34. Cassie
CASSIE
Danny arrives with a three-car convoy and a smirk at the sight of Robbie King leaning in the doorway.
“So this mental health retreat has gone well,” he says as he approaches the door. He reaches his hand out to Robbie and does one of those guy-hand-slap-shake gestures that he’s never done with me. “How’s it going, mate? Danny.”
Robbie nods his head. “Robbie. Nice to meet you.”
I’m already distracted by the brunette stepping out of the Mini Cooper. “What are you doing here?” I call as I cross the gravel drive. “I thought you were seeing your mother?”
“I am,” Anya insists as her arms wrap around me. “Hence the two cars. I just wanted to see you first. Next time you run away from my party, I at least need a sign of life before I send out a search party.”
I link our arms together as I guide her back to the house. “I’m sorry.” I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips. “But I needed it.”
“I think you needed something else too.” She bumps her hip into mine and peers at me over her sunglasses.
I nudge her back with a laugh. “That was an unexpected…addition.”
Anya throws her head back. My favorite thing about Anya is she does everything with so much energy. She doesn’t stifle her laughs or hide behind a false pretense. She’s 100% herself.
“Good for you, babe. I brought your suitcase and guitar from London.” Thank God. “I can’t believe Pip hasn’t spilled the beans. Where is she anyway?”
“Huh?”
Anya glances at me weirdly. “She’s not here?”
A refusal is at the tip of my tongue, but I stop myself. Did Pip tell her brother that she was with me? And if they don’t know where she is and she’s not here with me…where the hell is she?
“Not today,” I say, linking our arms further together. “Come on, let me show you your room.”
By the time I’ve shown Danny and Anya to their room and let them start to set up the studio, it’s nearly noon.
“Cass,” Robbie calls from the doorway of the recording studio.
My smile dies on my lips when I reach him and spot the duffel resting by his feet. “Are you…”
“I have to get back to London for my flight.”
I swallow harshly. “Oh. Can you get a plane from anywhere closer?”
“The only flights that fly to LAX this side of the city are private jets.” He sighs heavily. “And I don’t know if you know this, but one flight with a private jet causes like a billion tonnes of CO2.”
I nudge his chest with the back of my knuckles as a soft laugh escapes me. He grabs my hand with his and uses it to tug me further into his space. He brushes the hair that’s escaped my bun away from my face and cups my jaw.
“I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, trouble.”
This is it then. The end of the bubble we’ve been cocooned in for the last few days. The real world is waiting for him after a long haul flight, and mine is behind this door.
His hand sweeps around my back, tugging me closer.
“If you see my dad—”
“I’ll let him know you’re perfectly satiated.”
The laugh that escapes me is almost guttural, and it causes a wide smile to break out across his face. “If I see your dad,” he tells me, tilting my chin up, “I’ll tell him I have no idea where you are.”
A sliver of guilt pierces my gut at the thought of the lies I’ve told my parents, the lies I’ve made my friends tell, that I’m asking Robbie to tell his boss.
“Trouble,” Robbie says, his thumb brushing against my lip. “He’s not going to ask me.”
“I don’t want to make you lie to him.”
“Let me worry about that,” he tells me. “Do you regret this?”
His hand rubs underneath my shirt, his fingers tracing the waistband of my jeans.
“No,” I whisper as his lips inch closer to mine. “No, I don’t regret anything.”
His grip tightens on my jaw as he tilts closer to me, and I sink into his kiss.
He clutches me tightly as he devours me, savoring the last time we’ll be able to be like this.
I don’t want to think about him leaving, or what’s facing us when we both get back home.
All I can think about is his tongue in my mouth, and his hand loosening the clip in my hair, the curls tumbling across his grip.
“Okay,” he says, finally pulling away. “If I don’t go now.” Another kiss. “I won’t leave.”
“Oh no,” I whine with a grin as I chase his lips with mine.
His laugh rumbles in his chest as he finally pulls away. He stares at me a final time as if he’s capturing the moment. “I’ll see you,”
“Bye.” I stay where I am as he pulls away and climbs into his car. His hand waving out the window is the last thing I see before his Range Rover speeds up the drive.
A loud screech echoes from the studio.
“We figured out the speakers!” Danny calls from inside.
I rub my hands across my face and twist my hair back into it’s clip before spinning towards the studio, ready to finally make some fucking music.