Chapter 25

Caden

"Well, look at what the cat dragged in!" Jake walked toward us as we entered the old Catfish Barn at the edge of the city. His dark hair and Italian looks had half the room turning to look his way. He was the only man I knew that had a heart of gold. I couldn't have had a better mentor in life.

"Hey, buddy." I shook his hand and moved over to pull Kari into a side hug. "I'm Caden. It's nice to finally meet you. This guy hasn't shut up about you in the last year."

"It's not been that long, has it?" Kari moved over to talk with Olivia after Jake stopped hugging the poor girl.

"How are you, buddy?" He pulled me into a brotherly hug and patted my back. "You doing better?"

"Yeah, lots better. I went over to mom’s today and picked this old thing up." I pulled the little black box from my jeans pocket. "Remember this shit?"

He smirked and took it before turning his back on the girls as if to block our secret. "Are you giving her this?"

"Yeah, as a promise ring or something. I know she's not ready for much more than that." I shrugged. I would've asked her to marry me in a heartbeat, but she needed time to heal from Luke.

"I think that's a great idea." He handed me the ring back and shook his head. "Who would have thought this would be the ending?"

"Ending? Fuck that. This is only the beginning." I glanced around him to find Kari and Olivia laughing together. "I wanna enjoy each day with her."

"You got a lot of clean up to do thanks to Luke, my man." He patted me on the back and nodded toward the bar. "Let's get some beers and catch up. Dinner is on me."

"Naw, it's on me. I make ten times what you do, but one day - one day, you'll be buying because I'll be a poor ranch boy with ten kids and a simple life."

"If that's what you want, then go get it." He walked with me to the bar, filling me in on his parents and the talk of the town as of late, which was nothing new.

Football, drama, and scandal. Sounded like life to me.

****

"Where are we going?" Olivia glanced over at me as I turned down a long dirt road and smiled. She must not have been home in the last year or so. They'd built up a new back road system from the city to the country, and at the end of it was our old football stadium where we played all our games.

"You'll see. Stop being so inquisitive. What are you, an investment advisor?" I smirked and reached for her hand as her face fell.

"I was." She shrugged. "I broke up with Luke this morning."

"Good. You don't need him." I squeezed her hand as elation ran through me. Step one in having her forever was over. "Now we need to either find you a new job or get your old job back at Tangling. You tell me what you want to do and I'll pull every string I can. I have lots of connections."

"I'm not sure what I want to do just yet. I told Luke I was quitting, but I might stick around at your firm just to put the emotional pressure on him." She shrugged and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Why do I find that incredibly sexy?"

"Because you're a horny guy with a cute cheerleader on your arm? A blonde cheerleader that’s just trying to play with the big boys..."

"Hush. You bad thing. You knew I was just baiting you that night at Kadia. I needed to reel you in, and I knew slapping your pride would win me at least another round of fighting if nothing else." I smiled and lifted her fingers to my mouth to suck on the tip of one.

She moaned softly and reached over to brush her fingers down my leg. "Maybe we will break into the old locker room? Make love on one of those weight benches."

"I thought you didn't know where-" I glanced over at her and grumbled. "You're such a cheeky thing."

"That I am." She moved back to her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't believe how badly I let all that shit from our senior year get so blown out of proportion. It ruined everything inside of me over the last six years."

"I did too, but maybe we needed this time to grow into two people that could really appreciate each other. Maybe it wouldn't have worked any other way." I pulled into the parking lot and turned off the lights. "Let's just talk about the really great times we had back then. Not the one moment in all of it that fucked us over."

"Deal." She got out of the car and walked around to the front before reaching up and pulling her hair into some type of ponytail.

I wrapped my arm around her back and moved her with me to the edge of the field.

"You know what one of my favorite memories of high school was?" I pulled her closer and slipped off my shoes as she did the same.

"What, baby?" She wrapped her arm around my back and glanced up at me.

"That cheer competition you guys had and Danny hurt his back." I started to laugh. I couldn't help myself. "So you needed someone to fill in."

"And you said you would, but only if I didn't wear my bloomers?" She popped me in the chest and walked out on the field ahead of me.

I laughed a little more and jogged to catch up with her. "But you were a good girl."

"Was, past tense." She turned toward me and slid her hands up my chest. "I wanted to tease the hell out of you that day, but I figured I would end up in the air above someone else, and no one deserved to see the goods."

"No one but me?" I brushed my fingers down the side of her cheek, memorizing how incredibly beautiful she was. My heart was sealed as hers no matter what happened from that moment on. I couldn't pull it back again if I had to.

"No one but you." She lifted to her toes and kissed me a few times. "Not much has changed."

"I like it." I pulled the box out of my pocket and took a step back as her hands slid down my chest. "This is what I was talking about. It wasn't much back then, and it certainly isn't now, but maybe it could be a promise between us."

She nodded and reached for the box as I popped it open and extended it to her. "I love it."

"Maybe it can be that we promise each other that we'll see where this thing between us can lead. That while we're together we'll be one hundred percent true to each other." I ran my hand up her arm, over her shoulder to hold the base of her head softly in my hand.

She slipped the ring on and smiled up at me. "I like this a lot. Let's just take things slow and see what happens. No promises other than the ones you've mentioned and this one... that even if we don't end up together that I'll love you forever."

I nodded, wanting to correct her and knowing that there was no point. I didn't need a solid commitment just yet. Love would bind us together. It had for the last six years while we were apart and the entirety of my childhood. It would persevere and hold on tight when we weren't capable of doing it ourselves.

"I'll love you forever too, baby." I pulled her close to me and smiled. "Even if it is risky business to do it."

She pulled me down for a long slow kiss before we dropped down into the wet grass beneath us and laughed until our sides hurt from old stories.

She was mine for the moment, and honestly... that's all that mattered.