Chapter 14 – Cassie
“What I’m about to tell you guys is top secret. You cannot tell anyone, capisce?” I said, giving Ellie and Molly the most serious face I could come up with.
They looked at me with concern.
I took another long sip of my margarita, downing more liquid courage. What was girls' night without a strong margarita? I needed one now more than I ever had before.
“Jace and I almost had sex.”
Molly almost spat out her drink.
Ellie jumped up from her seat on the couch, she was so stunned.
“NO. WAY,” she yelled.
Their eyes got wider than I thought humanly possible.
I cowered as if I’d just confessed to murder because I basically had. I had murdered the never-let-Jace-McKinley-touch-me persona I had worked so hard to build.
“You’re lying,” Ellie said, clearly not convinced just yet.
“I wish I was, believe me. Now you know why we had to have girls’ night at Molly’s. My place has too many painful memories for me right now, and if I drove out to your place and saw him, I was liable to run him over again.”
Ellie took a long sip of her margarita, like I had revealed the biggest secret of her lifetime. Maybe I had.
Molly rolled her eyes. “What is it with you two and sleeping with my annoying brothers?” she asked in disgust.
“Well, technically we didn’t go all the way, if you must know,” I said.
“The fact that you went part of the way is enough for me.” She put her hands over her ears, as if she were a child saying I’m not listening to you.
“When? How? Was it good?” Ellie whispered, winking at me as she asked the last question.
I flung myself back on the couch, covering my face with a pillow, my muffled scream spreading through the room.
“I want all the juicy details, don’t hold back,” Ellie demanded, pulling me back upright. “Spill it, woman! I’m going to pass out from anticipation.”
“Well, it all starts with French toast,” I said, trying to set the scene.
“Actually, it starts before that. I got drunk at the Grizzlies game, having the time of my life. I didn’t want the night to end, so Jace took me somewhere special to him.
A place he likes to go when he needs to clear his head.
It was really nice and sentimental to him.
He told me he’s never taken anyone there before. ”
I tried to give them enough details to set the tone without revealing what Jace had said to me out at Crowley’s Ridge, or that it even existed.
“After that, he took me home. But here’s the kicker—instead of making sure I got home safe and leaving, he slept on the couch to make sure I didn’t get up half-drunk in the middle of the night and still need help.
When I woke that morning, I found him asleep on the couch.
I decided to just let him keep sleeping, and I started making breakfast in the kitchen.
The next thing I know, Jace is awake, standing in the kitchen, asking what he can do to help.
I don’t know… it just really turned me on, I guess. ”
I paused. The more I talked about it, the more I realized it wasn’t a fever dream after all.
“I asked him to cut some strawberries to go on top of the French toast. I was standing there just watching him cut fruit. I have no idea why, but it was the hottest thing I had ever seen. A tall, tattooed cowboy standing in my kitchen helping me cook breakfast. It was like something out of those rom-coms you two love to watch. Eventually he busted me staring at him, and I’ll spare you the rest of the details for Molly’s sake.
But let me just put it this way—he ripped my thong off and devoured me, then bolted. Told me to forget it ever happened.”
Ellie’s and Molly’s jaws were on the floor.
“I’m going to kick his ass,” Molly said, standing and searching for something.
“What are you looking for?”
“My phone so I can call Jace and give him a piece of my damn mind,” she said, still searching.
“No, don’t. It’ll only make everything more awkward,” I begged.
“And what’s even worse is I still have to walk down the aisle with him next weekend at Ellie and Colt’s wedding.
How can I even look him in the eyes after that?
I spent all this time building a wall, just to let him tear it down in a matter of minutes, then leave me standing there in a cloud of dust—my dignity completely shattered. ”
“Did you want things to go that far? Like, were you willing to let him go all in—if he hadn’t screwed it all up?” Ellie asked.
“That’s just the thing… I think I was. I didn't realize it at the time, but once the moment was over, I realized how bad I actually wanted it. How much I’d been pushing down my true feelings for him.
So, now I feel like I got my heart broken over a boy I didn't even get the chance to fall in love with.”
Ellie put her hand on my knee, eyeing me sorrowfully.
“I’m so sorry, Cass. I never would’ve tried convincing you to go to the game with him if I knew this would happen.”
She didn’t have to say it, but I could tell she felt bad for me, which made the situation even worse.
I took another long gulp of margarita. Liquor healed inside boo-boos, right?
Just then, Molly’s phone buzzed against the coffee table.
“Speak of the devil,” she said, seething at the phone.
“Don’t tell him I’m here,” I begged, whispering as if he was in the house with us.
“Everyone quiet, I’m going to answer and see what the little shit wants,” Molly said, hushing Ellie and me.
“Hello?” she answered calmly, putting him on speaker and pretending she didn’t know what had happened between Jace and me just twenty-four hours prior.
“Hey sis, have you seen Cassie? I really need to talk to her, but she’s not answering my phone calls.”
“Nope, haven’t seen her,” she replied smoothly.
“Weird, because Colt said you, Ellie, and Cassie were having girls’ night tonight,” Jace said, confused.
Busted.
“Well, I wouldn’t pick up your calls either if you tried sleeping with me and then bolted five minutes later like a jackass,” Molly said.
Ellie and I looked at each other, eyes wide. So much for playing it off, Molly.
I looked at her like what the hell are you doing? She just turned her back to us and continued to tear into her brother like only a sister could.
“You think you can treat Cassie like that? You’re dead wrong. She’s like family to us, Jace. You fucked up big time, and now you can sit and sulk and think about the consequences of your actions. Goodnight, douchebag,” she said, ending the call.
We all just looked at each other stunned, not exactly sure what had just happened.
After a few seconds, Ellie ended the silence.
“No, this is good actually… Hear me out… He clearly knows he fucked up, and now we get to let him sulk. This is when it's time to show him what he’s missing out on, Cass. Don’t hold back.
Let that man know he lost the best thing to ever happen to him before he even had it,” she said, encouraging the mind game everyone wanted to play on Jace.
I sat there for a moment contemplating. Hiding my emotions was not something I excelled at.
So how was I going to play off one of the most embarrassing moments of my life as if it never even happened?
Act like it was all no big deal, just a quickie that fizzled out.
Short and sweet, no strings attached. Just like I wanted, right?
Wrong.