“Where are you, exactly?” Dr. Cale Ryan asked over the IAC. Cadence could tell he was surprised the second she’d given him the news that she would be by to pay him a visit shortly, but she couldn’t tell if the secondary emotion was annoyance, irritation, or anxiety.
“Well, exactly where I am, I’m not sure. But I’m probably fifteen miles outside of Elko,” she explained.
“And why are you coming?” he asked.
Oh, it was anxiety. That was better than the alternatives. “I told you. I’m on a secret mission. No one can know I’m coming. And no one knows I’ve left.” It was better this way. No reason to try to list the people who knew she had gone. The only one who knew for sure where she was headed was Christian, and he was in Connecticut. Even Jamie didn’t know for certain.
“All right. But how am I going to keep your presence a secret from my staff? You recall the layout of our headquarters, right? And my apartment is on the top floor.”
“I know,” Cadence replied. The problem had already occurred to her, though she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. “Don’t you have a freight elevator or something? Or maybe I could use the fire escape.”
“We have a freight elevator,” Cale assured her. “I guess you could use that.”
“Can you make some sort of announcement to keep people away from it for a while?”
There was a pause, as if the question was ridiculous, but then finally, he said, “Sure. But you are going to tell me what you’re doing when you get here, right?”
“Yes,” she agreed. She had intended to tell him anyway. If there was one person she could trust not to tell Aaron what was going on, it was Cale.
“All right. Let me know when you get here, and I’ll come meet you.”
“Will do. Thanks, Cale.”
“No problem.”
She could tell there really did seem to be a problem, though. She hoped that he wasn’t starting to suspect that she was coming out here for him. Surely not. The last she’d heard, he was seeing someone. Maybe he thought she’d gotten angry at Aaron and decided to give him another try. With a sigh, she gunned the gas. No reason to let that misunderstanding linger any longer than necessary.
Finding Cale’s office with no GPS was not a problem at all. She hadn’t stayed in Reno long when she’d come to help him out with a nasty ring of Vampires last summer, but she’d gotten to know the layout of the town pretty well. She found that she was much better with navigation now that she had other super powers.
She let him know that she was there and went around to the back of the building where he instructed her to go. They had several bikes similar to hers in their fleet, and he assured her no one would think anything of seeing it parked back there for a bit. He’d have it moved to a more secure spot later.
Cale was tall with light hair and blue eyes. Seeing him standing outside the back door of the building, dressed in brown slacks and a striped shirt, his hands in his pockets, his eyes narrowed against the sun, Cadence was briefly taken back in time to when they had briefly dated. While there was no doubt in her mind she’d made the correct choice to get back together with Aaron, the doctor definitely made a case for himself.
Bringing the bike to a stop a few feet away from him, she pulled her helmet off and stretched her back. It had been a long ride.
“Hey,” he called walking over slowly, a small smile forming. “How was the drive?”
She put down the kickstand and hung up her helmet. “Freeing,” she said as she threw her leg off of the bike and stood up. “And long.”
Cadence wrapped her arms around him in a sort of half-hug, and he patted her on the shoulder. She could tell by his body-language that he was being cautious. The last few times they’d seen each other hadn’t been awkward at all, but then she’d literally been with Aaron. Now, he was questioning her motivation.
“Give me your keys and I’ll have someone put it in a proper spot in a bit,” he said in the English accent that had driven her crazy. “They’ll assume it’s one of ours.”
“All right,” she said, complying.
“Are you planning on staying the night here?”
“If you’ve got a spot for me and you don’t mind,” she replied as she followed him into the building.
He looked around to make sure they were alone and then led her toward the large service elevator. “I’ve a guest room,” he said, once the elevator doors had shut, “if you don’t think that will be… uncomfortable.”
“No, not at all,” she assured him. “Don’t worry, Cale. I’m not here to try to win you back or anything. Aaron and I are still very much together. We just happen to disagree on something pretty major.”
“I see,” he said, though she wasn’t sure if he really did. His sigh of relief seemed to have more to do with the first part of her sentence than the last.
When they reached the top floor, he said, “Mine isn’t the only apartment up here, so I can’t guarantee no one will see you.”
“All right,” Cadence replied, adjusting the backpack on her back. Luckily, she was fast.
Cale checked the hallway and then made a gesture for her to follow him. In a few seconds, they were safely behind the door of his apartment, undetected.
“Phew!” Cadence said, letting the breath she’d been holding go.
“Come on in,” he said as he walked across the living room. “I’ve got a few things on my plate today, but I do have a few minutes if you’d like to tell me what’s going on.”
