Page 39 of Beg for You

I hadn’t seen or heard from Cassy in three days, and knowing that I was going to see her today—shit—my response to that knowledge was visceral. There was a tightening at the back of my neck, my fingers curling and uncurling at the thought of touching her again. “Nothing you need to worry about,” I said.

His nostrils flared. “Whatever fucked idea you’ve got in your head, you need to stop, you hear me?”

I held my brother’s hollow stare. “He’s not getting away with what he did to us.”

Dane’s hands went to his hips and he shook his head. “Don’t include me in your fucked-up plan. I’m trying to forget that shit, move on. I sure as hell don’t want you dredging it all up again. And Cassandra…she must have only been young when it happened—what, fifteen?”

I swallowed. “Sixteen.”

He cursed. “You need to end this, whatever you’re doing, and walk away now. Before it’s too late.”

“He can’t touch us, Dane, not anymore.”

“You need to put the past where it belongs,” he fired at me.

I crossed my arms and held his stare. “You telling me that’s what you’ve done?”

A muscle in his jaw jumped.

“Getting into fights all the time. Christ, Dane. You have a black eye every other week.”

“That has nothing to do with it—”

“Bullshit. What about the nightmares—have they stopped?” A low blow, and I wasn’t proud of myself for mentioning them, but I needed to get across to him why this was so important to me. “The insomnia. How long did it take before you could sleep through the fucking night again?”

“You’re an asshole,” he said low. “And fuck you for dragging all that shit back up.”

“Lyall Deighton has gotten away with too much for too long—”

“You’re not stopping, are you?”

I shook my head. “But I won’t use Cassy to get back at him. I’ll find another way.”

He stared at me for several long seconds then shook his head once. “A bit fucking late for that, don’t you think?” Then he strode out.

I stared after him. He was right, of course. And I wasn’t sure what to do about that.

I ran my fingers over my hair. Shit, I hated fighting with Dane. For the longest time Bull, Dane, and I only had each other, then Bull and Dane had been taken away and I’d been lost.

When we finally got Dane home, the brother I remembered was gone, and he’d never come back. I hated Lyall for that most of all.

All Dane had to do to end this was tell Cassy who I was when she came in, but I knew he wouldn’t. I was his brother, and no matter how much he disagreed with what I was doing, he’d never fuck me over. Loyalty was important to all of us, always had been.

I shoved the curtain open and followed him out. I wanted him to understand. Shit, I was still figuring out the details of the blow I planned on delivering to Lyall, a hit that I was determined wouldn’t ricochet back on Cassy…

I pulled up short.

She was standing over by the couch, looking up at some of my sketches taped to the wall. I felt Dane’s stare boring into the back of my head as I walked over to her.

She stilled when I moved up behind her but didn’t turn around.

“You should have texted,” I said, moving in closer, cautious after the last time we were together but unable to stop myself. “I would have made sure our appointment was at the end of the day.” My voice had gone husky, gritty, full of need. Having her here late morning meant our time was limited since I had an appointment straight after her. And my afternoon was booked solid. I knew why she’d done it. Her actions spoke loud and clear. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “Why don’t you come back tonight instead?” She still hadn’t looked at me. I hated it.

Finally, she turned to face me. Her expression was blank as her eyes lifted to meet mine. “This appointment time will be fine.”

She was using that fucking uppity tone, chin high, back straight. I’d have believed that she was done with me, with us, if it wasn’t for the way her pulse pounded at the side of her throat and how she’d unconsciously moved closer.

“We should get started, then,” I said.