` » • COLD AS FIRE

[sawyer tipper mccarthy]

opening the door of her car, roxy carelessly tossed her bag in the passenger seat and brought the engine to life after placing the keys in the ignition and pulling out of the university's parking lot. today's classes were fairly boring and since the brunette had the attention span of a toddler, she found herself skipping class early to find something else to do instead. she'd copy some notes off the nerd that sat next to her and be sure to prepare correctly for next week's chapter test, but other than that roxy wasn't too concerned with leaving early. she had done it so often, her mind was programmed to check out after a certain time. glancing at the clock on the dashboard, roxy switched lanes after deciding on her destination - max was more than likely in class and the trent house was off limits, which meant mykayla wasn't the first thing that came to mind. for a few weeks now, roxy seemed to be having a 'let's hate roxy' parade and even though she was to blame for most of it, trying to fix things didn't come as easy as she hoped. hunter wanted nothing to do with her - and she could understand why, she ditched the guy for his brother, afterall - amy went from being her friend to a stranger, and even jared had the look of disappointment on him. not to mention mykayla was giving her a hard time, too. the twenty-three year old knew it was wrong but it didn't stop her from continuing her hook up with kade and even though she did try to make things right with hunter, that didn't work out either. for now, she was steering clear of the home. the marina wasn't the best place to end up - considering all three trent brothers worked there during the day - but it was the place she knew kade would be. she had talked to him briefly earlier but now that it was a little past lunch time, she figured she would bring kade some lunch and hang out with him for a bit before he went back to work and she wandered around the town's mall until she found mykayla.

pulling into the marina parking lot, roxy shut the car door behind her. after grabbing her phone from the seat, roxy shoved it in her back pocket before using her hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight as she glanced around near the docks. if she wasn't careful, she could run into hunter and things would go bad or she could run into jared, who would be the peacemaker and suggest she leave before taking her to kade in the end. her hope was that she ran straight into kade and no problems would occur. she hadn't told him she would stop by but she figured he would be somewhat happy to see her considering they hadn't really seen each other in a few days. trusting her insticts, roxy hooked a left right before the restraunt where hunter and jared could be found most of the time. walking onto the dock, roxy let a small sigh escape her lips once she realized kade wasn't where she wanted him to be. the dock was clear of all marina mechanics and there was no sign of kade anywhere near the marina itself. reaching in her pocket for her phone, the brunette felt someone grab onto her wrist and spin her around to face them. a bright smile spread across roxy's face as her gaze met kade's, "no fair, i was going to surprise you!" throwing her arm around kade's neck, she pressed her lips to his but pulled away shortly after. "i had nothing to do so i thought we could get some lunch." since there was a signifigant height difference between the two, roxy glanced up at kade to see his brow furrow. "yeah, yeah, yeah. i left early." she answered after he wondered about her classes for the day. just by his facial expressions, the twenty-three year old instantly knew this was going to take some convincing before he would agree to lunch with her. following behind kade as he headed for the dock, roxy nervously bit her lip.

being at the arietta marina brought memories of the days she used to spend with hunter here. it was different with hunter than it was with kade - hunter and her were really good friends and unfortunately that friendship got tossed out the window as soon as kade came into the picture. roxy enjoyed spending actual time with hunter and instead of doing the same with kade, it was usually spent hooking up instead. both boys had the gift of making her laugh and although she knew she caused some tension between the two, things changed with her and kade and obviously her and hunter, too. she knew how hurt hunter was and she knew how important family was to the both of them, which meant asking kade to lunch was a lot harder than it sounded. it was no secret she had ditched hunter the second kade came back into town so she knew kade must have had a clue about what went down before he came back. he had too; hunter and him were brothers! and if hunter didn't say anything, roxy knew mykayla babbled all about it. it was no secret amy wasn't her biggest fan either, so she was guessing amy might have let kade in on her past with hunter too. the two didn't talk about hunter often, but kade would casually mention something funny he said and explain his reaction to it or babble about some technical problem him and jared had and how incredible it was that hunter figured it out. whenever that time came, roxy usually nodded like she was listening but didn't say much else and usually changed the subject topic. snapping out of her daze, roxy glanced up to hear kade mumble something as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

tagged for: kade trent
outfit: coming soon!
status: finished
notes: i hope this is okay. =)
bittersweetworldxo @ caution

[kade marshall trent]

It was almost funny how life could just pick up where it had left off as though nothing at all had ever changed, as though Kade really hadn't been gone from this place for over a year. Funny, and maybe a little sad too but it wasn't as though Kade had been expecting it to be any different. Small towns like Arietta had a certain flow about them, and not a lot ever seemed to change. They could almost feel stuck in a certain time, not ready to let go and change along with the rest of the world. That had always been apart of this town's charm, what had made it feel like home, but sometimes it was unsettling for Kade to look at his life now and see just how much it hadn't changed from how it had been before he had left. He had moved back into the house that he shared with his brother, Jared, and had gotten his same old job at the marina back with almost no effort at all. It was like it had all just been sitting there and waiting on him, knowing that eventually he would be back to pick up where he had left off. Some days, it felt like a good thing. It meant that Kade could get back to what was normal, could get back into that comfortable routine and figure out life again after having been gone for so long. But, other days it was only a bitter reminder of just how much things had not changed, and how he had just stood by and let them fall back into the same old shit things they had been without doing a damn thing to make any of it better.

Frustration ran rampant through the young man these days. Mostly it was all self inflicted, Kade never once doing a damn thing to make his life any easier on himself. If he wasn't bumping into Britt and causing scenes, he was out helping Mykayla, driving her all over God's country so that she could receive the treatments that she desperately needed. That was something that Kade would never take back or regret doing, but it was stressful on the older brother to watch his kid sister go through so much and him being the one that was solely responsible for her and this situation. But then there was the latest mess that he had let himself get into, the other thing that he had brought entirely on himself that just seemed to make things more difficult but yet, he couldn't give it up. That was just another sign of things not changing; Kade Trent had always been known for the awesome kind of messes that he was able to get himself into, something like the classic case of a screw up, but one with some redeeming qualities about him. Those qualities had always been how much he cared about his siblings and took care of them, but Kade wastn' even sure that he could claim that much anymore with the rate at which he seemed to be screwing Hunter over. It wasn't like Kade had ever meant for it to happen, nor had he gone out looking for this. Roxy had just kind of happened, and Kade hadn't been able to say no.

And, he certainly hadn't been expecting her to show up at the marina that day. Kade had gone into work, Jared working that day as well, and it had been business as usual. Men were brining boats for minor fixing mostly, nothing that Kade and Jared couldn't handle. They had both been at this so long that they could most of the work with their eyes closed, and only very rarely did something come to them that was just so completely fucked up that they had no idea what the hell to do with it. They always figured it out in the end, though, but today was just a slow day. Fueling up was the most that Kade had done today, wondering around the boat slips and down around the docks practically looking for something to do. The air by the water was a little frigid, but he had grown used to Maine's cold winter weather by now and expected it, dressing warmly beneath his work clothes. Kade was mostly winding his way around, having lost track of Jared but knowing that his younger brother had probably returned to the repair shop to do something that was just a little more useful that walking around looking at boats that didn't need fixing. Kade figured he might as well head in that direction as well, and just as he was he caught sight of a dark haired beauty that was obviously down on the docks looking for him. He seemed to have spotted her without Roxy ever seeing him, so Kade walked back down the dock to catch up with her. He came up behind her just as she was reaching for her phone, probably about to call and figure out his location, as Kade reached out and touched her wrist, gently pulling her around to face him. A small smile touched his lips as he saw her face light up. "No fair! I was going to surprise you!" Well, Kade was still surprised, but he just continued to smile as she threw her arms up around his neck and pressed a small kiss to his lips. When Roxy pulled away, she revealed to him her idea of going to get lunch, and Kade frowned in slight confusion. "Don't you have class today?"

He knew that she did, but of course she would cut out early to come here and try to persuade him to go to lunch with her. Kade just shot her a look before moving passed her and walking down toward the docks. He could hear Roxy following behind him, and he clenched his jaw. He really didn't mind Roxy; she was a fun girl that knew how to have a good time, and she was a brilliant distraction from every other blessed thing that was going on in Kade's life at the moment, and yet she was still a part of the problem. In the process of turning to him, she had managed to hurt Hunter, and that would never sit will with Kade no matter how good she was. "So what made you think to come down here and ask me to lunch on your free time?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her as he continued down the dock. it seemed like a legit kind of question to him, as they usually weren't the kind of pair that did those kind of public displays.

[sawyer tipper mccarthy]

roxy and kade weren't exactly the kind to parade around town showing affection and roxy wasn't the poster child for best relationships either, but somehow through all the chaos kade and her seemed to work well together. whether it was because kade was so similar to hunter that made roxy want him or not, it somehow uncontrollably happened and no one tried stop it. mykayla wasn't exactly a fan of roxy's recent attraction to kade and neither was any of the other members of the trent family - especially not hunter - but roxy didn't have a problem with it and kade didn't seem so either. hearing kade's voice, roxy folded her arms across her chest as she pressed her lips together and shrugged her shoulders. "your sister is nowhere to be found, max is in class, and i thought you would want to." she paused for a moment, biting on her bottom lip. "but your either too busy or denying my offer." the twenty-three year old released a small sigh from her lips as she titled her head to the side. kade and her weren't technically a couple and they weren't that serious either, but roxy was trying to make things work. if they could get passed hunter and the rest of the haters, she was confident they could be ok. for as much as roxy was slowly trying to make this work, she felt as if she was working against kade now. watching him fumble with a few parts on the boat to pass time obviously, roxy took a few steps closer. "your not going to leave a pretty girl all alone for lunch, are you?" that was such a roxy line and it might not have been her best try, but it did cause kade to narrow his eyes in concentration.

roxy's track record for past relationships wasn't that great - they weren't really classified as relationships anyways, more like casual hook up's instead - but she was trying to make at least one of the numerous ones work and if it was with kade, then so be it. the least he could do was respond in a positive way! suddenly the brunette was beginning to regret coming to the marina all together. slightly shivering from the chill in the air, roxy sighed. "hunter shouldn't affect us." she blurted out, instantly taken aback by her own words. it was sort of a contradiction really - hunter was apart of her relationship with kade and not just because they were brothers. hunter was the reason her and kade were sort of together and hunter was the reason that stopped kade from really commiting too. she could see the look in his eyes after she said the words - surprise and agreement, partially fustration. these two would never end up married, but for the time being roxy wanted to hold onto a really great thing the two had going. she could never picture being married to kade, let alone kade being married in general. he had that sort of bachelor type that was independent and needed a girl around for fun and not commitment. roxy was convinced she could change him though, she wasn't looking for marriage but a real relationship instead. as soon as the words escaped her lips, roxy wanted to take them back but here she was listening to kade's steady tone correct her statement. he had a point - she had screwed hunter over pretty badly - but she had apologized multiple times and in her eyes, it wasn't her fault that hunter couldn't take her apology for what it was. she wasn't going to get down on her hands and knees and beg for his forgiveness - hell, he should feel lucky he got an apology at all based on the kind of person roxy was! "i never meant to hurt him!" she argued back, her tone a little more sharper than she expected.

tagged for: kade trent
outfit: coming soon!
status: finished
notes: again, i hope this is okay. =)
bittersweetworldxo @ caution

[kade marshall trent]

It was a reasonable kind of thing for Kade to wish to keep a low profile since having returned to his hometown of Arietta. There were plenty of people here that he used to know and get along quite well with, but since his departure a little over a year ago, those opinions of him had changed. Of course, there were still his family members and close friends that treated him no differently than they had before he left, but there were people in this town that really did think less of him and his actions, and didn’t care for the kind of person that he had seemed to turn out to be. Brittany Hale was the victim, and he was the man that had been able to turn away from a girl that everyone had thought he had been so in love with just because she had told him that she was pregnant with his child. They thought him a coward, nothing more than a walk away Joe that was selfish and afraid. Coming back home hadn’t been something that Kade had been looking forward to, but it was something that he had to do and he had come into town with his head held high, ready to take whatever these people would be dishing out to him. Mostly, there were just whispers and a lot of odd glares and glances from people when they thought that he wasn’t looking. Some seemed okay with his reappearance, but Kade knew to lay low and not to draw attention to himself. He wasn’t here to cause a scene or stir up trouble, and that was what he was trying to avoid.

He knew that being with someone publically like Roxanne would just give the townspeople another reason to whisper and speculate, and while Kade wasn’t one to particularly care what the latest gossip was, he didn’t want a person drawing those kinds of conclusions from something that wasn’t really anything at all. From Kade’s perspective, this wasn’t anything serious, wasn’t something that he was going to bank on to become something real. That was actually the very last thing that Kade could imagine looking for right now. His love life was nothing that he could really be proud of, as he had thrown away the love of the one woman that he had ever truly cared about in his life. Right now it was just a messy splattering of one night stands throughout the time that he had been away, only to be added to by this new friends with benefits relationship that he had found in Roxy more recently. Kade and serious relationships had never gone hand-in-hand, the first girl that had ever made him want something like that being Britt herself. Through that experience, Kade had discovered that he was quite capable of that kind of devotion and commitment to someone else, but even so, he didn’t want something like that. He had so much to deal with; so much to think about right now that the mere thought of dragging someone else into it with him was just exhausting. There was nothing bad that he could say about Roxy, other than her desertion of his brother, but he didn’t see them going anywhere. However, he was beginning to think that maybe she did, and that was going to cause some complications.

Roxy’s reasons for coming here seemed mostly valid. She and Mykyala were friends, but Kay was probably being a good little college student and actually attending her classes, like Roxy’s other friend was also doing. As for Kade wanting to go to lunch, sure he could eat. It just seemed odd that she would want to do this with him. He didn’t really reply, though, finding a something on a nearby boat to distract himself with for the moment. She wasn’t giving this one up, though, and she was really trying. Kade felt a sigh pass through his lips, but his hazel eyes never looked back to her. “I guess I shouldn’t,” was the best that he could muster up for her, and though Kade was usually much more reasonable and polite, he couldn’t help but to be plagued with this thought of her seeking out more, and of his other irritations with her. Roxy’s next words, though, brought Kade’s hazel eyes to her face, hardly able to believe that she had really gone and brought Hunter up, knowing that that wasn’t a topic that either of them particularly enjoyed. Hunter shouldn’t affect them? Really? “No? He’s my brother, Roxy. And whether you like it or not, this nice little mess is always going to include him. It’s going to affect what happens here with us.” Why she thought differently was beyond Kade. She knew that the Trent’s were a close knit family and that they looked out for their own before anyone else. Kade felt horrible that he had want Hunter had wanted, but unfortunately that was how the ball had dropped. As for not meaning to hurt Hunt, Kade felt his temper begin to spark.

“Yeah? Well you did. He cared about you, and I personally think that you deserve everything you’re getting from him now.” Maybe that was a little harsh, but it was how Kade honestly felt and he wasn’t about to try and spare her feelings when she had done nothing of the sort for Hunter. “What are you looking for here, Roxy? I need to know.” It was only fair to the both of them to upfront, to get this out of the way and to figure it out before it got worse. If all she wanted was lunch, then fine, they could go eat lunch. People could assume what they wanted to, but Roxy needed to be clear on the fact that if they went, they went strictly as friends. There was no room for speculation on her part.

[sawyer tipper mccarthy]

although roxy was clearly aware of kade's past with britt, she really didn't give it much of a second thought - it was the past, so why should it stop her from being with kade now, in the present? she knew his recent return might have speculated a lot of rumors throughout the town and being seen with him put her right in the middle of it all, but as far as she was concerned, people could talk and talk as much as they wanted to, but it wasn't going to stop roxy from living her life and making her own choices. the girl was strategically smart when it came to the social aspect of things, but other than that roxy was extremely careless. arietta was a small town, small enough to where stepping out in public with kade would be all over town within the next five minutes and she knew that was holding him back. he obviously wanted to lay low and cruise underneath the radar and she was perfectly fine with that! lunch meant lunch and it wasn't like either of them were big fans of pda, but now that she wanted to be more than a booty call to kade, roxy was pushing for their relationship to take the next step. that didn't mean she needed to sit on his lap out in public or shove her tounge down his throat - it meant none of that and now she was hoping kade would just take her offer without looking too into it any more. roxy lived in arietta her whole life and she knew how the rumor mill worked - she was sometimes the center of it after a friday night party at a vacant lake house - but she also knew most of what was said and worked it's way through the grapevine that was arietta, was pure crap. pure and unbelieveable crap.

suddenly it wasn't about going to lunch anymore as roxy's expression turned light once kade answered to her pity party about leaving her alone for lunch, but that looked washed away once he picked up the topic of hunter. it would be nice to just forget about the other trent brother and move forward with them as opposed to worrying about who's feelings were hurt or damaged in the process. this wasn't about saving someone's feelings for roxy and she had already made it through life not pleasing everyone she came across, so why stop now? she thought kade was just avoiding this lunch to be an ass, but seeing how much emotion showed when he spoke of hunter, she realized he was hiding more about it than he lead on. the brunette noticed his sudden attitude change instantly. if he continued on any longer, she feared she would break into tears at any given moment. "you can't please everyone in life, kade! your not going to spare someone's feelings whenever you do something horribly wrong and you can't protect everyone from hurt every now and then. that's not how it works!" hunter's problem was now the core of roxy's fight with kade and coming down to the marina, the brunette wasn't expecting things to go this wrong. the tiny brunette stood inches away from the boy as she looked down at the ground, blinking away the tears that were beginning to form. crying was a bit dramatic since this was nothing serious but the tears weren't because of the end of her kade, it was from guilt. she knew she had hurt hunter, but this was the first person to say it aloud and toss it in her face.

"if that's how you feel...." her words drifted off as she shook her head in disagreement. roxy had lost her appetite as she settled her gaze on kade and pressed her lips together before brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face. obviously the two weren't on the same page as before she unexpectedly showed up at the marina and now they probably weren't even in the same book even. "lunch, kade! that's what i came here for, that's what i asked you, and that's not even what i'm after anymore." she paused, throwing her hands by her side in anger. since kade came back into arietta, roxy was there at his beck and call and even though she swore she was no one's doormat, it was now hard to believe. "let's face it. i'm just your piece of ass, kade. i was wrong to think i'd be more than that to you." roxy enjoyed being with kade, but the fact of the matter was, there were no real feelings between the two and roxy had come down to the marina looking for something that was never there in the first place. they were just the same casual hook up that she and hunter were, but she had a feeling hunter cared for her more than just that, unlike kade. no matter what roxy said, there was no saving her relationship with kade and by the end of the day, there would be no more her and kade. the more they argued, the more they were breaking and at this point, neither of them were thinking about saving what they had.

tagged for: kade trent
outfit: coming soon!
status: finished
notes: yeaaah. they are dunzo. lol.
bittersweetworldxo @ caution

[kade marshall trent]

It would be lying to say that Kade wasn’t the confrontational sort. He was that guy that never once backed down from a fight, and would gladly jump in to lend a hand if one of his brothers or friends was in need of a couple extra fists. He was a shoot first, ask questions later kind of guy that would rather work things out with his muscles and powerful hits than with words, and luckily most of the kinds of confrontations the young man had faced in his life had been right up that alley. It was rare for Kade not to be the guy walking away from the fight just because when he took to something like that, he meant it. Every fiber in his body fought tooth and nail, but this? This was not something that Kade Trent was accustomed to. He was good at physical fighting over one thing or another, but rarely was it something so personal, and he wasn’t used to it being a bitch fest of who could out speak the other. It usually wasn’t about feelings, or anything relating to what Kade and Roxy were trying to sort out now. When he got into a fight with the boys, it seemed rational, easy. This wasn’t easy at all, as Kade wasn’t the type to be careless with other peoples’ feelings, but that seemed to be the whole point of this conversation.

Roxy was a good person who he was sure was the owner of a good heart, and her heart had been in the right place when she had come down to the marina to invite him to lunch. Kade knew all of that, but what was right for her was not right for him in that moment, and that was where the conflict had begun. He hated knowing that what he said would hurt her, and would probably bring this nice little thing that they had going to an end, but the way that he felt couldn’t be helped. And she was the one that had brought up Hunter; it was true that Kade’s baby brother was always going to be that one thing that stood in between his and Roxy’s relationship, but today wouldn’t have had to be about him. Kade hadn’t even been thinking of that conflict when he had been rejecting the idea of going to lunch with her, but she had brought it up and this is where the conversation had gone. Her comment about not being able to please everyone, and not being able to spare people from pain and hurt really didn’t do anything to help her, either. Did she honestly think that Kade was so stupid as to believe any of that? He had hurt tons of people; he knew what that was all about by now. “You’re preaching to the choir, sweetheart,” was his smart ass remark for that one, as he didn’t feel that she deserved much more than that right now. Was his betrayal of almost all of the people he had loved so much not enough evidence to his case? Kade knew that she was talking about Hunter, but just because he was also at fault for the same thing didn’t make what Roxy had done right, or acceptable in anyway. Kade had hurt a lot of people, but she had hurt his brother.

As this thing continued to play out, Kade could literally feel them caving. He should have known better, and known it from the start. He had known what Roxy had done in ending things with his brother, and yet he had gone ahead and slept with her anyway. Kade could have just had sex with her, but what made this more difficult was that Roxanne was also his friend, and knowing her on that kind of a level made it impossible to overlook what she had been able to do in hurting his baby brother that way. He should have realized that it would be something that would cause conflict, and then eventually end in a confrontation exactly like this one. Kade was not that kind of man that could be that selfish, not when he knew Hunter had cared about her and seeing that she could have obviously cared less about him. “Let’s face it. I’m just your piece of ass, Kade. I was wrong to think that I’d be more than that to you.” And there it was the realization of the truth that would drive the wedge between them. Kade slowly nodded his head. “You were,” he admitted, his words quieter now, hazel eyes on her. “But that really has less to do with Hunter than you probably believe at this point.” This was something that Roxy needed to understand, and the only way that she would be able to do that was if he just flat out told her the truth instead of leaving her to guess. That wouldn’t have been fair to her at all. “Yeah, you were careless with his feelings, and that was a shitty thing of you to do, but if this was something I wanted, Rox, I’d be able to make it happen. I’m just…not looking for something like that right now. Probably not for a long time.”

Kade had never been a big believer in love, but he had found it once, and he now believed that that was all we got. Just one shot, one chance to get it right, and he had failed in the most miserable of ways. Maybe there would be someone out there that would be able to make him feel similarly, but he highly doubted it. Yeah, there might be another girl out there that would make him want to stand still, make him want to be with her as more than just a friend, but he didn’t want something like that now when there was just so much other things going on in life that demanded his attention. “I’m sorry.” And really, he was sorry. He hadn’t meant to lead Roxy on in any way if he had, and hadn’t meant to shoot her down this way but that was what had to be done. Kade’s eyes lingered on her for one more moment before he turned away from her and continued on his way down the dock, hoping that that would be the end of it, and that this could just be over with.