Release Me (The Music Within Book 2) (28 page)

When
Mal finally pulled back, Cade whispered, “Mal…”

His
cowboy cut him off. “I’m sorry.”

Cade
should have known it was too good to be true. Mal was just going in for one
final kiss before saying goodbye. “At least you had the guts to do it face to
face,” Cade said as he turned away. He would not let Mal see how badly his
heart was breaking.

“What
are you talkin’ about?” Mal grasped Cade’s wrist, stopping him from walking
farther away.

“In
your text you said
face to face.
It’s how I told you I wanted you to let
me know if you were ever walking away. So here you are.”

“Cade,
I’m not walkin’ away. I’m sorry that I didn’t call or text you. I’m sorry I
acted like a fool and let you go for so long thinkin’ I didn’t love you. I’m
sorry you wrote such a sad song instead of a happy one.”

“You’re
not here to tell me we’re finished?” Cade prayed, his voice cracking. He
wouldn’t allow himself to hope, not until Mal said the words.

“No,
I’m here to beg you to forgive me and to say thank you for everything you’ve
ever done for me. I know I was a dick about your money, and I
am
sorry.
I’ve already explained why, but please, if you’ll give me another chance, I’ll
prove to you I’m worthy of your love. You are my rock, Cade. My beacon in the
storm. I can give you a thousand clichés, but you’re everything to me.”

Cade
was scared. Scared to believe Mal really wanted him. Wanted them. “I, Mal… I
don’t…”

Mal
put his fingers over Cade’s lips silencing him. When Mal pulled at the hem of
his t-shirt, Cade thought his cowboy wanted to have sex. That was until he saw
the artwork in the middle of Mal’s chest. His man had gotten ink. And not just
any ink. A nautical star compass exactly like Cade’s adorned the once pristine
chest. Cade ran his fingers over the smooth surface. No scabbing. “How old is
this?”

“About
three weeks. I got it right after I sent you my last text. Since the first day
I met you, I knew I wanted you, but when you sent me the song, I knew I’d do
anything to keep you. You are my compass, and no matter which direction the
needle points to, it will always lead to you.”

Instead
of the letters indicating the four directions, the points held the letters of
Cade’s name, with C being north then working clockwise. He touched each letter,
letting Mal’s words seep into his brain.
It will always lead to you.
Cade leaned in and kissed the tattoo. Nothing in this world meant more to him
than the man standing before him.

“You’re
not mad at me?” Cade asked, still skimming his fingers over Mal’s skin.

“How
can I be mad at you? You gave me my life back, Cade. You made me want to live
again. When I thought you bought the farm out of pity, it pissed me off. But
the longer I thought about it, the more I realized you did it because you have
a good heart. I still have a lot to learn about you, but I’m ready for that. I
want to visit your home in California. I want you to teach me how to swim. I
want to meet your parents. God, I can’t believe I just said that.” Mal laughed,
and Cade let the sound wash over him. “Seriously, if you’ll forgive me for
bein’ a complete and utter bastard these last few weeks, I want it all with
you. Life, liberty, and happiness.”

“I
forgive you on one condition.”

“What’s
that?”

Cade
pulled Mal to him so they were chest to chest. “If you forgive me.”

“For
what?” Mal asked, frowning.

“For
keeping the company from you. I should have been honest from the beginning.”

“I
forgive you.”

Cade
ran his hands up and down Mal’s bare skin. “Goddamn, I’ve missed you, Cowboy.”

“I’ve
missed you, too, Rock Star.”

It
was Cade’s turn to kiss his man. The pain from the last few weeks was replaced
by an overabundance of love. He had no doubt this Kentucky country boy loved
him. “When we get home, I want to take a quilt to the pond and make love under
the stars.”

“Home?”

“Yes.
I know I signed the deed over to you, but I was really hoping you’d let me move
in with you when the tour is over.”

“You
want to live with me in Arlo?”

Cade
nodded. “Of course I do. Unless you want to build our own house somewhere
else.”

“You
want to build a house with me?”

“Babe,
I want to build more than a house. I want to build a life with you. If you want
to move away from Arlo, we can do that. We’ll sell your farm and buy another
one – somewhere we can make our own memories. We’ll pack up your mom and Walt
and bring them with us. Hell, we’ll bring your sister and the girls, too. We’ll
just forget to tell that fucktard Neil where we’ve moved to.”

Mal
laughed. Then he smiled. Then he pulled Cade’s mouth down for another kiss. “I
love you, Kincade Anderson.”

“I
love you, too, Malcolm Wilson. Although, I hope one day you’ll agree to be
Malcolm Anderson.” Cade dropped to one knee and grasped Mal’s hand. This wasn’t
how he thought he would propose – ten minutes after he thought they were
breaking up and still sweaty from a concert – but he knew there was no other
man for him in this world. “Will you agree to marry me someday, Cowboy?”

“Yeah,
I’ll marry you.”

Before
Cade could stand up, the door flew open, and Roarke shouted, “Whoowee, let me
get my camera!”

Cade
laughed and stood, pulling Mal to his side. “Shut up, you sick fucker, and get
over here and meet my fiancé.”

“Fiancé?
I thought… Never mind. Roarke Fowler,” he introduced himself, holding his hand
out for Mal to shake.

“Mal
Wilson. Pleasure.”

Roarke
studied the ink on Mal’s chest before saying, “I just came to tell you we’re
all headed out to the hotel. Your buddy Bryan’s waiting with Carl for you two
to come up for air.”

“Thanks.
Please tell them we’ll be right there.”

“You
got it.” When Roarke got to the door, he stopped and smirked. “How cute…
matching tattoos.” He ran out the door before Cade could throw something at
him.

Mal
frowned.

“What’s
wrong, Babe?”

“Do
you think it’s weird?”

“That
we have matching ink?” When Mal nodded, Cade tipped his chin up with his
finger. “No, I think it’s the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, next to you
naked with my dick sliding in and out of your ass.”

Mal
growled and twisted Cade around, slamming him into the wall. “I want you,” he
growled, rocking his erection against Cade’s thigh.

“Then
I guess we need to get the fuck out of here. Let’s find Carl and Bryan so we
can head over to the hotel.”

“You
don’t want to come home?”

Home
. Cade really liked the sound of
that. “We’ll go home tomorrow. Right now, I want you too bad to wait that long.
I’ve got a room next door at the Hilton. If we’re lucky, one of us can be balls
deep in about fifteen minutes. That is, if you can stand the way I smell. If
not, we’ll shower then make love.”

“I
like the way you smell,” Mal husked against Cade’s ear. “Will you do me a
favor?” he requested before pulling away.

Cade
would do anything in the world for Mal. “Anything.”

“Bring
your drum sticks. You are one sexy ass man when you’re behind that kit.”

“You’ve
gotten kinky while I’ve been away. I like it,” Cade said, grinning.

Mal
pulled his t-shirt back over his head, and Cade missed the sight of his name on
his cowboy’s chest. Cade grabbed his things, and they went in search of Carl
and Bryan.

When
they reached the end of the hall where the men were waiting, Cade asked Bryan,
“You want a room at the hotel?”

“Nah,
I better get back home to Andy. He’s been feeling kinda sick,” Bryan said.

Cade
didn’t miss the tone of Bryan’s voice when he mentioned his coworker and
friend. He wondered if the two were getting closer, but then he remembered
Bryan wasn’t gay. Mal handed Bryan the keys to the truck. “Here you go. I’ll
catch a ride back with Cade tomorrow.”

Bryan
got a funny look on his face. “We’re all good, now?”

“Yeah,
we’re all good,” Cade assured him and squeezed the big man’s shoulder. “Thank
you for watching over my man while I’m gone.”

Bryan
smiled broadly. “It’s my pleasure.”

Carl,
who had been standing out of the way, asked, “You ready to ride?”

Cade
smirked, and Carl rolled his eyes. “I thought you’d put your troubled ways
behind you.”

“This
isn’t too bad.”

“What
are y’all talkin’ about?” Mal asked, looking back and forth between them.

“I’m
getting too old for your shit, Cade,” Carl warned.

“He
seems to think I have crazy ideas.”

“Considering
how many times I’ve dragged your ass out of a fight or bailed that same ass out
of jail, yeah, I’d say crazy is spot on.”

“Jail?
There seems to be a lot I don’t know about you.”

“I
just want to run across the street to the hotel instead of taking the time to
get a ride. See? Not too bad.”

“Cade,
there are still thousands of people walking down 5
^th
Avenue.”

“Then
I guess we run fast,” Cade suggested. Before Carl could protest more, Cade
grabbed Mal’s hand and led him to the exit. “Ready?”

“Absolutely,”
Mal declared.

Carl
sighed. “Wait for me, dickhead.”

The
three of them ran across the street between Bridgestone Arena and the Hilton.
Several fans yelled out Cade’s name, but they kept on running until they were
inside the hotel. Instead of taking the regular elevators, Cade ran down the
hallway to the service elevator he’d used on more than one occasion when he had
needed a quick getaway. They only stopped running when they were standing in
front of the lift. He and Mal were laughing like school girls, and Carl was
cursing him every other breath.

“I
quit,” Carl huffed.

Cade
and Mal laughed harder. Less than a minute later, Carl was meeting up with the
other bodyguards, and Cade and Mal were inside the same suite where they spent
their first night together. “Did you get this room on purpose?” Mal asked.

“Yeah.
I thought you were coming to break my heart, so I thought I’d stay in this room
where I could drown my sorrows in alcohol all night while I remembered our time
together.”

“I’m
sorry…”

“Shh.
No more apologies. I want to make new memories with you. Starting right now.”

Cade

“Come
on, Uncle Cade. If Molly can ride a horse, so can you,” Matilda scolded him
from atop her Appaloosa. Again. It was something she did every time he refused
to ride one of the horses.

“If
I can ride Molly’s horse, I’ll do it,” Cade replied. Molly’s horse happened to
be a Shetland pony that barely came up to Cade’s waist.

“You’re
a goober,” Matilda told him as she rolled her eyes. She kicked the heels of her
boots into the sides of her horse, and they were off across the field. She was
such a natural with the big animals. Mal had constructed a ring where she could
practice barrel racing when she first showed interest in riding. She was
already the junior champion for their county.

“And
you’re a smart-mouthed teenager!” Cade called after her. Matilda gave him a
two-finger wave letting him know she heard him.

Mal
was laughing at the two of them as he always did when Mattie gave Cade shit,
which was quite often. Even though it was Megan who had Cade wrapped around her
little finger, he and Mattie were tight. Megan was strapping on her helmet so
she could ride the four wheeler with Cade. She had her own horse, too, but she
preferred riding behind Cade on the ATV.

Baby
number four had sadly not made it to term. Even though Melanie wouldn’t admit
to it, they all were pretty sure Neil had something to do with her miscarriage.
It wasn’t long after the loss of the baby that Melanie came crying to her mom.
As soon as Cade found out, he informed Melanie he was building her and the
girls a house on part of the property. At first, she refused, but Mal had a
little talk with her, and she agreed to getting a divorce, as well as letting
them build her and the girls a home. Mattie dubbed Cade and Mal’s home “the big
house”, and the girls spent as much time there as they did at home with their
mom. With Neil no longer in the picture, Cade and Mal, along with Bryan and
Andy, had been father figures to all three girls.

The
morning after the show in Nashville – when Cade and Mal
didn’t
break up
– Afton called a meeting of the band. Shawn Cambridge had been released from
jail. Evidence had been provided that Shawn was set up. Not only had he not
hired a hitman, the paternity test had been falsified. The question Afton posed
was what to do at that point. Cade made it easy on them and bowed out
gracefully. He told them it had been an honor to sit in with them, but he would
readily step aside for Shawn to come back to his rightful place on the throne.
Cade played three more cities while Shawn got up to speed on the new songs
before surprising Mal and returning home earlier than planned. Mal was worried
that Cade would miss his music, but Cade assured him he had everything he
needed on the farm.

When
they got married and Mal took Cade’s last name, AAW turned into AAA. They
laughed when they realized their company had the same name as the auto club.
Even though they didn’t change the name of their corporation, they did rename
the farm. They argued for about five seconds over whose initial should go
first, but Mal finally convinced Cade that MNK sounded like an animal, so KNM
farm was born. The townspeople might not like the “gays at the farm” as they
had been branded, but they couldn’t deny the way KNM farm was growing. Mal had
turned the farm around, and it was one of the most successful cattle businesses
in the state. As long as the locals kept their opinions to themselves, Cade
would continue buying from them. He’d told them as much one day in the feed
store. It also didn’t hurt that he was a big time musician.

Carl
met up with Gus and Mack in Nashville and began working part-time with their
new security company. He had his own room in the big house so he could come and
go as he pleased. Since the security company was in with the music crowd, Carl
let Cade know when someone needed a session drummer. It was a far cry from
sitting behind his huge kit playing for thousands of people, but it kept him
from missing his music too much. He even played a couple of times with Sloane
and Pauly.

Cade
took Mal to California for an extended vacation, leaving Andy and Bryan to tend
the farm. Cade kept his word and taught Mal how to swim. It took longer than it
should have, because once Cade got Mal in the swimming pool, all that glorious,
wet skin was too tempting to ignore. They visited the beach and made love in
the Pacific under a full moon. Mal got to meet August and Audrey. Cade’s
parents had finally gotten past his father’s betrayal all those years ago. They
came to visit the farm at least twice a year, got along wonderfully with
Suzette and Walt, and became another set of grandparents to the girls. Cade
finally met his half-sister, and they kept in touch through emails and
Facebook.

Walt
and Suzette had a small wedding in the front yard at the farm. Cade had
contacted specialists from all over the country and found one who could help
Suzette. She didn’t completely regain her sight, but with the help of special
glasses, she could see most everything around her, including her handsome
husband as she walked down the aisle. After all those years of waiting, Walt
got his bride.

Eventually,
Cade sold the mansion, as well as the Ferrari, but once Mal saw the Harley, he
bent Cade over the seat and fucked him right there in the garage. After
properly christening the motorcycle, Cade took Mal for a ride of a different
sort. Now they both had bikes, and they, along with Carl, would take off and
hit the open road quite often.

When
the surrounding land came up for sale, Cade and Mal snatched it up. They wanted
to continue growing the company so the girls would have a business they could
step into when the time was right, if they chose to do so. With the expansion,
Mal hired two new hands. Since Gerard had such good luck in finding Andy and
Bryan, Cade requested they continue going through Erik to hire former military.
It was a small way Cade could pay it forward to some of the men who had put
their lives on the line so he could live his cushy life as a musician. Instead
of adding on to the original house, they built small cabins on various parts of
the land where the new men could live and have a little privacy. Andy and Bryan
continued to share the old house together.

Every
so often, Tag would get in touch with Cade and ask him to visit. Eventually, he
agreed and went to visit his former love and best friend. He and Mal went
together, and once they got past the awkwardness, all four men had a good time.
It felt good to be back with Tag, but the feelings Cade once had were long
gone, and in their place a fond remembrance of the friends they were. He and
Mal had the kind of once-in-a-lifetime love that Tag had with Erik, and it felt
good to know they were all happy.

Even
though they were now living on the same property, they all took at least one
day every month to do something together. Andy, Bryan, Walt, Suzette, and
Melanie joined them. It could be something as simple as playing board games, to
sitting around a fire or the piano singing, to riding their horses and four
wheelers like they were doing today. Whatever it was, they did it to remind
themselves what was important. Family. Love.

“Uncle
Cade?” Megan looked around Cade’s shoulder when he didn’t start the four
wheeler.

“Yes,
Sweet Pea?”

“Can
I drive?”

At
ten, she was short for her age, so she couldn’t reach the shifter really well.
“I tell you what – you can steer, and I’ll shift gears. How’s that?”

The
girl’s face lit up as it always did whenever she was with Cade. From the very
first time he held her, they just clicked. The girls had their own bedrooms in
the big house, but Megan’s was the most used. When they got off the ATV to swap
places, Mal stopped securing the saddle on Cochise and began circling his thumb
and index finger around his pinkie. “Oh, shut it,” Cade growled at his husband.
He knew he was wrapped around her little finger. Besides, Mal didn’t have room
to talk since he and Molly were just as close. When Cade mentioned that he
someday wanted a son or daughter to jump on the bed and wake him up to watch
cartoons, little did he know he would have three beautiful girls who did just
that.

Instead
of climbing on his Paint, Mal closed the distance between him and Cade. He
leaned in so Megan couldn’t hear and whispered in Cade’s ear, “I know how you
can shut it.” He kissed behind Cade’s ear before cutting his eyes to Cade’s
crotch.

“That’s
evil, Malcolm Anderson. Pure evil.” Cade thought about Megan riding in front of
him, and his cock remained soft. Mal could get him hard with just a look. Being
around the girls all the time, Cade had learned how to deflate himself in
instances like this. Mal laughed an evil
mwahahaha
as he climbed atop
his horse. Cade never got tired of seeing his man in the saddle. His sexy, evil
cowboy.

Molly
took off on Buttercup as soon as Mal and Cochise walked up beside them. Megan
settled in front of Cade and started the four wheeler. “Ready?” she asked.

“Whenever
you are.”

Megan
looked over her shoulder at Cade with the smile she never failed to give him.
“I love you, Uncle Cade.”

Cade’s
heart was full. The girls didn’t hide the way they felt about the men, and the
men showered the girls with more love than they could ever have gotten from
their biological sperm donor. Growing up in a Bible thumping town like Arlo
wasn’t easy for the girls living with so many gay men, but they were tough, and
they loved their uncles. Cade hated to be on the other end of the ass whipping
these girls toted to whoever said a bad word about them.

 “I
love you, too, my sweet girl.” And he did. Cade never pressed Mal to have a
child of their own, and he was content with what they had. What he had. He had
the love of his life as well as three beautiful girls he thought of as his own.
He might have grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth, but never in his life
had Cade felt so rich.