Battlefield: Control (Book Two)

Chapter Thirty - Cadence

"Joaquin Dominic Rios, open your eyes now, or I swear I will never forgive you ever." Cadence shook her best friend again, trying to urge him awake. Together, she and Jaes were able to get him back to the car in one piece.

Now they were at The Apartment, and JD was still unconscious. Before, she'd been frustrated that he'd go out of his way to get hurt so foolishly. It was just like him to want to play the hero. That was soon replaced with fear.

Jaes put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I am sure Alan will be here soon. He has healing powers. Your friend will be okay."

She gazed up at Jaes with wide, teary eyes, and shook her head. "He's my best friend. If I lost him, I don't know what I'd do."

Her chest and her stomach twisted at the idea of JD being gone for good. If she never heard his voice, never saw him smile again, everything in her life would completely crumble. I think I'm in love with him.

"Please," she whispered to him in one last effort to will him awake.

Either luck was on her side, or someone was watching over them, because slowly JD's eyes fluttered open. He made eye contact with her, and she saw the full depth of his love in his hazel eyes. Cadence couldn't hold it back anymore; she threw her arms around him and cried.

JD tensed up slightly, but hugged her weakly. "Why are you so upset?"

She hit him for that. How could he not know? He scowled and rubbed his shoulder where she'd just smacked him.

"Don't scare me like that again!" She pulled away.

"I didn't realize I'd scared you," he said in a quiet voice. "The last thing I remember is Bean coming over and putting me in some kind of a trance, and everything from there is kind of a blur."

"There was an incident," Jaes said. "You were nearly killed in an explosion. When I found you, you were unconscious and I had just enough time to protect you from a second explosion. One of your motor vehicles had been attacked, the materials inside blown to pieces. The fire reached the fuel tank. For a moment, I didn't think my ice shield would hold. We were lucky," Jaes explained, with so much calm Cadence was envious.

She hadn't seen any of this. In fact, this was the first time she'd even heard any of the details of what happened. Jaes had gone out of his way to save her best friend. She would forever be grateful for that.

JD closed his eyes and put a hand to his head. "Well, I got more of the stuff. Pretty sure it's not broken this time either." He reached under his shirt and pulled out a small box.

Cadence recognized it immediately as the final component to the formula. JD handed it to Jaes with a large, proud grin.

"Any word from the others?" Cadence asked.

"No." Jaes shook his head. "Do you think they're okay?"

JD reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Let's see... Here we go! Message from Angela: getting food with O, don't wait up. Getting ride home with him."

"Great," Cadence said. Just like them not to come back to headquarters for a follow-up meeting. When it came to Orlando, he liked to march to the beat of his own drum.

"We had always planned on letting you go back home shortly after we were done," Jaes said. "Rest is important, and we've all had a busy night. It sounds like the others are fine. I'm sure Alan thought it unnecessary for them to return here with him. He and I will debrief shortly when he comes back. It shouldn't be long. He can look at your head wound, JD, and—"

"Nah, I'm okay," JD said and slowly got up off the couch where he'd been lying.

Cadence put a hand over his. "Are you sure?"

He flashed her a smile. "Positive, and it's cool if they want to unwind and eat. Angela comfort-eats like, whoa, so they might be feeling kind of how I do right now. Overwhelmed and exhausted and a tiny bit of freaked out."

"Only a tiny bit?" she said, and snorted.

"We can talk later," he said, and they once more made eye contact.

"Are you sure you feel up to going? If Alan can heal you, maybe you should—"

"I'm fine." JD gave her hand a squeeze.

She glanced over at Jaes who was rubbing his arms, and she was positive he wasn't certain either. There was a sadness in his gaze as well that she didn't understand. She wanted to make sure JD was okay, to force him to stay and get checked out by Alan just in case he had some kind of concussion. She knew JD wouldn't have any of it. If he thought he was fine, he'd do everything he could to prove it.

So she forced a smile.

"You're okay with driving then? Are you going to be okay, Jaes, if we go? Would you like us to stay and keep you company?"

"You may leave," Jaes said, so quietly she wasn't sure she believed him.

"Cool, thanks." JD gave Cadence's hand a slight tug. She met Jaes' gaze one more time with her own before following JD out the door.

****

JD parked in front of Cadence's apartment building, and gave her a smile as if nothing had happened. She hated him being so nonchalant about the events of the evening. He'd almost died. Didn't he have anything to say about it? Or maybe he was waiting for her to start? She certainly had plenty to say.

"What you did was brave and stupid," she whispered. He opened his mouth to reply but she held a finger up, trying to let him know she wasn't quite done yet. "When you were brought back to the car completely knocked out, I didn't know what to think. It only got worse when you wouldn't wake up at all. Don't ever scare me like that again!"

"Cadence." He brushed his thumb across her cheek, catching a tear she didn't realize she'd even shed.

"I'm serious. Thinking about if something happened to you, it put me in a place I don't want to be again. I've lost my dad, I don't want to lose the next most important man in my life, okay?"

For a moment, all he did was stare across the car at her. Then without any kind of warning he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes and cried more tears. JD kissed her cheek next, and then her lips.

It was a soft, tender kiss. Not at all what she would have expected from him. What surprised her more was that she kissed him back.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Nothing is going to happen to me. I will always be here for you. Okay? Trust me?"

She nodded, wiping the last of her tears away. Taking in a sharp breath, she grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him in close so she could kiss him again. This time with much more passion as she tried to show him how much she needed him, how much she loved him even. The feeling of him reciprocating that passion gave her butterflies.

When the kiss finally broke, JD blinked, and his mouth flapped open and close. "I...that...we..." His fluster was cute.

"You can come upstairs if you want. My mom's working late. You know she won't care if you stay," she said softly.

He smiled. "I'll make the cocoa this time."