“Well, then call for me when they areup and running.”
Her jaw ticks as she glares at me. “I think you should stay here.”
I let go of Nia’s hand and turn, completely put-off by Amanda’s insistence. “I think I’ll go up to my room and spend some time with Nia until things are ready here.”
Nia touches my arm. “Hey, it’s okay, Cass. I’ll come by later.”
“I think that’s a good id–” Amanda starts, but I cut her off.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I tell Nia.
Both women stare at me, and I can hear even the smallest hiss of the wind with how quiet things have gotten.
Nia squeezes my bicep in a silent request to let this go. “Cass, it’s fine, really; I’ll just–”
“I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot here,” I tell them. “We gotta re-evaluate and shit, don’t you agree?” When neither of them answers, I scrub a hand over my stubble. “How about we go to dinner together – tomorrow. Just the 3 of us. Have a sit-down, get candid, grab a few drinks. What do you think?”
Nia makes a noise that I assume stands for a yes, whereas Amanda squares her shoulders and inclines her head a little.
I flash her a winning smile. “Great; that’s settled, then.” I once again grab Nia’s hand, which is a little clammy this time around, and tell her, “Let’s go see my room, babe.”
11. Cass
Nia chugs the last of her hot cocoa and throws her cup into the trashcan in my bedroom. “What the fuck just happened?” she asks incredulously.
I throw my empty cup in the bin and turn on the heater. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
She rakes her fingers through her hair half-frozen hair. “She’s just so…just so…”
“Frustratingly wicked?” I provide.
She lets her arms rise and fall by her sides. “Ugh!”
I chuckle as I move further into the room. “Relax; you’ll get used to it. But if it’s any consolation, I’ll have you know that she’s in a good mood today.” I lift a shoulder.
Nia rolls her eyes. “Lucky me.”
“She doesn’t take to change easily,” I tell her. “She has mostly always behaved this way towards women I’ve dated in the past. I guess it’s her way of making sure I’m not being used for my popularity or status in the social media world; her way of eliminating the bad fish and all that.”
Nia’s expression turns distant, but she clears her throat and eases herself from it. She then looks around the wood-finished room and furniture, the unlit fireplace and shut glass window, and shakes her head at me. “I can’t believe you made an excuse of wanting to show me yourroomto get us out of that nauseous situation. Like you and I haven’t been inside this B&B countless times during dozens of fairs and events as kids.”
“I had to use some sort of escape route, didn’t I? Stuff wasn’t necessarily getting any mellow between the two of you.”
Nia clicks her tongue. “She doesn’t even know me, and yet she acted like she despises me. Like I spat in her coffee or something.”
“You justhadto reference coffee, didn’t you?” I ask with a raise of my brow. “Did you really have to be that cliché?”
I can tell that she’s fighting back a smile with the way she presses her lips together. “I’m not creative with words, okay? Have some mercy on me.”
“Excuses, excuses.”
She flips me off, and when I come to stand right in front of her, she slowly drags her eyes over my body. “The years have definitely worked wonders on you, haven’t they?”
A surprised laugh leaves me at her words. “You noticed thatnow?”
She shrugs. “I’ve been observing it bit by bit during the last few days.”
“Is that a compliment? Because I can’t tell if it is.”
