Stuck With Me: A Cad Bane Novel

Chapter 21

A/N: icl guys if i was bothered i would re-write this book because my writing has improved since i wrote it (i hope) but i can't be arsed so apologies for some of the kinda loose plot that's gonna appear

Warnings: swearing, sad stuff, body image insecurity, i don't remember 🤪

Word count: 1.1k

 Cad doesn't stop thinking about you as the two of you walk back to the ship. In truth, he thinks you're stunning. He's known changelings before, but only Clawdites, who can only alter their appearance, not Shi'ido, who can change their body mass and skin texture to be exactly identical to whatever they want to be, and he's fascinated by you. Fascinated by the way his eyes slid right off you as you shifted, fascinated by the way you grew before his eyes, turning into him - or a duplicate of him, anyway. It had seemed second nature to you, the way you had discarded your own shape and melted into his.

As you walk, he reaches out to grab your hand. When your fingers don't immediately meet his, he feels the blood rushing to his face, and he's about to withdraw his hand when you catch it, your sweet laugh ringing out in his silence. He growls, but smiles begrudgingly. Stars, would you look at him, the merciless Cad Bane, blushing in embarrassment because his li'l lady didn't grab his hand in time. You're still chuckling quietly as he taps the buttons on his vambrace to lower the Justifier's ramp.

Immediately, Todo hovers over to you when you enter the ship, giving Cad a polite greeting before he claps his hands and gives the distinct impression of smiling at you.

'So, ma'am, how was it?'
You laugh. 'It felt - it felt great. Thanks, Todo. I'm glad I did it, it was like - like I was a convor, and I'd just discovered my wings.'
'She shifted into me,' Cad adds with a note of pride in his voice, and Todo scoffs.
'Really? A poor choice.'
'Chip brain,' the Duros replies. 'You're just a bucket of bolts.'
'Oh, c'mon,' you say teasingly. 'Give him a break.'

Cad huffs when he sees you stifling a laugh. Your eyes dance with suppressed mirth, and he growls, stalking sulkily over to the cockpit and punching in the coordinates for Coruscant. Slumped in the pilot's seat, he grunts as the air is squeezed from his lungs when you hop onto his lap, pressing a quick peck to his cheek. He can sense your lingering amusement, and he tugs lightly at your hair, just hearing your indignant squeak over the hum of the Justifier's engines. Wiggling on his lap, you scoot forward until you're in a more comfortable position.

Once he's sure he's not going to crash the ship, Cad wraps a hand under your jaw, lifting your face to his and kissing you. Apart from eating your cooking, there's not much else for him to do with you in hyperspace - and he's not complaining one bit. He dreams of getting drunk on your taste; he could kiss you for hours, just kiss you and kiss you to hear the sounds you make when he squeezes your hips. Sighing, you hook your arms around his neck, melting into him, and his chest rattles approvingly, his fingers sliding down your ribs and momentarily fumbling when they curl around your waist. He pauses, pulling back, brow creased in a frown.

'Izrin?'
'Yeah?' You hum, nuzzling against his cheek as you trail your fingertips down his chest.

Gently, Cad pushes you off him, and it's that that stops you, makes you pull back just enough to give him a kicked puppy look. His eyes are puzzled as he glances over your body - not in the hungry, ravenous way, but more as if he's checking you over for wounds. Realisation begins to dawn inside him, and he looks back up at you, cupping your face in his hand.

'Ya don't have to shift fer me, izrin,' he says.

For a moment, Cad glimpses the bare insecurity flash across your face. It's true, the breasts he enjoys resting his face between post - sex are slightly larger, the waist he likes to grip is marginally smaller, the thighs he loves to leave hickeys on are a little slimmer. He's pretty sure that if he could see your skin, it would be void of both the small scars and stretch marks littering it that he adores.

Your eyes are wide as you glance up at him, and he can tell that you're trying to figure out what to say. Maybe you thought he wouldn't even notice, but he's spent every moment with you memorising your sweetness, and your body is far too familiar to him for something like this to slip past him. He knows every dip of your skin, every hill and bump and imperfection, and he has a soft spot for each and every one of them, because you've got him under a spell - a spell that intoxicates him, a spell that works its way through his hard, hunter's heart to the soft part underneath which he wasn't aware existed.

'I'm not angry at ya,' he says, voice gentle. 'But yer beautiful without makin' yer tits bigger and waist smaller and legs thinner, ya know.' He scoffs. 'Yer stunnin' and ya don't even know it, do ya? Well, I'm tellin' ya now. Every time I look at ya, I can't believe I get to clap my sorry eyes on such a beauty. Ya take my breath away, ya hear? Yer fuckin' magnificent, and that doesn't even matter, because ya know what really gets me? Yer heart, izrin. Yer sweet, sweet heart.'

Too sappy, Cad thinks. Way too sappy.

And then Cad freezes up for a moment because your lower lip starts to tremble, and he wonders if he's done something wrong. But then you lean forward, locking your arms around his neck and squeezing, tears slipping down your cheeks as you bury your face in his shoulder. He leans chin on the top of your head as he strokes his hands down your back, bending his neck a bit so he can press a kiss to your forehead.

You feel so small in his arms, so vulnerable somehow, and as he holds you, he vows to himself that he'll protect you with his life. He swears it on the stars that on his watch, no one will lay their hands on you and hurt you, not Uta Syss, not Gwarm from Hondo's gang, and not some random bastards trying to hit on you at the cantina bar. Stroking a hand through your hair, he inhales your heady, exhilarating scent and lets it wash over him, lets it banish his worry that someone will use you against him, that someone will hurt you.

'I'm sorry,' you sniffle. 'I - I thought...' You trail off. 'Th - thank you, Cad.'
The way you say his name almost breaks his heart. 'I may be the Duros bastard who makes ya cry, fullua, but yer stuck with me.'