Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
C assidy and Warrick were escorted into Deming’s office late the next morning. The room was bustling with activity ranging from politicians to staff to press and to Dasha sitting on the couch sipping coffee, wearing what looked to be Deming’s dress shirt as a dress.
Deming’s dark smudges under his eyes bespoke to having not yet slept. Something Cassidy could relate to. She’d tossed and turned all night, replaying the conversation with her mystery man. Then after she became all hot and bothered, she felt guilty. She was more romantically and sexually interested in a man whose name she didn’t know than any man who had shown her interest in Keeneston. She also didn’t know if he was good or bad, or even how he looked.
Cody was a sexy playboy. Holt was a sexy superstar country singer. Knox was a sexy quarterback. Jordan was a sexy retired quarterback. Deming was, thankfully, appearing very interested in the brave Dasha. Yet, Cassidy didn’t want any of them. She wanted a man whose name she didn’t even know. What was wrong with her? Yet, it felt so right when he kissed her. He didn’t treat her as if she were on a pedestal. He treated her like his equal. She knew he respected her and that was sexier than anything.
“Cass,” Warrick hissed, getting her attention.
“Hmm?”
“President Nikan asked if you were going to King Draven’s celebration.”
Cassidy looked over to Deming and nodded. “Only if you don’t need us anymore. We’re happy to stay and help clean things up.”
Deming shook his head. “I’m good here. The Rahmi and American ambassadors are helping where I need it. Thanks to your plan, I know exactly who is friend and who is foe. My cabinet has been scrubbed and I feel invigorated to move forward with several more initiatives my foes had been convincing me to hold back on. I’m going to be very busy in the best way.”
Cassidy saw him glance at Dasha and smile before looking back at Cassidy. “Please present Draven and Addison and their baby with a gift on my behalf. Dasha picked it out this morning. I had no idea what to get someone who just had a baby.”
He handed her a giant box with a bow on it. “I know my opinion doesn’t matter,” Cassidy told him. “But I really like Dasha. She was very brave and was fighting by your side, supporting your every step. If I’ve learned anything from the marriages in my family, it’s that those two traits are very important in a relationship.”
Deming actually blushed. “Everything feels right when I’m with her. It’s crazy. It has only been a day,” he whispered.
“It only takes a day to fall. That’s what my family always says. When a Davies falls in love, they fall hard, fast, and forever.” Her mind instantly went to the feel of the man lying on top of her kissing her senseless.
Deming smirked as if seeing her thoughts. “I hope you’ve found the same, Cassidy. You’re a great friend and deserve a man who loves you as fiercely as you love.”
Cassidy swallowed hard as she remembered the verbal and sexual sparring from last night. When Deming chuckled, she realized she’d zoned out once again and blushed at being caught.
“Who that man is, is anyone’s guess,” Cassidy said, taking the present from the desk. “I’ll give Draven and Addison your love.” She glanced at where Dasha was talking to the vice president’s wife and turned back to Deming. “And maybe the next time I see you is at your wedding.”
“Don’t go too fast, Cassidy. Dasha and I just met.” But the longing in Deming’s eyes told her more than anything. Deming had fallen and fallen hard. By the sweet glances Dasha was sending him, she felt the same.
Cassidy loved love and was so happy for her friend. Yet, she frowned. She wouldn’t have that with her mystery man. He hadn’t shown her his face and here she was catching feelings and thinking of a relationship. She was getting too caught up in the romance and mystery of it all, but the practicality of it wasn’t there. There was no relationship. There was no boyfriend. There was no future.
“Everything okay?” Warrick asked as they left the palace.
“Yeah, everything is fine.” She said it but didn’t feel it.
“The car is here to take us to the airport. How long until your flight to Bermalia?” Warrick asked as he gestured to the black SUV Deming had offered them.
“Two hours,” Cassidy told him. “When is your flight back to DC?”
“Four hours.” Warrick opened the door for her and they slid into the backseat. “But I have a new book to read so it won’t be that bad of a wait.”
It turned out Cassidy didn’t have as much time as she thought. By the time she and Warrick checked in and made it through security, her plane was getting ready to board. They’d said goodbye at her gate as she was hurried on the plane with the rest of the stragglers.
She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep, but the plane had barely taken off before her eyelids closed and she was out cold. Only the jarring of the wheels touching down in Bermalia woke her. Cassidy had missed every beverage and meal service. She was rested, but starving by the time she caught a car to the palace.
“You know you can’t go in there, right miss?” the cab driver named Zen told her, stopping in front of the palace. “They’re locked down for the royal baby. The announcement for the heir will be tomorrow. All these world leaders are coming into town.”
Cassidy used her credit card to pay the fare and smiled at him. “I grew up with Queen Addison. It’s not only diplomats, but friends and family too. I heard they invited over two hundred citizens too.”
“You know the king and queen?” Zen asked with surprise.
“I do. They’re great people. Well, except for your king’s obsession with his royal member.”
“It’s a magnificent royal member that has blessed us with an heir and the most prosperous five-year reign I can ever remember.”
Cassidy tried not to laugh because she knew while Draven could be a little extra, he and Deming had gone by the Mo playbook and turned their countries around for the better. That didn’t mean she hadn’t also seen his royal member too many times to count. Although, Draven’s bedazzled balls were something to behold. Something else.
“Because of King Draven and Queen Addison, I now own my own cab and have even started a business. I now have three people who drive for me. Never would I have imagined owning my own company.”
“Thank you for telling me this. I see them as my friends, so it’s nice to hear the good they’re doing. Would you mind waiting for my escort to arrive so I can enter the palace before you leave?” Cassidy asked, already sending a text to Draven.
“Of course, if you tell me about our queen growing up. She’s so regal.”
Cassidy told him stories of how smart Addison was in high school and how much fun her parents were. They were lost in the story when her escort tapped on her window.
Zen gasped as he looked out at King Draven standing beside his cab. “My escort is here. Would you like to meet him?” Cassidy asked as Draven opened her door for her. Zen opened his door and promptly bowed the second he got to his feet. “Draven, this is Zen. Because of you and Addison, he’s been able to start his own cab company.”
Draven held out his hand to Zen. “I am so glad to hear this, Zen. It is a pleasure to meet you. Would you mind if I gave your name to my economics and development chair so she can reach out to you to learn about your experience and how we can improve it to help even more people reach their dreams?”
Cassidy felt so proud of Draven. He really had come a long way as a leader. Just as Deming had. Zen happily agreed, still in disbelief at meeting the king.
“And congratulations, Your Majesty, on the birth of your child. My wife and I send all our best wishes to your family.”
“Thank you, Zen. I am very eager to introduce them to my beloved country. Are you free tomorrow? Would you and your wife like to attend the celebration?” Draven asked, waving over his assistant.
Cassidy thought Zen might faint with joy. Draven shook his hand again as a previously unseen staffer took Cassidy’s bag and Deming’s gift. After securing Zen’s info, Cassidy and Draven headed back into the palace.
“Thanks for doing that, Draven. I thought you might like to see that what you and Addison are doing is affecting the everyday people of your country.”
“My pleasure. It helps me to know what’s working and what needs improvement. Mo and King Dirar taught me that. Now, would you like the meet the baby and see Addison?”
“Only if she’s up to it.” Cassidy looped her arm through Draven’s and went to visit her friend and their baby.
Keeneston descended on the palace right before dinner. Addison’s mother, Neely Grace, had insisted she stay in her suite and relax for the evening. Tomorrow night was a big night for a new mother. Henry, the proud new grandfather, had arrived in a T-shirt that said GRANDPA across the front AND A GILF written across the back. “Hello everyone!” Henry called out. “I’m so excited that I’m not only a DILF, but yes, I’m also now a GILF!” Cassidy had never seen Henry so excited or so proud. She loved the way Draven ran to Henry, hugged him tight, and called him Grandpa.
Right behind Henry and Neely Grace was the rest of the town. The Rose sisters and their husbands, Kenna and Will and all their children and grandchildren, Dani and Mo and the Rahmi royal family, Veronica and Blythe, and the entire Davies family.
Tables were set up in the formal dining room of the palace, but it was the least formal dinner they’d probably ever had in the room. Everyone was walking around talking to each other as dinner was served family style.
Cassidy had hugged her parents and her little sister, Cricket, before being whisked away by her brother Dylan, his wife, Abby, and Kale and his wife, Delaney. “Congrats on stopping the coup and keeping Deming safe,” Dylan told her.
She’d always looked up to her big brother. He was a badass, but was really a big ol’ teddy bear under the growling. “Thanks. It was a risk, but I didn’t see any other way to find out who was behind the coups.”
“You pulled a mom,” Piper said, joining them.
“First, couldn’t have done it without your nanotech clothing. Thank you for that. But what do you mean, I pulled a mom?” Cassidy asked as her brother Jace joined them.
“I thought the same thing,” Jace said with a chuckle. “You don’t remember Cookiegate?”
“No,” Cassidy said with a frown.
“Mom was baking cookies for a bake sale when Dylan and I were in elementary school. You were maybe four years old,” Piper told her. “She didn’t want to be rushed the night before, so she started baking ahead of time. But every morning when she came downstairs, several cookies were missing.”
“So, she set up a sting,” Dylan told Cassidy. “She baked the cookies and left them right there on the kitchen table. She tucked everyone in bed and said how tired she was and that she was also going to bed. She turned off all the lights and snuck downstairs to hide.”
“Around midnight, the culprit came into the kitchen,” Piper said, trying not to laugh. “Sat at the table and ate almost a dozen cookies.”
Cassidy’s eyes widened as the memory came flooding back. “That’s right! I got in so much trouble for that! I didn’t eat a cookie for a year.”
Everyone nodded. “See,” Jace told her. “You pulled a mom with Deming. You dangled the open presidency in front of the people who wanted it the most and then waited to see who snuck in to take it.”
Cassidy and her siblings laughed at the memory, but when Kale and Greer joined them with a frown, the mood shifted.
“Did something happen?” Cassidy asked them.
“Kale told me you talked to the Boogeyman,” Greer said and suddenly her siblings were no longer laughing.
“Who’s that?” Piper and Jace asked, but Dylan was already growling.
“You met him! Did you kill him?” Dylan demanded to know.
“No, why would I kill him? He had my back and got me out of an ambush,” Cassidy told her brother.
Greer Able, one of Cassidy’s cousins, headed up the secret organization called the President’s Guard. They were a black ops group who acted only at the president’s discretion and never in an official capacity. She currently didn’t look happy.
“We don’t know who he is, Cass,” Greer lectured, sounding like the mother she was going to be in several months. “You should have captured him.”
“He’s a good guy, Greer. He’s not a danger to the president.” Well, hopefully.
“He called Dad an old grandpa who was just a soldier,” Kale pointed out.
Abby cursed under her breath. “No wonder Dad was in a mood. He’s going to hunt the man down and kill him.”
“No!” Cassidy shouted.
All eyes turned to her.
“Ooh,” Piper sang. “I’m telling Mom you fell in love with a terrorist.”
“Not if I tell her first!” Jace said, reaching out to grab Piper’s arm so he could get the jump on her.
“Stop,” Cassidy hissed. “I’m not in love, and he’s not a terrorist.”
Dylan was practically seething. “It sounds as if you got to know him very well to make that kind of call. Exactly what did you two talk about?”
Cassidy felt fiercely protective of her time with her mystery man. She didn’t know how much she wanted to tell her brother, but at the same time, she felt the need to protect the mystery man too. She wanted her family to have his back the way they had hers. So, she filled them in on the ambush, the man in charge who’d gotten away, and the theory that history might be repeating itself. She left out the naked kissing parts, though, being an intelligent woman.
“I have to tell the president,” Greer whispered when Cassidy had finished.
“No. I told you as my cousin and my family. He doesn’t want the president to know yet because there’s no evidence that they’re back. It’s just a feeling,” Cassidy said in a hushed whisper to not draw the attention of everyone in the room.
“What’s this revenge he’s seeking?” Abby asked as Greer ground her teeth, trying to decide where her loyalty lay—her family or the president.
“I’m not sure,” Cassidy admitted. “And it’s not like I have his phone number and can call him up and ask him.”
“Cass,” Greer said, drawing her attention. “Tomorrow the president and several American and Rahmi officials will be here. Will they be in danger?”
“From the mystery man? No. From whatever this mission of his is? I don’t know,” Cassidy admitted. What she would give to be able to talk to him again. Find out more about his past and what he was after. She wanted to help. She wanted to wash the grief and anger he must feel to desire that revenge from him. She wanted to love him. “Let’s talk about it more tomorrow,” Cassidy told her family. “I’m exhausted. Thank you for respecting my wishes to keep this between only us for now.”
“I won’t keep your secrets if you are in danger,” Dylan told her bluntly.
“I know. And I love you for it. Goodnight.” Cassidy headed to her room, secretly hoping to find him in the shadows. She opened the door, lights on and the room empty.