Cade’s mouth was hanging open. They’d stolen a bag of Chips Ahoy, a gallon of milk, and two glasses from his kitchen, and gone straight to the game room. When Cade asked why Kyle had walked out on Faith, something broke inside him. Cade had the kind of face that begged you to tell him your troubles, and the sum of four years of pain had come pouring out. Kyle had thought he’d feel ashamed, telling someone other than Grandpa, but Cade hadn’t mocked him, not once.
If anything, he looked like someone had bashed him in the face with a two-by-four.
“Wow, dude. That’s…that’s…” Cade shook himself. “Okay, you know me, right?”
Kyle snorted. “Yeah, I know you. I wouldn’t share this tale with a random stranger, not even if he brought cookies and milk. Thanks for the snack, by the way.”
“You looked…hungry when you got here. I had no idea why, but now things are making some sense.”
“I skipped dinner, too, you know.”
“There’s more to it than that.” Cade tapped a finger against his chin. “You know what I think you need?”
“If you say, ‘to get drunk,’ don’t bother. My gramps already tried that.”
Cade’s face lit up in a big smile. “I’ve missed that old man. He good?”
A pang of guilt hit Kyle in the chest. Why had he pushed Cade away? To make himself into something he wasn’t? What kind of douche did that? He huffed out a breath—the same kind of douche who dropped a girl for the same reason. “He’s great.”
“Excellent.” Cade settled back against the leather couch, where the two of them had watched superhero movies and played video games for hours in another life. Today, he was wearing an Arrow T-shirt and plaid shorts that clashed magnificently with both the shirt and his carrot-red hair. Yet Kyle knew Cade was the only guy comfortable enough in his own skin to dress this way. Unlike him.
“You were saying something about what I need?” Kyle said. “You know I have to remind you because you never finish a thought, man.”
Cade laughed. “True that. Okay, what you need is to try to get back together with Faith. Like, really try. Let nature take its course.”
“Oh, is it that easy? I’ll rush right out and try that,” Kyle muttered. “News flash—not going to happen. I’ve lied to her and everyone else for four years. Plus her ex hates me and he’s already making her life harder because of it. We stay together, he’ll keep it up. I’m the worst thing that could ever happen to her.”
“That’s bullshit, and the fear talking. You know it, I know it.” Cade stood abruptly. “Let’s go to my room.”
“On the first date? I’m flattered.”
Cade waggled an eyebrow. “Ha, you should be.”
“Oh, really?” He followed Cade down a hallway full of framed photos. A six-year-old Kyle peeked out of a fort next to Cade. A nine-year-old Kyle beamed with Cade in front of a comic book store. A thirteen-year-old Kyle hunched his shoulders and stared blankly, while Cade held up a fish in triumph on his dad’s fishing boat.
That’s when it had all changed.
Shaking off his dark mood, he went into Cade’s room. Aside from a plain blue bedspread replacing the Iron Man comforter on his bed, it wasn’t much different. Sure, the posters had gone from Dragon Ball Z to manga and high-concept Marvel comic drawings, but the room was totally Cade.
“Sit.” Cade pointed at a chair by his desk, then shut his bedroom door.
“You aren’t going to steal my virtue, are you?” Kyle asked.
“You wish.” Cade went to his nightstand and pulled out a book without letting Kyle see the cover. “Now, this might surprise you, but I’ve slept with three girls. Three, Kyle. And all of them told me they enjoyed it. One went so far as to say I was, how’d she put it? ‘Very generous with both my hands and my time.’”
Kyle’s eyebrows raced for his hairline. “Are you shitting me? God, you’re the real player of Suttonville High. Jesus, man.”
Cade smirked. “Come to think of it, one of them called on Jesus a few times.”
Holy hell. Kyle dropped his face into his hands. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working. If anything, I feel worse.”
“That’s not why I told you.” Cade sat on the foot of his bed and kicked Kyle’s ankle. “Look at me, young padawan. Teach you the ways of the Force, I will.”
“I don’t think Yoda read the Kama Sutra, dumbass.” But he laughed. “So what are we really doing?”
“I’m providing you with free psychotherapy, if you’d just shut up.”
Kyle shook his head, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “Just because your mom is a psychologist doesn’t mean you’re qualified to mess with my brain.”