Chapter 16 #2
And Cassie’s not someone who can stay in the same place for too long.
Once she aged out of the system and had the freedom to go anywhere, she spread her wings and has fluttered from city to city.
Every now and then she comes back to Chicago for a stint, but too many bad memories here keep giving her the itch to get moving again.
“Well, when are you going? The game’s this Friday.” He scratches at his neck again, picking a scab.
“Tony. No. It’s too dangerous.” Cassie pushes the bowl of fruit I didn’t touch at him. “Will you eat something. You’re a walking skeleton.”
He shoves the bowl back. “I’m not fucking hungry!”
Damien tucks his phone away, still watching our table intensely. I’ve seen a similar look on Gabriel’s face. Danger is coming.
“Tony, you have to calm down.” I try to grab his hand again, but he yanks it back.
“You know, I don’t ask you two for much. Never, really.” Except for every time we talk, but I’m not going to argue with him while he’s swinging those wild eyes at us.
“Tony, if I could—”
“You can. You’re choosing not to.” He sits back in the booth, shaking his head and looking down at his hands. “So fucking typical.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Cassie demands.
I put my hand on her knee. We can’t have this turn into a screaming match at the diner. One, they might not let us come back, and they have the cheapest breakfast slam in town, and two, Damien looks ready to pounce.
“It means when I need help, Savvy’s too busy or you’re too gone.” He huffs.
“Are you serious?” She leans further across the table, trying to keep her voice down. “Was she too busy when she went to juvie for you?”
“Cassie,” I snap. “Stop. Just stop.”
“You’re using again, Tony. And from the look of it—”
“You know what, fuck you, Cassie.” He drops his head again.
“Tony.” I reach across the table with my hand open. “You have to—”
“I don’t have to do shit.” He slaps my hand away.
Damien’s at our table before I notice he’s even moved.
“It’s time you leave.” Damien stands at the end of the booth glaring Tony down.
When Tony lifts his eyes up the tree trunk of Damien’s torso, his eyes widen and he recoils.
“Damien, it’s okay. Everything’s fine.” If I could get out of the booth, I could smooth things over, but Cassie is purposely blocking me. She’s always accused me of being too soft when it comes to Tony, and maybe she’s right.
“He needs to go now,” he answers me while staring at Tony.
“What the fuck is this?” Tony asks me as he scoots to the end of the booth. “I’m going. I’m going.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll call you later. I promise,” I rush out.
Damien steps to the side, letting Tony out of the booth, then watches him as he makes his way out of the diner.
“You didn’t need to do that.” Looking up at Damien, I frown.
“He touched you,” he says simply.
“Do these guys have any nuance?” Cassie leans back and laughs. “He’s just like the other guy; there’s one way and that’s it. Anything other than that is wrong.”
“Are you talking about Lucian?” I swing my attention to Cassie. A tint of pink touches her cheeks.
“No, nothing. I should get going. I have to finish packing, and I need to head over to the flower shop to give my notice.”
“You’re set on leaving Friday?”
She gives a firm look. “Don’t you start, too.”
I put my hands up. “I’m not. I just was hoping we had the weekend.”
“I can’t. If I get down there Friday, I’ll have a chance to get my place squared away before I start on Monday.”
Once she’s made her decision there’s no going back, so I don’t push.
Damien lets her out of the booth while signaling to the waitress he wants the bill.
“I can pay for it.” Cassie digs into her purse, but I stop her.
“Let him pay; it’s the least he can do for running Tony off.”
“To be fair, Tony was only going to get angrier when he realized we weren’t going to help him.” Cassie hugs me. “I’ll talk to you later. And do not give in to him, got me?”
“I heard you.”
“Do you need a ride? We can drive you.”
“No. I’m hitting the store on the way home. I’ll talk later.” She swings her purse around her chest and heads out of the diner.
Damien finishes paying the bill for our table and his, then checks his phone.
“Look, I think we can both agree it’s better if Gabriel does not hear about all this.” I wave my hand in the general direction of the booth. “He’ll get all Neanderthal about Tony, and really, it’s not a problem.”
“You want me to lie to my boss? To Gabriel Valenti?” He cocks a brow as we approach the door.
“No, of course not. I know he has a thing about being lied to. What I mean is, there’s no reason to answer questions that weren’t asked.”
Damien pulls the door open and lets me step outside first.
“You assume he hasn’t already asked the question, though.” He smirks as we walk toward the SUV.
“What does that mean? This isn’t our car, Damien.” I gesture to the SUV he’s brought me to. We parked in front of the secondhand store two storefronts down.
The back door of the SUV opens, and Gabriel steps out onto the pavement.
“Where is he?” Gabriel addresses Damien.
“I let him go.”
Gabriel’s expression darkens, and I realize they’re talking about Tony.
“No. You are not going to do anything to Tony. It was nothing.” I press my hands into Gabriel’s chest. “Leave him alone. He didn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t. You can’t go around beating up everyone who you think hurt me.”
He wraps his hands around my wrists, just holding me.
“You keep telling me I can’t do things. But I can. And I will.” There’s a vow in there, but I shake it off. He can’t mean it, not like that. He’s just being the overprotective ass he is sometimes.
“Gabriel,” I breathe. “Please, don’t go after him.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Get in the car, Savvy. We can talk about it at home.”
“Promise me.”
He leans into me, dusting a kiss across my cheek then pressing his mouth to my ear.
“I promise if you don’t get in the car, you will regret it. I’ve only been home an hour, and already I’m hearing about a man putting his hands on you.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
He kisses my cheek again, then slaps my ass. “Get in the car.”
I climb inside, and the door immediately shuts behind me. Before I even have my seatbelt in place, we’re pulling away from the curb.
Gabriel’s not with me.
He’s talking to Damien.
I’ve been sent home. Alone.