21. Cassie
CASSIE
The second my eyes drift open, I’m blinded by the light streaming in through the window where it normally doesn’t. I flinch, pulling the blanket over my head to block it out, but as soon as I do, I realize… this is not my blanket.
I yank it back down and look at the bedding, then at my surroundings, and as the sleep fog clears, I realize I’m not in my bed because I didn’t sleep at my house last night.
I slept at Tor’s house.
In Tor’s bed.
That’s surreal enough, then I shift my body and feel a light ache between my thighs. Memories of last night on the boat drift back, then memories of him fucking me right here in this bed after we showered together.
Stretching, I take a deep breath in and out.
I must be hungry because my brain tricks me into thinking I smell bacon.
Frowning at the empty spot on the bed beside me, I reluctantly push back the blankets and get up so I can go to the bathroom.
As I’m coming back out, Tor kicks open the bedroom door and walks in, too.
“Hey, you’re awake.”
I blink at him, shirtless in a pair of gray sweatpants, then at the big plate of food he’s carrying. “Did you make breakfast?”
He keeps the plate lifted and climbs on the bed. “I did. I’m starving, so I figured you might be, too. We had quite a workout last night.”
Rolling my eyes indulgently at the little smirk on his face, I walk back around to my side of the bed and climb on. “I had no idea you could cook.”
“I’m a guy living in a house alone. Of course I can cook.”
It’s quite a spread, too. He made scrambled eggs and bacon and chopped up cheese and fruit to go with it. “This looks delicious. Thank you.”
He hands me a fork, then pulls a cold bottle of water out of his pocket and hands it over, too. “What have you got going on today?”
I grab a piece of bacon and one of the paper towels he tucked beneath the plate. “Mm, I’m not sure yet.”
“I was thinking about what you said last night, about all your friendships getting fucked up with everything that’s happened since last summer.
Your coworkers seem to be pretty firmly on your side.
The chicken shack is the only local business that told us to fuck off with the armbands.
I have to assume that’s because of you.”
The thought of their collective response to the armband fiasco does bring a smile to my face.
“Yeah, that’s true. I didn’t know how firmly on my side they were before, but they have definitely shown up for me this week.
It’s no wonder work has felt a little like a sanctuary while everything else has gone to shit. ”
“Are there any friendships you could build on there? Not Josh,” he says, causing me to roll my eyes. “But the girl who was there last night seemed nice.”
I nod, plucking a piece of cheese off the plate. “Shaley’s a sweetheart. I don’t know why we never hang out. It’s probably me. I haven’t been very open this past year.”
“Do you have her number?”
“Yeah. We exchanged numbers in case we need to arrange for someone to cover for us or something.”
“Why don’t you text her and see if she’s free today?
Maybe you could get lunch, have a girls’ day, bond a little.
You could go to the salon, get your nails done.
” He takes my free hand, running his fingers over mine and making goose bumps erupt across my forearm.
“Not too long, though,” he says playfully. “They’ll get in the way.”
I crack a smile, letting him hold my hand. “I don’t like fake nails, anyway. Mine are pretty fucked, though, now that you mention it,” I say, glancing at their uneven lengths. “I could probably use a manicure.”
“I’ll book it. My mom has regular appointments. You can go to her salon.”
“This isn’t a setup, is it?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“No. She won’t be there. I just thought it would be something nice for you and your friend. My treat.”
“That’s so generous of you.” I lean over and give him a quick kiss. Not too long because I don’t have a toothbrush here and I’m sure I have morning breath. “Thank you for thinking of it.”
“Of course.” He eases back, then reaches into his nightstand. At present, I think of it as the condom keeper, so I’m a little surprised when he brings out a stack of cash and starts pulling off bills. “You think four hundred’s enough?”
My eyes widen. “Four hundred dollars? For lunch and nail polish? Yeah, I think that’s enough.”
He puts the cash on the bed beside us. “If it’s not, shoot me a text. I’ll call and take care of it. I’d give you my credit card to make it all simpler, but people don’t know we’re together yet, and I don’t want anyone hassling you about using a card with my name on it.”
I nod, glancing at the cash. “That makes sense.” I look over at him. “What do you have going on today?”
“Family stuff,” he says vaguely, so I know it’s probably about Tim and don’t push any further.
___
“What color should I get?”
“Hmm.” Standing beside Shaley, I look at all the different shades of nail polish lined up on the clear acrylic shelves.
“I don’t know. Too many options.” I don’t even want to decide myself, and I kind of want to include Tor since he’s the one paying for it, so I pull out my phone and take a quick picture.
“Getting a second opinion?” she asks.
I nod, attaching the picture and texting Tor, “What color should I get?”
“My boyfriend wouldn’t care at all. I doubt he’ll even notice I got my nails done,” she says, grabbing a lilac bottle off the shelf and looking at her nails against it. “Think this one would be pretty?”
“That one’s really pretty,” I say, nodding. “But your boyfriend sounds lame.”
Shaley cracks a smile. “To be fair, yesterday I thought Tor Walters was lame, and now he’s paying to have my nails done, so…”
I don’t tell her we were very close to being on the same page about him yesterday, as that would be really hard to explain, given he’s my boyfriend today. Then again, with the remarks she’s made about her own boyfriend, maybe she would understand.
“His brother was the asshole. Tor just… he’s a family loyalty guy, you know? He didn’t make waves because he didn’t have a dog in the race, but now he does, so he’s moved to the right side of things. It’s not great, but… better late than never.”
“That must be so weird. They look so much alike.”
I shrug. “I don’t think so. I mean, they do, technically… have the same face. But fortunately, it’s a good face, so…”
Shaley laughs, surprised. “I guess that’s true.”
My phone vibrates, so I swipe it open to read Tor’s message. He sent back the same picture, but cropped to just a pinkish nude bottle of nail polish. “This one.”
I smile at my phone. “Got it. Thank you.” I add a blushy smiling emoji because why not?
“Well, weird or not, I’m glad you’re happy. You seem lighter today.”
“I feel lighter today,” I tell her. “We had a very… productive night.”
Her blue eyes twinkle with amusement. “Oh, did you?”
“We did have sex, but that’s not what I meant,” I say, realizing how it sounded. “I mean, maybe that’s part of it, but we also talked about stuff that we’ve avoided before for obvious reasons, and it just feels good to finally have it all out there, you know?”
She shrugs a bit apologetically. “It sounds nice. I can’t really relate. We don’t have any major relationship drama, and even if we did…”
“Let me guess. The boyfriend’s not much of a communicator, either?”
“If talking into his video game headset instead of to me when I’m over at his place counts, he’s an excellent communicator.”
I shake my head. “We’ve gotta get you a new boyfriend.”
She smiles. “We should probably pick a nail polish first.”
“I think that’s the one,” I say, nodding toward the purple she liked.
“Should I do my toes, too?”
I nod. “Yeah, he booked us mani-pedis. The waterless ones, though. I’m not dipping my feet into a communal tub of foot fungus.”
Shaley grimaces. “Ew. Yeah, no, I’m good with skipping that, too.”
___
Even with a nice tip, our manicures and pedicures only cost half of my money, and I know lunch won’t cost $200, so we decide to stop and do a little shopping on the way to the restaurant.
I buy Shaley a new wallet as a thank-you gift for covering for me the other night, and I buy myself a pretty rose gold ring with linked hearts all the way around. It looks nice with my newly shaped and polished nails. I wonder if Tor will like it.
After shopping, we head to lunch. It’s a late lunch, but time got away from us.
It’s been nice just hanging out with Shaley, having a little girl time.
It’s been so long since I’ve done this with anyone, and I’ve never had someone else foot the bill.
Even when I was in middle school and went to the mall or the movies with my friends, I would use my babysitting and birthday money to pay for things so I didn’t feel guilty about costing my family money they might not have been able to afford.
I think it doesn’t bother me with Tor because I know he can afford it. I don’t know the specifics of his financial situation, but I know there’s at least a trust fund.
Shaley informs me that her lousy boyfriend expects her to split the tip when they go to Applebee’s, and I’m baffled all over again as to why she’s with this broke dude who apparently ignores her.
Shaley’s beautiful, inside and out, and she deserves a guy who is attentive to her needs, not some ass who takes her for granted.
Toward the end of lunch, I find myself thinking about Tor.
Maybe it’s just because Shaley has been talking about her less-than-amazing relationship, and the contrast with Tor is highlighted since he literally planned and is treating us to this whole outing, but part of it is also knowing he’s doing “family stuff” without knowing what that entails.
When the server brings over the bill, I pick up my purse so I can pay with some of the money Tor gave me. I haven’t had my phone out while we were eating because we were talking and I didn’t want to be rude, but I take advantage now to light up my screen and see if Tor texted me.
My heart nearly stops when I see a bunch of missed notifications, but not from Tor. They’re from my mom. She’s called me four times and sent a bunch of text messages.
“Everything okay?” Shaley asks. “Are you out of money? I can get lunch. You paid for everything else.”
“No, no.” I wave her off. “It’s not that. I just—my mom sent me a bunch of texts…” I trail off as I read them and see that she’s freaking out because apparently somebody told her about me going down to the police station. “Shit.”
I need to call Tor, but this might be a popcorn or fruit punch situation. I don’t even know which time she’s talking about. Did someone tell her about when Tim was killed, or about when I had to answer questions about Russell?
I don’t want to go home and find out, but I should probably deal with this. I’ve put it off for long enough.
“Is everyone okay?” Shaley asks uncertainly.
“Yeah. It’s fine. I just need to go home and talk to her. I wasn’t going to get change, anyway.” I tuck the cash into the black padded envelope and close it. “Are you okay if we go?”
“Of course, I was done anyway.”
“Sorry about rushing you out of here,” I say, pushing back my chair and standing.
“No worries. I get it.”
“We should totally do this again sometime. I mean, if you want to.”
She flashes me a smile as she pushes in her chair. “I’d love to. I had fun. Thanks for inviting me, and thank Tor for me, too.”
We walk outside and head to our cars. We parked right next to each other, so I offer a wave as she climbs in her car, and I get in mine.
Once I’m alone in the car, I start the ignition so the air-conditioning starts cooling it down, then I shoot Tor a text. “Can you talk?”
He texts me back right away. “Kinda. What’s up?”
“I never told my mom about having to go to the police station. She found out somehow, and she’s pissed.”
“Pissed about thinking you might be involved or pissed that you didn’t tell her?” he texts back.
“I don’t know. Both, probably. Shaley just left, so I guess I’m going to head to the house now and deal with this.”
“Well, don’t take any shit,” he tells me. “You’re eighteen, so you really don’t have to tell her anything.”
I scoff a little. “You don’t know my mom. She’s very much the ‘you live in my house, you live by my rules’ type.”
“Eh, that’s a solvable problem. If you don’t like her rules, you don’t have to live at her house.”
“That’s easy for you to say. Your parents basically gave you a house when you turned sixteen.”
“Yeah, and I live there alone now,” he shoots back. “I have space. I’m just saying.”
Despite the lunacy of the idea of moving in with him when we have been dating for roughly one day, I find myself smiling at his support. “I hate to tell you this, but I’m never living at that lake house.”
“It’s not your only option. I have a property in town with ten apartment units. There’s a one-bedroom vacant. I’d be happy to let you stay there.”
Frowning at the screen, I type back rapidly, “How do you already own a rental property?”
“It was a graduation present from my parents,” he explains.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? I got fifty dollars in cash for graduation.”
“We have very different lives.”
I snort. “Yeah, I noticed.”