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Choices

Author: Bea Baum
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-16 09:36:17

VEX POV

The storm outside hasn’t broken yet, but it’s coming.

I can feel it in the pressure of the air, the heaviness in my chest, the way every shadow in this house seems to hold a memory she can’t touch anymore.

I’m sitting behind my desk—lights low, sleeves rolled, paperwork untouched—when I hear steady footsteps down the hall.

Kade.

His knock is soft but firm.

“Come in.”

He steps inside, closing the door behind him. His jaw is tense, his hair still damp from the rain he walked through on the balcony. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days.

Truth is, neither of us have.

“Sit,” I say.

He does.

For a moment we don’t speak. The silence feels older than we are.

Finally, Kade exhales and leans forward, forearms resting on his knees.

“She’s still awake,” he says quietly. “Restless.”

My fingers tap once against the desk before I force them still. “Did she ask for me?”

His hesitation is the answer.

“No,” he says.

A slow nod. I don’t let the hit show.

We sit in another long stretch of silen
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  • Cage to Cage   A lot Like Love

    BRYNN POVThe drive home is silent for exactly eleven minutes.Not quiet — silent. The kind of silence that vibrates. The kind that has weight.Vex’s hands stay locked around the steering wheel, knuckles white, jaw clenched so hard I can see the muscle ticking even in the flashing blur of city lights. Kade sits beside him, arms crossed, eyes forward, controlled in a way that tells me he’s anything but calm.I sit in the back seat like a passenger in my own life.Ivan’s words loop in my skull, over and over, like a voice coming from underwater.“Dear ole daddy promised her to me.”Promised. Possession. Fiancé.None of it feels real — and somehow it all does.When we pull into the driveway, Vex kills the engine like it did something personal to him. He doesn’t even wait for me to get out before he mutters, “Inside.”Not a request.I follow on numb legs.Kade steps in behind me, closing the door with a soft click that feels like the only gentle sound in the universe.We make it as far as

  • Cage to Cage   Ready or Not

    BRYNN POVI wake slowly.At first there’s nothing—just the soft press of sheets against my skin and the distant hum of morning traffic bleeding through the windows. Then my body remembers before my mind does: heat, lips, hands that knew exactly how to make me unravel.Kade.His name flickers across my thoughts like a secret I shouldn’t know.I shove it away.The clock on the side table reads 9:47. Too early to feel this… tangled.I press my palms over my eyes, but that only makes it worse. Behind my eyelids I see flashes that don’t belong to last night. Smoke. Bass thrumming through walls. Someone laughing in a dark corner.A club.My heart misfires. I don’t know which club. I don’t know why that matters. But it does.A knock sounds — short, clipped.“Brynn.”Vex.I sit up too fast, pulse jumping. I don’t know why his voice feels like a memory and a warning at the same time.“Come in,” I say, trying to steady myself.The door opens and Vex stands there, already dressed in a black shir

  • Cage to Cage   More

    My body is still trembling when Kade goes still above me—every line of him taut, conflicted, like he’s holding back a storm.“We can’t go any further,” he whispers, breath uneven. “Not yet.”The words land sharp, slicing through the haze he just pulled me into.My pulse stutters. “Why not?”He drags a hand through his hair, jaw tight, eyes locked on mine like he hates the answer he’s about to give.“Because, Brynn… you don’t remember anything.” His voice cracks—barely, but enough for me to feel it. “I need you to remember. I need to know this is something you want… not something you’re reaching for because you’re lost.”“It is,” I breathe, reaching for him.“It doesn’t matter.” He cuts in gently but firmly, stepping back like he’s afraid if he stays too close, his resolve will break. “If I’m truly who you want, then waiting won’t be an issue.”A slow exhale leaves him, heavy with something like longing wrapped in restraint.“Brynn,” he murmurs, eyes flicking over my flushed, undone bo

  • Cage to Cage   Further

    KADE POVHer kiss steals the ground out from under me.I don’t even remember crossing the room, but suddenly her back meets the wall with a soft thud, my hands braced on either side of her head as her breath rushes out in a shaky exhale that sears straight through me.“Brynn…” I whisper against her lips, half warning, half plea.But she fists the front of my shirt and pulls me down to her again, mouth urgent, searching, like she’s trying to find every version of us she lost.And I break.I grip her thighs, lifting her before she can even gasp. Her legs tighten around my waist on instinct, her soft inhale brushing my ear and making my pulse riot.She melts against me — all warmth, all trust — and I carry her across the room, setting her on the bed with a care that feels almost violent inside my chest.She looks up at me, hair mussed, lips swollen, pupils wide and dark with want.It destroys me.I sink down onto the mattress beside her, one hand cradling the side of her face while the o

  • Cage to Cage   Breaking the Dam

    KADE POVThe faint sound of footsteps in the hallway makes me lift my head.Not Vex’s—those are heavier, sharper.These are quieter. Lighter. Hesitant.Brynn’s.I hear Vex murmur something soft at her door, then the muted click of it closing. A moment later, I hear him walk back to his own room… alone.I shouldn’t move.I should stay exactly where I am—in the quiet, in the dim light of my office, pretending the world hasn’t shifted in the last twenty minutes.But the pull is instant. Automatic.I’m on my feet before I register the decision.I move down the hall, pulse pounding harder with every step. When I reach her door, it’s still cracked the way he left it.I knock once.“Brynn?”The door opens, and the sight of her hits me like a weight to the chest.Her lips are flushed.Her cheeks warm.Her pupils blown wide with something I recognize too well.For a split second, something sharp flashes through me—jealousy. Old, instinctive, hot.But it fades almost as fast as it comes.Becaus

  • Cage to Cage   Instinct

    VEX POV — CONTINUATIONThe soft shift of weight outside the door makes Kade straighten, but I don’t look. I already know who it is.The door opens slowly.Brynn stands there—hair mussed from restless pacing, eyes bright with something unsettled. She looks between us like she’s walked in on something she can’t name.“What are you two talking about?” she asks carefully.Kade answers first, his voice smooth. “Business.”I nod once, backing him. “Just work.”She studies us—too long, too deeply. Like she knows we’re lying but doesn’t have the energy to pry.“I… remembered something,” she says finally.The air stills.Kade rises to his feet instinctively. I stay where I am but my pulse surges.Brynn twists her fingers together. “The wedding.”My breath stutters.She swallows. “Not all of it, but… the gunshot. Ajax. He aimed at you. I remember the sound. I remember you pushing me behind you.” Her eyes flick to my shoulder. “You were hit.”Kade goes very still beside me.I take a step toward

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