“Okay so you don’t have to give Guy a second chance,” she said. “But you do have to give me your number because any woman who could make Guy flustered is a friend of mine.”
“I will if you answer me one thing,” I said.
“Lay it on me,” she smiled, setting her light blue eyes on mine.
“What was going on the one day you kept blowing up his phone?” I asked.
She sobered and fell silent for a moment. The air had almost thickened and chilled to a subzero temperature. I started the car and turned on the heat.
A few minutes later, she sucked in a breath and said, “Before I agreed to go on a couple of double dates with Guy, I had a serious boyfriend. We ended up breaking up because not only did he cheat on me, but he enjoyed using me as his personal punching bag and was massively possessive.”
“Oh, you had one hell of a winner, huh?” I asked.
She sarcastically laughed. “Oh yes. I sure know how to pick them.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “That had to have been rough.”
She settled her light blue eyes on mine again. “Don’t be. Guy helped to put a stop to him for a while. Recently, I had to change my number because my ex made another appearance, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. I guess he was following me and figured out Guy wasn’t really in the picture.”
“So, you had to change your number,” I said.
“I had to do a lot more than that. Once I found out Guy was here, I realized I had to figure things out on my own and had spent some time doing that. Now I have a restraining order, the asshole is in jail, and he won’t be bothering me, or anyone else, for a while.”
“He was trying to help you through a difficult time,” I said, feeling guilty. “He was telling the truth.”
A pinch entered my forehead. Guilt settled in my chest. Pressure built in my shoulders. I was wrong? How could I have been so wrong?
She smiled softly and nodded. “Yes. He’s a great person. He has a gentle heart. And he’s my best male friend.”
After another hour of talking about nothing and everything, we exchanged numbers, and Cassidy headed back to the city. I drove home and tried to make sense of everything I had learned. I still felt guilty. I had over-reacted and now I had to figure out a way to make it up to Guy.
My plan kept changing. Moving on didn’t seem so simple anymore. The only question was how to go about asking for forgiveness. I couldn’t figure it out just yet. First, I needed to get better.
18
GUY
Night had fallen, along with the frigid temperature, by the time I arrived back at the cabin. And the place was just as cold, dark, and empty as it was when Cadence left. Even despite being faced with the sheer lack of her warmth in my life, I still walked inside and took a seat on the couch. I stared at the dark, cold fireplace, and struggled with deciding whether to start a fire or leave and spend a few days in my bear form.
Both were equally enticing. But neither of them allowed me to forget for very long. Especially since her scent covered everything in the cabin. And the general lack of warmth outside made me miss her even more.
It had been hours since Cassidy’s talk with Cadence was supposed to take place, and I wondered how the conversation went. Cassidy was supposed to call and let me know once she got home, but I had left my phone and the large duffle bag in my truck.
With a grunt, I stood up from the couch and headed back outside to grab everything. Once I was back inside the cabin, I checked the notifications on my phone. I had several missed calls and a couple of unanswered texts.
The texts weren’t anything of importance, so I deleted them. After checking my voicemails, I called Cassidy back. She was one of the missed calls and her voicemail indicated she had some news to share. I tried not to feed into the tone of her voice, but it was hard to not cling to any ounce of hope. Especially after the day I had.
The line rang five times. Her voicemail would pick up soon if she didn’t answer.
“Where have you been?” Cassidy asked, voice sounding sharp and full of worry.
“Hello to you too, my friend,” I said and took a seat on the couch.
“So, are you going to tell me what took you so long to call me back or not?” she asked.
Cassidy was a human who, until fairly recently, believed shifters didn’t exist outside of books. She was still getting used to the idea, and I always treaded that topic as though I was walking on eggshells. She took the news better than I thought she would when she first found out shifters were very much so real, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t come a point in time where she wouldn’t be okay with it.
Everyone had their limits.