Chapter 9 #2
Amazing brothers that they were, they’d kept a close eye on her, helped out with her, and been active participants in raising her.
But first, Cade left when she was eight, then Jake when she was nine, Cooper and Connor when she was ten, Jax when she was eleven, and finally Cole when she was twelve, taking pieces of her heart with them with each departure.
To them, she would always be the baby of the family, a little girl even though she was all grown up now.
Things here had been different, though. The Delta Team guys had seen her as a burden of sorts, sure, that was why she’d been sent there, so they could look after her.
But they hadn't treated her like a child who didn't know her own mind, and step in to circumvent any pain or suffering.
If her twenty-four years of life had taught her anything it was that pain and suffering abounded in this world.
“Lights are still on, I thought everyone would be asleep,” she said, more to herself than Dragon as he drove them down the winding driveway, and the mansion appeared through the trees.
The only reason she caught the weird look he gave her was because she was looking over his shoulder at the house.
Dragon had been weird ever since she agreed to come back there with him, and she wasn't sure if it was because he was angry with her for getting herself involved in the mess that was his life, or angry at himself for getting her involved.
“Course they’re not asleep, they’re waiting to see you.”
“To see me?” For some reason, she’d been under the impression that the guys wouldn't be all that keen to have her there, given that she hadn't left under the best of circumstances.
“Why wouldn't they want to see you?”
Cassandra shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just figured they were okay with me staying here again, but they weren't excited enough about it to wait up for me. I thought I’d just see them in the morning.”
Apparently, she’d been dead wrong on that one. Because as Dragon pulled up out the front of the mansion, the door opened and all five of the guys piled out along with a woman with dark red hair who held Steel’s hand.
That had to be Rose.
It was silly, but she was most nervous to meet the woman who had somehow captured Steel’s heart.
She knew these guys about as well as anyone knew them, and they were strong, quiet, keep-to-themselves kind of men.
They’d been kind to her while she stayed with them, but it wasn't in their nature to be excessively friendly, and she couldn’t see one of them falling in love.
Well, except for Lion. She knew there was a woman from his past that he’d left behind, she just didn't know any of the details.
Although the other woman was about the same height as her, there was something intimidating about Rose, something bigger than life, a confidence in the way she held herself that told Cassandra once again she was the odd one out. What was that old Sesame Street song?
One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong.
Why was she always the thing that didn't belong? The different one. The lesser one.
“Welcome h—back,” Steel greeted her when she pulled up her metaphorical big girl panties and managed to open her door and climb out.
Was it her imagination, or had Steel almost said welcome home?
A slip of the tongue, it had to be. Because even though this place felt like home, it could never really become that.
How could it when the guys had made it abundantly clear that she wasn't one of them and her opinion on their plans wasn't valued or wanted?
“It’s always a pleasure to be here,” she said politely, things feeling weird between her and the guys now. They all knew why she’d left, and it felt like that hung between them, erasing the easiness she’d felt when she stayed there last year.
“I’m so excited to meet you,” Rose said, stepping up and offering her hand. “I'm Rose. I'm sorry my jerk of a brother is messing with your life, he likes to do that, thinks he’s a God in the making, but I'm glad for a bit more estrogen to even things out here.”
Taking Rose’s offered hand, Cassandra shook it and mustered up the most genuine smile she could manage right now.
Rose reminded her of the woman she’d always been before she found out the truth about her parentage.
Confident, outgoing, sure in herself, all the things Cassandra now found herself lacking.
“The guys can be a lot,” she agreed. There was no arguing that the six huge men standing around them practically oozed testosterone, and it hadn't escaped her notice that Steel hadn't let go of Rose’s other hand, cradling it gently between his two huge ones because it was in a cast.
“Tell me about it,” Rose agreed cheerfully. “But let’s not stand out here talking, you must be exhausted, and it’s freezing out here. Steel and I cooked you some dinner, but if you're too tired and want to go right to bed we can pack it into the fridge for leftovers.”
Her stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly, and Cassandra felt her cheeks heat. “I could eat.”
“Great,” Rose said with a laugh. “Because I can't wait to talk and get to know you. I’ll fill you in on my pretty depressing childhood, but I've never really had a friend before.” Vulnerability bloomed in Rose’s tone, and when Steel growled, she rolled her eyes and swatted his shoulder.
“Relax, you didn't even know me then. There was nothing you could have done to stop my psycho brother.”
Feeling totally lost in the conversation, because other than knowing who Rose’s brother was, and that Dr. Gardner was the one responsible for giving the guys their enhanced skills, and who was now coming after her, she didn't have many details about what else the scientist had done to the guys.
And she had zero idea what the man had done to his sister, although it was clearly enough for Rose to hate him and work with Delta Team to bring him down.
They all trailed inside and were halfway to the kitchen when Rose suddenly spun around to face her, tears shimmering in the woman’s forest green eyes. Taking a step toward her, Rose paused, seemed to consider her options, then with a shake of her head, threw her arms around Cassandra’s neck.
Caught off-guard, instinct had her returning the other woman’s hug, although she wasn't quite sure what the sudden display of emotion was all about.
“Thank you,” Rose whispered. “I know what you tried to do for me, that you tried to stop them. It all worked out okay, but you were the first person in my entire life to actually care about what happened to me just for me, not because you could get something out of it. I know it messed up things between you and Dragon, but I’ll be forever grateful that you cared even though you didn't know me.”
Her own eyes stung, not just at the sincerity in the other woman’s voice, but because here she was complaining to herself that she didn't feel like she fitted in with the people in her life when she had an entire family that loved her, and Rose hadn't had anyone.
And how did the woman even know about her and Dragon?
It wasn't like they’d paraded around the mansion flaunting that they …
liked each other. Had made it known that feelings were developing and they were attracted to one another.
Felt a connection that neither of them had done much about pursuing.
Cassandra felt like the last year had been full of grieving. Grieving for the man she thought all her life had been her father, grieving for herself and the woman she’d always thought she was, grieving for her family and the distance she felt between them that she knew was one-sided.
Grieving the loss of Dragon and what might have been.
Maybe it was time she stopped being a passive observer in her own life, stopped worrying about the differences she felt separated her from the people who loved her, stopped drowning in grief, pain, and loss, and figured out who Cassandra Charleston was going to be going forward.
If Rose could rise from the ashes and find love with a man who had abducted and tortured her and still find things to smile about and be grateful for, then she had no excuse for not putting pieces of herself back together.
The new Cassandra might be different, maybe a little more jaded, not quite so sunshiny, her pieces might be bent a little, possibly even broken in spots, but in the end, she was still her.