What do you mean you know?
I just do. Can I see you later?
Kade had no idea what to say. No boys. Her dad had just restated that fact in case she'd missed it. Her thumb hovered over the screen.
You're pushing me into unknown territory here...
Kade glanced out the window at her car. Her keys hung on the hook near the garage door. How hard would it be to just say she had to go somewhere?
Sparrow?
I'm here.
Her phone rang. Oh, god. She snatched it up and ran up the stairs into her room, closing the door behind her. "Hello?" she whispered into the phone, out of breath.
“I know you're excited to hear from me, Sparrow, but I didn't mean to take your breath away." Cole's cocky grin was apparent even over the phone. Jerk-off.
"Ha. Ha." She tried to slow her racing pulse as she walked to the bathroom and sat on the side of her tub, shoving the door closed with her foot. She turned the water on.
"Are you planning to take a shower with me on the phone?"
"You wish." Kade put her feet in the warm water, letting the winter chill that never seemed to leave ebb away.
"I do wish, actually." There was no playfulness in his tone, and Kade had to bite back the gasp in her throat. "Sparrow?"
"Yeah?" Her voice came out strangled.
"How long does it take you to take a shower?"
"Sorry?"
"How long will it take you to get dressed? I was hoping you could meet me somewhere."
A heady rush of adrenaline spiked through her. "Where?"
"How long does it take?"
"I don't know...fifteen minutes?" She fiddled with the tap.
"That's it?"
She shrugged to no one. "Probably."
"Impressive. Can you meet me downtown? On Pearl Street?"
"I can try." Kade wondered if he could hear the smile in her tone.
"Can you try hard?" His voice lowered. "Really hard?"
She smiled wide, like an idiot. "Yeah. I'll meet you." I'll just lie? To her dad?
"At the coffee place. Forty-five minutes. I'll be out front. You remember my Jeep?"
Of course. Black. "Yeah. Um...Cole?"
"Have I told you how much I love it when you say my name?"
Kade lost her balance, reached for the edge of the sink to keep from falling in the tub, and her phone clanked against the tile. She snatched it up, checking for cracks.
"Sorry. I'll try to tame what I say." Cole laughed. "I am starting to think I do make you nervous, though."
"I just lost my balance."
"I heard. I'll see you in a little while. Wait, do you have a bathing suit?"
"Yeah."
"Bring it. I'll see you soon." The phone clicked off.
Kade dug through her boxes, searching for the bathing suit she hadn't worn since June, finally found it, shoved it the bottom of her purse, threw on some jeans and a sweater, her boots, brushed her hair and teeth, and grabbed her coat before getting halfway down the stairs and coming to screeching halt. She couldn't just tell her dad she was going out. It didn't work like that. Not in her house. Before she'd moved to Boulder, she never really had anywhere to go. Giselle had changed that in the past few weeks. The thought warmed Kade's heart. This is what it feels like to have a life? Friends?
She rounded into the living room toward the kitchen. Her dad still sat at his laptop. It was the first time she'd wished he was at work. So not okay to think like that.
"Dad?"
He didn't look up from whatever he was doing. Probably going over a patient's chart.
"Is it okay if I meet Giselle and Lindsey for a little while?"
His eyebrow tilted up.
"To get coffee?" She fiddled with her hands before stilling them at her sides.
"Coffee? It's lunchtime."
"Yeah." Kade shrugged. "Giselle has a thing for Mocha Frappuccinos." She gripped the cell phone in her coat pocket.
"I guess that'd be all right." His gaze held hers for a few beats, and she almost said something, like the truth.
"Thanks." She ran toward the garage door where her keys hung on the wall.
"Be careful driving and don't be out long. Make sure you have your phone on ring, not vibrate."
"I will."
"And no texting and driving."
"I promise."
***
Kadence could barely sit still on the drive into downtown, she kept reminding herself to relax. Cole's Jeep was parked out in front of the coffee place, just like he'd said, and he was leaning against the driver's door, ankles crossed, hands in his jeans pockets. Kade pulled in next to him and glanced through her window. He had a heavy navy blue jacket on, zipped up his throat so it covered his neck, and his brown hair blew over his light eyes in the chilly wind.
Pushing away from his car, he walked around the back of Kade's and opened her door, a sweet grin on his beautiful face.
"Hey." The tips of his cheeks had little red patches from the cold.
"Hi." Kade climbed out of her car.
"Your car looks good next to mine."
She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. They were both black. "So, are we getting coffee?" Her teeth chattered.
"Nah. I'm not a coffee drinker. Just thought this would be an easy place to meet." Cole took a step closer and placed a hand on either side of her head against her car, almost touching her body with his, but not quite. Kade's temperature rose, heated up like she'd just sunk into a Jacuzzi tub. "Your teeth aren't chattering anymore," he whispered.
"You did that on purpose."
He nodded. "It's like having a super power."
She glanced toward the coffee place's window. "Should we be...?"
Cole backed up. "You have no idea how hard this is for me."
"I have every idea, actually." She smirked.
He leaned her back against the car.
Kade laughed.
"I wanted to show you something. If you're game?" He held his hand out.
She glanced at it and raised an eyebrow. "I am."
He dropped his hand. "Good."
Kade didn't need quite as much help climbing into the Jeep, but Cole still had to give her a shove, and she was positive her butt ended up in his face at least once. Not that he seemed to mind.
The drive wasn't far, only a few miles toward the foothills, and a couple slower going miles on a backroad up the mountain. Besides the usual rocky terrain and pine trees, everything sort of melded together into whitish brown.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened to you?" Kade motioned toward the cut on Cole's mouth.
"Just an altercation." He pulled off the dirt road and killed the engine.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?"
"Probably." He opened his door. "Did you bring your bathing suit?"
Her brow furrowed. "It's like forty degrees outside."
"You won't be wearing it outside." He grabbed a backpack along with her purse and hopped out of the Jeep.
Kade followed him down a narrow path through the woods. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"
"It's a surprise, and I hope it's one you'll like."
"That's specific."
The trail wound downward, mountains rising in sharp angles on either side. Cole ducked underneath a low hanging rock face and pulled Kade behind him.
"No offense, but if you wanted to get me alone, there are easier ways." Kade tried to see where she was walking.
"Your mind and the gutter run hand in hand a lot, don't they?" He glanced over his shoulder.
"No—"
"Listen."
A steady drip echoed off the narrow walls and grew louder as they eased down a slope. The air thickened and warmed, a faint gold light shined in the distance, and an underground cavern came into view. The air shimmered, but it wasn't energy, it was steam. A clear, green pool sat in the center of the cave, water glistening in the dim light and reflecting off the dark walls.
"It's a hot spring." Cole smiled. "Danny and I found it when we were investigating this area a couple of years ago. There are no houses or developments around here, so no one knows about it, and I thought...you're always cold." He shrugged. "Maybe you'd like it."
She was shocked and speechless. "It's beautiful."
He tilted his head, hair falling over his eyes. "Good. I wasn’t, you know, I wasn't sure. You can change over there." He pointed toward a small alcove of rocks on the edge of the pool. "If you want. We don't have to get in, if you don't, I mean, we could just put our feet in if you'd rather do that."
"Do I make you nervous?" He'd asked her the same question, and Kade couldn't help but wonder if she affected him the same way he affected her. "You never get tongue tied, you told me, but you do around me."
He grinned. "Yes, you make me nervous, and no, I never get tongue tied. Unless I'm nervous."
"Good."
"What's good?"
"You make me nervous, too." She headed toward the recess in the rocks. "I'm going to change."
Kade only owned one bathing suit, a navy blue bikini with tiny pink stars on it and bottoms that tied at her hips. Her dad argued with her when he’d seen it because he thought it was too revealing, but Kade had finally won. Now, as she walked from behind the alcove and stood across the pool from Cole, his bare chest, ripped with muscles, tight ridges running across the flat planes of his stomach and disappearing under the low waist line of his swim shorts, she wondered if her dad had been right, because Cole was staring like she was totally naked.
His gaze traveled from her head, over her chest, down to her stomach and hips, and to her feet, before shifting up again. He was so beautiful, she couldn't take her eyes off of him, either. They both stood in silence, the lulling drip of water echoing off the cave walls, steam rising from the pool between them.
Cole cleared his throat. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea."
Kade nodded, agreeing with him. She'd never dated anyone before, had never been anyone's girlfriend, had only kissed one other guy, so she had almost no experience with boys, but the emotions racing through her body made her want to close the distance between them, feel his arms around her. She shook that from her thoughts. They were friends. She was lucky to have him as her friend.
Taking a step toward the water, Cole tracked every move she made. Her feet inched over the wet rocks, and she slipped. Cole was underneath her faster than light moved, his arms cradling her, and they both hit the water, hard.
He brought her to the surface just as fast. "Are you okay?"
Laughing, she swept her wet hair out of her face. "Sorry."
"I swear you are the clumsiest person I've ever known." He swam with her to the shallow end of the pool and let her go.
"I'm never clumsy, though," she laughed. "I swear."
"Only around me." Cole shook his wet hair, droplets of water cascading down his face.
"If you can get tongue tied, then I can be clumsy." Kade dipped her head under the water, sweeping her hair back.
"So, what do you think?" Cole glanced around the cavern. "I did good?"
"Really good. I forgot what it felt like to be warm."
"I'm not messing up any plans you had with Jake?" He grinned slyly.
"Why would you think that?"
"You went to the dance with him, why wouldn't I think it?" He eased toward her. "And you never told me whether or not it was real with him last night, so..."
Kade edged back a little bit. "Why do you keep saying that? Real?"
Cole dipped his shoulders under the water. "There are real relationships and not real ones. Real love and not real love."
"And you would know?"
He nodded, his lips hovering just above the surface of the water. "I would. ‘Infinite love is the only truth. Everything else is illusion.’ David Icke.”
She smiled. “Do you always quote people?”
“Sometimes.” He inched closer.
"So you have a lot experience in the love department?"
"Maybe." He eased closer still.
"There is no me and Jake." Kade held his gaze. "There never was."
"Never?"
She shook her head, pushed away from him, and went under the water, swimming to the other side of the pool. Coming up for air, she turned to face him again. "I can't believe you just found this place. No one really comes here?"
"No." Cole dipped below the water, and Kade backed up against the edge of the hot spring. The water was clear, bottle green, but with the steam and the constant influx of swirling water, it was hard to tell where Cole was.
His head broke the surface directly in front of her, wet shoulders glistening under the low light, his breaths sending little ripples over the water. She stared at him, the way his mouth curved up slightly at the corners, how his eyes glittered every time he looked at her. Energy emanated off his body, humming between them.
"I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking before," he whispered. "Because...I don't want to just be your friend. I want to be with you."
Her heart sped. "I want that, too."
She gasped as his hands eased up her bare thighs, over her hips, and he pulled her toward him, wrapping her legs around his hips. Kade's entire body sizzled as her hands went to his shoulders. Cole lifted her chin, guiding her mouth to his. Warm lips parted hers, their tongues touched, and her stomach dropped. He tasted like fire and heat. Intense and consuming. She tugged him closer. He was pure adrenaline, a rush she couldn't get enough of.
Kade had only kissed one other guy in her life when she was fifteen. Three seconds of awkward teeth hitting, nose bumping, and wet tongues. Nothing about it had been good. Kissing Cole was nothing like that. Energy poured out of him like an electric charge and lit her up.
His hand gripped her hip, the other trailing over her jaw, down her neck, over her bare ribcage, and a moan hit the back of Kade's throat. He grinned against her mouth, his teeth gently tugging her lip, as the kiss slowed. Her hands skimmed his shoulders, fingers trailing down his back, and she froze. He let her go and backed up.
“Cole?" She shifted to the side, trying to see his back, but he angled his body.
"Sorry." He shook his head slightly. "It's nothing."
"Turn around."
With a sigh, he turned, and Kade couldn't stop her release of breath. Cole's back was covered in faint jagged lines. Burns. From his shoulders, to the curve of his waist, down to his hips, they spread out like a web. A web of scars. Her fingers traced over them with the gentlest of touches, and Cole sucked in a breath.
She pulled her hand away. "Do they hurt?"
"Not anymore." His voice was low and steady.
"Cole, this is…" Kade was shocked, appalled, and furious. "What happened?"
"I needed to be trained. It was a long time ago."
"I don't care what you needed or how long ago it was. Cole, your dad made you do this? They look like lightning strikes."
He didn't answer. He didn't have to. Kade knew. He'd told her enough stories about his dad while she was at the Kinship for her to know. Her hands went back to his shoulders. The tip of her finger traced one of the white scars down his back and her hand ran over the hard muscles on his side, above his hip bone.
"I'm sorry this happened." She pressed her lips against his shoulder blade and ran her fingers through his wet hair. He had the same kind of tattoo Lindsey did on the back of his neck. Black wings. His hair covered it so she'd never noticed it before.
"Don't be sorry." He turned to face her, holding her hips. "I'm okay."
"Are you?" She stared up at him.
He only stared at her, and without a word, he guided her mouth to his and kissed her gently. She tasted the pain on his lips, his tongue, the sweetness mixed with arrogance, the cocky attitude he always showed, and the heat that radiated out of him as if he burned from within. The unbridled power sizzled through his veins like blood. He wasn't okay, but neither was she, and maybe that's what created the need b
etween them. The desire that sparked the instant she looked into his eyes the first time they'd met. Maybe that was all that really mattered. Maybe that was what real love was. Two people understanding each other. Being able to see the fire in each other's eyes and not being afraid of it. Knowing it wasn't dangerous, but something pure, and real, and true.
The kiss slowed and Cole eased back. "Sorry, I didn't mean...I didn't bring you here because I thought we could...you know..."
Kade put her finger to his lips. "I know that."
He lifted her out of the spring and sat her on the edge, her feet dangling over the side, before hoisting himself out and sitting beside her.
"You don't have to carry me all the time." She nudged his leg with hers, and he grabbed it, pulling her closer so their hips touched.
"I like to." Cole threaded their fingers together. "So, the reason I brought you here," he started. "Besides the nice, hot water. Is because I thought we should talk, really talk, without all the distractions."
"Okay." She liked the sound of that.
"Ask me anything, and don't tell me you don't want to. I know you do. Fledglings always have questions."
"What can you do? Primordials, I mean?"
"Good starting question. We can run very fast." He drew circles over her knee with his free hand. "Because we're able to bend magnetic fields and move with light."
"What else?"
"We can create storms, wind, move anything we want. Rip trees from the ground, shift cars across parking lots, create explosions."
She grinned, having seen Cole do some of those things the night he found her in the snow. "Impressive."
He chuckled.
"You guard the Mortal Plane. How, exactly?"
"We protect the planetary grid." Cole continued drawing on her leg. "The Leylines and gates. Make sure nothing unwanted tampers with them, which is nearly impossible, honestly. We hunt down Nefarius, who are the Black Guard, if you're still up on your Latin, and the Devil's Children. We destroy their Hives when we find them. Unblock Leylines if we can, shut down the ones that have been blacked by negative energy so they're impassable. Maintain all the vortices over the megalithic sites in the world, guard the entire grid as best we can, and try to stay one step ahead of everything the Daemoneum do. It's nonstop."
CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) Page 24
