Chapter 11 #2
What he didn't expect was for another sob to break free as she tugged herself out of his grip and ran off into the forest.
January 6th
6:14 P.M.
Running hadn't been her smartest decision.
Especially since Dragon had opened up to her and told her about what happened to him and his team. Instead of offering him the comfort he needed, she’d panicked because he’d dug at a wound he didn't even know existed.
Nobody knew.
Because to the rest of the world, she was always sweet Cassandra Charleston.
Tragically, she’d lost both her parents by the time she was five, had six overprotective big brothers who all her girlfriends had crushes on, and all her boyfriends were scared of.
She was a librarian, who spent her days surrounded by books and working with kids. She was bright, bubbly, and sunshiny.
All of that was true, but beneath lurked a secret.
One she hadn't shared with anyone she knew.
One that had haunted her since she learned the truth about what happened to her mom and how she was conceived.
Would Dragon still want her if he knew the truth? Knew what she craved deep down in the secret places of her soul?
The answer had to be no.
The only reason he was interested in her was because he thought she represented everything he’d never had but always wanted.
Her allure was the sweet, innocent girl everyone thought she was.
If he knew that she had much darker fantasies lurking beneath that bubbly exterior of hers, he’d regret ever wasting a second on her.
Still running had been childish.
Even if he’d just confirmed that whatever she hadn't allowed herself to hope for between her and Dragon would never happen because he wanted someone who didn't really exist.
Despite that, she should have thanked him for opening up to her. She knew how hard that must have been for him to let in someone who was an outsider. She doubted anyone at Prey outside of Eagle Oswald himself knew the whole truth about the Delta Team guys, she was sure her brothers didn't.
Now, after hours of wandering aimlessly through the grounds, Cassandra had come back to the house. She couldn’t stay outside forever, it was already dark and getting colder by the second.
It was time to face Dragon and the mistake she’d made in running.
Walking into the house was like stepping into an oven.
She was immediately surrounded by a wall of heat that made her cheeks sting as she began removing her outer clothing.
Slipping off her boots, she padded lightly through the house, heading for the kitchen.
She’d had a late lunch, but Cassandra was hungry again.
As a peace offering, she should ask Dragon if he’d like her to cook him—and the others—something for dinner.
She enjoyed cooking. Since her grandparents had been older by the time they took in her and her brothers, she’d often stepped up to help with chores to give them a break.
Especially after her brothers all graduated from high school and went off to enlist in the military or college.
“It didn't rise,” Dragon said from the kitchen as she approached, disappointment heavy in his voice.
“She won't care,” Rose said back.
“True, D, she won't,” Steel added.
“I wanted everything to be perfect,” Dragon huffed, and she could hear pots and pans being clanged about, although she had no idea what he was making.
“She doesn’t care about perfect,” Rose said soothingly. “She’ll appreciate the effort. I swear it won't matter to her that the bread didn't rise.”
Bread? Dragon was making her homemade bread?
That had been one of her favorite winter hobbies ever since she hit her teens.
She’d bake a fresh batch of bread in the afternoon, and then for dinner she’d eat it warm, straight from the oven, or sometimes toast it and spread her grandmother’s fresh homemade strawberry jam on it.
The smell of baking bread always gave her that warm and fuzzy feeling she associated with home.
When she’d stayed there before, she’d baked bread no more than a handful of times. How had Dragon figured out it held such emotional significance to her?
“The jam turned out perfect,” Steel piped up, and Cassandra’s heart swelled as tears clouded her eyes.
Even after she’d thrown his revelation back in his face by running, he still wanted to do something so unbelievably sweet for her. And the man thought he didn't feel emotions and had no conscience.
Hurrying the rest of the way into the kitchen, she found Dragon trying to scoop out the dough that hadn't risen from the mixing bowl. All three heads snapped around to look at her as her socked feet skidded to a stop.
“You made me homemade bread and jam?” she asked Dragon, uncaring of the fact that they had an audience.
The big man shrugged, and a slight blush darkened his tanned skin.
He looked somewhat sheepish about it, but it was one of the nicest things anyone had done for her in a long time.
Part of playing the role of someone who had it all together was that people believed you.
Her brothers would forever be her protectors, but they were building new lives, and while she knew they would never ever forget about her, she was going to play a less prominent role in their futures as the women they’d fallen in love with took center stage.
As it should be. There wasn't a hint of jealousy inside her, her brothers deserved their happy endings, she just felt lonely and left out.
Or she had.
Until now, anyway.
Without hesitation, Cassandra hurried over to Dragon and threw her arms around his waist, uncaring of the fact that he was covered in flour, which now smeared all over her clothes and face, even getting in her hair.
“Thank you,” she whispered, pressing her face into his chest and breathing in deeply Dragon’s slight woodsy scent, now softened with the sweetness of strawberries, and the doughiness of rising bread.
Slowly, his arms came up to wrap around her. “The bread didn't rise. I messed it up somehow. I followed the recipe I found exactly so I don’t know why.”
Smiling, she pulled back a little while remaining in the circle of his embrace. “I could teach you my recipe if you want?”
Those unusual eyes of his searched hers as though he didn't quite believe her. “You want to?”
“I'd love to. This is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.”
“You have six brothers who spoil you rotten,” he reminded her.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up with six crazily overprotective brothers?
No boy asked me out until I was in college because one of my brothers would always be hanging around to scare them off.
I don’t know how they managed it since they were all in the military, but one of them always seemed to be home.
I had to throw the biggest tantrum to convince them to let the boy I liked ask me to go to prom. ”
“They love you.” Dragon’s hand brushed some flour off her cheek, and she couldn’t not think of the gentle way he’d wiped away her tears when he found her sobbing in her—no their—special place in the forest.
Or the way his finger had felt against her lips.
“They do,” she agreed. “They drive me crazy, but I'm so lucky to have them in my life. They’re the best big brothers any girl could ever wish for. Dragon.” Her fingers curled into his T-shirt, grabbing fistfuls of it and praying he believed her. “Me running, it wasn't because of you.”
“Sure,” he said, clearly not believing her.
When he went to move away, she tightened her grip. “I swear. I'm so grateful you opened up to me, shared the horrors you endured. It helped me to understand why you were so adamant about your decision and why you didn't want me interfering.”
That violet gaze of his searched her eyes again, assessing the truthfulness of her words, and she could see his nostrils flaring as he obviously used his enhanced scent to try to do the same.
“You're not a monster. Not now and not ever. You might be scared to let your emotions out because of how you were brought up and then what happened, but you still feel them in here.” Keeping one fistful of T-shirt in her fingers, she placed her other palm above his heart.
“What you're doing right now, making me bread and jam, even after I ran off, proves that you are a good man who cares about the people in his life. Who cares about me.”
“You don’t have to explain—”
Pressing her fingertips to his lips, the same way he’d silenced her earlier when she was going to tell him she was sorry she’d interfered, even if she could never endorse hurting an innocent woman, she shushed him.
“I want to explain. When I ran it had nothing to do with you or what you’d just told me. ”
Taking in a deep breath, Cassandra wondered how much to say.
There was no way she was comfortable telling Dragon all about her darkest fantasies, because once she told him, she shattered his illusion of her and lost him forever.
For now, she needed the grounding his feelings gave her, even though that was incredibly selfish of her.
“I'm not the innocent girl everyone thinks I am,” she admitted, dropping her gaze because she knew there would be doubt in Dragon’s.
He wouldn't believe her if she told him the truth, nobody would. And Cassandra didn't know how to express the side of herself she kept hidden. If people knew the truth, especially those who knew what had happened to her mom, they would realize just how broken inside she really was.