Infuriated, Cadence entered the locker room and was happy to see that she was all alone. She grabbed what she needed out of her locker and headed to turn on the shower. A few deep breaths stilled her enough so that she could stop pacing and begin to go about her usual routine. By the time she decided to contact Aaron to tell him about the gall Christian had in implying such things, she was under a warm stream of water completely lathered up from head to toe.
“What’s up?” he asked, and she could tell by his tone he was entirely distracted, likely staring at a map, an updated version of the one he’d presented to the team the night before.
Trying not to sound like an irrational teenager, Cadence began, “Do you know that Christian Henry is a psychopath?”
Aaron chuckled. “I know that Christian Henry is a lot of things, but I’m not sure that one is exactly right. What did he do now?”
“First of all, he tried to convince me that all the bullshit he’s pulled off recently, including almost getting you killed, handing over Cass to Gibbon, and even letting Eliza get her hands on that disgusting recording were all Jamie’s fault.”
“Jamie’s fault?” Aaron mused. “Seriously?”
“Yeah!”
“Interesting. I wonder what Jamie would think of that.”
“I don’t know, but I might just have to find out,” Cadence said as she attempted to de-bubblify herself. “And then, he told me I owed him a favor!”
“Why would you owe Christian a favor?” Aaron asked, and she could tell he seemed less busy now, like the topic of their conversation was actually of interest to him, not like he sometimes sounded when he was simply listening to her vent.
Nevertheless, she didn’t really want to further explain that one and kind of wished she hadn’t brought it up. They tried not to talk about the portal since it was a pretty big point of dissension between them, but she felt like she couldn’t get out of answering now. “Because of the portal,” she replied. “Because he helped me.”
“Oh, well, if that’s the case, then maybe I owe him something, too,” Aaron muttered. “What did he want?”
“A date,” she said dryly.
“With… you?”
“Hell no,” she said quickly. It seemed like a legitimate question under the circumstances, though.
“I wouldn’t be horribly surprised,” Aaron argued. “It’s not like he didn’t make it very easy for me to kill myself.”
“I remember. But, no. Just a girl. Any girl. Any girl I thought I could persuade to go out with him. Because….” She hesitated, not even wanting to say the rest of the sentence even to her fiancé because it made her so mad. “Christian is of the opinion that I am a siren.” She stuck her head under the stream, letting the warmish water cool her off, hoping it would somehow work on the inside of her, too. It had been a while since she’d been this angry at something other than a Vampire.
Aaron was quiet for a long time. Too long. Just when she was about to ask what was going on, he said, “Interesting.”
Pulling her head back and snapping to attention, Cadence asked, “What does that mean?”
“Nothing,” he replied, casually. “It’s just… what was his evidence that this might be the case?”
“That’s your reaction?” She moved the handle on the water so that it was a lot colder since otherwise she was pretty sure steam would be pouring from the top of her head. “What do you mean ‘interesting’? Not, ‘that’s ridiculous,’ or ‘he’s an idiot,’ but ‘interesting’?”
Aaron cleared his throat. “Well, Cadence, if I’m honest, this isn’t the first time someone has brought this to my attention. I mean, I don’t think it’s anything like what Eliza does. But I do think you have a quality about you that makes people want to do what you want them to do, that makes people want to please you.”
“You cannot be serious!” She could hardly believe her ears. “Maybe I’m just persuasive! Charismatic! Charming even. But I am not a siren!”
“Okay—you’re right. You’re probably not.”
“Probably?”
This time it was a sort of huff/sigh. “I don’t know that we can rule anything out at this point, Cadence. Hell, everything I thought was certain for the last hundred and forty years has been recently turned on its head. Maybe you are. Maybe you’re not. Maybe it matters. It probably doesn’t.”
Flabbergasted, Cadence took a note from her mother’s playbook and went to call him by his full name but she only got out, “Aaron—” before she had to stop. Suddenly, it occurred to her that she had absolutely no idea what his middle name was. She wracked her brain, trying to come up with it, but if she’d ever heard it before at all, she didn’t commit it to memory. How could she marry a man and not even know his middle name? She leaned back against the shower tiles, her hand pressed to her forehead. “Oh, dear God….”
“Cadence? What’s the matter?” he asked, a tint of concern in his usually calm voice.
It was clear he had no idea what she’d been about to do, and she could’ve just went on about her day, like she wasn’t a complete failure as a fiancée, let alone a human being. But the fact that she didn’t even know his full name had tears springing to her eyes. “Aaron, I don’t know what your middle name is,” she admitted quietly. “How can I not even know your middle name?”
“That’s a good question.” He didn’t sound angry, or even all that surprised, for that matter. Perhaps slightly exhausted. “I don’t know how you couldn’t know it, but I am fairly certain I’ve told you.”
“You have?”
“Pretty sure.”
She sighed loudly and turned the water off. No noise came from the rest of the locker room, so she thought it was likely she was still alone. She squeezed her hair out and began to dry off. “I am horrible. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I just think everyone is my friend when I really don’t have any at all, and I just make them like me.”
“No one said that, Cadence. Of course they’re really your friends.”
“Oh, yeah? How could that possibly be true? No one ever tells me anything about their lives, even when I ask. I don’t know anything about Wallackia or Ella! I don’t know Elliott’s wife’s name or where Aurora grew up….”
“Uh, it’s Wallachia and Ellie,” Aaron corrected. “I don’t think Elliott wants to talk about his wife at all ever, and I think Aurora grew up in Colorado, but, yeah, you should probably ask her about that.”
“I am a horrible person!” She sat down on a bench near her locker, her hair still dripping, stunned at her own ignorance. The thought that she should hurry and dress before Ashley came in and she was forced to speak to her prematurely entered her mind, but she was frozen in her own stupidity.
“Cadence, do you realize that you just let Christian completely tear down everything you ever thought about yourself in the span of about ten minutes? Maybe you’re right, and he really is a psychopath. I’m sure if you asked Jamie to tell you about Ellie, he would. He doesn’t talk about her much, but he would tell you. And the rest really isn’t that big of a deal.”
“It is, though. I am friends with these people, but I don’t know them. And I’ve really been trying.”
“You knew Christian’s last name.”
“But not your middle one,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, that one is sort of surprising, especially since I’m assuming you know your own middle name,” he admitted.
“Of course I know my own middle name,” she replied, finally finding the resolve to stand and cross to her locker. Just to test it out, she thought to herself, Cadence Josephine Findley. Satisfied that that was correct, she pulled her clothing out of the locker and began to get dressed.
“Well, then you shouldn’t have any trouble remembering mine. Why don’t you have lunch with Jamie and ask him to tell you about Ellie?”
“Oh, I’m having lunch with Ashley today,” Cadence said, reluctantly.
“Say what now?” Aaron asked. “Ashley—Ashley Stone?”
“I guess so,” Cadence replied, realizing she didn’t have any idea what Ashley’s last name was. “The blonde girl who goes on the hunts with us.” She pulled a black sweater on with her jeans and went about putting on her socks and tennis shoes.
“Yeah, that’s her. Why is that?”
“She asked me to go to lunch with her,” Cadence began.
“It’s great that you said yes.”
“I did. In exchange for her going out with Christian tonight.” Two confessions in less than ten minutes. She was on a roll.
“Seriously? Cadence! Christian is definitely not Ashley’s type.” Aaron seemed a little too irritated for Cadence’s taste.
“And exactly what do you know about Ashley’s type?” she asked.
“Well, she doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would go out with a psychopath, and since that’s what you called him….”
“I know!” Cadence exclaimed, cutting him off.
