Fighter (Outsider Series) (17 page)

I stood in front of him and began to massage his scalp. The shampoo lathered and rolled down his body.

“Now
this, I could definitely get used to. Shower
and
a show,” he said.

I smacked his shoulder. “If you say stuff like that, I’ll never do it again.”

He mimed zipping his lips.

“All done,” I said, and he moved back under the show
erhead. He had to rinse the shampoo out himself.

I opened the shower door, and stepped out. I grabbed a towel and began to dry myself off.

A minute later, the shower turned off and Caeden stepped out. I tossed a towel at him and he rubbed it over his hair, before drying his body.

I dried my hair and then fishtail braided it to the side. A few shorter strands escaped, framing my face. I didn’t feel like fixing them, so I left them hanging there. I grabbed a pink gloss off the counter and glided it across my lips. I also added some mascara to my lashes.

I pulled on a pair of white shorts and a loose orange tank top. I slipped my feet into a really cute pair of flats; I had bought at the beach.

“Ready?” Caeden asked, buckling his belt. He wore plaid shorts and a white shirt.

“Yeah,” I said.

He smiled and grabbed my hands.

“Bye boys!” he called over his shoulder, to the familiars, as we descended the steps.

* * *

Like Caeden had said, the drive took over an hour. We parked in the same parking garage we had parked in so many months before when we had come to Griff’s.

Caeden opened the trunk and grabbed his guitar case. He slung it over his shoulder and took my hand.

He led me into the coffee shop.

Griff stood behind the counter with his back to us.

The bell over the door chimed when we walked in, and Griff turned.

A smile
broke out across his face and he pushed his gray hair out of his eyes. He looked exactly as he had the first time I saw him; shoulder length gray hair and kind light brown eyes.

“Well, if it isn’t Caeden Williams and his girlfriend,” Griff said, leaning across the counter. “I haven’t seen you in months.”

“Sorry about that,” Caeden said, taking a stool at the counter. I slid onto the stool next to him.  “Some things came up.”

“Like?” prompted Griff.

“For starters, Sophie’s not my girlfriend.”

“Huh?” Griff’s brow furrowed. “You broke up?” He looked at me questioningly. Obviously, wondering what I was doing there if we weren’t together anymore.

“She’s my wife,” Caeden grinned.

“Oh,” Griff’s eyes widened. “Congratulations… but aren’t ya’ll a little young for marriage?”

Caeden shook his head. “When it’s right, it’s right, and there’s no point in waiting.”

Griff crossed his arms over his chest. “I can’t argue with that.”
He nodded towards Caeden’s guitar case, which was leaning against the counter. “You gonna play?”

“If you’ll let me,” Caeden said.

“Of course,” Griff said, “everybody misses you. Those groupies of yours still come in here and ask when you’re coming back.”

Caeden chuckled and I growled.

Caeden pinched my leg to make me stop.

I snapped my mouth closed and looked away.

“Head on back and set up,” Griff motioned to the back, where the restaurant area was. “Can I bring you a drink?” he asked me.

“Water would be great, thanks,” I said.

“I’ll bring that right out. Menus are on the table, if you get hungry,” he smiled.

I nodded and slid off the stool
. Caeden grabbed his guitar case and I followed him into the backroom.

There were a few people, eating dinner, but thankfully, not the crowd of girls that was here the first time I visited Griff’s with Caeden.

I sat down at the empty table next to the fireplace, where Caeden was setting up.

He grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the fireplace. 

He cleared his throat and the people in the room looked at him.

“Hi ya’ll,” he waved, “I’m Caeden. I used to play here a lot, but it’s been a while, so I just wanted to introduce myself. This,” he pointed to me, “is my lovely wife, Sophie. This song is dedicated to her.”

He began to strum his guitar and tap his foot in time with the music. I hadn’t heard the song before, but it was absolutely beautiful and brought tears to my eyes.

I loved watching and hearing Caeden sing. He absolutely loved it, and bec
ame so invested in every song he performed.

He finished the song and everyone clapped, although I was definitely the loudest.

“That was beautiful,” I said, wiping a single tear from my eye.

“Thank you, babe,” he murmured and
he leaned over to kiss my cheek.

The room filled with a chorus of, “Awwws.”

“Please, do another song,” an elderly lady asked.

“Of course,” Caeden said and winked at her. I swear the lady swooned.

He started another song and everyone became completely captivated by him.

Griff came and left me water, but I didn’t notice until later.

Like everyone else, I couldn’t take my eyes off Caeden.

He finished the song and took a drink of the water Griff had left for me.
I eyed him and he winked at me when he sat it back down. “This next song is also for my wife.”

This time, he gazed
into my eyes the entire time he sang.

Silence descended upon the room as he sang. His voice was the only sound in the room; his words were
the only ones we all heard.

This song was even more beautiful than the first and I definitely shed more than one tear.

“’And I just wanna wrap you up, wanna kiss your lips, I wanna make you feel wanted. And I wanna call you mine. Wanna hold your hand forever and never let you forget it. Yeeeeaaah, I wanna make you feel wanted. Baby, I wanna make you feel wanted. You’ll always be wanted,’” the last lyrics of the song filled the room.

He put his guitar down and I tackled him, showering him with kisses. I didn’t care who was watching, I had to kiss my husband.

“I love you,” I said, sitting back down in my chair. “That was so sweet.”

He smiled, his dimple popping out. “I’m glad you loved it,” he said, zipping up his guitar case.

“Don’t stop!” someone in the restaurant called out.

I giggled. “I think you have some new fans.”

“There’s only one fan that matters to me, and that’s my lovely wife.”

“Oh, you’re married? Where is she?”
I asked with a giggle as I peered over my shoulders.

He laughed. “Right here,” he kissed me.

He pulled the chair up to the table and grabbed one of the menus. “I’m hungry. You?” he looked at me.

“Yeah, I was distracted by this really hot guy playing guitar and forgot to eat.”

He shook his head.

Griff came over and said, “Ya’ll gonna eat?”

“Yep,” Caeden set the menu down. “I want a cheeseburger with everything on it.”

“And for you?” Griff turned to me.

“Chicken fingers with honey mustard.”

“That should be ready soon,” Griff said, heading back up front.

Caeden chuckled. “Chicken tenders? Are you five?”

“Chicken tenders are delicious.”

“You just really want the honey mustard, don’t you?”

I blushed. “How’d you know?”

“I’m your mate,” he answered simply.

Griff brought our food and I tore a chicken tender in half. I dipped one of the halves in the honey mustard before taking a bite. “So good,” I moaned.

Caeden chuckled. “I’ll have to remember to stock the fridge with honey mustard.”

My eyes grew big. “I love you.”

“Me? Or honey mustard?” He smiled, that adorable dimple winking at me.

“Both,” I shrugged, already eating another chicken tender.

He bit into the massive cheeseburger, which I’d swear was the size of Bryce’s head, and that’s saying something because Bryce has a pretty big head.

“We need to go out on dates more often,” Caeden said.

I laughed. “You’re probably the only guy on the planet that would say something like that.”

“It’s true, though. We haven’t exactly had the most… conventional relationship. It’s nice to do normal stuff with you.”

“I agree. We should do something tomorrow.”

“What do you have in mind?” he asked, wiping his mouth on a napkin.

I tried to think of something that we’d both enjoy. I remembered a picture I’d once seen of Caeden, fishing. “How about we go fishing? I’ve never done it before and I’m sure it would be fun.”

He grinned. “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“I have the best wife, ever,” he leaned across the table, and kissed my cheek.

* * *

Caeden parked the Jeep and grabbed the fishing supplies from the back.

I pulled my big, floppy hat, farther down over my eyes, in the hopes of shading myself. The humidity in Virginia was about to kill me and I’d volunteered to sit out here for hours in the hopes of catching a fish. I was crazy.

“This way, babe,” Caeden motioned to an unmarked path.

“But the sign says we’re supposed to go this way,” I pointed at it to further drive home my point.

“Just trust me,” he nodded to
the trees. “This is a spot my dad and I found. It’s incredibly beautiful and you can actually catch some fish. You’ll never catch anything in that crap hole,” he nodded in the direction that the sign indicated.

I decided not to argue about the matter anymore, and to simply trust my mate.

We hadn’t walked very far, when suddenly, the trees opened up and the lake came into view. The water was a blue-gray and completely undisturbed. The animals didn’t take off at our intrusion.

I heard a noise and looked down. A sweet, small, brown bunny looked up at me with big round eyes. Its pink nose twitched as it studied me.

I bent down and the little bunny surprised me by coming right up to my outstretched hand. It sniffed my hand and looked up at me again. I was in complete shock. Most animals ran from us, they seemed to sense that there was more to us than the typical human.

I reached out to stroke th
e bunny and it let me scratch behind its’ ears before it took off.

I stood and grinned at Caeden. “This place is incredible.”

“There’s a little dock for us to sit on,” he motioned towards the water. “It’s kind of old so we’ll have to be careful. My dad and I reinforced it, just before he died, so it should be okay.” He took a deep breath.

“Well, if I fall in, my husband will just have to save me,” I glided past him and onto the dock. It had once been painted a dark green, but most of the paint had been stripped away. “I’m actually more afraid of getting a splinter than falling in.”

He chuckled. “That’s why I brought a blanket for us to sit on.”

“You always think of everything.”

“I try,” he said, putting down the cooler and fishing poles. The quilt was slung across his arm. He shook it out before folding it and spreading it across the dock.

When he
was satisfied that it was smooth, he motioned for me to sit down.

I kicked my flip-flops off before sitting down and letting me feet dangle over the water. My toes rippled the surface.

Caeden sat down beside me, and handed me a fishing pole.

He proceeded to instruct me on how to put a worm on the line. He grabbed one out of the cooler and went to hand it to me.

“Eww, no!” I scooted as far away as the dock would allow me. The flesh colored worm squirmed in his hand. “You do it for me,” I shoved my fishing pole in his face.

“Sophie, it’s just a worm,” hi
s hand moved dangerously closer to me.

“Caeden, keep that nasty thing away from me.”

He chuckled but took my pole. “What happened to my she-wolf?”

“Her big girl panties fell off,” I squeaked.

He threw his head back and laughed. Once the worm was on the hook, he handed the pole back to me. “Just wait a second and I’ll show you what do.”

He grabbed his own fishing pole and
put a worm on the hook.

“Watch me,” he said. He slung the
pole back and then forward. It made a noise as the line rolled out and then the hook plopped in the water.

“That looks easy enough.”

He chuckled.

I threw my arm back like he had done, and brought my arm forward.

The line tangled around me. I screamed. “Eeeeew! Get it off of me! The worm is going to touch me! Get it off! Get it off! Get it
off!
”

Caeden dissolved into laughter.