“That I’ve changed?”
Sarah stood up. “Oh Cassie, I—”
Cassie turned and fled quickly up the stairs two at a time and locked herself in the bathroom. She looked in the mirror. She had tears in her eyes. Madly she scrubbed at them with a towel and wetted her face with cold water. What did it matter what they thought anyways? She had changed. And little did they get, it was all for the better.
She opened the bathroom door and went to her bedroom. She stopped dead. John stood near her bed. He walked toward her. He looked over her face. She held her ground even though she wanted to turn and cover the face that they had been discussing.
“You heard us.”
“So?”
“It was thoughtless.”
“It was. Something I’d expect from you. From Sarah. Maybe even Luke. But don’t say you’re sorry to me. I know what you think of me.”
“You have no idea what I think of you.”
She laughed. “I know exactly what you think about me. And my looks are the least of it.”
“It’s your business how you want to look.”
She frowned. “You can’t possibly be apologizing to me can you?”
“Sarah can be thoughtless sometimes. She’s just so—”
“Perfect that she forgets some of us aren’t,” Cassie interrupted, anger in her tone. She paused taking a deep breath. “Look, I get it. I’m glad I’m not a threat to Sarah, it just makes my life easier.”
“And Luke was just…bullshitting.”
“I know. Luke doesn’t particularly upset me.”
“And I—”
“You didn’t say anything,” she finished for him. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Why is that? Why don’t you say anything?”
“I don’t feel a need to air my dirty laundry.”
“Even to your girlfriend? To your brother?”
“To anyone.”
“So some things about you haven’t changed have they? Look I appreciate you not saying anything about me. And forget it; they didn’t say anything that everyone else doesn’t already think.” With that she turned and walked over to the bed. “Goodnight.”
He stood there. “Why—”
She jerked her gaze to him. “Don’t. Don’t ask me why I look this way. Don’t start a conversation with me that would make you have to acknowledge you know me. You don’t want this to get personal, and neither do I.” She took in a breath and lowered her voice. “Just don’t for a second presume you understand anything about me.”
Chapter Six
Cassie sat alone in the kitchen the next morning drinking coffee when she heard steps. She tensed preparing to face John. Luke came in; he stopped short when he saw her. He blushed. She nearly choked on her coffee. Then he came forward and sat across from her.
“Cassie about last night—”
Cassie sighed. The last thing she wanted to start a Sunday morning with was discussing her homely status. “John already apologized, forget it.”
“No I won’t just forget it. I tried to go apologize last night but John wouldn’t hear of it. But the thing is I have no excuse.”
Cassie tried to shrug it off. Luke continued, “I shouldn’t have discussed you with Sarah.”
“I’m not a kid, what people say doesn’t really affect me anymore.”
“I like and respect you a hell of a lot more than I do Sarah. And I promise you nothing like that will come out of me again.”
Cassie looked at Luke. He was so handsome with his tousled, thick blonde hair, restless blue eyes and square chin. He was muscled and compact. Yet she felt nothing for him but a warming friendship. She didn’t feel even a spark of sexual attraction toward him.
Yet when John entered a room she physically reacted his presence in the tingling of every one of her nerve endings. Why? What was the chemical reaction that seemed to mix between her and John? The past should have killed their attraction to each other. But it hadn’t. At least for her.
“Please. Forget it. You’re forgiven.”
Cassie nearly laughed when Luke let out a breath and sat back in his chair with a smile.
After a moment, Cassie’s smile faded and she tapped her fingers on the table top. “Can I ask you what happened? What changed you so much?”
Luke crossed his arms over his chest. Smile gone. “Did you know I was married?”
Cassie nodded. “I picked up on that.”
“Her name was Shelly. We met in college. We dated for a few years and were married for four. She changed everything for me.”
He paused. Tears formed in his eyes. She swallowed over the sudden lump in her throat. Obviously something had happened to his wife. “If you don’t want to tell me you don’t have to.”
He put his hand over hers and squeezed. He shook his head. “No, it’s been almost two years, I can talk about it. Sometimes, some days it hits me harder than others. She was killed in a car accident. A lady crossed the median in the wrong spot and hit her head on. There was no reason for it, and no one to blame. Shelly was five months pregnant.” Luke’s voice thickened.
“I had no idea, none at all. I’m so sorry.”
“I think the only way to describe it is I lost my heart, and I won’t be getting it back. But having you and Tim here makes the house feel alive again, and I like that. I don’t want you to be in trouble, but it makes me feel almost human again to be able to help you. And that’s why I’m sorry about how last night ended.”
“It wasn’t anything. And what you just said now more than makes up for it.” She squeezed his hand. Then she asked, “You ended up in Seaclusion because of your wife?”
“Yes she was from here.”
“How did John end up here then?”
“He and my parents came to stay with me after Shelly died. They saved my life. My parents eventually bought a house in town. John stayed here, I’m pretty sure he was afraid to leave me alone in this house. Maybe he was right. I should have made him leave long ago. My life is holding him back.”
“I wouldn’t agree with that. He’s not one to do what he doesn’t want too. You know that.”
Luke shrugged. “It’s John. Who knows what he really thinks.”
“Maybe he stays because of Sarah.”
“Maybe. She’s his first real relationship.”
No. Sarah wasn’t. But Cassie didn’t say that. Instead she asked, “Do you think he’s happy with her?”
“Yeah. I do. She’s good for him. Loosens him up.” Luke let out a breath. “Anyway now you know why you don’t have to feel grateful to me for letting you stay here, you and Tim help me get through the day.”
Cassie smiled softly. “Thanks for telling me about Shelly.”
Luke got up and pulled her into a big brotherly bear hug. They had reached a new level of understanding between them and she could literally feel Luke’s protectiveness for her and her son. Sometimes it was like she was drowning from the stress in her life. To think she had someone to share it with was like someone had finally noticed she was drowning and bothered to throw her a life ring.
John walked in at that moment. He stopped dead in the doorway. Luke didn’t let her go. Cassie noticed John’s face. She pulled her arms off Luke. John passed by them and went to the sink. His face was cut from stone. He refused to make eye contact with her.
“Where have you been?” Luke asked. An arm hanging loosely off Cassie, he was oblivious to any displeasure from John.
“I went for a jog.”
“First thing on a Sunday morning? Christ now I do feel old. Who’s that motivated?”
John shrugged, his gaze landed on Cassie under Luke’s muscled arm. “I had some things on my mind.”
Cassie was about to speak when Sarah came into the kitchen. Cassie frowned. She’d had no idea Sarah had stayed the night. Sarah had on a shirt of John’s that hit her mid-thigh. Cassie glared at the offending garment which stopped indecently high on Sarah’s long, skinny thighs. Sarah yawned lazily as she walked over to put a kettle of water on the stove. She smiled at Cassie.
Cassie was going to have to make a quick peace with Sarah’s presence. Sarah was a minor nuisance when compared to the danger she’d dealt with when she and Tim had been alone. She needed to be grateful for the safe, lovely house, John and Luke’s protection, and even the unexpected warm friend in Luke. Those were the things that mattered. Not her petty jealously of Sarah.
It was only as Sarah grabbed an apple and started munching on it that she turned and looked at Cassie. “Hey Cassie, I’m sorry we were gossiping about you last night.”
Cassie stifled a groan. Why here? Why now? With two of the most gorgeous men she’d ever come across both pausing from their different tasks; John reaching for a bowl, Luke opening the paper. Suddenly, they looked at Cassie. Cassie paused, and then set her cereal bowl down on the table with a sharp rattle. Even the air was suddenly tense. All eyes were her way. She took a breath and relaxed her shoulders.
“What? Sorry that I caught you?” Damn. She had meant to say a gracious, don’t worry about it. Just two nights ago she’d promised John she’d stay out of his way and not comment on his life, and now here she was taking it up with his girlfriend.
Sarah quit chewing her apple mid-bite, her eyebrows wrinkled in surprise. Then she set the apple behind her.
“Okay you’re probably right. I’m sorry you heard it. I was just, you know, stating—”
“The obvious? You think I’m old, well you seem like a little girl to me. And you know what? What little girls think of me doesn’t really bother me anymore.”
Sarah’s mouth dropped open. Why wasn’t her strive for gracious happening? The tension cut the room. John and Luke’s heads swung back and forth between her and Sarah.
Cassie picked up her bowl and went to the sink. When she turned back she put a strained smile on her face. It took all of her effort to pull off. “Besides Sarah you were right. I am a cleaning woman. That’s what I do for a living.”
That brought Luke and Sarah’s eyes up to her.
“You’re kidding?” Sarah asked.
Cassie caught the tone. “No I’m not. I own my own cleaning business. Tim and I live alone. So you know what Sarah, all that you did was compliment me.”
Cassie spun around and marched out of the kitchen without meeting Luke, John or Sarah’s eyes. Where had this come from? Cassie wasn’t sure; other than there was something about Sarah that brought her hackles up. Something she hadn’t experienced in a long time. But she had to stop picking petty fights with Sarah, because one of these times John was going to use it as a reason to kick her out.
****
Marcus slumped down in the seat of the black sedan he had recently acquired. Kelly came out her front door, her ass swaying in the tight jeans as she headed to her car. He’d been watching her for days. Not a sign of Cassie. Maybe he’d have a little face to face with the bitch, get her to tell him where Cassie was…
No. He couldn’t draw attention to himself just yet. Getting his ass tossed back in prison before he found his wife would suck big time.
He put the car into drive, keeping a safe distance from Kelly’s little white convertible. His thoughts drifted to when he’d first set his sights on Cassie. He started by bumping into her around the office. Eventually, he started talking to her, treating her with reserved kindness and politeness. He “accidentally” ran into her in one of the bars she frequented. He innocently offered to buy her a drink, making sure to keep any sexual pretense out of it. She only started to warm toward him when he explained he wasn’t drinking because he was a recovering alcoholic. That had initiated her interest in him. She asked him about it, and he crafted a story he suspected paralleled her own.
He formally asked her out for a date, making sure to seem the utmost gentlemen. She accepted. They had gone out several times before she opened up about her drinking. And he used that to form a relationship with her and show her how she couldn’t live without him. He became her coach, advisor, mentor and supporter in her struggle to stop drinking and whoring. Although she never did fess up to the whoring part.
He had known everything about her, and soon controlled everything about her. He made sure she got pregnant, so that she would do as he wanted and marry him. Cassie had been the perfect wife, in his control until the very moment she left him.
Cassie had done the unthinkable, unacceptable, inexcusable act of leaving him. She’d run off to her even more slut of a sister.
Taking his son with her.
She’d been planning it for a year he found out later. She’d contacted a lawyer, and kept strict track of him, documenting his movements and actions like he was the criminal. Instead of her. Kelly had footed the bill.
She’d taken him to court for full custody of his son, claiming he was an unfit parent. Him! She’d been a drunken whore when he’d mercifully taken her and shown her some self-control and discipline. Then she turned all of it against him. Right there in court, saying awful things about him and revealing secrets of their life. Cassie’s betrayal had roared between his ear drums. But he’d sat there calmly, stoically, and shown the judge she was the crazy one, not him.
But unbelievably the judge hadn’t seen the truth in Cassie. He’d lost. He, Marcus Leary, had lost to her, and with her slutty, bitch of a rich sister smirking at him from Cassie’s side.
Cassie had driven him to violence. Never in his life had he had to resort to that to get what he wanted. In the past his intelligence, patience and talents for manipulation had gotten him what he wanted. But she’d caused him to have to do what he’d done to her that day she was awarded Tim. The day he went to prison.
Everything that had happened had been Cassie’s fault. All of it was at Cassie’s doorstep.
And he’d been willing to forgive her, after the right punishment of course, and he had intended to do just that. Until she had once again betrayed him.
He’d been watching Kelly for over a week. There was no sign of his wife. Kelly didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. He’d wasted too much time as it was. His wife had found someone else to help her, now all he had to do was find out who.
That’s the thing his wife seemed to have forgotten, he knew everything about her. And there was no place she could hide from him. He’d find her. Cassie would make a mistake. Cassie Reeves was always her own worst enemy. She was a poison to herself and to him.
Chapter Seven