Chapter 167 A Smokescreen

• THEY ENDED up sleeping in the fort. All of them—Cade and Aiden and the cousins—sprawling over foam mattresses that apparently were stored in the corner for just such occasions. The easy intimacy made Cade understand Aiden’s fraternity membership a little better. Aiden was an only child but he’d clearly been raised as part of a larger group, and when he went away to school he’d found a new pack to be part of. Cade had been a lone wolf growing up and he still felt most comfortable that way, but he didn’t mind sleeping in the fort. He was wrapped in Aiden’s arms, with Aiden’s warm breath caressing his neck, so it didn’t really matter who else was around.
• But when he woke up the next morning, the coziness had become cloying. So he squirmed out of Aiden’s embrace and found his shoes in the pile by the door, then snuck out of the cabin. He knew he didn’t want to go down to the main house, not with Mrs. St. John and Warren waiting for him. So he found his way to the lake. There were a couple little kids on the dock, wearing life jackets and casting fishing lines out over the mirrorsmooth water. Cade waved to them and one of them waved back, but he kept moving. He wasn’t great with little kids, and these particular ones were probably already operating at a higher level of socialization than he was.
• No, he didn’t need the stress.