“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.
“You hate that I’m having a baby with Johnny.”
“I don’t hate—”
“You don’t think I should be with him.”
“Because he’s married!”
“See! You look down your nose at me like you’re better than me.”
“That’s not true.” I didn’t want to fight with her, so I tried to defuse the situation. “Listen, Missy, I don’t know why you’re so angry at me—”
“You need to go.”
I looked at her, dumbfounded, unsure if I’d heard her correctly. “What?”
She picked up the T-shirt again and began to fold it hastily. “I don’t think you should live here anymore.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “Why?”
“I’m settled here. I don’t want to leave.”
“I thought you wanted me to help you with the baby—”
“I don’t need your help. Johnny is going to take care of me and the baby.”
It suddenly occurred to me that she hadn’t looked me in the eye since I’d asked her why she was throwing me out. And now that I realized it, it became obvious. She was having trouble looking at me because she was lying.
I climbed off the bed. “Fine, I’ll leave but not before you tell me why.”
“I just told you.”
“I mean the truth.”
“I don’t need to do anything.” Still no eye contact. “Because this is my house and I’m telling you to leave.”
I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Tears welled in my eyes and the hurt pounded through me with such force that I felt breathless. I didn’t understand what was happening or why she was doing this. We’d been through a lot together, hard times, poor times, rough times, and now she was throwing me out? I struggled to swallow my hurt.
“Fine, I’ll move out tomorrow.”
Finally, she made eye contact. “I want you gone tonight.”
“Where will I go?”
She turned back to folding her washing. “That’s the thing, Cassidy, I don’t care.”
CHANCE
We were just leaving the cigar shop on Main when I saw her. She was walking down the street.
No, not walking.
Stomping.
She was stomping down the street carrying what looked like all of her worldly possessions. One canvas bag, a guitar case, and a world of trouble on her shoulders.
And just like that, a new war took up inside of me.
Leave her to deal with whatever it was that lead her onto the street at dusk with all of her belongings.
Or help her.
Hate told me to walk away.
Just kick the Harley into gear and hammer down in the other direction.
I’d already let her go the other night. And even though I’d thought about her constantly in the time since then, she was out of my life.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I looked at Caleb and the others. “You go. I’ll catch up with you at the clubhouse later.”
They glanced over at Cassidy then nodded and roared off down the street. The noise caught her attention, and she looked up. The moment our eyes met, I knew I was going to help her. Call it a sixth sense, but I just knew I wasn’t done with this girl yet.
I kicked the Harley into gear and rode over to where she was standing on the curb.
“I thought you would’ve left town by now,” I said.
“I’m on my way,” she said, clutching her bag of clothes in her hands. But instead of looking happy about it, she looked sad.
Pissed.
Yep. Something wasn’t right.
“Where’s your friend? The one you’re traveling with?”
If she looked sad before, now she looked completely devastated. But it was only a flicker before it was gone and quickly hidden behind a bright, phony smile.
“I’m flying solo this time. She’s staying here.”
The way she said it, I knew there was more to the story.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
She huffed out a breath and looked away, tears glimmering in her lovely eyes. She bit down on her bottom lip to calm her quivering chin, and I couldn’t hold back the lascivious thoughts that flickered across my sex-starved brain.
“Cassidy?”
“She threw me out,” she snapped suddenly, the emotion fierce on her delicate features.
“Your friend?”
“My supposed best friend,” she said angrily.
She gave me a very brief explanation about her roommate suffering from baby brain and how she threw her out because Cassidy disapproved of the affair she was having with her married boss.
Her friend sounded like a real piece of work.
“So you’re leaving town tonight?” I asked.
She shook her head and held up a crumpled bus timetable. “The last bus left at four-forty-five. I’m going to sleep at the bus station tonight and get on the next bus out of town in the morning.”
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
The bus station wasn’t a safe place for sleeping. It was unpatrolled with a lot of people coming and going. Once it closed down for the evening, it wasn’t the place for a young woman to spend the night alone.