“I’m fine, sweetheart. I’d just been checkin’ you out and got hard thinking about what we’d been interrupted doing. Decided it was better to walk away before any of the guys noticed.”
Her honey eyes widened and heated before she looked down. Instantly my erection made itself known again. Down, boy. She took another step closer and pressed her body to mine. “I’ll take care of that as soon as they’re gone,” she whispered huskily, and with a suggestive smile, turned and walked out of the room.
Chapter Thirteen
C ASSIDY
I’D SPENT MOST of that next week at Jesse and Isabella’s, and thankfully Gage went with me. We were both completely enchanted with her tales of Italy and the man she’d grown up with and loved. She was a sweet woman, and we hated seeing her so ill, which is why we’d spent every free second there since the morning after the whole SMB basketball game.
Isabella had some good days and other not-so-good days, but this whole week had been awful, and I could see how much it was wearing on Jesse. That Monday he hadn’t been able to even put a coffee with three sugars together correctly, and I’d finally sent him on a lunch, and then home when he told me Isabella couldn’t get out of bed that morning, even with his help. It wasn’t until this morning that she’d been able to get around on her own and seem like herself again.
In the month and a half since we’d first brought food to their house, it’d become a weekly ritual for us. Every Sunday morning before the guys came over for the game, we’d go over with food for the week and talk with her and Jesse for hours until it was time to go home. After this week though, Gage and I were exhausted emotionally. I couldn’t understand how Jesse could do it; after only a handful of afternoons and nights with her, we were both so emotionally drained from worrying about her, all we wanted to do was sleep the weekend away and pray that she got better. But Jackie had called as we were on our way back from Isabella’s and said we absolutely had to be at her party tonight.
Figuring we needed all the help we could get to bring our spirits up, we’d decided to go and I was already seriously regretting it.
“Damn it,” Gage mumbled under his breath, and I paused. Tyler was there; this was the first time I was seeing him since the morning he’d shown up at Gage’s door, and he was with that redhead he’d brought home the night he kicked me out. “Darlin’, if you want to leave, tell me and we’re gone.”
“It’s fine. I’m not going to let him control what we do; that’s dumb.”
As soon as Ty saw me, he broke away from the redhead and walked quickly over to us, giving Gage a death stare before stepping close to me. “Cassi, how are you?”
My heart clenched and my arms twitched, wanting to wrap them around Tyler’s waist, but a squeeze from Gage’s hand and one look at the redhead glaring at our group reminded me why that wasn’t an option. “Tyler.”
“Don’t be like that, baby.”
“Don’t. Call. Her. Baby,” Gage said through clenched teeth, and pulled me closer to his side.
Tyler’s eyes narrowed and swept over to look Gage up and down. “She’s never complained about it.” His brown eyes came back to me and turned pleading. “Cassi, can we please talk?”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Ty,” I said softly, fully aware of Grant, Ethan, and Jackie standing near us.
“Why? Did Gage tell you that you can’t speak to me now?”
“No, he didn’t. I just don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Hi, Gage.” A soft but sultry voice joined the conversation and I looked past Tyler to see the redhead, realizing this was the first time I’d heard her speak.
“Cara.” His hand tightened around mine again and anyone near us could feel the tension rolling off his body.
Gage’s body was turned so my shoulder was against his stomach and he was staring down at me, but I was looking straight at Cara. Her eyes took on a strange heat when they looked at Gage and she dragged her bottom lip through her teeth. An uneasy feeling filled my stomach and got worse when her eyes locked on me and she slipped her hand into Tyler’s.
“Your name’s Carrie, right?” she asked with a sneer. I had no doubt she knew exactly what my name was, but before I could correct her she kept going. “I would say I’m sorry for taking Tyler from you. But, well, I’m not.” She shrugged and her lips formed into an awkward shape, making her look like a duck. “You’re not his type, but I’m sure if you ask real nice, Gage will give you either my Monday- or Wednesday-night slot.”
I felt Gage’s body lock up even further; I swear if someone had poked him he’d have shattered. But I had no idea what she meant by “Monday- or Wednesday-night slot.” I didn’t have to ask; Cara didn’t leave me wondering for long.
“I mean, it would probably be more of a charity case than anything, but Lord knows you need to learn how to keep a boyfriend and Gage needs to fill his booty-call slots.”
“Cara, shut up,” Gage whispered. I didn’t have to see his face to know what she was saying was true. The horrified tone in those three words said it all.
“Oh.” She sucked air in through her teeth. “Whoops, did you already fill those spots? God, Gage, I knew you had a healthy appetite, but I thought you’d at least mourn my loss for a while. Don’t worry, honey,” Cara said, focusing her attention back on me with an unconvincing grimace, “he doesn’t keep any of his girls around for very long. I’m sure a night will open for you soon.”
I looked up at Tyler to see his obvious concern for me as he disentangled himself from her, but Jackie was already pulling me away from him, Cara, and Gage.
“Cassidy!” Gage called as I was swept away.
I lived with Gage, I spent every night with him; I would have known if he was going to a booty call at night. But Gage’s reaction to Cara told me that what Cara was saying had truth to it.
“That bitch. Don’t listen to anything she said, Cass, she was just trying to rub her relationship with Tyler in your face.”
“Then why was she talking about Gage?!”
Jackie looked at me like she wished she had the answer, and then Jackie’s little frame started shaking and her face turned murderous. “You better hope like hell that what she was saying wasn’t true, Gage Carson.”
I whirled around to see a wide-eyed, pale-faced Gage shut Jackie’s door behind him.
“Babe—”
“Is it true?” I demanded.
“I can explain.”
“Oh my God, it’s true? You had days? Like . . . you had a fucking schedule for your fuck buddies, Gage?!”
His eyes got even wider and he took a deep, shaky breath in.
“When. Was. This?” What had Cara said? Something about his having a healthy appetite but thinking he’d mourn her loss first.
“Cassidy,” Gage said, “I need to explain first.”
“When, Gage? Because from what she was saying, it didn’t sound like it was a couple of years ago!”
“The last time was the night before I left for the ranch for winter break.”
That night was the night I’d given him the picture and he’d left quickly. What girl had he gone to screw that night? And then it hit me, and my voice lost all the force behind it and came out soft. “Oh my God, you lied to me.” Jackie tried to leave the room but I gripped her hand harder. “Tyler was right, you left the apartment because you didn’t want me there with you. I was making it hard for your relationships.” I had been in the way, just like Tyler said. If Tyler hadn’t been lying about that, what else hadn’t he been lying about?