Chapter 5
Cassidy spent all Thursday thinking about Trick.
It wasn’t just that she’d been replaying the most incredible sex of her life in her head from the moment she’d left him in the tavern parking lot the night before, it was that he’d freaking shown up at the coffee shop!
He looked entirely too good in jeans and a polo when he’d walked into the coffee shop.
He hadn’t acted weird or pushy, he hadn’t demanded she talk to him.
He hadn’t asked for more than she could give him while she’d been working.
He’d stood there, every lickable inch of him, and said he wanted to see her again and that he hadn’t been scared away by what happened.
And then he freaking left.
Holy crap a guy should not smell so good.
Like midnight and warm sheets.
She was more unnerved by how sweet he was than if he’d simply vanished. Because if he’d just left her and not sought her out, she knew what to do with that. But the simple earnestness of his appearance that morning had filled her with doubts.
Was she wrong? Should she have stayed?
Was what happened between them some kind of destiny and not a too-quick tumble in the sheets that would only lead to heartbreak?
As she locked up the coffee shop and said goodbye to her boss, she walked down the sidewalk and turned toward home, her mind spinning with a lot of what-ifs.
She changed out of her uniform and got into her car, placing her purse and a bagged pastry on the seat. But she didn’t leave immediately. She thought about where she was going.
To see her sister Lauren and her niece Lucy. Instead of going to see Trick. Or even Juliette, who’d sent a few messages asking if she was okay.
And she was. Physically. If not still a little tingly from Trick’s talented fingers and other parts.
But she wasn’t even remotely okay emotionally, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
Talking to her bestie who was madly in love with a wolf after two weeks was probably not going to get her the right perspective on her current situation, so she put the car into gear and continued with her plans for the night.
Her sister Lauren was divorced, and it had been anything but amicable. They shared custody of Lucy, the sweetest eight-year-old in the world.
She parked in front of their little house and found Lucy using chalk to make pictures on the driveway.
“Aunt Cass! Look!”
“Hey, kiddo. What a great job you’re doing! Is that a dinosaur?”
“It’s a dragon! One of the girls in my class said there are dragons in King Lake! Did you know that? They fly!” She flapped her arms like she could lift off the ground, grinning with chalk-smudged cheeks.
“I did know about the dragons across the river, but I’ve never seen one. It would be pretty neat to fly.”
“I’d fly to the moon.”
“I don’t think there’s oxygen there.”
Lucy shrugged, unbothered by that scientific fact, then her gaze landed on the paper sack. “Is that for me?”
“It’s cake pops for my favorite girl. How about a hug first, though?”
Lucy stood up and hugged her, then took the bag. “Oh, I love the cake pops, thank you!”
“You’re welcome.”
She left Lucy eating one of the confetti cake pops she’d bought from the coffee shop’s bakery case that day and went inside.
Lauren was in the kitchen cleaning the dinner dishes.
“Are you hungry? There’s mac and cheese in the fridge.”
“I’m good, thanks.”
Cass leaned against the counter and watched as her sister scrubbed at a pot.
“You okay? You look weird.”
“Yeah.”
Lauren gave her a questioning look.
“Fine, I’m not actually okay, but I’m going to pretend like I am until I figure things out.”
“That sounds healthy and well-adjusted,” Lauren said, rolling her eyes. When Cass didn’t elaborate, Lauren probed more. “Tell me what’s going on.”
She pondered her words, rubbing her finger along the edge of the laminate countertop. “I met someone.”
Lauren rinsed off the pot and put it on a drying mat, then turned off the water. Facing Cass, she said, “Who?”
“His name is Trick.”
“What?”
“It’s short for Patrick.”
“Ah. So where did you meet this Trick?”
“The Amber Howl.”
Lauren’s expression changed from curious to concerned. “So, he’s a shifter?”
“A wolf.”
“When did you meet him?”
“Last night.”
The pause was significant and she could feel the blush creeping up her neck.
“Cassidy.”
Lauren’s tone made her feel like she was a teenager being scolded for missing curfew.
“Don’t go all momma-bear on me, you’re my sister.”
“But I’m older than you, and I know a few things. You met a guy last night, and you’re mentioning it to me so I’m going to go out on a limb and say you slept with him.”
There went the blush straight up to her cheeks.
“I’m not a kid.”
“I know how old you are. And I’m not judging you, but I am concerned about you.”
“Because he’s a wolf?”
“Because you met him last night and had sex with him. Wolves are intense, you know. Reckless. They’re ruled by their beast natures.”
That seemed entirely at odds with Trick, the guy who’d made her see stars, then snuggled her like he could have laid there in bed with her forever and been perfectly content.
Lauren made a face. “Look, I get the one-night stand stuff, okay? But that kind of fast thing doesn’t last. Plus, shifters don’t do forever with humans.”
“Juliette’s boyfriend is a wolf and they’re making plans for forever.”
“Then she’s the outlier. I’m telling you that they stick with their own kind.
Besides, you grew up in a house with parents who started out with a one-nighter they thought was more, and they were damn miserable.
” She slashed her hand through the air. “Fast love, big feelings. Grandma said they were crazy about each other. Until they weren’t. ”
Cassidy didn’t know what her parents were like before she was born, because by the time she was old enough to know what was going on, they were on the brink of divorce. Her mom crying in the bathroom, her dad staying out all hours because he couldn’t stand to be in the house.
“I’m not saying that this guy is Dad, okay?
But I’m saying that fast love feels real and that’s what makes it so dangerous.
By the time the excitement wears off, you’ll either be trapped in a relationship with a guy you don’t have anything in common with, or he’ll leave you behind when a shifter girl shows up. ”
Cass chewed on her lip, her thoughts swirling. Trick had shown up at the coffee shop. It hadn’t seemed forced, like he was trying to prove he was a good guy, he’d just… been there.
The truth was, Lauren’s words hit home because Cass was afraid of being left behind. Of being the new-shiny, and left in the dust when Trick found another new to go after.
“I love you,” Lauren said, giving Cass a hug.
She hugged her sister back, closing her eyes and trying not to picture Trick’s blue eyes or the way he smiled. “I love you too.”
“I’m just looking out for you.”
“I know.” She sighed and stepped out of her sister’s embrace. “I’m going to head home.”
“Be careful, okay?”
“I will.”
She knew how to be careful – careful with her heart.
Careful meant forgetting about Trick, because he made her want to forget all about being careful.
Cass was surprised to see Juliette on the front porch of the split-double when she got back from her sister’s.
“What are you doing here?” Cass asked after giving her a hug.
“I tracked your phone. You hardly answered my texts today. Now open the door and lemme in, we need to talk.”
She unlocked the door and let her best friend in, then shut it.
“You went to see your sister, and now you look like you ate a lemon. What did she say? And what’s going on with you and Trick?”
“Nothing is going on with me and Trick.”
“I think that’s a lie. But go on.”
Cass collapsed on the couch with a bone-deep sigh. “We had sex last night. And then he came to the coffee shop to get a coffee.”
“And?”
“And I think it was just a one-night-thing.”
Juliette sat in the matching overstuffed chair, her eyes narrowed. “What did Lauren say?”
“That fast love burns out. That wolves don’t…” she didn’t finish her sentence.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t stay with humans forever.”
“Well, that’s a lie.” She pointed to her neck, where two faint marks were.
“This is a mating mark. It’s like a wedding band you can’t take off.
It means that me and Sigh are in it forever, period.
” She leaned forward, her gaze softening.
“I bolted when Sigh and I first fooled around. I was mortified that I’d messed around with a guy I barely knew, even though it felt very right.
Then he showed up the next day. I remember Emery telling me that the kind of connection I felt to him so fast only happened once in a lifetime, and I should grab onto him with both hands.
So I did. The only regret I have is that first night I ran away. I wish I’d stayed.”
Trick had shown up for her that morning.
And she’d been so relieved to see him.
“I don’t want to get hurt,” she said.
“No one does. But walking away is easy. At some point, you’re going to have to trust your heart to someone, you’re going to have to take a chance on forever. Maybe don’t punish Trick for believing in fate.”
“Let’s talk about something else.”
“Fine,” Juliette said. “Oh, let me tell you about this awesome book that Emery set aside for me.” As her friend talked about her bookstore coworker, Cass’s mind strayed to Trick, and the difference between Lauren’s and Juliette’s outlooks on love.
When she said goodbye to Juliette a little while later, she shut and locked the door and looked at her phone and the text her friend had sent with Trick’s phone number.
Instead of texting or calling him, she walked to her bedroom, Lauren’s voice louder in her head than Juliette’s.
Fast love felt real, and that was why it was dangerous.
Cass wanted to believe Juliette was right, and that fast love didn’t always end in heartbreak. But her childhood told a story of what happened when shallow love burned away and left nothing but bitter ashes.
So she set her phone on the nightstand and climbed into bed alone.
Because falling for a guy who made her think about forever was one thing. Being left behind by him was something else entirely.