Chapter 27
VIGO
I watched Cassie through the window of the coffee shop, moving around behind the counter, chatting with customers and laughing with Drew, the guy who worked the afternoon shift at the coffee shop.
I’d been glad to learn he was gay. I wasn’t the jealous type but I didn’t love the idea of Cassie working day in and day out with some guy who wanted to get in her pants.
I tried not to think too hard about what it meant that I felt that way. That I felt anything at all for Cassie but especially the big feelings that had grown after her accident.
“What if she isn’t up for it?” Jagger asked from the back seat.
“It’ll be good for her,” Hawk said from the passenger seat.
I watched as Cassie moved around the counter, her bag slung over her shoulder, and felt that weird stutter thing that had been happening in my chest lately, like my heart was skipping beats, like my chest might collapse.
She was so fucking pretty. Her hair always kind of shimmered, like she was a fucking angel, and the sparkle was back in her hazel eyes, which sometimes looked green and sometimes looked blue, depending on the light and her mood.
And yeah, she had a banging body, one I loved exploring, getting lost in, but deep down I knew that feeling in my chest wasn’t about fucking.
She walked toward the door of the coffee shop and stepped onto the sidewalk, then did a double-take when she spotted us parked at the curb in the G-Wagon.
Her smile was enough to make me catch my breath. “What are you guys doing here?”
The car she’d been renting until the insurance company paid out on her Subaru was parked further up the street because Cassie always left the spots in front of the shop open for her customers even though she got to the shop early most mornings.
“Picking up our mouse,” I said, through Hawk’s open window.
He got out of the car and held the door open for her. “Get in.”
“Where are we going?”
She was already getting in and I liked that she trusted us enough to do that without asking questions.
“Shopping,” I said, putting the car in gear.
“Shopping for what?”
“For our date tomorrow night,” I said. “Obviously.”
I didn’t want to go to the award ceremony honoring my dad, but it was a deal I’d made with myself when I left academia, a deal my parents and I had made with each other: we didn’t agree on much but we still showed up for each other when it mattered.
Which was why Hawk, Jagger, and I were walking down Fifth Avenue with Cassie between us, the sun shimmering off the glass buildings that towered over the city.
The late summer heat had baked into the city’s concrete and steel, and I was glad I’d left my leather jacket in the car in the parking garage.
The field trip might not have been necessary. For all I knew, Cassie had something to wear to the banquet. But after everything she’d been through I was eager to spoil her — we all were — and the award ceremony honoring my dad seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend money on our mouse.
“Are you sure your parents will want me at this thing?” Cassie asked, her hand in mine as we passed Van Cleef & Arpels.
Jagger and Hawk walked behind us so we didn’t take up too much room on the sidewalk.
City people fucking hated that.
“I want you there,” I said.
I wanted her everywhere all the time, but I wasn’t quite sure how to tell her that.
That cute little line formed on the bridge of her nose, the one that appeared when she was worried or deep in thought. “Geez, that’s super comforting.”
“It’ll be fine,” I said. “They’ll be busy with their big-brained friends."
She sighed. “Okay, but I don’t need new clothes. Especially clothes from Fifth Avenue.”
She side-eyed the Louis Vuitton store like it was a shady pawn shop.
“What’s wrong with Fifth Avenue?” Jagger asked behind us.
“Nothing’s wrong with it. I just can’t afford to shop here.”
“You’re not buying,” Hawk said.
“You’re not buying me clothes,” she said.
“We’re doing whatever we want,” Hawk said. “Just like always.”
He didn’t have to sound like such a dick about it, but he wasn’t wrong.
We passed Prada and came to the Gucci storefront on the ground floor of Saks Fifth Avenue.
Cassie froze. “Wait… we’re going to Gucci?”
“We’re going to Saks,” I said. “You can get everything there. Would you rather go to Gucci?”
“No, I just…” She rubbed her forehead, something she’d started doing around the small scar where she’d had stitches after the accident. “This is a lot.”
I stopped on the sidewalk and pulled her out of the throng of pedestrian traffic.
“Sorry.” I stroked her velvety cheek with my thumb. “Maybe I should have asked you to go with me since it’s a date?”
Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t actually asked Cassie to go to the award ceremony. I’d just told her we were going and started driving toward the city to get her a dress, like a fucking maniac.
Not very civilized, I guess.
She pressed her lips together like she was trying not to laugh. “Asking is… nice for a date.”
“Fuck. I fucked this.” I took her hand, looked at the sky, and took a deep breath. Then I looked her in the eyes because that was probably a part of the whole date thing. “Cassie Montgomery, will you accompany me to my dad’s award ceremony Saturday night?”
A smile lit up her face. “I’d love to.”
“Can we go inside now?” Hawk asked behind me.
“Obviously,” I said. “Our mouse needs a dress. And she’s going to get a fucking dress.”
Jagger reached for the glass door of the department store, then held it open as a well-heeled older woman with glossy black hair and red lipstick emerged.
“Love the lipstick,” I told her, making a chef’s kiss motion with my fingers. “Major cougar energy. Rawr.”
She tried to scowl but a smile quirked at the corners of her lips as she approached a black car with tinted windows idling at the curb.
Hawk entered the store ahead of me, then Cassie.
But when I tried to enter Jagger put his boot down in front of me, blocking the path.
“Be cool.”
“What do you mean?” I knew what he meant but it was fun to ask and even more fun to make him answer.
“Act like you were raised by human beings instead of wolves.”
I grinned. “No problem.”