Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Cassius
It sinks in that Harmon Stone is at my apartment the moment he pulls up to the curb.
If I weren’t so tired and stressed, I’d have him turn around and go home.
I can’t imagine him in my apartment, not after seeing the way he lives.
The suite we stayed in while in New York was bigger than this… what will he think about that?
But… here we are. There’s nothing I can do about it. Deep down, I know he won’t judge me. At least not out loud, but he may in his head.
No, he won’t. He’s not like that.
“Are you ready to go up?” I ask nervously.
He looks at me with a slight frown. “Shouldn’t I ask you that?”
“This is going to be a whole new world for you.”
“I’ve been inside of an apartment before, Cassius.”
“Oh, yeah? Whose?” He only stares at me. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
I open the door and get out, waiting on the sidewalk for him. When he’s out of the car, I move toward the three-story building and up the porch steps. Which is when I realized I don’t have my keys. Or my cell phone.
“Shit.” I glance at my car, which is probably where I left all my stuff. I’d jumped out so fast when I saw the witch that I didn’t think about anything else. “Hold on.”
I hurry down the steps and to my car, but it’s locked. Cammy must have grabbed everything. I go back to the door and ring the bell. The hallway light flicks on, after a few moments, Cammy opens the door. She lets out a sigh of relief.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be home tonight.”
I step into the hallway and hug her. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. This wasn’t your fault. It was the psycho bitch.”
“I should have kept my cool. I can’t act like that when I have Chrissy to worry about.”
“We’re good, Cass. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“It will be,” Harmon adds in a firm tone. Cammy and I pull apart to look at him. “I will make sure of it.”
Cammy smiles at him fondly, then holds out her hand. “Camarra Carr.”
“Harmon Stone,” he says when he takes her hand and shakes it.
“Were you seeing him in safely, or are you coming up for the night?”
“Cammy,” I hiss, nudging her with my elbow. I don’t miss the innuendo in her voice.
“I’d planned to stay, but if Cassius has changed his mind, I have no problem going home.”
“I’m sure he hasn’t,” Cammy says quickly. “Please come in.”
She pulls me aside to allow room for him. He gives me a humored smile as he passes. I growl at Cammy, then hurry up the steps, letting them follow me up. I try not to think too hard about it when I enter the apartment. Chrissy is sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and—
“I thought we agreed to watch this together,” I say, pointing at the TV, specifically at Dean’s face.
“Chrissy was upset,” Cammy says. “I needed a way to calm her down.”
Chrissy stares at the TV like a zombie. I’m not sure she sees me.
“Hello, earth to Chrissy?” I wave a hand in front of her face. She blinks, then looks up at me.
“Cass!” She jumps up, spilling some of the popcorn and lunging at me, landing in my arms. I squeeze her tightly. “You’re home.”
“Of course I’m home.”
I put her on her feet, and she smiles brightly at me, then her attention goes over my shoulder and her eyes widen.
“You must be Harmon,” she says, shoving past me to go to him.
“And you must be Chrissy,” he responds, offering his hand. Chrissy jumps right at him and hugs him. He huffs a laugh, his body going stiff, but he hugs her back.
I bite my lip as I watch this scene, certain that if I had ovaries, they’d be trying to get out of my body to get to him.
“Have you all eaten?” Harmon asks, looking between the girls.
“Junk food,” Chrissy says, going back to the couch to pick up her mess. “But obviously I’m okay with that.”
“I hear you have a good pizza place a few blocks away? I can pick something up, if you’d like?”
“We use delivery around here,” Cammy says.
“Ah, okay. Well, at least let me pay for it then.”
“Won’t say no to that,” Cammy says with a smile.
“Can we get onion rings?” Chrissy asks.
“Don’t be greedy,” I say.
“You can get whatever you want, Chrissy,” Harmon says.
“Don’t spoil them,” I tell him.
“Why not? You do.”
I narrow my eyes, but he’s not wrong.
I pull up the app, put all the food in the cart, and I try to pay for it, but of course he’s watching and yanks my phone from my hand before I can. I don’t fight him on it.
When he’s done, we move to the couch. I’m thankful we opted for the large L-shaped sectional because there is plenty of space for all of us.
“Oh, is this Supernatural?” Harmon asks.
Chrissy and Cammy’s heads both turn slowly toward him at the same time, the way a porcelain doll’s would in a scary movie. It’s creepy.
“You watch Supernatural?” Chrissy whispers in shock.
“Well, only recently.” Harmon chuckles. “Cassius introduced it to me.”
Cammy eyes me. “I thought we were supposed to watch this together?” she mocks.
“I re-watched the beginning episodes with him,” I argue. “That’s different.”
“Uh-huh.”
The food comes, and I go downstairs to get it. When I come back up, Chrissy has moved right beside Harmon and is explaining something about the show.
I put the boxes on the coffee table and go to the kitchen to get paper plates, napkins, and cups.
Everything goes on the table beside the food, but Chrissy already has the container of onion rings open on her lap, half of them gone.
“In this house, we eat in the living room. I hope that’s okay.” I smirk at Harmon.
He smiles. “It’s your home, Cassius.”
Chrissy falls asleep on the couch, so I carry her to her room. She’s light because she’s too skinny for her age but has put on a few pounds since we’ve moved here, which makes me happy. I’m sure it’ll make her doctor happy when we go for her physical that’s coming up.
“I’m going to bed too,” Cammy says when I come back into the living room. “I have work in the morning.”
“And you need to fill out the application for school. I know tomorrow is the deadline,” I tell her.
She groans. “Night, Cass.”
I sit on the couch beside Harmon. “You can go home if you want.”
“Why would I want that?”
“I don’t know. This is…” I gesture around.
“Exactly what I always wished I had.”
My chest fills with warmth, and I lean against him. His fingers run through my hair.
“Camarra wants to go back to school?”
“She wants to be a nurse.”
“That’s admirable.”
“She’s dreamed of it since we found out Chrissy has epilepsy.”
“Does she have a school in mind?”
“Ideally, she wants to go to Rosewood, but she’s putting in applications at Lucas and Brantley too.”
“Do you want to go back to school?” he asks, his nails raking against my scalp gently.
“Never thought about it. Didn’t think I’d ever be able to.”
“You could if you wanted to.”
“I don’t even know what I’d do, Harmon. I’ve never had time to… think about me and do what I want.”
“You can do that now.”
I sigh, my brain capacity dwindling.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t even know what I like.”
“Understandable, but you have plenty of time to figure that out now. Don’t forget about yourself.”
I glance up at him. “Have you been talking to Cammy?”
He smirks, grasps my chin, and brings his lips to mine.
“I just want you to be happy,” he whispers.
“I’m trying.”
We stay on the couch for a while, cuddling together. The TV shuts off at some point from not being in use, so we’re sitting in the dim room. I’m not tired, but I am content sitting like this with him. The quiet is comforting, his scent keeping me calm.
“Do you want to go lie down?”
“Sure.”
We walk past the girl’s rooms to get to mine. I turn to Harmon before we go inside.
“My bed is smaller than yours,” I say.
I don’t know what size bed he has, but it’s bigger than the king I have. I didn’t know they made beds bigger than that.
“Good. That means there’s no way you’re escaping my grasp.”
I smile as I walk into my room, flipping on the light. I shut the door behind him. He looks around, taking in my lack of things, I’m sure. There is nothing on the walls other than the curtains over the window, and they’re the same dull navy blue that matches the comforter on my bed.
Harmon turns to look at me. “Why haven’t you decorated? Your sister’s rooms are pretty.”
“What’s the point?”
“To be comfortable. To enjoy your space. To be surrounded by things that make you happy.”
“Is that what your house is?” I ask, feeling both on the spot and defensive.
He grimaces. “No. And that’s exactly why I know it’s what you should do.” He steps closer to me, his hand going to my waist. “You’re not going to lose this apartment, Cassius. Not ever. I won’t allow it. Make it a home. Settle in. Let yourself be happy.”
I clench my jaw and look away, but his fingers grasp it and make me look at him again.
“I am here for you in any and every capacity you need me. I will do anything you ask and give you anything you need.”
“But… why?” The words come out raspy.
“Because you give me the one thing I’ve always wanted.”
“Which is?” I question.
“Acceptance—truly and completely.” His mouth goes to my neck, kissing me softly. “Let’s get to bed. You must be exhausted.”
We undress to our boxer briefs and crawl into bed together. I rest my head on his chest and throw my arm over his stomach. That’s how we fall asleep.