Chapter Fifteen
Cassi
My eyes softly pull open at the sound of a vibration against my bedside table.
A hand reaches over me, turning it off before running fingers through my hair gently.
My gaze moves to look for the owner of the magical fingers, and for a moment I’m surprised.
For one moment, I forgot about last night.
Then, it all comes flooding back to me in an instant.
The kissing, the touching the…shit, can we call that fucking?
It felt so much more than that. The ruining, yeah, that’s more like it.
I told him that we should go to bed and he agreed, followed me up to my room and when I asked him where he was going he said, “with you,” like it was obvious. I can’t lie, that pulled a cheesy as fuck grin out of me.
So, I let him stay the night. We stripped off what little clothes we had left, crawled under the covers as he pulled me until I was on top of his chest before he scratched my head, effectively putting me to sleep.
He must have set an alarm on his phone once I was out so that he could get up before everyone else.
Smart, considering if my sister walked in on us like this, she’d likely burn the whole fucking house down.
“I better slip out of here before someone sees,” he says quietly.
I nod as I lean into his touch, savoring every last stroke of his fingers in case this is the last time I’ll ever feel them. Disappointment starts to eat at me at the thought of that and he’s quick to catch it, tugging my chin up the instant my eyes drop as he forces my gaze onto his.
“I don’t regret last night,” he says, his low voice practically rumbling against my chest as he speaks.
He rolls his lips together like he wants to hold back his words before he lets them go anyways.
“This…us…It’s complicated,” he says, pulling a dry sarcastic laugh out of me as I nod.
“But I can’t stay away from you, Cassi. I don’t want to.”
My heart practically does a backflip in my chest as the sound of a bedroom door opening down the hall startles us both. We look at each other with wide eyes before he leans down, cupping my face as he steals one more kiss before he’s slipping on his clothes and sneaking out of my bedroom.
I lay there, my head still spinning from his kiss alone, never mind his confession.
What the hell am I supposed to do with all of that?
I know what a good sister would do, a good person.
They would not engage. They would tell them that it’s wrong and that they need to go sort their shit out.
Leave me out of it. I know myself far too well to know that is not what I’m going to do, though.
After I manage to pull myself out of bed and take a shower, I comb through my wet hair before throwing it up into a bun for work.
Looking down at my phone, I realize how early of an alarm Nico must have set.
We were barely asleep for three hours before it went off. Who the hell was up this early, then?
I get my answer as soon as I step into the kitchen and find my mom humming to herself, making what smells like pancakes as Nico flips bacon.
A soft smile plays at my lips. You can tell how much he likes my parents, and they like him.
He fits so well into our family. So effortlessly.
If I was the one that brought him home, everything would be perfect.
Unfortunately, that’s not even close to how all of us came to be under one roof.
Complicated is an understatement, this whole situation is messy as fuck.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” my mom greets me as she turns away from the stove, bringing a stack of pancakes to the dining room table.
Nico looks back, gracing me with by far the warmest smile I’ve ever seen him possess.
“Morning,” I say before my eyes pull back to my mom. “Anything I can help with?”
She shakes her head.
“Nico has been a love and practically taken care of everything. Can you believe he was up and at it even before me?”
I nod my head. “That is something, you’re the earliest riser I know.”
She smiles at me and presses a kiss to my cheek as my dad strolls into the room.
“Good morning, how is everyone doing?”
“Good, you’re just in time for all of the food and none of the prep,” my mom teases.
My dad grins at her.
“Sounds like I have excellent timing, then.”
She rolls her eyes, swatting at his shoulder as Nico speaks.
“Morning, Harry. Coffee?” he asks, gesturing towards the fresh cup he is pouring.
“Would love some, thanks, Nico,” he says as he crosses the room, taking the cup with an appreciative head nod.
I walk over to the cabinet, grabbing plates and forks for everyone before we all take a seat at the table once the food is brought over.
Mom and dad sit together on one side and surprisingly, Nico takes a seat beside me.
He must be able to read my thoughts, I swear because he turns to look at me with a barely there grin before his hand comes to my leg, resting on my bare knee.
I can’t help but clear my throat as I shift, attempting to pull my sleep shorts down as if I can make them seven inches longer.
As if having my knees covered with something other than Nico’s bare skin would help dilute the fire that has sparked inside of me and is currently raging from his touch alone.
Apparently, my discomfort is amusing to him as that smile stays in place as he takes a bite of his bacon.
“How was your night?” my mom asks.
Though, at first I don’t hear her, too transfixed with the way Nico’s thumb is gently rubbing against my knee, back and forth, back and forth.
“Huh?” I ask, shaking my head before looking at my mom. “Sorry, what was that?”
She gives me a funny look before speaking again.
“How was your night? Did you guys do anything fun?”
“We did,” Nico answers. “Carly took us to this bar down the road and we played a little pool. It was a nice evening, right, Cassi?”
I look to him, his teasing sitting in plain sight. If his idea is to play things cool, I’ll tell you, he’s failing miserably. If he doesn’t care about being discreet, then he’s a dumbass.
“It was alright.”
“Did you go home with Alec? Or did he come here?” my mom asks.
“Mary,” my dad groans with a wrinkle of her nose.
“What?” she asks. “C’mon, Henry. It’s not like we don’t know she has sex.”
“Ah ah! I’m eating,” he grumbles.
“I’m with dad on this one, mom. My sex life is not breakfast discussion,” I quickly add on.
She looks disappointed for a moment as Nico cuts in, staring at his plate as he stabs a piece of pancake with more force than necessary.
“Besides, she could do much better than that tool.”
“You don’t like, Alec?” my mom asks.
Nico looks up to her, pausing for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.
“Haven’t spent enough time around him to know anything about him, really. Just a feeling I get.”
“He’s a good kid,” dad chimes in. “His parents were wonderful too. They did a good job with him. He’s going through a lot right now, that’s probably what it is.”
Yeah. Or maybe it’s his intense jealousy that’s clouding his judgment, either way.
“I’m really happy you two are giving it another chance. I always thought you guys were going to be those high school sweethearts who got married and lived happily ever after,” my mom says.
I feel Nico’s grip on my leg tighten slightly at that and I know it’s in warning, to choose my words carefully. I’d love to see what he does if I don’t though. So, I push his buttons a little bit.
“It feels like a fresh start, who knows where it’ll take us.”
The inside of my thigh is suddenly pinched and I can’t help but yelp in reaction. My parents give me curious looks, followed by a faux one on Nico’s face.
“You okay?” he asks.
I grit through my teeth as my eyes shoot daggers at him.
“Yeah, bit my tongue.”
He nods. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk so much while you’re eating.”
Ass.
Why do I kinda love it, though?
That gesture right there told me everything I needed to know. He’s far more affected by the idea of me and Alec than even he wants to admit. It drives him fucking crazy. Almost as crazy as the idea of him and my sister drives me, I’d wager.
As if I summoned the devil herself, she walks into the room like a zombie, her hair a mess, mascara smeared across her face and she’s still wearing the same clothes from last night.
“Rough night, hun?” my mom asks, though I can see she’s holding back a smile.
“Coffee,” she answers in response, numbly walking into the kitchen.
I feel Nico’s hand slip away and I can’t help but feel a sting of jealousy from it. Logically, I understand why he did it but illogically, it pisses me off that he stops touching me when she comes into the room.
After Carly pours herself a cup of coffee, she comes to the table, slumping into a seat between Nico and my mom.
“You two have any plans for the day?” my mom asks Nico and Carly.
“Sleeping,” my sister answers as she rests her head onto the table.
Nico nods his head. “We had talked about doing some underground tour thing downtown? Looks like maybe today will be a workday,” he says as he gestures to Carly.
“Oh, I haven’t done the tour in years. How late do they run, I wonder?” she says, turning my dad.
“The latest starts at 6PM. We could probably make that, if it’s not an imposition,” my dad tacks on as he looks to Nico.
Nico shakes his head. “Not at all. Cassi, are you interested?”
The way he says my name has my cheeks flushing, which is stupid because he’s said my name lots of times before.
Actually, not two days ago the sound of him saying my name sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Or maybe I just willed myself to believe that in attempt to shove away the glaring tension building between us.
“Uhm, yeah. It’s pretty cool. I’d be down.”
“It smells horrible down there. Literally, I’ll puke. Count me out,” Carly says as she grabs her cup of coffee, stealing a piece of bacon from Nico’s plate as she stands and stumbles out of the dining room and back upstairs.
“Four tickets it is,” my dad says to himself as his fingers move across his phone. “Locked in.”
“Thank you, Henry. You didn’t have to do that.”
My dad scoffs. “Oh yeah, I didn’t have to do that while you’ve been insisting on paying for every meal, renting a private goddamn yacht just so we can go fishing.”
“Henry, you’re allowing me to stay into your home. It’s the least I can do.”
You can tell that was the perfect thing to say in my dad’s eyes. He gives him a grateful smile and a nod.
“We’ve loved having you. We’re sad to see you guys go. You’re welcome back anytime, we mean that too.”
Nico swallows roughly, like his words mean more than my dad could know.
“I really appreciate that and will be taking you up on that. You all are welcome to Boston anytime. You name the day and I’ll make the arrangements.”
“When are you leaving again?” I ask.
He looks over to me, his expressions generally neutral.
“Tomorrow evening. I have to get back for a board meeting and I’ve extended myself away from the office for as long as I can for now.”
“Well, we appreciate you wanting to spend time with us with so little time left in Seattle,” my mom says.
Nico nods and smiles at her before cutting me a quick look.
“It’s time well spent.”