“Darlene hired someone new, and she wanted the time to train her. It wasn’t to avoid you. I wasn’t over here trying not to fall in love.” She couldn’t resist the small jab.
“Cassidy…”
“You exhaust me. Please.”
He searched her eyes, then assured her, “Won’t happen again.”
She snorted. “No, it definitely won’t.”
He looked at her pointedly. “Day.” His voice was stern, ensuring she wouldn’t mistake his meaning. “Won’t happen again.”
The bad parts, he was talking about the bad parts, promising all the good. She stared back at him for a moment, not remembering how to breathe as she was held captive by his intense look. The faintest twitch of his lashes told her he was satisfied she understood him, and he released her gaze.
Taking a step back, he dispelled the tension by saying, “The new girl’s kinda scary; be good for you to go back to work. The fuck Dar was thinking; I don’t know.”
“She’s her cousin.” The words barely made it out, her lungs still incapable of normal function.
Mac paused, then grimaced. “Fuck’s sake.” Then he smiled, a hint of satisfied amusement in his eyes to see her strive for a fraction of her earlier temper. “Forgive me, or I’ll annoy you every day until you do.”
Snapped her out of her fugue by his words, she pointed out, “You do that anyway.” But there was no bite to the words this time.
Mac raised an expectant eyebrow.
“You were horrible.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing.
“Youarehorrible.”
He looked down, not answering.
“Will you at least tell me why?”
He glanced up, then lowered his eyes, taking another full assessment of her body as he did so with a wistful sigh. Then his eyes dropped away altogether. “My bullshit. Like you said, you aren’t my priest, either.”
The gruffness to his voice was back.
“You’re right,” she agreed. “So it’s not my place to grant you absolution.” And with that, she slid the door shut, staring back at him as she flicked the lock.
Mac’s expression was one of exasperation, but she turned her back on him and walked down the glass hallway, toward the back rooms where he wouldn’t be able to see her. And she wouldn’t be able to see him. She’d left Fred out there with him, but Fred knew how to get inside.
She just couldn’t be near him anymore.
Did she think he was sorry? Yes, she believed he was; she thought he’d been sorry that night. But it didn’t take away the hurt, how unnecessary it had been to hurt her like that. To bring Elijah into the room and use him to hurt her. And then not to even offer a half-assed explanation; it was too much.
What was the saying? Fool me once…
Frustration had Cassidy prowling her home in the middle of the night, on her hands and knees with a flashlight looking for her rings. She knew the general vicinity she’d thrown them, and she couldn’t imagine they’d rolled too far. She was growing frantic.
She had bouts of pleading with her silent husband and then threatening never to speak to him again unless he miraculously deposited her rings in front of her.
“Forever, baby, we said forever,” she reminded him. “You let go first, and then you took our son, so you owe me!”
There wasn’t a lot of furniture to move. She also didn’t have area rugs.
She’d lain belly down on the floor and panned the light around, hoping for a sparkle to glance on the beam. Nothing.
She’d even eyed Fred suspiciously, wondering if he’d eaten them.