Chapter Six #3
Cass is closing the lid to the saddlebag when I walk up. I wrap my arms around his waist, interlocking my fingers together and resting my chin on his shoulder as he reaches for his helmet. He stops, mid-reach, and leans his head on mine.
“Where are we going?” I ask, curious.
“Home.” One word. One fucking word that may as well have been an extravagant display of fireworks bursting through the sky. Excitement courses through me. I kiss his cheek and squeal a little.
He laughs and pats my hands. I quickly unwind them from his waist and put my helmet on. I’m ready to see what home looks like. I’ve almost forgotten about his impromptu question at the beach with everything else going on. It slipped my mind.
Between rushing home from Gulfport, worrying about Mindy, then the events of tonight, I haven’t thought about much of anything outside of chaos.
Cass is waiting for me to climb on as he cranks the bike. The roar of the engine makes my heart rate quicken. I’m ready for a ride, just us, headed for solitude. I’ve enjoyed being at the clubhouse, but I’m ready for the next chapter in life with Cass. One without so much chaos.
I lean back onto the sissy bar and rest my hands on my thighs. We are out of the driveway and on the road when I realize just how chilly it is outside. The thin material of my long sleeve shirt doesn’t do much to keep me warm. I’m silently kicking myself in the ass for not grabbing a light jacket.
No matter how cold it is, though, it won’t put a damper on my mood.
I’m finally going to have a place to call home.
A place with just him and I. A taste of normalcy.
I pay careful attention to the turns we’re making and read every road sign that we turn on, recording it to memory.
We’re on an old back road that has just been redone.
The asphalt is dark, and the lines are fresh.
Traffic on the road is average, but Cass easily passes multiple cars that are going less than the speed limit.
We wind around curves left and right while I sit back here, listening to the radio and the wind.
I tap out the beats to different songs on Cass’s back as they play.
The first time I did that, he craned his neck to look at me, but now he’s used to it and doesn’t pay me any mind.
At the end of the back road, we take a right onto a main highway that leads us into a small town.
We come to the only red light in town and Cass turns into the parking lot of a small café.
He kills the bike and unstraps his helmet.
I steady myself with his shoulders, the way I always do, and step off the bike.
He follows suit just as I set my helmet on the seat.
His foot connects with it, sending it flying off just as quickly as I’d set it down.
I retrieve it from across the parking lot and set it back on the seat.
“I always forget that you have to get off the same way I do,” I say.
He chuckles. “Yeah, that’s one thing I do have to do like you.”
“You get hungry?”
“Kinda. I stopped for you, though. I heard your stomach rumbling at the clubhouse before we left and this place has the best food there is.”
“Awe, baby. You’re so damn sweet.” I lean in and kiss his cheek.
“I try,” he grins and takes me by the hand, leading me to the door.
The café is small, but relatively busy. Busier than I thought it would be.
The building is a faded shade of pink with “Juanita’s” painted across the side of it in faded black lettering.
There are small tables inside scattered throughout with a small bar that seats three people and has a television directly above it.
There’s a large opening at the counter to place your order and behind it stands a young girl. She looks to be in her teens, still in high school. She wears her brown hair in a messy bun piled on top of her head and she smiles nervously, revealing braces on her teeth.
“Welcome to Juanita’s. What can I get for y’all?”
Cass looks to me as I scan the menu.
“Go ahead and order. It will force me to pick something.”
Cass orders a double bacon cheeseburger and gravy fries before looking at me again. I was going to get the same thing, but I spot hamburger steak on the menu and I’m sold.
“I’ll take a hamburger steak dinner. Can I have rice and gravy instead of a salad and fries?”
“Umm. I...I think so,” the girl says, looking over her shoulder behind the wall.
“Hold on just a sec,” she says, walking off. She returns quickly, writing something down.
“That’s not a problem. Is that all for y’all?” she asks.
“You didn’t bring your imaginary friend, did you?” Cass asks, staring at me with a straight face.
My cheeks redden and I laugh at his statement as the young girl’s jaw drops.
“Uh...I...” I stammer, unsure of how to respond to him.
“I think she left her at home, so that should be all,” he says, as if he were talking about any other normal thing.
The young girl rings up our ticket and Cass pays while I pick out a booth for us to sit in. Cass snickers when he sits down across from me.
“You should’ve seen the look on your face,” he laughs.
“That was mean!”
“So, did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Bring your imaginary friend?”
I try to keep a straight face, but he’s charming and I can’t fight it.
The young girl brings out our drinks and sets them on the table, leaving quickly. Maybe she’s terrified of Cass’s charm or maybe she’s now scared of me who she believes has an imaginary friend.
“I needed this.” I reach across the table for Cass’s hand.
“Good. I’m glad I could help. But, if you think this made you feel better, just wait.”
I am waiting. I’m beyond excited to see his house. Before I let myself get caught up in thoughts of what it will look like and what we can do to it to make it mine, too, I remember I have a question. Well, I have many questions, but this is the main one bothering me right now.
“Where are Clayton and Brock? They didn’t leave did they?”
“They had something to take care of today. They’ll be back around tomorrow. No, baby. Don’t worry, neither one of them is going to leave without saying goodbye to you.” He rubs his thumb over my hand back and forth in a soothing motion.
Our food is at the table within ten minutes and Cass was right.
The food is delicious. That’s the best hamburger steak I can remember having.
Either that, or it tastes so damn good because I’m starving half to death and can’t remember the last time I ate.
We finish our meal quickly and are back on the road.
Fifteen minutes later, after we go through the outskirts of Hammond and make umpteen turns, we finally end up in a nice subdivision that’s small and spread out.
The small, cozy homes with pretty front yards and brick frontings are beautiful.
Then I see it. The only house in the subdivision that’s gawk-worthy.
It’s dark and no lights shine from inside and there aren’t any vehicles in the driveway.
Cass turns into that driveway. I’m trying to pick my jaw up off the concrete when Cass pulls into a large, open carport and kills the bike.
A motion light illuminates the carport.
“Let’s go check it out. What do you say?”
I wait for Cass to step off before setting my helmet down this time.
I’m speechless and in awe of the beauty of this house.
He takes me by the hand and we walk into the front yard.
The house is solid white with dark shutters.
It’s hard to tell whether they’re blue or black with how dark it is outside.
For me, it has a modern-day plantation feel to it without the actual plantation to go with it.
Multiple medium sized trees line the roadside, giving us a good bit of privacy.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” Cass says, jogging towards the front door. Ten seconds later, the entire front of the house is lit up. I stare in awe of the beautiful home that sits in front of me. I watch as Cass stalks toward me from the house, falling more in love with him every second.
“This is your house?” I ask when he makes it back to where I’m standing.
He wraps an arm around my waist and looks me in the eyes. “No, baby. This is our house. I just bought it…for you.”