While Cass gritted her teeth so as not to rip into the jackass, Grayson appeared unruffled. He cocked his head. “How so?” he asked in a decidedly cooler tone.
Russ’s friendly guise gained a flustered edge that was tucked away before it could fully form. Before he could respond, Sofia stepped into the awkward pause. “So this is a long-distance thing, then?” she asked sharply, motioning between the two of them. “I mean, knowing how dedicated Cass is to her bar and friends, I can’t imagine you two get too much time together—not if you’re here with the Guild and she’s there.”
Cass tamped down her irritation at her sister’s unspoken criticism, a practiced move that had been repeated often during their past interactions.
“Oh, we make it work,” Grayson said as he aimed a wicked grin Cass’s way. “Don’t we, sweetheart?”
Her body did not care that he was playing to the other couple. It simply curled into the flirty implication and wallowed. Before she could respond, their order arrived, and talk faded as they settled into their food. When the conversation picked back up, it didn’t stray into anything heavy, and Cass was relieved to see Sofia lose some of her early signs of distress. Even her typical barbs disappeared, for which Cass was grateful. Unfortunately, there was Russ’s overt charm to contend with, especially as he seemed to be making inroads with Grayson, whose slight coolness from earlier seemed to be thawing.
Either that, or Grayson deserves a freakin’ Emmy.
It took a lot of restraint to ignore the little digs Russ threw in every now and again, but the fact that they only seemed to get to her, not Grayson, kept her in check. A couple of times, she had to remind herself that she loved Sofia and going scorched earth on the overbearing jackass would not end well. Throughout the back-and-forth, she learned that Russ’s position, which involved reeling in new clients for Pythia, had come about due to an unexpected opening. His role at the family firm and his obvious attitude of self-importance went a long way in explaining why he got along so well with her parents.
Guess if I want my parents’ acceptance, I just needed to add to Pythia’s bottom line. The caustic thought stung, but Cass couldn’t help it. The guy rubbed her the wrong way.
A flare of irritation ignited when Grayson chuckled at another one of Russ’s lame-ass quips. She drained the last bit of her coffee, hoping the cup would hide her lip-curling disgust. When she set it down, her gaze went to Sofia, who was cutting into her breakfast. Cass’s spine locked and her stomach rolled in queasy horror as Sofia scooped up a rotten mess of blueberries and strawberries from the curdled whip cream topping. Thin filaments that looked like spiderwebs stretched from the nauseating forkful to the pancakes before snapping free. More of the webbing crawled across the table and crept over the edge of Grayson’s plate. She jerked to her feet, her chair scraping across the cement patio. The table conversation stopped abruptly, and everyone stared at her.
“Cass, you okay?”
Grayson’s question sounded like it came from far away, but she was too busy keeping her stomach from revolting to answer. Something warm and firm curled around her wrist, and suddenly someone was between her and the nightmarish meal on the table.
“Cass?”
Her lungs found air, and she blinked up at a frowning Grayson. “I’m good.” She forced the lie from her mouth and tried not to look at the table. Her mind scrambled for an exit. “Sorry, I just…” She waved her free hand, absently noting its slight tremor. “I just need to use the restroom.”
Grayson’s gaze shifted from her face to her hand and back, concern darkening his eyes. She kept her attention on him, needing the visual anchor to hold back the grim portent. He must have known something was up, but other than a reassuring brush of his thumb over the back of her wrist before he let her go, he didn’t push.
Gathering her tattered composure, she forced her lips to curve up and turned to Sofia, deliberately keeping her eyes away from the food. “Want to come with me?”
Sofia studied her then set her fork down. “Sure.” She put aside her napkin and leaned into Russ to press a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
Cass couldn’t help glancing at the table as she turned away. Fortunately, the spoiled, contaminated food was gone. As unobtrusively as possible, she blew out a shaky breath of relief. Sofia pushed her chair in, and then the two women followed the signs to the restrooms. The short trip was not long enough for Cass to figure out how to approach Sofia without tripping over the multitude of triggers that existed between the sisters, and she couldn’t erase the disturbing vision that was messing with her head. She was still struggling with what to say as they stood at the basin, rinsing their hands, when Sofia took the lead.
“What did you see?” There was a brittle edge to her question.
Cass met Sofia’s gaze in the mirror, seeing the resentful light that her sister couldn’t hide. “A warning.”
“About…?”
She studied the stubborn set to Sofia’s jaw. “I don’t know.”
“Bullshit,” Sofia snapped, turning away to the hand dryer on the wall. She hit the rune next to it, and the dryer roared to life, making further conversation impossible.
Cass shook her hands over the sink then used one of the paper towels tucked in the corner so Sofia couldn’t storm out while the second dryer was going. She turned, taking in Sofia’s stiff shoulders.
As soon as the wall dryer fell quiet, she said, “Sofia?—”
Her sister spun around, anger suffusing her face. “If you don’t want to tell me, fine. Just don’t lie.”
The betrayed hurt underlying Sofia’s fury tore at Cass’s heart. She was struggling to find a way to salvage the conversation when Sofia landed an even deeper cut.
“You know, I don’t get it.”
“Get what?” Cass asked cautiously.
“Why you did what you did.”
Cass tensed under the venomous lash of Sofia’s accusation. She didn’t need to be an Oracle to know where this was going. Sofia didn’t give her a chance to respond as years of resentment finally boiled over in a heart-shredding mess.
