“No.But you think he’d be this worried about any of the male agents?”
“Yes.”
Yeah, okay.He might.
“Why does he rub you the wrong way?”
Because she kept imagining how he could rub her therightway.“He doesn’t.”
“Okay.”Bristol faced forward again.
“What do you think his fatal flaw is?”
Bristol looked over at her.“What?”
“No one’s perfect, not even him.He has to have one.”
“Fatalflaw?That’s a little overly suspicious, don’t you think?”
“Why?Everyone has flaws.It’s driving me crazy that I haven’t figured out what’s wrong with him.”
Bristol was silent a moment.“Were you always this cynical about men, or just since your ex?”
Blood rushed to her cheeks.Fair question though.“Bit of both, I guess,” she admitted, not proud of it.“But I’m done with getting hurt and being let down.I want to see the flaws up front, not find out after it’s too late.”
“What did he do?”
“Tristan?Nothing.”
“Your ex.”
She hesitated.She didn’t like thinking about him.Or talking about him.Tried her best not to.
How to put it succinctly without getting into the details?“He was...a manipulative, emotionally abusive narcissist.”
Bristol stared at her a moment.“What a piece of shit.”
The rare curse and the sheer loathing in Bristol’s voice made Cassie burst out laughing.“Just when I thought I couldn’t love you any more than I already do.”
“Well, it’s true.”
“It is true.”
“I’m glad you left him.”
“Same.Should’ve done it way sooner though.”She hated that she’d stayed as long as she had.It shamed her now.
“Why didn’t you?”
She sighed.“I dunno.Low self-worth?Patterning?”She shook her head, knowing they were excuses.“It got to the point where I couldn’t ignore what was really happening anymore.And one day I realized I was repeating what I’d seen my mom do over and over again, staying with a toxic partner because it was better than being alone.”
It made her cringe, but she clearly remembered the moment, standing in front of her bathroom sink washing her face.She’d stopped and stared at her reflection, saw her mother’s face and wondered how the hell she’d become like her.
Bristol reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.“I’m proud of you.For leaving him, and for waking up.”
She flushed again.Accepting praise was hard for her, even from Bristol.“Meh.When I think back to all the ways I rationalized staying for so long, and all the excuses I made for him, I want to puke.”It was still hard to believe she’d become that person.She’d seen it so many times on domestic dispute calls, where the abused woman stuck up for her man and refused to press charges.
Cassie had allowed herself to become a certain version of that.Never again.
