Free Out of Turn by Tiffany Snow

he gave me had me rethinking that move, but I swallowed hard and gamely held on.
    “Stop saying things like that,” I said. “You’ve been a friend to me, saved me, more times than I can count. I hate it when you talk about yourself that way.”
    “I’m not the hero, princess,” he said roughly. “Hell, I’m not even the good guy. Don’t try to pretend I’m something I’m not.” He untangled my fingers from his shirt and got out of the car.
    I was out, too, by the time he rounded the car to my side.
    “So am I staying or going?” he asked.
    Apparently our conversation was over and Kade wasn’t going to tell me why he hadn’t come back.
    That hurt.
    I’d thought, perhaps irrationally given his absence, that Kade would be there for me when the chips were down, that we were really friends. But now he wouldn’t even say why he’d come back only when I’d asked him to. Would he have ever stepped back into my life if I hadn’t made that phone call?
    Had I done it again? Did I care more about Kade than he did about me? I remembered how Kade had helped Blane when he’d gotten back from deployment.
    “Made me go out, do things. Normal things. Go to a baseball game, see a movie, have dinner. He didn’t pity me and he didn’t baby me,”
Blane had said.
    I suddenly wondered if that was what going out tonight had been about. And here I’d been hoping Kade had just wanted to spend time with me. What had I thought? That he’d come back because he’d missed me? What a pathetic idiot I was. Foolish, foolish Kathleen.
    The thought had me slipping back inside my armor. I wished I hadn’t let my guard down so much with him. It seemed I was doomed to allow men to keep hurting me.
    “No, I’m fine,” I said stiffly, wishing I had pockets so I’d have something to do with my hands. I felt awkward now, anxious to go inside.
    Kade tried to catch my eye, but I glanced away. My earlier good mood had plummeted.
    “Still have your gun?” he asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “Okay, well, I’m gonna bug out then,” he said. For the first time this evening, he seemed awkward, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking away from me.
    “You’re leaving again?” I couldn’t stop from blurting out the question. My insides froze in dismay to think of him leaving again so soon.
    He shook his head. “Nah. Got a new place. It’s… not far from here.”
    I nodded wordlessly, relieved.
    “I’ll probably leave in a day or two,” he said. “I have some business to take care of.”
    My stomach was in a hard knot again and I didn’t speak.
    “I’ll stop by first, say good-bye.”
    I cleared my throat. “Um, yeah. But, I know you’re busy, so, you know, if you don’t get to it…”
    If he didn’t “get to it”—what? It was fine? Okay? I wouldn’t care if I didn’t see him? My throat closed up again.
    “You should… ah… call Blane,” he said out of the blue.
    “What?” I was sure I’d misheard.
    “You guys should talk, patch things up.” He still wouldn’t look at me as he said this.
    “Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?” I said. “You didn’t seem like you were in any mood to ‘patch things up’ with him earlier.”
    Kade looked at me now. “I’m still pissed.”
    “So am I.”
    His lips twisted at my sharp retort.
    After an awkward moment, I said, “So, I guess I’ll see you when I see you.”
    “Guess so.” Kade’s face was unreadable.
    “Thanks for the movie.” I walked past him, noticing his hands were clenched in fists, but he made no move to stop me and said nothing more.
    My steps were slow as I climbed the stairs to my apartment. When I reached my door, I glanced back at where Kade still stood in the parking lot, watching me. The sight of him reminded me too vividly of how he’d looked in Denver after he’d stuck me in a taxi bound for the airport.
    I couldn’t take seeing him get in his car and leave, so I hurried into my apartment. It was blessedly cool inside for