“Yo, back in the day, I was bad boned. I was tough, ok? Rugged. People feared me,” Cain said. “I’m sure they did.” “Are you doubting my mad badness?”

“It’s ok, Merrick. I get it. I’m sorry, I just...I just can’t handle it when people are upset with me and I can’t fix it somehow. I’ll stay out of your way, ok.” As I hopped down from the counter and turned to leave he grabbed my wrist and my skin immediately began to tingle.“You’re so blind,” he breathed shaking his head.”

“I kinda like it that I can stand on my own,” I said with a smirk. “Let’s not make it a habit, ok? I’m not thrilled with this discovery of yours.” He cracked a playful smile. “I much prefer to order you around and you just do whatever I say.” “Your high handedness is impressive,” I mused.”

“The song that was playing above us was You And Me by Lifehouse and he pressed his face into my hair and softly sang the words to me.What day is it? And in what month?This clock never seemed so aliveI can't keep up I can't back downI'm losing so much time'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to loseAnd it's you and me, and all of the people And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of youI could have died... or cried...or sighed. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do more.”

“Dad, he's different. He's not going to take advantage of me.""I hope not, 'cause I'd hate to go to prison for murder."I laughed and went to hug him but he wasn't amused."Dad, I'll be ok. Caleb is a nice guy and very responsible. I promise you I won't do anything stupid and neither will he. I'm sure he wants to stay alive and keep his limbs intact. Ok?""Ok," he conceded with a sigh.”

“Maggie." He chuckled. "I can't really be mad at you in case you haven't noticed.""I know, I know. The imprint," I said begrudgingly."No, not the imprint. It's you. You're so sweet and you care about everybody. You hate when people are upset with you. You love cream soda. It's kind of hard to be mad at someone who's like that.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to go back,” I countered. “Maybe he likes it here.” “With a snack like you hanging on his sleeve, I’m sure he does,” he replied wryly.”