She stared, appearing surprised. “Oh. Wow. I’m sorry.”
Great. Now Mack felt even worse. She pitied him. “Never mind.”
“What did Xavier have to say?”
She’d wanted to know the other stuff. Might as well spill that too. “Officer Xavier Revere warned me to leave you alone because your state of health is so much more important than mine. That I shouldn’t treat you the way I do the myriad other women I apparently treat with a lack of regard. My casual dates who are so broken when I leave them that they can’t exist.”Xavier, such a fuckhead.
Cass frowned. “He was worried I was just another casual hookup for you?”
“I’m hearing tone there.” Judgment. And that pissed him off. “First of all, I’ve been honest with you from the beginning. I’m not a whore. I don’t date nearly as much as everyone seems to think I do. And I’ve never, ever treated a woman with anything but respect. The fact that I haven’t made any lasting connections is no one’s fault. Not mine or the women I dated. It just didn’t happen.”
“I know.”
“I don’t think you do.” Or she wouldn’t have sounded so critical. “I’ve never considered you casual. We’re friends, and I’ve always respected the way you want us to present ourselves to others. I didn’t hug you or hold your hand, though I wanted to.Youkissedmeback there.”
“I know,” she repeated, but this time with a little more heat. “I didn’t say you did.”
“I’m really tired of everyone thinking I’m so beneath them because I’m not a fucking cop.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Now wait a minute. You’re putting your bullshit on me. I never said anything about that being a problem. Just because you’re having an issue standing up to your brother does not mean I did anything wrong.”
If he were a cat, he would have hissed right then, right there. “I’m leaving.” He grabbed the kittens and headed for the door.
“Mack, you’re being silly about this.”
“Screw you, Cass.” He left in a huff.
“Fuck off, then.” She slammed the door behind him.
Mack put the kittens in the carrier in his back seat and swore all the way home. Not a great ending to what should have been a pleasant family dinner. At least the Revere clan had been consistent. Hell, he had more in common with Dean than his brothers and dad. His mom still treated him like the baby, but she never stepped in and tried to get anyone to see him as more than the youngest of her boys.
He hadn’t understood how difficult it would be to see his family accept Cass but not him. Of course he wanted them to like her. But having yet one more reminder that even his girlfriend—who wasn’t even a girlfriend—was more acceptable than he was hurt.
He let himself in his house, feeling the chill of solitude, and went to bed. Alone.
And missed Cass all night long.
***
The next day at work, he said little, telling Reggie straight out he was in a foul mood.
“You’re never happy after hanging with the folks.” Reggie shook his head. “No problem, bro. I got your back.”
The day passed quickly. They saved a choking toddler and helped a cardiac arrest make it to the hospital. The afternoon settled down, enough for them to restock the aid units and clean. Wash had just finished making a huge pot of stew for the entire shift, which even had the LT hanging around instead of bolting home for turkey, when a call came in for immediate assistance.
With Tex and Brad already taking a call to a traumatic injury nearby, Reggie and Mack headed to the scene of a major accident.
“Crap. I really wanted some of that stew. Wash knows how to cook,” Mack complained.
Reggie grunted. “I can still smell it. I’ve got residual drooling.”
Mack couldn’t help laughing at that.
“There we go. You’ve been in a bitch of a mood all day.”
“Yeah.”
Reggie paused. “Want to talk about it?”
