Chapter 37 Cassie
CASSIE
I looked around Bram’s loft at the wounded and bleeding men and knew it was because of me.
I’d never been so mortified.
Bram and Poe sat at the dining room table — Bram with a thick steak on his bleeding knuckles — while Hawk and Jagger occupied the living room, Jagger’s head tipped forward to let the blood run out of his nose into a dishtowel Maeve had given him when we’d gotten back to the loft.
Vigo sat at the island, an ice pack held to his jaw and Remy was making himself a smoothie, seemingly oblivious to the blood that was already drying on his right cheek.
I stared daggers at Bram. “I can’t believe you.”
“I can’t believe you.”
“Don’t fucking talk to her that way or I’ll knock you’re fucking teeth out,” Hawk said from the sofa.
Bram got up, his chair falling back onto the floor, and started for the living room.
“Sit!” Maeve ordered.
Bram hesitated, then righted his chair and sat down.
“We’re going to figure this out,” Maeve said. “And we’re going to do it like civilized adults.” She looked from Bram to Remy and Poe. “And if there’s any more fighting, it’s going to be so long until you three have sex again you’re going to feel like virgins. Got it?”
“Loud and clear, killer.” Remy said. “Mind if I turn on this blender?”
“Yes, I mind.”
Remy’s shoulders sagged.
Maeve stared down Bram and Poe at the dining room table. “Got it?”
“Sure thing, little bird,” Poe said.
She turned her gaze on Bram, and I was starting to think she had magic powers because a few seconds later, he tossed aside the steak he’d been holding on his knuckles. “Fucking fine.”
She looked at the Hawks. “Can I trust you to behave?”
“We didn’t come here to fight,” Jagger said, dabbing at his nose with the dish towel Maeve had given him.
“Good.” She took a deep breath. “First things first, this isn’t about you. This isn’t about any of you. Do you understand that?”
She was talking to them like five-year-olds but they deserved it.
They grumbled their agreement.
“Who is this about?” she asked them.
Another group mumble. “Cassie.”
She touched a hand to her ear like she couldn’t hear them and they said it louder.
“Good. And since this is about Cassie, we’re going to ask her — a grown-ass adult — what she wants.” Maeve turned to me. “Cass?”
I took a deep breath. “I want to honor my part of the bargain and stay with the Hawks until my ninety days is up.”
Bram’s eyes flashed. “Cass, this is— ”
“Nope,” Maeve said. “We’re listening remember?”
Bram looked like he was biting his tongue hard enough to make it bleed.
Maeve looked at the Hawks. “Can we trust you not to hurt Cassie?”
They hesitated and my cheeks got hot when I realized they were thinking about their toys: the nipple and pussy clamps, the anal plug, who knew what else.
Maeve sighed. “Can we trust you to treat Cassie with respect and honor her wishes,” she cut a glance at Bram as if to silence him in advance, “whatever they may be?”
“Totally,” Vigo said. “We won’t do anything to our little mouse she doesn’t want us to do.”
Bram flattened his hands on the table. “I’m going to rip your—”
“No,” Maeve said. “No, you’re not. You’re going to keep listening.”
“We don’t force ourselves on any woman, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Hawk sounded disgusted. “Fuck.”
“Good.” Maeve nodded.
“I have a condition,” Bram said.
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. A condition was good. A condition meant Bram was coming around.
“Go ahead,” Maeve said.
“Cassie gets to leave before the ninety days if she wants to.”
“Obviously,” Vigo said.
“I have a counter condition,” I said.
“Go ahead, Cass,” Maeve said.
“Bram isn’t allowed to coerce me to leave early.” Bram and I were glaring at each other across the room. “I don’t want to be harassed for the next three months. I get to decide on my own.”
Maeve nodded. “That seems fair. Bram?”
Bram’s eye started twitching again. “Fine.”
“And you don’t get to punish Hawk, Jagger, and Vigo later,” I said. “This was my decision. It’s still my decision.”
“Fucking fine,” Bram said.
“Anything else?” Maeve asked.
“Who did you want dead?” Bram asked. “In the Hunt. And why didn’t you come to me?”
I felt the Hawks’ eyes on my face, knew they were wondering how I would answer.
But I’d meant what I’d said: I wasn’t going to bring anything to Bram until I knew who had paid Travis Dorsey to run our parents off the road.
I wasn’t putting him through it until I knew.
“I didn’t,” I said. “I just wanted to play.”
I would figure this out myself. Then I’d bring it to Bram.