15. Cassandra Walker
After explaining the whole humiliating situation to Cal and Ryan, they both fell into an odd silence.
“What?” I asked, sipping the water Ryan had gotten for me, as I watched them exchange knowing looks with each other.
“What?!” I repeated, and finally, Cal turned to look at me, a wicked, mischievous grin spreading across his face.
“Well, I think I know someone who would jump at the opportunity to help you out with your little marriage problem.” He smirked. I glanced at Ryan, who was looking equally amused.
“Who? Spit it out, Callum. I don’t have all day. I’m supposed to be getting married next week, if you weren’t paying attention.”
“Well, I think you’re going about this all wrong. What if instead of a husband, you get yourself a wife? A sexy, muscly, bad ass wife that’s already obsessed with you and would do anything for you?”
I blamed how long it took for me to put together what he was implying on my barely controlled migraine.
“What do you–oh hell no! Are you crazy? I’m not asking Theo to fake marry me!”
Cal’s eyes lit on fire, and he literally bounced in his seat like the idea of me marrying his fiancé’s sister was just too good for him to contain his excitement.
“Come on! Why not! You know if you asked her, she would say yes. She would do literally anything for you.”
My gut twisted at that.
Would she really do anything for me?
If I looked back at all the times I’d needed something from her, it was clear Cal was right. When I’d stayed in her guest house for a few weeks, she’d even started learning how to make vegan food as soon as she’d learned I don’t eat animal products.
I knew if I asked her for this favor, she would say yes. She wouldn’t think twice about it… But Jerry’s words from that morning rang through my head.
Would asking her to do something like this be leading her on? Would it hurt her when the case was over and I no longer needed her?
Why did the thought of hurting her like that make me feel sick?
Shaking my head, I pinned Cal with a stern look.
“No. It won’t work. I need a husband. This dude is a traditional religious nut job. He’s not going to be any happier with me marrying a woman than he is that I’m single.”
As soon as I said the words out loud, I winced at how fucked up that was.
Both Cal and Ryan looked just as disgusted as I felt.
“Well, that just makes it better, doesn’t it?
He said he didn’t want to be represented by someone hot and single, because it might look bad considering he’s clearly some disgusting predator.
” Cal said this with a low growl, and I could tell by the look on his face that he was already thinking of how many ways he could kill the man.
Ryan sensed it too and subtly reached out to curl his hand over my brother’s clenched fist. Cal visibly relaxed, as if Ryan’s touch were some sort of calming balm.
“Cal’s right, Cassandra. No one would think the reverend was involved with his attorney if they were in a same sex marriage. Marrying Theo would actually be an excellent way to stick it to this asshole… It’s malicious compliance. You love malicious compliance.”
He was right. I did love that shit. To my core, I was petty as fuck. If they were going to make me literally get married to be taken seriously, it would be super satisfying to do it in the most petty way possible.
But still.
There was the issue of Theo and her feelings.
I wasn’t used to really taking the feelings of others into consideration, but there was just something about Theo that seemed to soften all the hard, cold parts of me that I used to protect myself from a world that had never been kind to me.
“I don’t know. This feels like a really bad idea. This feels like… I don’t know, like I’m using Theo.” My voice came out softer than I intended as I imagined Theo’s big, dark eyes and how sad they could sometimes get when she thought no one was paying attention.
Ryan reached out and clasped my hand, giving me a firm squeeze. I met his warm, brandy eyes, and for a moment, I could see how this man had tamed the whirlwind that was my brother. There was something so solid about him.
“It’s not using her if you make it clear from the get-go what this is.
If you lay out the terms clearly, and she agrees, that’s her decision to make.
Give her some credit. I know she’s a flirt, but first and foremost, she’s your friend, Cassandra.
She’s going to want to help you if she can. She cares about you.”
I knew she cared about me. That was the problem.
I would ruin that woman if she let me get too close to her, and the thing was, I think she wanted to be ruined… And the thought of that terrified me.
“Fine.” I sighed. “I’ll think about it.”