I groaned in both pleasure and slight pain when he pushed into me. “I’m sure I’ll get over it.”
Chapter Twelve
G AGE
I HONESTLY THOUGHT nothing could bring me down from the mood I was in. Cassidy and I spent every spare moment together, and while our times together in bed . . . and the shower . . . and the couch . . . and the kitchen table . . . hell, all our times together were amazing, I loved just spending time with her too. It was better than before; now that neither of us was trying to hide our feelings for the other, we were able to talk freely about everything. Every night I fell asleep with her in my arms and woke the same. It had almost been a week since the wedding, and like I said, I thought nothing could bring me down. But then I saw Tyler at school.
“Son of a bitch . . . this isn’t gonna end well.”
“Sorry, what?” I glanced over at Ethan, then followed his stare over to see Tyler stalking toward us. “Crap, he knows.”
“Were you gonna tell me?” he demanded when he reached us.
I blew out a deep breath to relax myself; I really didn’t want to do this on campus of all places. “Tell you what, exactly?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Gage. You’re sleeping with Cassi.”
I kept my mouth shut, letting my silence answer for me.
“I can’t believe this!”
“Ty, come on, man. Let’s talk about this somewhere else.”
He let out a frustrated laugh and ran a hand roughly through his hair. “My own cousin is fucking my girlfriend!”
My eyes narrowed and I spoke through clenched teeth. “First off, she ain’t your anything. Second, we know what you were doing. We know you played both of us.”
Tyler’s eyes widened momentarily.
“Yeah, we told each other everything. Every damn thing you told us. And I gotta say, cousin,” I sneered, “that’s a really fuckin’ shitty thing to do. You’re gonna pull the family card with me? You knew how I felt about her and you were so threatened by that because she felt the same that you had to tell me she was your girlfriend? That she was blowing you when you knew, you knew we’d just spent the night together? You had to tell her that I couldn’t stand her and later that I thought of her like a sister? Ty, man, you were like a brother to me. And you repeatedly screwed both me and Cassidy over.”
“I told you she was mine and you wouldn’t back off!”
“Once again, you hurt Cassidy. Do you know how much I hate you for everything you’ve put her through over the years?” I stepped closer so our chests were touching and lowered my voice so it was practically a growl. “You let her get beat. You almost let her die by their hands. You broke her heart over and over again because she found someone she wanted to be with. And when you weren’t getting any, you broke her heart another way by breaking whatever fucked-up bond the two of y’all had by bringing home another girl . . . forcing her to leave . . . and almost letting her die again.” I backed up a step when his body started vibrating. I wasn’t finished with him yet, but I wasn’t about to get in a fistfight with him out in public. “I never understood why she needed you in her life, and it pissed me off more than I could ever care to explain. But I don’t have to worry about it now; she finally sees you, Ty. So, I guess I can thank you for that at least. I’ll never have to watch her run to you again. Thank God.”
“She’s mine. She’ll always be mine. You weren’t there for everything in her life. You didn’t take care of her . . . keep her alive. I did!” He hissed, “I’m what’s best for her. I’m what’s safe and familiar and comfortable to her. Cassi will always come back to me. I look forward to the day she runs from you to me. And trust me, that day will come. When it does, I’m not letting her go again.” Before I could speak, he continued. “So enjoy her while you have her, because in the end, it’s me and her.”
Screw being in public. My hands curled into fists and I took a step toward him but Ethan stepped up and pushed me back, saying, “Let it go, Gage. Just let it go.”
“It’ll always be me and Cassidy. You’ve got a temper; you think with her life she’s going to want to be with a hothead just waiting to explode? Or that I would let her go into a life where she would get the same treatment she had for twelve years?”
“I would never touch her that way and you know that!” I shrugged Ethan off and stepped back up to my cousin, grabbing the collar of his shirt in my fists.
He glanced down to my shaking hands and scoffed. “Actually, I don’t, and she has no idea what she’s getting into with you. The minute she catches a glimpse of your anger—because we both know she didn’t see anything that morning at your place—she’ll be gone and I’ll be there to hold her and take her away from it, like I always have.”
“And let me guess, you’re gonna try to make that happen again, am I right?”
He tapped my clenched fist and Ethan put his hand on my shoulder to pull me back again. “Like I said . . . temper.” With a twisted smirk, Tyler pulled my hands off, turned, and headed back the way he’d come.
“Seriously, Gage, no hard feelings or anything, but your cousin is a dick,” Ethan said as he slapped me on the back. “C’mon, we gotta get to class.”
I watched as Tyler rounded the corner, then checked my watch. “Nah, I’m gonna skip today.”
“Need to go unwind? We can grab a beer.”
“I’m gonna get Cass. Catch you later, yeah?”
Ethan smirked. “Yeah, I bet Cassi is much better at helping you calm down than a beer.”
“Smartass.”
“Have fun unwinding, Gage.” He winked as he started backward, then suddenly stopped. “On second thought, Jackie’s already home waiting for me . . . unwinding sounds like a damn good idea right about now.” He grinned wickedly and grabbed his keys out of his pocket, heading toward his car down the street.
I checked my watch again and took off for my truck, hoping I made it to Starbucks before Cassidy started walking home.
C ASSIDY
“LORI, YOU OKAY?” How could she walk out of the bathroom smiling? She’d just puked.
“I’m great! Sorry I had to run out in the middle of taking the order though.”
“No worries, do you want to go home now, and I’ll work your last two hours?” I really was exhausted; Gage and I had hardly slept that week—not that I was complaining—and I was looking forward to getting a nap in before he got home in a few hours.
“No way! You didn’t even take your lunch, and don’t think I didn’t realize you clocked out for it and continued to work. Seriously, Cassi, I’m fine. Go home! I’ll see you next week.” She popped a piece of gum in her mouth and started rocking out to the song playing throughout the café as she went about washing her hands before fixing the pastry case.
Pregnant women. I swear, they’re crazy.
I glanced over at one of our newer guys and grimaced. He made perfect drinks, but I made a mental note to never put him on bar again during a Friday morning since he tended to take his time on each one. This was only my second time working with him, but one of the other shift leaders said he’d done bar really well a few times during the afternoon, then again last weekend; however, I’d had to take over for him four different times when we got slammed.
“Hey, Jesse, want me to get you caught up before I go?”