Getting Rough (3 page)

Casey threw his hands up into the air as he crossed the room to her. “You know she’s just going to do the opposite of what I say, Anna. I figured that out our freshman year when I tried to talk her out of trying out for the football team. She was too hardheaded to listen.”

Leaning down, he kissed Ma on the cheek as she said, “Not hardheaded enough. She got knocked unconscious during the first practice. Served her right for not acting like a lady. I blame you, Duff,” she said, pointing at her husband. “Always roughhousing her and treating her like the son you never had.”

“What did you want me to do about it, woman? She liked football better than dolls and tea parties. And that was just fine by me. Look at her now. My girl is representing the best of the best, and can get me any autograph I want.” Da gave me a nod of his head as if to say he was proud of me. I knew he was. Neither of my parents ever missed an opportunity to tell me so.

I groaned, tired of being in the spotlight. “Enough about that. What are you doing here, Casey?”

“You’re my favorite girl, Cass. Where else would I be?”

Every girl in town wanted Casey Michaels, and I was his favorite. That kind of untouchable status tended to make a girl feel special. But we were no longer together, so I didn’t want to send mixed signals.

“Ah, that’s sweet, but you could’ve seen me in town when they release Ma in a couple of days.” Because of that whole “not wanting to send mixed signals” thing, I couldn’t tell him that I was glad he was there then and now. There was something to be said for knowing your safe harbor was within reach when a chaotic ocean was tossing around your insides like a boat headed for a rocky shore.
Thank you very much, Shaw Matthews
.

Da jumped in, pulling me back to the business at hand. “You’re not staying here another night. The boy’s here to take you home.”

“To San Diego?” I was confused, and pretty sure I hadn’t purchased a round-trip ticket. I’d been prepared for the worst case, so had everyone else, but Ma was a tough cookie. Still, she’d be out of commission for quite some time and I’d need to stick around to help out for a while.

“You can only have one home, and San Diego ain’t it, kiddo.” Da strained to get up, the chair creaking right along with his own aging bones. “Stonington is. Always has been, always will be.

“I’m perfectly capable of staying here and taking care of my wife, but my patience is too thin to be waiting on a bunch of strangers hand and foot and cleaning up after them. So you go do that, and I’ll bring her home when she’s able. Or when they kick us out because she’s nagging too much.”

“Duff Whalen!” Ma scolded him.

“See? It’s already started,” he said.

I didn’t feel right about leaving Ma in such a vulnerable state, but I knew Abby would need the relief. It was my duty as the daughter to step in and take control until Ma was back on her feet, and I wouldn’t let them down. Besides, it wouldn’t do a bit of good to argue with the old man. Truthfully, I was too exhausted to anyway.

Casey took my chin between his fingers and stooped to eye level. “You look tired,” he said, still able to read my mind as if our brains had been connected by cables. And then he gave me a conspiratorial smile that said he knew I was in need of rescue even though I’d been back only a short time. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

I returned his smile. Because he was my knight in shining armor. Because he always put others before himself. Because he was
my
Casey. Because he wasn’t Shaw Matthews.

The short forty-minute drive to Stonington seemed like twice that. Maybe it was because with each mile that brought us closer, the further we seemed to warp back in time. For me anyway. Stonington was my past. Casey Michaels was my past. Yet there he sat to my left, a vacant distance between us, like someone else was occupying the space and keeping us apart. My own emotions started to warp through time as well, those timeworn but familiar feelings and habits threatening to resurface. The old Cassidy would’ve reached across the space that separated us to take his hand. She probably would’ve even scooted across the seat to snuggle into his side and drape his arm across her shoulders. It would’ve been easy to do. As easy as breathing and just as natural. Sort of like slipping back into a favorite pair of faded jeans and an oversized sweatshirt after a long and stressful day. And God was I ever tempted to do it.

But I wasn’t that Cassidy anymore. The Cassidy I’d become felt the tension in the air, and it was so uncomfortable that it was almost claustrophobic, as if I was sharing a confined space with a stranger. How was that possible when this stranger knew me better than anyone else ever would?

Casey and I had grown up with each other. Our parents were the best of friends. They had done everything together.
We
had done everything together. From childhood playmates that laughed, cried, and fought – not only for but also because of each other – to teenage lovers who explored everything else together. He knew my most intimate secrets and I knew his darkest fears. Our lives were more intertwined than the knotted roots of a century-old oak tree, and the bond every bit as strong.

A prickling of awareness danced across my skin. I knew he was staring at me, but for some reason I was paralyzed at the neck, unable to do anything but look straight ahead. Maybe it was a defense mechanism, a trick of the brain for my own good; one meant to keep me grounded and looking forward instead of back. After all, Casey was Stonington’s secret weapon.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong, or do I need to tickle it out of you?” Casey reached across the space I’d been unable to breach to lightly poke me in the ribs.

I flinched with a playful giggle, more for his benefit than mine. It was just like my childhood boyfriend to use silly antics to lighten the mood and defuse what was quickly shaping up to be an awkward situation.

“Stop.” I smiled and batted his hand away. “What do you mean what’s wrong? Isn’t it obvious? Ma’s in the hospital.”

“And?”

“And I’m worried about her.”

“Bullshit,” was his simple response.

“What, bullshit?”

“You saw for yourself that she’s fine.”

“She hasn’t been taking her medicine. It bothers me that they haven’t had the money for it and didn’t ask me for help.”

“Cass, have you really been gone so long that you’ve forgotten how proud islanders can be? Come on, darlin’, you’re one of us, and probably the most stubborn. What would you have done if you were your ma?”

While it was true he had a point, it didn’t mean I had to like it. “I would’ve tried to figure it out on my own, too, I guess.”

“Oh, I know you would have,” he said with a confident grin, and then the grin fell as his brows furrowed and he looked at me, then the road, and back to me again. “Something else is wrong. What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

For some reason, the question immediately brought back the memory of Shaw’s face the last time I’d seen him. Which was in an empty apartment he’d kept for pretenses only. I’d confronted him on his secret life, a life I’d made it my business to expose only to end up feeling terrible for having reopened a wound he’d tried to keep closed. For all his posturing, he had been nothing more than a fraud. He’d made everyone believe he was something he wasn’t: a self-made man with enough money to show off, unprecedented influence, and a celebrity list of friends and clients that made him nearly as famous as they were.

In reality, Shaw Matthews was an underprivileged kid who’d been forced to survive the unsympathetic streets of Seven Mile in the heart of Motor City, USA. And he’d never known the love of a parent. It was sad and pathetic, through no fault of his own. And I’d passed judgment on him, assuming things I’d had no right to assume. I didn’t know anything about the man I had shared my body with – repeatedly – but never my heart. And while I was busy fucking him on almost every available surface, my parents had been enduring a financial struggle I’d known nothing about.

Oh, how the self-righteous will fall.
 

“Stop being so hard on yourself,” Casey said, again reading my thoughts. Which had me wondering how much he could see. If he knew about all the things I’d done to Shaw, all the things I’d let Shaw do to me, it would break his heart.

I tilted my head and looked at him, trying to see if I could get a read on whether or not he was involved with anyone. But Casey was a master of disguise, quick with a distraction if he thought someone was trying to figure out something about him that he wasn’t ready to let him or her know. His go-to diversion for me was yet another one of his famous winks, the one that made all the island girls swoon. That and his sexy smile were a lethal combination to any human with a vagina. Maybe it wasn’t just humans.

“Is that the smile you use to make all those she-lobsters throw themselves into your traps?” It had been a running theory among the locals that Casey’s success at lobstering was due to his flirtatious nature with crustaceans of the female variety.

Casey’s head fell back with a hearty laugh. “You’re back in town for all of a day, and you’re already making jokes, huh? What’s the matter? You jealous?”

“Not in the least. You might want to watch out for that crusher claw, though. Pretty sure it would be murder on the genitals. Unless you’re into that sort of thing.”

We both got a good chuckle out of that, and it felt damn good. Normal. For the first time since I’d landed, I was carefree again. That was my Casey. He was the only person who’d ever been able to successfully pull off the “simmer down, miss” with me. And he made it look so easy when even I knew it wasn’t.

“Maybe you should take one back to California, sneak into your boy’s, Shaw’s, place when he’s sleeping, and slip it under the covers with him. With any luck, he sleeps in the nude. That’ll teach him to mess with you, huh?”

And just like that, my happy bubble burst – right in my face – leaving me feeling sticky and uncomfortable. No matter how I tried to block that man from my thoughts, I couldn’t escape. Even Casey, whom I considered my safe haven, was speaking his name and causing all sorts of doubts to rise to the surface. What was he doing in my absence?
Who
was he doing? Probably a couple of beach babes with collagen-filled lips, hot pink fingernails, and bleach-blond hair on a yacht he spent a year’s salary on just so he’d look good to anyone who might be watching. The pompous, superficial bastard.

“Damn, darlin’. What did he do to you?”

I turned back around to find Casey staring at my white-knuckled fists balled up in my lap. Embarrassed by my reaction, I released the hold and placed my palms down on the seat instead.

“I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”

“That didn’t look like nothing to me.”

“Shaw got the partnership,” I admitted. It wasn’t the full truth, but close enough for me not to feel guilty. “I guess I’m a little resentful of it.”

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry to hear that. I know how much you wanted it.”

Yeah, I’d wanted it pretty bad. According to Shaw, I’d wanted it bad enough to sleep my way to the top. Though that wasn’t at all what had happened, nor was it ever my intention to do so. I had done something much worse. I’d slept with Shaw. Multiple times. And whether I wanted to admit it or not, I’d started to care about him. Maybe a little too much.

God, how could I be so stupid?
 

I must have said that last part out loud because Casey reached over and took my hand, sending jolts of warmth to my very core. “You’re the smartest person I know, Cass. Whatever happened, I’m sure it wasn’t anything you could see coming or you would’ve cut it off at the pass. You’re crafty like that.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth, that Denver Rockford had chosen me to be his agent and that I’d won the partnership, but couldn’t accept the win because of the call for me to come back to Stonington. Even though it wasn’t something within Casey’s control, I knew he would still count it as a failure on his part. He always had and always would feel responsible for me.

I rested my head against the cold glass of the window. God, I was tired.

“There’s more. Talk to me, babe.”

My head bobbed back and forth with the bumps in the road. “It’s just… It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I hate to break it to you, darlin’, but it sure sounds like it does.”

We started the descent into downtown Stonington and nostalgia took over. Nostalgia and claustrophobia. “No, it doesn’t. Shaw Matthews is no longer an issue in my life. I have more important things to worry about, like getting Ma better so I can just go home.”

“Same ol’ Cassidy. Always running away.” Casey gave a lighthearted laugh, but I felt the weight of his comment.

“I didn’t run away,” I mumbled, because I really didn’t want to have the same conversation we’d already had, like, a million times.

Sensing my mood, Casey suddenly changed the subject. Thank God. “So we have a celebrity in town,” he told me with a giant starstruck grin. I’d never pegged Casey Thomas for a fan girl.

A snort of “yeah right” escaped me. “Funny. Celebrities vacation in places like Aspen or Bora Bora, not Maine.”

“They do when they’re an author looking to get away to finish a book that just happens to revolve around a sexy lobster fisherman looking for love,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“Oh, yeah? Well, she’s definitely in the wrong place for that,” I said, and laughed.

“Hey!” Casey chastised, only slightly offended. “I can be sexy.” He flexed his pecs Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson style, and all I could do was shake my head and laugh again.

That was my Casey. God, I’d missed him.

Sleepapalooza had been one of those events during which I was so out of it that I’d never recall the time I’d lost. Though I was sure my very long trip cross-country had been the true culprit, the amazingly comfortable bed I’d found myself in when I awoke surely hadn’t helped matters. Neither had the soft sounds of boat whistles, waves, and bird cries from just outside the picture window in my room. A room I hadn’t even had the chance to check out before I’d fallen face-first into bed… how many hours ago?

I managed a stretch across the distance to the bedside table to turn the alarm clock toward me. Shit. 10:00
A
.
M
.
I’d been out for more than twelve hours. My arm dropped like deadweight and I closed my eyes again, wanting nothing more than to double that time, but I knew I had a flight to catch and one hell of a drive before I’d make it back to the airport, and none of that was happening before I had a chance to face off with a certain Cassidy Whalen.

Hauling myself out of bed with a groan and a stretch, I made my way across the room, feet dragging and all, to take my cellphone off the charger and check my messages. Damn, but I’d forgotten the zero cell service shit. Luckily, Wi-Fi at least enabled me to get an iMessage to Ben for my flight information, which he should’ve already sent to me, I was sure to point out. After pressing the send button, I hit the shower.

When my phone dinged, I abandoned my watery haven and crossed the room, stark naked and dripping wet, only to find a screenshot message from Ben with the flight information he’d sent exactly as he should have. Only, for some reason it’d never made its way to me. And I’d already missed my flight. I was a giant ass for getting in his face when I should’ve known better. So I shot him a very rare apology and told him to hold off on making other arrangements until I had a better idea of when I could make it to the airport. I hadn’t had my say with Cassidy, and I wasn’t about to leave until I did. I just had to find her first.

By the time I was fresh, pressed, and dressed, I felt halfway human again. I even had a little pep in my step with the realization that the element of surprise was on my side. Cassidy had no clue I was here, in her town, right under the same roof where she’d grown up. I had to admit it made my dick hard, which just meant I was looking forward to seeing her that much more.

The aroma of fresh-baked cookies wafted up the stairs as I started my descent, teasing my stomach into a whimpering sort of growl. Tendrils of sugar-laced air were like fingers with a come-hither curl leading the way to their origin. The wooden steps creaked under my weight, which I was pretty sure was the only thing covering the roar of hunger coming from some place inside me.

At the bottom of the steps, I made a left into a large kitchen, bright and cheerful with its whitewashed everything and oversized windows framed by curtains of blue and yellow flowers. The countertops were a country blue, the same color as the stools that circled the island bar in the center of the room. A short, plump woman was busy transferring chocolate chip patties from a cookie sheet to a cooling rack as she hummed a cheerful tune in a soft voice. Something about the scene made me pause to soak it up, wishing with all my might that I’d had this stranger for a mother instead of the alcoholic who’d given birth to me and then left me to fend for myself.

“Oh, I didn’t realize anyone was standing there,” the woman said, wiping her hands on the apron fastened around her waist. Her dark blond hair was only barely contained in a messy bun at the nape of her neck, a few unruly locks having made their escape to frame her soft, round face. When she batted one away from her eyes, a streak of flour marked her wrinkled skin like war paint on a Native American.

“Not sure if you remember the introduction from last night, but I’m Abby. I’m running things around here for the time being. And you must be starving.” She put a hand on her hip and leaned against the counter. “Normally, I’d ring your room to give you a last call for breakfast, but I didn’t want to take a chance on waking you. You just seemed so tired when you checked in.”

“Did I?” I knew how delirious I’d been so I wasn’t sure why I’d asked.

“Well, I hadn’t even made it out the door after showing you to your room before you were face-first and snoring, so I’d say yes.” She laughed, taking my arm to usher me over to one of the stools at the island. “Sit. I’ll make you something to eat. Would you like eggs and bacon or a turkey sandwich?”

I smiled up at her, but I was the one who’d been charmed. “Whichever one gets me a cookie for dessert.”

“Turkey sandwich it is then,” she said, and then shuffled over to the refrigerator, pulling a few contents from within. Over at the stove, she pulled out a skillet, and busied herself with whatever else she was doing. “You never said if you’re here for business or pleasure or how long you’ll be staying.”

It sounded like a question, one she expected me to answer. But how much should I say? If she was Cassidy’s mother, would she warn my target of my presence before I could get to her?

“I’m, uh… I’m actually here to handle a personal matter before it can affect me professionally.” It was the truth, though it could’ve been the other way around as well. “Hopefully, I’ll be checking out today.” And to be sure I could, I picked up my cellphone, prepared to call Cassidy and find out where she was.

“Oh, honey, if you’re trying to communicate with someone off the island, you best do it the old-fashioned way.” Abby waved to the rotary phone on the wall.

Seriously? Those things still worked?

“The town had a Wi-Fi connection installed last year, but it’s still sketchy at best, and you can forget about cell service unless you go up to the top of the hill. There’s a phone in your room, though. You’ll need a calling card to make long-distance calls, which you can get down at the store.”

They still make calling cards?
I no longer thought I was in an alternate universe or
The Twilight Zone
. I was now convinced I’d somehow traveled back in time; only, the silver DeLorean was a little white Yaris.

A plate slid in front of me holding a buttery toasted sandwich cut in half to expose a mound of turkey and bacon with cheese oozing from the center. A pile of chips and two dill pickle spears took up the rest of the plate. When I’d asked for a turkey sandwich, I’d assumed it would be a cold cut on white bread with a slab of pasteurized cheese and a thin layer of mayo. What I got was a culinary masterpiece, every red-blooded American man’s fantasy. My taste buds started pushing and shoving toward the front of my mouth, salivating for the first smack of flavor. Using both hands, I picked up one half, careful to avoid the burn of melted cheese, and took a bite.

“Have mercy…” I moaned around the decadent sensation making love to my tongue.

Abby giggled, and it was damn adorable, too. I wondered if she’d adopt me, or if, at the very least, I could adopt her. She brought me a glass of ice water before going over to the stove and sink to start the cleanup process.

I was more concerned about the sandwich than the water and I took another giant bite, as though someone might try to take it from me if I didn’t eat it in a hurry. It would be a mistake they’d never make again. “You have a lovely home.”

Abby gave me a look, most likely because the words I’d said had been fighting for room with the food in my mouth. Yep, she was definitely somebody’s mom. “Do you want to try that again?”

I swallowed before I made the same mistake. “Sorry. I said you have a lovely home.”

She smiled in approval and then went back to her cleaning, happy to be doing so, from what I could tell. “Oh, it’s not mine. It’s Anna’s. I’m just helping out.”

“Anna? Anna Whalen?”

“Yep, just like the sign says.” She rinsed the skillet she’d washed by hand and put it in the drainer. “My Thomas and I have known Anna and Duff for all our lives. Everyone knows everyone around here, in fact, but the four of us…” She paused before continuing, “The
six
of us couldn’t be any closer to family if we shared the same blood.”

“Six? I’m usually pretty good in math, but I only counted four names. What am I missing?”

“Oh, I meant our children.”

“Ah. One of those children wouldn’t happen to be Cassidy Whalen, would it?”

She turned to face me, eyebrows reaching for the sky. “You know our Cassidy?”

“I do. She’s actually the reason I’m here.” When she looked confused, I clarified, “We work together.”

“I see. So you’re from San Diego, are ya?”

“Well, I live and work there, yes.” I finished off the sandwich and pushed the plate away, which Abby replaced with a saucer that held three cookies. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you? We have some unfinished business I really need to get wrapped up before I leave.”

The sound of a Hemi engine started up the driveway, getting louder the closer it got to the house until it came to a stop and cut off just outside the back door.

Abby undid her apron and hung it from a hook on the wall. “Ask and you shall receive,” she said with an infectious smile. Just then the door off the mudroom opened and the object of my obsessive and impromptu mini vacation popped inside.

“Abby!” Cassidy squealed, and then practically skipped through the room to hug my kind hostess without noticing, or maybe not caring, that anyone else was present.

Her back was to me, which meant I got a great glimpse of her ass in a pair of black leggings. I wasn’t used to seeing her attire so relaxed, but I would for damn sure be on Team Leggings from then on. Long ginger hair swung from a ponytail that I also hadn’t been used to seeing, and an oversized sweater was another added surprise. She was damn sexy and my cock was impossibly hard. Forget yelling at her. I wanted to fuck her until she could no longer walk. And I would. Just as soon as I could get her alone.

“Ah, Cass, you’re too skinny,” Abby said, taking a step back to confirm with her eyes what she felt with her arms. “It’s all that Californian, so-called healthy-eating-lifestyle crap. Tofu and veggie shakes are not food. Not to worry, I’ll fatten you up in no time.”

“Abbs, you keep making those famous chocolate chip cookies I smell and my ass will spread from the aroma alone.”

And that was my cue. “Huh, and here I thought it was the leggings.”

Cassidy nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of my voice. When she turned to see me sitting there with a shit-eating grin on my face, she yelped a “Holy crap!” and then grabbed her chest as if by doing so she might be able to keep her heart from making a run for cover. It was cute how she stumbled backward and would have fallen if it hadn’t been for Abby’s quick save.

I allowed her a moment to recuperate, which was pretty human of me, and more than she deserved. Especially since she got the added bonus of Abby doting on her all the while to be sure she was okay. Meanwhile, I ate my cookie and did that thing with my eyes that usually had women naked in two point three seconds.

Apparently, Cassidy was immune, but I blamed myself. It was hard to feel sexy when you were in fight-or-flight mode. Unless that was the sort of thing you got off on. I knew some women like that.

When Cassidy finally found her voice again, it was too composed. “What the hell are you doing here, Matthews?”

I was equally calm. After all, I no longer had anything to hide, but it seemed Miss Shifty Eyes did. “Oh, I think you know very well what I’m doing here. I, however, can’t say the same about you.”

Cassidy made a whole bunch of sounds that were either syllables out of order or words that weren’t fully formed. None of it made sense, but judging by the expression on her face, maybe that was because she was just as confused as her vocabulary seemed to be.

That, or the cat had her tongue. Seeing her get all squirmy like that made me wish it’d had mine. I’d make sure my wish was granted soon enough, but as long as the roles were reversed, I saw no reason I couldn’t have a little bit of fun with it.

“Is something the matter between you two?” Abby was in mama bear mode, ready to defend her cub, though I honestly didn’t know if it would be Cassidy’s rescue she would come to or mine.

“No, we’re fine,” Cassidy lied, and then she plastered on a fake smile. “Shaw and I work together. I’m surprised to see him here…
in my home
…
unannounced,
though.” Clearly, she didn’t expect to see me here, but that was the point, so boo on her for stating the obvious.

“I’m surprised to see you here, too…
not
in San Diego…
unannounced,
” I mocked her. “
Why
are you not in San Diego?”

“My boss, my friends, and my clients know why I’m not there. As far as I knew, they were the only ones I owed an explanation. Why do you care?”

“We have unfinished business. Or did you conveniently forget?”

“I said all I’d wanted to say. There’s nothing unfinished about it.”

“Isn’t there?” I countered. “Maybe we should go somewhere a little more private to discuss the matter.”

Cassidy looked from Abby back to me before answering. She looked more nervous than any innocent person should. She was definitely hiding something. “I can’t. I’m here to relieve Abby, so you should probably go back to San Diego,
crazy stalker man,
” she said through a forced smile.

Abby waved her off, completely ignoring the “crazy stalker man” comment. “Nonsense. I’m right where I want to be. Besides, what else am I going to do besides sit around and worry myself to death? At least here I feel like I’m doing something productive,” she said then grabbed the plate in front of me, but I snatched the last cookie before she could take it away, which earned me an approving smile and a pinch of my cheek. I really liked Abby. Maybe I could fit her into my suitcase and steal her away.

“Besides, it’s been a while since you’ve been home. You probably need some time to get familiar with where everything is again.”

Ouch. If the pained expression on Cassidy’s face was anything to go by, I’d say that innocent statement had cut pretty deep. My little round hostess seemed much too kind to have done it on purpose, so I guessed this was one of those times when the simple truth had hurt like a son of a bitch. There was definitely a story there, and even though I was curious, I shouldn’t have been. It would be best for me to handle my business and get the hell out of there. After I fucked Cassidy for one last time, that is.