15. Cassidy
Chapter 15
Cassidy
“ S he lives!” Lillian’s voice rings out on the other line.
“Hey,” I breathe out.
“Uh-oh… what happened? Why are you calling me at eight in the morning?” She gasps. “You slept with him, didn’t you? Tell me everything.”
I shake my head, even though she can’t see me. “No, I didn’t sleep with him.”
“Then what is it? You hate working for him? The kids are nightmares?”
“No,” I sigh. “The kids are great. He’s… I don’t know.”
“Off-limits?” she says for me.
“Yeah,”I sigh.
“Oh, unrequited love. Well, babe. All I can say is to get over someone, sometimes it helps to meet someone else. He’s your boss. You’re living with him. You’re watching his kids and hanging out with his friends. You're surrounded by a life with a man you can’t have.”
“And it sucks,” I admit, rolling onto my side.
“That’s so unfair. If you’re weren’t making an exorbitant amount of money at the end of this I’d be sad for you and tell you to quit. But you are–so definitely don’t quit. Need I remind you an apartment just for you awaits?”
“I know,” I groan, throwing my arm over my face. “I’m not quitting. I’m going to stick this through.”
“When do you get back?”
“Tomorrow,” I say.
“Perfect. Take Thursday night off. You’re coming out with me.”
“To what?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just dress up in something cute and for god’s sake style your hair. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Why do I have the feeling that I’m going to hate this?”
“Because you're bummed about your celebrity crush. And it’s okay. I’m going to help you get over him.”
I reluctantly agree to her vague invitation and we hang up just as I hear laughter from down the hall. Sounds like people are awake.
I walk up to the guys surrounding someone on the couch. “What’s going on?”
I peek between them to see Keelan swat at a feather tickling his nose. He smacks the feather with his other hand and gets a face full of shaving cream, startling him awake.
“What the–”
The guys all burst out into a fit of laughs. “Fuckin’ assholes,” Keelan breathes out, pushing himself to sit up and wiping his face.
“Got it!” Fergie says, holding up his phone.
“That’s for getting us kicked out of the bar last night,” Zane says, handing him a paper towel.
Keelan snatches it from his hand and wipes his face. “I got us kicked out?”
Kesley’s in the kitchen pouring coffee into mugs and shaking her head at them. “Hey, Cassidy. Want a cup?”
“Yes, please!” I reach for it and it gets snatched by a hand over my shoulder.
“Thanks, Kesley.” It’s Joshua. He winks at me as he sips my coffee.
Kesley cocks her head at him and hands me another cup. “Thanks,” I say to her. Turning away from Joshua.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Izzy asks walking into the living room. She sees Keelan with the shaving cream still on his face and looks around. “Seriously guys? Such children.”
“Let’s take the kids somewhere they’d enjoy,” Zane says. “Liam’s been asking about the pier.”
“The one with the rides?” Izzy asks, looking down at her belly.
“Or not…” Zane flashes her a smile.
“What about the aquarium? The biggest one in Texas is just thirty minutes away. We can make a day of it,” Kesley offers.
“I vote yes to the aquarium,” Joshua says, raising his hand. “All in favor?”
The guys all say aye.
He looks at me. “What do you think, Cassidy?”
“Sure. I’ll get the kids ready.” I place the still full mug on the counter and walk over toward the room where Cole and Parker are sleeping.
I knock lightly. “Boys?”
No answer. They must so tired. I knock again. This time I hear deep, wet coughs.
Uh-oh.
I pry the door open and peek inside. Cole coughs again and rolls over with a groan. Parker is next to him and his cough is the same, just smaller.
I go to check them, placing a hand on both their foreheads. They’re both burning up. Crap.
“Cole, honey. Can you hear me?”
He rolls over and swallows hard. “My throat hurts,” he says, in a raspy voice.
“I’m sorry, hon. I think you and Parker might’ve caught something. I’ll ask your brother to get you guys some medicine.”
“What do they need?” Joshua’s voice startles me from the door.
“Uh… they have a cough. Fever. Sore throats. I’d say some cough syrup, Motrin, and cough drops. Maybe some broth, crackers and pedialtye, too.”
I turn to Joshua whose writing it all on his phone. “Damn, you’re good at this.
I shrug. “I take care of my siblings when they get sick."
“Ok, well, I’ll go check on Maddie. If she’s good I’ll ask the team to take her with them to the aquarium. And I’ll go grab the things they need.”
I nod. Pulling the covers over Cole as his body shivers.
“Oh, grab some vitamin C for us, too. So we don’t catch it.”
He marks it down and then disappears into the hall.
I close the door to the quarantine room and slide my mask off.
Joshua’s in the kitchen, pouring broth into some mugs. The house is silent except for the coughing of the two boys in the room.
Thank God Maddie slept in Joshua’s room last night so she stayed away from the bug. She was so excited to get to go to the aquarium with Liam and the rest of the gang.
“I figure if they don’t get any better by tomorrow morning, we’ll take them straight to the hospital from here.”
“That sounds good.” I reach for the tray and he puts his hand over mine. “I got it. You go rest. You’ve been at it all day.”
I am tired. He must see it in my eyes. Apart from not sleeping much last night, I’ve also been tending to the boys all day.
“I’m just going to lay down for a bit.”
“Go ahead, I’ve got the boys.” He picks up the tray of broth, drinks, and medicine and carries it down the hall.
“Joshua, wait.” I reach for the box of masks, pulling one out for him and walk up to him. He lowers his head so I can reach up and pull it in place over each ear.
“Thanks,” he says, muffled by the fabric. Then he turns and heads into the Q-zone.
I grab my phone off the counter and head back to my room. The second I lay down, it feels like everything catches up to me.
My body aches. My eyes feel heavy. And there’s an annoying tickle in my throat. But I’m too tired to bother with getting up to grab a cough drop. I just need to rest. I close my eyes.
And when I open them again. It’s dark out. I’m shivering. And Joshua is placing a cool wash cloth over my head.
“What happened?” I croak, trying to sit up.
“Shhh. Lay back,” he says, pushing me back down.
I try to clear my throat but it hurts so bad I can hardly swallow. I groan sinking back down into my pillow. “I got what they got, don’t I?”
“I think so, Princess. Here,” he hands me two pills and cup of orange juice.
“Great, now how am I supposed to take care of them if I’m feeling like trash.” I swallow down the pills and drink up the juice.
He grabs a cough drop and unwraps it. “Open up.”
I do as he says and he pops it into my mouth. His finger slightly trailing against my bottom lip.
“You should wash your hands. You just touched an infected.”
He grins. “I will. After I help you out of your wet clothes.”
“What?”
“It helped the boys cool down.”
I pull the covers over myself and try to hide. “That’s okay. I think I’ll just wait it out.”
He rips the covers off me. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’ll help, Cassidy. Come on.”
I glare at him. “Are you sure this isn’t just a ploy to get me naked?” I croak.
He rolls his eyes. “You wish, you perv. Arms up.”
I don’t have much fight in me to keep it up so I lift my arms reluctantly. He slides my tank off. His hands trailing up my body the entire way.
I lay back onto the pillow and he reaches for my shorts to unbutton them. If I didn’t feel like death warmed up to me… I might actually be turned on by the feeling of his hands all over me.
Instead, I feel a delightful prickling in the back of my head.
I recognize the feeling. There’s a word for it. I can’t remember what it’s called right now that my brain feels like mush. But it’s the rush of oxytocin that gets released when someone plays with your hair or whispers softly into your ear.
I close my eyes and soak up the sensation as he drags my shorts down my thighs gently.
When I’m down to just my bra and underwear he goes to the closet and grabs the spare sheet. He pushes the comforter down to the floor and shakes the sheet open, letting it float onto my body.
I don’t say anything. I just let him work. I let him take care of me.
He reaches for the washcloth and wrings it out over the bowl of cool water. “Lay back all the way.”
I sink down further onto the bed and he pulls one arm out from under the sheet, sets it on his lap, and dabs the cool cloth over it. He starts at my hands and works up to my shoulders. Then repeats it with the other arm. When he drags it over my chest I think I actually purr.
He chuckles to himself.
“Don’t. Say. a word,” I warn him.
He bites down on his lip and looks at me. “So you growl when you’re frustrated. And purr when you’re relaxed. You’re basically a kitten.”
“Maybe,” I say slinking down into the bed further.
“I hope you feel better, Princess. Get some rest. Text me if you need anything.” He speaks so tenderly to me I nearly forget that it’s my boss saying these words to me.
I nod, my eyes already drifting off to sleep.
I awake at some point in the night to hands checking my forehead and cheek. I barely open my eyes but deep teal eyes are inspecting me. The lamp next to the bed shining behind him.
He says something but it sounds muffled. “Huh?”
Strong arms help me to sit up.
“You need to eat,” he says.
I shake my head. But he’s already pushing a spoon of something up to my lips.
“Drink, Princess.”
I sip on the broth he offers me. It’s warm and soothes my throat.
“Good girl,” his voice is deep and husky.
Or maybe I just imagined that. Another spoonful of broth taps against my lips and he praises me again.
I fall back after some time. Warm arms are holding me. Pushing my hair back and humming something.
I’m probably dreaming it all.
When I wake up, the sun is out and I’m alone in the bed.