Chapter 2 The Moldy Pod
KNUCKLES
I stared after Cassidy for a long time after she ran inside her house. My feet were bricks, frozen to the ground with the weight of her parting shot.
“…unlike some other people I know who can only be bothered to say anything to me when no one else is around to witness it.”
“You fucked that up pretty good, didn’t you, boy?” I hadn’t even realized my grandfather was down this end of the property. His voice startled me, but his words hammered home how stupid I’d been.
“Was she telling the truth? Do you ignore Cassidy when you see her anywhere else?”
“She’s always with Simone. I’m not ignoring Cassidy, it’s just…” While it was partially true because I wanted to get into Simone’s pants, there was no denying the lie I was about to spew and my grandfather knew it.
“Uh-huh. You know, I never ignore other people in the room just because the love of my life happens to be there, too. Your grandma would have my hide if I did, and she wouldn’t be the love of my life if she was okay with that kind of behavior.
” Grandpa let that sink in a minute and then he glared down into the fire that Cassidy left behind.
“Besides, I doubt very seriously that Simone Galloway is the love of anyone’s life - least of all yours. ”
“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Means you enjoy looking at her curves, boy. Maybe her face. You’re thinking with your dick and hormones.
Thing you don’t understand yet is that a person’s looks change over time and sometimes they fade altogether.
When they’re gone, substance matters. Humanity, humility, love, loyalty, a sense of humor, and the ability to stick out the rough times are the building blocks that keep love alive.
Looks are nothing but the foundation of fleeting lust.”
“How do you know Simone doesn’t possess those qualities?”
“Didn’t you just say so yourself, boy?”
“Huh?”
“You told poor Cassidy that Simone ain’t much of a real friend to her at all. Cass thinks that girl is her best - probably only - friend. You said yourself that Simone leaves Cass out of all the fun stuff friends should do together. Does that sound like a loyal and honest person to you?”
I said nothing. Hadn’t Cassidy just proved my point wrong for the most part?
Grandpa scoffed at my silence. “What do I know? You are apparently made of the same stuff as Simone. Two peas in a moldy pod. Maybe you were made for one another. All surface, no substance. Neither of you deserves Cassidy in your lives and that’s a damn shame - for you.
” He added that last bit with a heap of disappointment in his tone.
As Grandpa walked away, I was left feeling like someone kicked me in the damn balls.
I glanced back toward Cass’s house and wondered if I should go fix things with her, but what was the point?
She was right. She never fit with my crew at school, though Jasper had no issue talking to her today in front of everyone.
No one gave him a hard time over it the way I always thought they would.
Maybe I had it all wrong, but I thought if I acknowledged the friendship Cass and I had at home that it might change how everyone at school saw me.
I was popular, had football going for me, and enough friends that I was never alone or bored on the weekends.
I didn’t want that to change because I spoke to a girl who no one outside of Simone wanted to hang out with at school.
“Be sure to put that fire out before you come back to the house,” Grandpa called out to me.
I glanced down at the fire and felt like shit once again.
Cassidy had looked so fucking peaceful out here enjoying the evening by the fire before I fucked it all up for her.
My eyes tracked back to the shadows that surrounded her too-dark house.
She must have been alone again. Her father and stepmother were constantly on the go and Cass always seemed to be left out of the equation.
It made me feel even shittier to know that she was forgotten at home, too.
It wasn’t something we ever talked about that much, but a few things had slipped here and there and I knew that her home life and relationship with her father had changed dramatically since her stepmom came into their lives.
There wasn’t much I could do about any of it, especially after the way I’d just blown up our hangout times at my grandparents’ house.
It was four days later when I finally saw Cassidy at school again.
Her long, blonde hair that reminded me of corn silk trailed down her back and swished around her shoulders as she walked.
At times, I’d wanted to reach out and touch it to see if it was as soft as it seemed.
Then I would shake that thought away because - what the fuck?
I wasn’t into Cass like that. She was a sometimes friend and nothing more.
“What’s up with that?” Jasper asked as he nodded to the girl I owed a huge apology to.
“What do you mean?”
He nodded again in the direction Cassidy was headed. “Since when is Simone the one trailing behind while Cassidy blazes a path somewhere?” We both watched as the two girls eventually turned out of sight. He wasn’t wrong. The dynamic between them seemed to have shifted quite a bit.
“A few days ago, I may have pointed out that Simone only hung out with Cassidy at school and never brought her along to parties,” I admitted absently.
“Probably for the best. Cassidy deserves better than the limited attention she gets from everyone. You of all people should know that.”
“The fuck, man?”
“You stay at your grandparents’ place next door to her more than you’re at your dad’s. You have to realize she has no one at home who gives a shit about her. Why do you think she bakes with your grandma all the time?”
I felt like an asshole because Jasper - who was barely around Cassidy knew that and it took my grandfather and feeling like a complete asshole the other night for me to put it all together. Before then, I thought her stepmom was just a shitty cook or something.
“You into Cassidy?” I asked my friend.
Jasper shook his head. “Nah. Too sweet for me. I like my girls a little more daring and a whole lot less Susie Homemaker.”
“Someone else in mind?”
“I thought so, but it turns out she’s not interested.”
“I bet that changes after you have a patch into the Kings.”
Jasper laughed. “Yeah, no doubt. Only, I’m starting to think she wasn’t the one for me anyway. The bitch is beautiful but she’s kind of an asshole to people who don’t deserve it.”
“Well, shit. That sucks. Better to find someone else more suited. Besides, you’ll have club pussy lined up to suck your cock whenever you want soon.”
“You could, too,” Jasper reminded me.
“Not sure if I want to be a biker for life, man. I like riding but I don’t know. Gramps is in my ear about taking over the ranch. Not like there’s much left of the ranch after my dad fucked it all up, but still.”
“From what I heard, the club helps its members with endeavors like that. They take a cut, and it gives them legitimate income to claim to help cover the rest that they bring in.”
“I’ll think about it.” I wasn’t sure that getting involved in a money laundering ring was the way to go with my family’s ranch, but something had to give.
My grandfather made a mistake when he trusted my dad to run things.
Before he was able to wrestle everything back, my dad managed to get us in so deep that it was a real possibility we’d lose a chunk of our land to the bank or other, shadier creditors who had recently come calling.
My family’s troubles were the reason I didn’t have time to concern myself with why Simone had started to follow Cassidy around like a wounded puppy instead of the other way around.