20. Trenton
Trenton
The car rolls to a stop down a side street, and Sam makes eye-contact with me in the rearview mirror.
I turn over my wrist and glance at the time. “They should be here any minute.”
My knee bounces while I wait.
When Cassidy’s parents showed up the other night, it was a shock to my system.
I’d heard about what shitty parents they were to her, but hearing a story pales in comparison to seeing it play out right in front of your eyes.
I wanted to wrap my hands around her father’s throat and squeeze until he turned twelve shades of purple.
Who speaks to his daughter that way?
Who speaks to my girl that way?
She is everything good and kind and gentle in this world, and I’m going to protect her any way I can—even if it means making a deal with the devil himself.
Five minutes pass and then Cassidy’s parents appear at the side of our blacked-out Escalade. Sam unlocks the doors and they slide into the back row.
“I knew you’d come through,” Allen says. The overbearing scent of his Old Spice tinges my nostrils.
I twist around in the seat and glare at him. “Make no mistake, I’m not doing this for you.”
“You’re doing it for love.” Pam coos. “So romantic.”
“A man in love is a dangerous thing.” Allen winks at his wife. “He’ll do just about anything for his woman.”
“This is as far as my love goes,” I lie. “You get what you want, and I get what I want. I never want to see you come anywhere near her again.”
Allen clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “That all depends on how much you’re giving us.”
I slip the check out of my coat pocket and pass it over the seat. “You’ll be grateful for whatever I give you, and then you’ll disappear from Cassidy’s life.”
Allen snatches it from my fingertips and shows it to his wife. “I think you left off a zero at the end of this number.”
My jaw clenches. “I think I gave you too many zeroes.”
He chokes out a laugh. “Are you saying there’s a cap on your love for my daughter?”
I grip onto the door handle to keep myself from lunging over the seat and beating the piss out of this asshole. “Get out of the car. Now.”
“You sure I can’t persuade you to give us a little more?” Pam licks her lips. “I promise, I’m well-worth your time.”
My stomach roils. “I said get out.”
She pouts as her husband climbs out of the truck.
“Cassidy doesn’t know you’re here, does she?” Allen asks.
I don’t bother responding.
He already knows the answer.
I wouldn’t be here if she knew.
The second the door closes, Sam peels away from the curb. My head falls back against the headrest, and I rub my temples in small circles as unease twists my insides.
“You think that was the right thing to do?” Sam asks.
“I don’t know, but I had to try something.” I meet his concerned gaze in the mirror. “You saw them. I have to keep them away from her.”
I’d give them all the money in the world if it ensures Cassidy’s happiness.
Cassidy
“I can’t believe your book releases next week.”
Excitement bubbles in my stomach. “I can’t believe I finished it.”
Aarya slides off her coat and lays it across her lap. “Has Trent read it yet?”
“Not yet. I’m giving him a copy tonight after the game.” My eyes narrow. “Wait a second—whose jersey are you wearing?”
Aarya shrugs like it’s nothing. “I’m showing my support for Krum Cake.”
My eyebrows jump. “Since when?”
“Since he stopped by my gallery last night and dropped off his jersey.”
“Oh, he just stopped by to give you his jersey?”
She flips her hair over her shoulder and averts her eyes. “Yeah, he came by the gallery.”
“Why would he come to your gallery to give you his jersey?”
“I don’t know. Geez, what’s with the Spanish Inquisition?”
I cough out an incredulous laugh. “Oh my god.”
Her eyes dart to mine. “What?”
“You like him.”
She scrunches her nose. “I don’t like him. I barely know him.”
“Says the woman wearing his jersey.”
She lifts her chin. “It looks cute on me.”
“And I’m sure it’s going to be on his floor later.”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s just a jersey.”
“It’s never just a jersey.” My thighs clench thinking about Trenton’s reaction the first night he saw me in his jersey. “He gave it to you because he wants to see you with his name sprawled across your back.”
Aarya pauses. “But he wants me to show my support for the team.”
I shake my head. “Think about it, girl.”
“Oh, hell no.” She tears the jersey over her head and stuffs it into her purse. “I’m not someone’s property. I don’t need him to impart his insecure masculinity on me.”
I shake my head as I chuckle. “He’s going to expect you to be wearing it.”
The lights go out and the spotlights circle the ice as the announcer booms over the speakers.
The boys skate out as they’re introduced, and Krum makes it a point to skate around to where we’re sitting behind Trenton’s net. He locks eyes with Aarya, realizing that she’s not wearing his jersey, and he skids to a stop in front of us.
He smacks the plexiglass. “Put on your jersey.”
Aarya crosses her legs and shakes her head. “No.”
He grits his teeth. “Put it on.”
She flashes him a devilish smile. “Make me.”
His cheeks redden before he skates away.
I tilt my head back and laugh. “You pissed him off.”
She grins. “Good. I like him when he’s pissed.”
Any woman would die to wear Krum’s jersey—one he personally delivered to her. Leave it to my best friend to not wear it on purpose.
We’re halfway into the second period when my phone buzzes with a text from Celeste.
Celeste: Have you seen this yet?
I click on the link she included with the text, and my blood runs cold.
Me: What the hell is this?
Celeste: You didn’t know?
Me: No, I didn’t fucking know.
Me: Did you?
Celeste: No.
Celeste: God dammit, Trent. I’ll clean this up.
“What’s wrong?” Aarya asks, leaning over my shoulder to see my phone.
I reopen the link and hand her my phone as emotions slam into me like turbulent waves.
Trenton met with my parents.
He met with them and didn’t tell me.
Aarya scrolls as she reads the article. “Why was Trenton with your parents?”
“I don’t know.”
“This picture was taken today.”
My gaze lifts to the ice. “I know.”
“And he didn’t tell you anything?”
I shake my head.
“Well, I’m sure he has a perfectly good reason for meeting with them.”
“And for not telling me?”
She hikes a shoulder. “Maybe he’s waiting until after the game.”
If he saw them before the game, he should’ve told me then. Actually, he should’ve told me before he planned on meeting with them because then I could’ve told him not to meet with them at all.
What the hell was Trenton doing with my parents?
I look at Aarya. “Can we go home?”
“Of course.” She grabs her purse without another word, and we leave in the middle of the game.
I’m quiet the whole way home, lost in my own head as questions assault my mind.
“Do you want me to come up with you?” she asks when the elevator stops at her floor.
I shake my head. “I need to be alone right now.”
“I’m here if you need me. Call me tomorrow and let me know how it goes when you talk to him.” She pulls me into a hug. “I’m sure there’s a good reason he didn’t tell you. He loves you, Cass. He’s not Sheldon.”
“I know,” is all I can say.
Tears burn behind my eyelids but I don’t let them fall. Not yet. I need to hear what Trenton has to say about the pictures of him meeting with my parents in a sketchy looking alley.
I already know what he’s going to say, already know what he did, but I need to hear it from his mouth. I need him to look me in the eyes when he tells me the truth.
And I don’t know what I’m going to say after that. It hurts too much to play it out in my head.
It hurts.
Trenton hurt me.
And that’s something I never saw coming.
I take in a long breath when I hear the knock on my door, but all the air gets sucked out of my lungs when I see Trenton’s handsome face on the other side of it.
I love him so much.
Why did he do this?
“Hey, baby.” He drops his duffle on the floor. “I didn’t see you at the end of the game. Did you leave early?”
I nod. “I wasn’t feeling well.”
Concern etches across his face. “What’s wrong?”
I wrap my arms around my midsection. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Okay.” He gestures to the couch. “Want to sit?”
I nod again.
My hands shake as I slip out my phone and take a seat beside him.
Trenton gives me a dubious look. “What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
I open to the webpage Celeste sent me earlier, and hold up the phone to face him. “This is all over social media.”
His throat bobs as his eyes flick from the screen to me. “I can explain.”
“Please do.”
“I met with your parents today because I figured I could pay them off to stay away from you. You pretend like they don’t affect you, but I know they do, and I wanted to take that pain away.” He hikes a shoulder. “This was the only way I knew how to help.”
Anger mounts in my chest like a wave. “But I told you that I didn’t want to give them more money. I told you I went that route already, and they still came back asking for more.”
“I gave them more money this time though.” Trenton leans forward and clasps my hands. “Baby, your parents threatened you the other night when they showed up here. I couldn’t sit by and risk something happening to you, especially not over money when I have plenty of it.”
“They make idle threats because they’re manipulating you to get what they want.” I slip my hands out of his. “And you walked right into it. You showed them your cards. Now they know they can get to you, and fool you into giving them what they want.”
“Well, I had to do something. I had to try. I don’t want them to keep coming around and harassing you.”
“Neither do I!” My voice raises as emotion swells in my throat. “But now they know you’ll be willing to do anything to protect me, so they’ll be back again. It’ll never end. Nothing you give them will ever be enough because they’re greedy pieces of shit who don’t care about anybody but themselves.”
My bottom lip trembles as a tear rolls down my cheek. “You promised me that you’d never lie to me. It was the only thing I asked of you when we started this. But today, you snuck around behind my back and did the one thing I didn’t want you to do.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” He moves closer again to reach out and touch me. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I didn’t want you to know about it because I knew you’d tell me not to waste my money on them, but to me, it’s not a waste of money. I’d give them anything they wanted if I could guarantee your safety.”
“You can’t guarantee anything, least of all when it comes to them.
” I push off the couch to stand. “I know you think you were just trying to help, but I didn’t want you to do that.
I didn’t want them getting a fucking crumb from us.
And you knew that. You knew how I felt, yet you totally disregarded my feelings.
You didn’t talk to me about it. We didn’t have a conversation.
We didn’t make a decision together. You made a decision for me because you think you know what’s best for me. ”
Trenton rises from the couch. “No. That’s not what I was doing. I wasn’t disregarding your feelings—I was thinking of your feelings and trying to help fix the situation.”
“You went behind my back, Trent.” I press my palm against my chest. “You went behind my back to the people I hate most in this world, you made a deal with them, and you didn’t even have the decency to tell me.
I had to find out on the internet. And if I never saw anything, would you have ever told me?
Or would you have kept it from me like some dirty secret? ”
He rakes his fingers through his hair, pulling at the roots, and I see the truth clear as day on his face. “I don’t know. I just wanted to help you. That’s all.”
“I know,” I whisper, my voice shaking as I speak. “I know you weren’t doing it maliciously, but you can’t ignore my wishes and do whatever you want. My feelings matter. My opinion matters. And I can’t be with someone who doesn’t hear me.”
His face crumbles and his arms fall limp at his sides. “What are you saying?”
I swallow down a sob. “I’m saying I think we need to take a step back. We barely know each other and—”
“Barely know each other?” He walks into my space and cups my face. “I love you more than anything in this world, Cassidy. Don’t tell me I don’t know your heart.”
Tears stream down my cheeks. “We moved really fast because of this whole fake dating thing, and I think right now I need to pump the brakes. I didn’t expect you to do something like this to me, and it’s throwing me for a loop. Maybe we don’t know each other as well as we think we do.”
He drops his forehead to mine, clutching my jaw. “Don’t do this, baby. I’m sorry I went behind your back and gave your parents money. I’m sorry I hurt you. Please don’t tell me I just ruined everything.”
The desperation in his voice breaks me in half. How easy it would be to succumb to his plea and fall right back into how blissful our relationship was.
But bliss isn’t always what it seems. And it’d be foolish to think this wouldn’t happen again. If Trenton can go behind my back so easily now, what’s to stop him in the future from doing something like this again?
I wrap my hands around his wrists and pull him from my face. “I just need some time. You hurt me, Trenton. I know you didn’t mean to, but you did. And I can’t handle knowing you went behind my back and lied to me. I just...I just need some time to think.”
His dark eyes glisten with emotion. His mouth opens and closes but no sound comes out.
I take a few steps back and my heart wrenches in my chest as the distance between us widens.
His head hangs as he walks toward the door. He picks up his duffle on the way out, and he closes the door with a quiet snick behind him.
I almost wish he’d slammed it.