Chapter 27
Cassidy
Finn is an absolutely terrible dancer, but he makes up for it with sheer size. He can pick me up and throw me around the dance floor in a way that makes me laugh. His wingspan keeps people from getting too close, and his hands on me make the humid night even hotter.
When I’m sweaty and smiling, conversation with the mayor successfully shoved to the back of my mind, I beg to stop. “Your human needs water,” I tell him, laughing when he pulls me closer, wing touching my back.
“Let’s find you some, then.” He takes my hand and walks the two of us off the dance floor and back toward the food.
My stomach rumbles. Our dinner got interrupted by the unpleasantness earlier, and I’m positive I danced through about a million calories. Finn lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses it. “I’ll get my wife some food,” he promises, leaving me in the line at the drink stand.
I watch him walk away, admiring the way his wings spread out behind him, but I’m jerked sharply out of my staring when a voice pops up beside me. “Can I talk to you, Cassidy?”
It’s Caroline Summers. I turn toward her slowly, noting the two young boys clinging to her legs. My posture straightens; if this is an attempt to guilt me into taking the job, then she’ll find out that it’s much easier to deal with my husband when he’s angry than it is to deal with me.
But Caroline touches the shorter one’s hair, then tells them, “Go find your dad, boys. He’s getting you two a drink at the blood bank.
” I glance over, and sure enough, Grady Summers is picking up a bag of blood from the small stand providing it a few yards away and carefully squeezing it into sippy cups.
I don’t see Grady that often. As a vampire, he doesn’t come out in the daytime. The family probably just arrived here, seeing as the sun recently fully set. When the boys get to him, he bends down to talk to them, handing them each a cup.
Caroline watches her family for a second, then turns back to me. “I wanted to apologize.”
Well. That shocks me, knocking the pre-emptive angry wind right out of my sails. I’m frozen in place, standing like an idiot next to two dozen little bottles of water, unable to think of what to say.
Caroline continues without me saying anything.
“I thought I saw a way to solve your problem and mine at the same time, and I got carried away.” She hands me one of the bottles of water, and I take it on auto-pilot.
“And I pushed. I’m sorry. I wanted you to know that I don’t see you as only good for that, or only belonging here if you’re doing that.
” She smiles wryly and touches the side of her neck, where two small puncture marks are still visible.
“I forgot that giving away your blood isn’t a simple thing for most people. ”
Grady now has one boy on his hip and is holding the other’s hand, leading them both toward the games. Caroline watches them with a fond look. “Did Finn ever tell you he and I dated?” she asks abruptly once her family turns the corner.
“I—yes,” I stutter, still not sure what’s happening here. Please don’t be about to tell me that she’s still interested in my husband.
She waves a hand. “We weren’t right for each other in the slightest, and then I met Grady, and—well, the point is, it didn’t work, but I do care about him.
I know I don’t know you that well, and I’m sure he’s said some awful things about me these past few days, between what happened at Donnel’s and the fact that twenty-two-year-old me was kind of selfish.
I don’t want that to be a thing between us—Finn and I are nothing, and he looks so happy with you.
I wanted to make sure you knew that I respect you.
I’m glad you found your husband. And I’m glad you’ll get to stay here regardless of what happens tomorrow.
I wouldn’t want you to think that I didn’t want you here.
When we’re asked to vote tomorrow, I’ll be voting for you. ”
Caroline is an interesting specimen, because I think she means it. Yes, she’s careless, and yes, she thinks her magic and her supernatural family make her better than me, even if she doesn’t consciously want to. But she’s also not evil or even especially cruel.
She loves her kids, too. And that’s all I can ask for.
“I hope you find a nanny soon,” I tell her diplomatically, the best I can say.
“Same,” she sighs. “I love them to death, but I still work days, and it’s exhausting. I haven’t had a consistent sleep schedule in years.”
An arm wraps around me, and I know without turning that it’s Finn. “I brought you some ribs,” he tells me, kissing my head, but I can tell from the tone of his voice that he’s paying more attention to Caroline than me, ready to step in if I even hint that I need defending.
I need to relax him. “Thank you, baby,” I say, trying out the name he calls me so often.
His arm around my middle tightens, so I’m guessing he likes it.
“Want to eat over under the tree?” Without waiting for him to respond, I look at Caroline.
“It was nice talking to you.” And then I lead my husband away.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
“Everything’s fine,” I tell him. “We’re never going to be best friends, but we’re fine.”
He turns me to look at him. “Okay. Good. Anyone gives you shit, and you tell me. I’ll take care of it,” he promises.
I can’t suppress my grin. I don’t need it, but I know he’d jump between me and anyone who even looks at me wrong tonight. “Thank you, baby,” I say, trying the name again while I can fully see him.
His reaction doesn’t disappoint.
When we at last make it home, it’s after midnight. We ate, we danced, Finn attempted to win me a cheap teddy bear and we learned that throwing games are not a strong suit of his.
It was a good night. A great night. And if it was just date night with my husband, I’d feel pretty good right now.
But it was also my last chance to convince this town that I belong here, and I can’t help wondering how I did. Between Mayor Davies, Caroline Summers, and all the others who laughed with me, ate with me, and danced with me, where did I land?
It’d be so much easier to let go and enjoy myself if I wasn’t constantly worried that these people will vote to throw me out of town tomorrow.
I guess I’m being over-dramatic. Finn and I could move into his apartment, like Mayor Davies keeps implying would be the smart thing to do.
But it wouldn’t be my house.
Finn hasn’t invited me to his apartment, either. We’re married, so maybe he thinks it’s assumed.
Or maybe he’s exactly what he presents himself as: so confident in me, and absolutely sure of my place here. He can’t picture a world where the town votes against me. Maybe he thinks his apartment is a non-issue because we won’t need it.
I wish I could think like him. But now the town meeting is in, what, eighteen hours? I can’t keep my mind off of it. How this is it. How it’s almost over, and how it could go really, really wrong for me.
Like he can read my mind, Finn puts his hands on my hips, tugging me back so I can feel his cock through his pants. “I have good news and bad news, wife,” he murmurs, voice seductively low.
I shiver. “Do tell.”
“The bad news is that so many people looked at you like you were a snack for them to eat that, if I gave you the number of orgasms I promised, I’d knock you unconscious.”
Well, damn. I’d forgotten about that little bet, if I’m honest. “And the good news?”
“Those orgasms are a debt I’ll be paying for years to come… and I intend to start with a healthy down payment.”