“Because, Hayden, kiss Cassidy goodbye. You have to get you to your seat and you, Cassidy,” she said, turning to me and pointing her finger in my direction. “You need to fix your lipstick and get ready to go. Ten minutes until show time.”
5
HAYDEN
I’d been runningaround my apartment like a madman for days. Cassidy’s tour was finally over. It’d felt like it’d dragged on forever, but now she was coming home. Or coming to Chicago to see me and I wasn’t ready.
I’d taken a couple of days off to spend with her but I had no idea what the hell we were going to do. I’d cleaned the place twice and thrown out any trace of my embarrassing bachelorhood.
When I’d recruited my sister, Hannah, to come shopping, she’d busted my balls until I caved and told her. The last thing Hannah was likely to do was to blab to someone so I knew my secret was safe. Besides, she’d gone and shacked up, much to my annoyance, with one of the NBA’s biggest players—a player on and off the court, but so far Mason was treating her well so he was still breathing.
Now hanging in my bathroom, I had brand new, top-of-the-line matching towels, hand towel, and bath mat all in magic mint, whatever color that was. Hannah had asked what color I wanted and I told her to choose. Two hours and my credit card melting later, we walked out of the mall, me carrying a bunch of bags filled with shit I didn’t know I even needed. Thankfully Hannah swung past after her shift at the hospital and put it all away.
But if I thought that was bad, going to the store to buy food was the worst. I stood there staring in the fridges not having a clue what to buy. Usually I got in, threw the basics in my basket and got the hell out. This time though, I was standing there staring at the yoghurt wondering if Cassidy would prefer strawberry or apricot.
A knock at the door interrupted me as I was stomping around fluffing the new cinnamon colored throw cushions I just had to have. Apparently my apartment screamed bachelor and needed a feminine touch.
Yanking open the door, there stood a sight for sore eyes.
After hanging out with Cass for two days in Phoenix I was more addicted than ever. On stage she commanded your attention and made everyone feel like she was giving them their own private show. From the way she moved around the stage, to the incredible songs she sang filled with enough heartfelt emotion that even I was man enough to admit had me tearing up once or twice. After performing the encore, twice, she rushed off the stage and disappeared into the bowels of the stadium. I sat and waited as the crowd filed out around me, listening to their thoughts and hearing what they had to say. Cassidy was loved. A few of the comments had me clenching my fists and wanting to string the young guys up by their balls for their insensitivity about Cassidy’s shoes or her dress, instead I bit the inside of my cheek and remained silent. Spending a night in lockup didn’t sound anywhere near as fun as spending the night with the woman herself.
Skye appeared out of nowhere, she was like a damn ninja popping up like that and almost giving me a heart attack, before she led me through the corridors and ushered me into Cassidy’s dressing room.
She was sitting there on a couch, shoes off, wriggling her toes in the carpet while she sipped a bottle of water through a straw. Before she’d gone on stage she’d been stunning, but seeing her now, with her makeup half sweated off, her hair mussed and her bare feet with the cute pink polished toenails was a sight I’d never forget.
“You’re early,” I spat out instead of a standard greeting a normal human being would use.
Cassidy looked up and down the hall, then at the giant silver suitcase sitting beside her. “I can come back…” she began as she picked up her handbag, the biggest damn bag I’d ever seen and started to move.
“Wait!” I said, trying again, reaching out and wrapping my hand around her wrist as she’d settled her oversized glasses on her head. “Don’t go. I want you here, I was just surprised and I wasn’t ready…”
“Weren’t ready? Ready for what? It’s just me.” She shrugged as if she was no one special.
Cassidy wasn’t just someone special. She was more than that. She was the reason I’d taken more days off and racked up more frequent flyer miles in the last six weeks than I had in the last six years. I’d been to Oregon, Minnesota, hell I’d even been to New Mexico just to see her. Just to spend one night with her curled in my arms.
“Yeah I know but—”
“But nothing!” she sassed as she shook off my grip, grabbed the handle of her suitcase and dragged it inside, straight over my toe.
“Well come on in,” I snarked to the empty doorway before turning and following her inside. “It’s not much…”
“Hayden! Is that what you’re worried about?”
“I’m not worried about—”
“Yeah, and you’re a shitty liar. I’m here to see you. I don't care if you haven’t dusted and there’s more beer in your fridge than there is food. We can order pizza and snuggle on the couch. That’s why I’m here. I don’t need fancy—”
I didn’t let her finish. I took her in my arms, and kissed her like I should’ve when I’d opened the door and found her standing there. When her tongue slipped in my mouth, I couldn’t hold back the moan. The truth was, I’d missed her. Long-distance dating was hard. I was hard. All the damn time. Everywhere I went, there she was. A couple of months ago, I’d sat down and shared a late-night snack with her, completely oblivious to her celebrity status but now I knew what she tasted like, now I knew what she looked like as she came undone underneath me, now I knew that she was a girl who loved a cheeseburger and fries more than a salad, she was everywhere. Each time I climbed in the car, one of her songs was on the radio. Every shop or corner store I stepped into, I saw her smiling face staring back at me from the rows filled with magazines.
“You deserve fancy,” I groaned against the soft, silky skin of her neck.
“I don't want fancy, Hayden, I just want us.”
“Fuck I love you, woman,” I growled lifting her off her feet and carrying her through the apartment before laying her down on my brand-new comforter.
Lying there, her hair piled in a messy knot on the top of her head, eyes half closed and propped up on her elbows, she’d never looked more beautiful. “What did you just say?” she asked quietly, almost as if she was afraid to ask.
“Ummm,” I stalled.
