Page 70 of Beg for You

Cassy and Spencer were on a raised area at the front of the room. Cassy stood stiff at Spencer’s side. His arm was draped over her shoulders, and she looked miserable.

“Look at her,” I said to Lyall. “Stop this. I don’t want anything but Cassy to be happy. Can you say the same for Spencer?”

Spencer was smiling wide as he pulled Cassy in closer to his side.

Lyall looked sick to his stomach.

“Thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate with us. We’re both so thrilled to have you all here.” Spencer glanced down at Cassy. “What you don’t know, what no one knows, is that tonight we’re not just celebrating our engagement but our marriage as well.”

What the fuck?

Cassy’s head twisted to look up at Spencer, and I could see her try to pull away. The fucker held her tighter. She spun back to the crowd, her gaze searching then landing on mine.

“That’s right, sweetheart. Tonight we’re getting married. Surprise!” he said.

Fuck this shit, I was done. I took a step toward them, but Lyall put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

I snarled. But then I got a look at the guy, looked into his eyes and saw something I never thought I would. Regret.

Then he was moving toward his daughter.

Cassy

I shook my head, again trying to pull from Spencer’s hold. This couldn’t be happening. I turned to look at my father who had just stepped up beside me, and going by the look on his face, how pale he was, he didn’t know either.

It was almost like he actually cared.

He’d been avoiding me all evening, not wanting to face what he’d done.

I twisted back to the smiling crowd still clapping at Spencer’s announcement. My grandmother was frowning, looking concerned. She started moving toward me. My gaze found Cal’s again and I bit my lip as tears filled my eyes.

A warm soft hand took mine. I glanced down. Gran stood beside me.

She gave Spencer a tight smile. “A moment with my granddaughter.”

Spencer dipped his chin but didn’t let me go.

“I loved your grandfather more than anything,” she said for my ears only. “And, sweetheart, nothing—nothing—is worth giving up on love for, real love.” She patted her hand. “Promise me you’ll never forget that.”

“Promise,” I whispered. There was no way I was marrying Spencer today or any day.

My gran would never want me to be with someone I didn’t love, and I was in love with Cal. I wasn’t going to stand here and marry a man I despised for anything or anyone.

Cal started moving through the crowd toward me, a look of determination on his face. I shook my head, silently asking him to stay back. He stopped, but the muscle in his jaw was jumping, eyes darkening with anger, with hurt.

He thought I was going to go through with it.

I shoved Spencer’s hand from around my waist and stepped away from him. He grabbed for me, and I felt his fingers curl around the shawl I was wearing over my shoulders to cover my scars and the almost finished tattoo Cal had decorated my skin with. My first instinct was to grab it, to keep myself covered, but I realized I didn’t care what these people thought, what anyone thought. The only person I wanted to protect from hurt tonight was Cal.

So I released my grip on the silky fabric and took another step away from Spencer and my father.

I heard a gasp behind me. I didn’t know which of them it was, and as I turned, the crowd surrounding us went silent. The lower half of my tattoo wasn’t finished, but the upper part of my back and shoulder were fully done. It was beautiful. Cal had made me feel beautiful, and I wanted him to know that he’d done that for me.

I turned back to him, a smile I couldn’t contain curling my lips when our stares locked and I saw the pride, the heat, so much more in his dark eyes. My heart filled to the point of bursting.

“Cover yourself,” Spencer hissed, trying to drape my shawl over my shoulders.

I was about to shove him away when my father stepped forward and grabbed Spencer’s hand. He shook his head. “Don’t touch her.”