Chapter 5 Wesley
Wesley
Around one in the morning, the sound of Cade’s motorcycle rolls through the walls before he even reaches the driveway.
It’s impossible to miss.
Low, deep, familiar enough that none of us look toward the window anymore when we hear it. A second later, the engine cuts out.
Easton glances at the clock.
“Finally.”
Logan is stretched across one end of the couch, half asleep with his phone balanced on his chest. I’m still in the same chair I’ve been in for most of the night, laptop open again, though I’ve given up pretending I’m accomplishing anything useful.
The front door opens about a minute later.
Cade walks in carrying his helmet under one arm.
He doesn’t say anything.
Not unusual.
He puts the helmet on the rack by the door, shrugs out of his jacket, then runs one hand through his hair as he walks farther into the house.
He looks tired.
More than tired, actually.
Focused.
Like his brain is still somewhere else.
Easton turns down the TV.
“How was it?”
Cade drops into the empty armchair across from us and leans back, stretching his legs out in front of him.
“Fine.”
Logan opens one eye.
“Very detailed.”
Cade ignores him.
He rubs a hand over his jaw.
“I just scouted the area. Got what I could.”
“And?” Easton asks.
Cade looks at him.
“We should be good to catch him next week.”
Easton nods.
I do too.
Good.
One less thing hanging over us.
Cade glances around the room, finally seeming to notice that all three of us are looking at him.
His eyes narrow.
“What?”
Logan sits up.
“We have something to tell you.”
Cade’s expression changes almost immediately.
Not concern.
Annoyance.
Like he already knows whatever we’re about to say is going to ruin what little patience he has left.
“What happened?”
Logan sits up.
“There’s a girl next door.”
Cade looks at him.
Silence.
Then, “What?”
Logan points vaguely toward the shared wall.
“A girl. Moved in.”
Cade’s eyes move to Easton.
Easton nods.
“Today, apparently.”
Cade sits forward.
“What do you mean apparently?”
I rotate my laptop toward him and pull up the footage again.
“Logan saw a delivery guy at the other door when he got back from practice.”
Cade looks at Logan.
“You saw her?”
“I saw some of her.”
“What did she look like?”
Logan shrugs.
Cade waits.
Logan spreads his hands.
“What do you want from me?”
“Anything useful.”
“I wasn’t taking notes.”
I lean back.
“Trust me, we’ve established that.”
Easton sighs.
“Anyway.”
I play the footage.
Cade watches the delivery guy walk up.
The door opens just outside the angle.
Her voice comes through.
Then that little laugh.
The guy asks if she moved in today.
She says yes.
Cade’s jaw tightens.
He doesn’t say anything until the clip ends.
Then he looks at us.
“So she lives there.”
Easton nods.
He drops back into the chair and exhales.
Long. I know that sound.
He’s irritated.
Not mildly either.
Logan, who apparently has no instinct for self-preservation, stretches his legs out and says, “Could be worse.”
Cade turns his head.
“How?”
Logan grins.
“What if she’s hot?”
Easton stares at him.
“Don’t you have like five girls on speed dial?”
Logan shrugs.
“That's unrelated.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
Logan smiles like that was a compliment.
I look at Cade.
“As much as I hate agreeing with him about anything, it’s probably not that bad.”
Logan points at me.
“Thank you.”
I ignore him.
“She’s just a girl.”
“Yeah,” Cade says. “A girl sharing a damn wall with us.”
Easton shrugs. “Nobody else around here has noticed anything in two years.”
“They don’t live in the same fucking building.”
Cade pulls his phone from his pocket.
I already know who he’s calling.
He taps Rourke’s name and puts it on speaker.
It rings twice.
“Yes?”
Calm. Direct. Wide awake, somehow.
Cade doesn’t bother with a greeting.
“What’s up with the girl who moved next door?”
A brief pause.
Then Rourke says, “Oh, wonderful. She’s already there.”
Logan looks at me.
I raise an eyebrow.
Cade’s face goes flat.
“You knew about this?”
“Obviously.”
“What the hell is going on?”
“I rented the apartment.”
“We gathered that.”
Rourke sighs.
“I heard a few comments recently about the unit sitting vacant. Two years is a long time for an apartment near a university to remain empty when students are desperate for housing.”
Easton leans forward.
“So you put someone beside us?”
“I put a tenant in a rental property.”
“You don’t think that’s risky?” I ask.
“No.”
Simple as that.
Cade looks increasingly unimpressed.
Rourke continues.
“I chose her specifically. She isn’t from the area. No local ties, no reason to have people constantly coming and going. First-year student. She works, she studies, she keeps to herself.”
Logan glances toward the wall.
“And you know all that how?”
“It was my property application, Logan.”
“Right.”
Rourke’s voice stays even.
“She’s harmless. She’ll live there, people will stop wondering why half the building is empty, and all of you will continue doing exactly what you’ve been doing.”
Cade rubs a hand over his jaw.
“I still don’t like it.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Silence.
Then Rourke says, “Anything else?”
Cade looks around.
Nobody has anything.
“No.”
“Good night.”
The call ends.
For a second, the four of us just sit there.
Then Logan leans back into the couch.
“Well.”
Cade glares at him before he can even say it.
Logan smiles anyway.
“Guess we’ve got a neighbor.”
