Christian’s apartment was on the fourth floor of the same building Cadence’s home was in, and even though she’d been on the team for quite some time now, she’d never been inside.
He used his IAC to open the door, and she followed him in, thankful that they hadn’t run into anyone. Aaron definitely didn’t need to know she had been here.
“I have a safe in my closet where I keep important papers and things like that. I think he’ll fit in there,” he said as he led her through the living room toward the hallway to the bedroom.
His apartment was smaller than the one she had started out in, but it was a lot tidier than she had expected. There were a few dishes and articles of clothing here and there, but it didn’t smell bad, and the décor wasn’t unsightly.
“How does the safe open?” Cadence asked as she stepped into his bedroom. His bed wasn’t made and there were a lot more clothes strewn about in here.
Opening the closet door, Christian said, “It has a code you punch in.”
“Okay, I’m going to need to know that code.”
Christian kneeled down on the floor and punched a few digits into the lock. The safe beeped a few times and then he opened the door. “I can’t tell you my safe code,” he said as he shifted some papers around.
Cadence took off the backpack and looked inside. Elliott seemed to be doing just fine. “Will the whole thing fit?” she asked, reluctantly handing it over.”
“I think so,” Christian said as he carefully placed it in the safe. It fit with no problems, and he shut the door to make sure.
“You have to give me your code. If I have to take off unexpectedly, and you’re not here, or I can’t get to you, I’ll need to be able to get it open.”
Christian exhaled slowly through his nose. “Fine. It’s 07041776,” he said cautiously.
“How am I going to remember that?” Cadence asked.
“July fourth, seventeen-seventy-six,” Christian said, making sure the safe was locked and standing up.
“Is that your birthday or something?” she asked.
“No! It’s America’s birthday!” he exclaimed. “Seriously, a history book!”
“Okay, I’m sorry!” Cadence said in a whisper. “Stop yelling.”
“I’m not yelling. I’m just… this is very stressful.”
“You’re telling me.”
“I mean, if Aaron finds out….”
“Christian, I’ll handle Aaron,” Cadence assured him. “You just worry about keeping him out of here. I might not have known the significance of that date, but he will, and he’ll guess it right off.”
He nodded. “I guess I should change the combination on my front door, too, then,” he muttered.
“Oh, yeah, I’ll need that, too,” she realized. The IAC could only unlock the door with a special code.
“It’s the same.”
“Okay. Reset it. But switch the first seven and the four. I can remember that, but it might take him a while to guess it.”
“No, that’s the date in British. How about 17760074? Could you remember that?”
Cadence realized what he had done with the numbers and nodded. “Yes, I can remember it.”
“All right, I’ll change the door right now,” he said, and she took one more look at the safe where Elliott was now hidden and pulled the closet door shut, following behind him.
“It’s changed,” Christian said a second later.
“Great. Okay, well thanks a lot, Christian,” Cadence said, hugging him.
He seemed rigid at first, as if the embrace had caught him off guard, but then he wrapped his arms around her as well. “Sure. I’m on your side, Cadence. I have been all along.”
“Here’s to hoping there’s no need for sides,” she said letting go. Christian said nothing, only laughed nervously. “Don’t tell him I was here.”
“I won’t. Have a good night.”
“You, too,” Cadence replied as she waved goodbye and made her way to the elevator. The only way this could possibly be a good night is if she were willing to let it go. In light of everything Christian had just told her, she wasn’t sure that was possible.
Aaron still wasn’t home by the time she got there, which she thought was strange because Jamie had said the meeting wouldn’t take too long. She wondered if maybe he had filled Jamie in on the details of her discovery and they had started discussing that. Normally, she would check in with him on the IAC, but not now. She was still pretty upset that he’d not only been keeping this from her, he’d told at least one other person not to mention it to her as well.
She cleaned up the dining room table and started the dishwasher and then decided to just go ahead and get ready for bed. On nights when they had a hunt, she was rarely asleep before 3:00 in the morning, but tonight she was tired, and she wanted to check in and see how the training program was going in the morning, so in bed before 11:00 sounded like a good plan.
A few minutes after her head hit the pillow, she realized she wasn’t alone. Rarely did she ever hear him open the front door. He had a way of just suddenly being there, although she almost always sensed him before she saw him or heard him. It had been that way for most of their relationship, and though she had no explanation for it, she found it comforting.
Aaron sat down on the bed next to her. “Are you still awake?” he asked quietly.
Without turning her head away from the wall, she said, “No.”
“Oh, okay. I guess I’ll ask you what Christian had to say tomorrow then.”
Shooting up to sitting, she turned and said, “You told him not to tell me!”
“I did not,” he replied, defensively. “I never told him not to tell you anything.”
“Oh, really? Because he said that you told him not to tell me anything, and if there was something I needed to know, you’d explain it.”
Aaron ran his hand through his light brown hair, a sign to Cadence that he was losing patience. “That’s not what I said. But fine. I don’t care. Maybe I told him not to tell you.”
“Why wouldn’t you want him to tell me?” she asked pounding her fist into the blanket.
“For the same reason I didn’t tell you myself, Cadence. I don’t want you to do this.”
Shaking her head, Cadence said, “And what if I do it anyway?”
He held her gaze and replied, “I will do everything I can to prevent you from doing this, Cadence.”
“Stop saying my name like that. I hate it when you say my name like that.”
“Like what, Cadence?”
She growled at him. “Well, what if I foil your plans and do it anyway?”
He sighed and turned away from her, clearly frustrated. “What do you want me to say? I think it’s a really bad idea, and if you go through with it, and I’m right—and I’m right, by the way—then, I’ll have to help you clean up the mess.”
He was looking at her again, and she had to look away. She hated to see that disapproving look in his eyes. She pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned her head back against the headboard. “But you will help me clean it up, right?” she asked, without looking at him.
“Do I have a choice?”
“Sure. You could make me clean it up myself.”
“Yes, I will let hundreds or thousands of innocent people die while you try to take care of a demonic Vampire on your own.”
She turned her head sharply to face him. “Demonic?”
“That’s just what we call them when they come back from hell.”
Nodding, she turned away again. “No, I’m sure you’ll help me take care of the problem. That’s not what I mean.” She realized she was twirling her engagement ring.
“Cadence,” Aaron said, sliding closer to her and gently taking her face in his hands, turning her to look at him. “I’m not going to lie and say I won’t be upset, but it’s not going to change anything between us.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, placing her hand on his thigh.
He brushed her hair back behind her ear, his fingertips grazing her cheek. “Nothing you could do would ever make me stop loving you.”
Before she could respond, his lips had found hers, and her anger and frustration turned to passion. Suddenly, she couldn’t get enough of him. As his mouth traced down her neck, she fumbled for the shirt buttons she’d fought with earlier, determined that no one would interrupt them this time.
