And Bo’s a sensitive dude. He … he …”

I stop and grasp her arm as her cheeks begin to turn red. “He what?”

“Well, he always took care of me, you know? And he’s always worried about me.”

“Worried … like me?” I say.

“Exactly.” She licks her lips. “And I think he may … have had a crush on me.”

“Crush?” I frown.

“Love. He love-likes me,” she says. “I don’t know how to explain it. And I don’t know for sure. It’s just a hunch.”

Love-like? She just said that was only between her and me. But now he wants her too?

I make a fist with my hand.

It’s not happening. Not on my watch.

I’ll punch his guts if I have to, but he’s not stealing her away from me. No one can.

“I saw it,” I growl.

“You saw what?”

“His need.”

“Need?” Her eyes widen. “No, no, not like that.”

“Yes.”

It’s exactly what I saw.

The same hunger I felt when I couldn’t touch her because there was a thick glass separating us. That same look … and he gave it to her.

“Did he touch you?” I ask, holding both her arms.

“No, of course not. Cage, don’t get angry, please,” she pleads, placing a hand against my stomach and pushing me away. “Especially not at him. He can’t help it. We don’t choose who we fall in love with.”

“I chose you,” I say.

She pauses and a brief half-smile appears on her lips as she blushes again.

“I know you did. But most people … don’t. Bo didn’t. Bo … Bo’s always taken care of me ever since I was young. And I guess he must’ve thought he had a chance.” She rubs her forehead. “No wonder he was so upset when I kept looking for you. I should’ve seen it coming.”

He did have a strange look in his eyes … as if he was sad about something.

She gazes at the leaves again and kicks a rock away. “Why didn’t I see it sooner?”

I place a hand on her shoulder. “Not your fault.”

She rubs her lips together, mulling it over for a second. “Let’s just go home. I don’t like talking about it.”

“And Bo?” I ask.

“I’ll talk to him later. Or rather sign,” she says, grasping my hand again. “Let’s go.”