Cass smirked at my sister as she sputtered in fury before her, clearly unable to form a coherent sentence.
“I’ve survived much worse than whoever gave you that cut,Theo.” Cass sneered. “The difference, though, is the person who hurt me isn’t fucking alive to talk about it. Can you say the same?”
The kitchen was now silent, and Cass’ eyes flashed in triumph.
“Didn’t think so.” She turned away from Theo, dismissing her with a flick of her long dark hair, settling her hard brown eyes on Caleb and his mother.
“Alright, you two. In the car. I’ll drop you off at a shelter on my way to court,” she barked before stalking out of my kitchen.
We all stared for a moment as the hurricane, who was Cassandra, exited the building, taking Caleb and his mother with her.
“Uhh…” I glanced at Cal, completely flabbergasted. “What just happened?” I asked him, and he chuckled.
“My sister, ladies and gentlemen.”
Theo let out a strange sputtering noise and turned on her heel, her face red with fury.
“I’m going to go disinfect this after that psycho put her fucking fingers all over it.”
Cal just snickered harder. “Come on, muscles. You liked it. Don’t tell me that didn’t get you a little wet!”
Theo didn’t look back; she just flipped Cal off and slammed the back door on her way out.
My mother began cleaning up Caleb’s forgotten waffles with a serene smile on her face.
“Looks like Ryan isn’t the only one with a dark angel.” She hummed, and Cal gave me a quizzical look. I just rolled my eyes and gestured to the mess in the kitchen.
“Help my mom clean this up. I have to get ready for Ms. Thompson’s service,” I snapped at him. If he was going to invite himself into my home and make a mess, the least he could do was help with the washing after.
Cal grabbed my arm as I turned to leave, spinning me back to face him. He was uncomfortably close, and suddenly, my heart was in my throat.
He massaged my bicep gently, and his hot hand reminded me of when he had been massaging a much more intimate part of me the day before. I swallowed thickly, and his grin widened as if he could see exactly where my mind had gone.
“Anything I can do to help, ginger snap?” he asked softly, leaning in even closer.
“Yeah, I just told you what you could do to help.”
“I meant with the service.”
My eyebrows shot into my hairline, and my mouth parted in surprise. I had not been expecting that at all. Getting anyone to help me with funerals around here was like pulling teeth. I usually hired people as needed. Today, I had a man coming in to help with the wake in an hour or two.
More gently than I meant to, I shrugged out of Cal’s grip, doing my best to cling to the sane part of me that knew better than to let a fucking murderer get this close to me.
“Don’t you have better things to do with your time than help some random person set up a funeral service for someone you don’t even know?” I asked.
Cal cocked his head to the side, his dark eyebrows furrowing.
“Of course I do, Ryan. But I can always make time for you.”
A strange, warm feeling swirled in my gut at his words. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. Not even my own mother. Don’t get me wrong, I knew my mother loved me, but she always seemed to have one foot in another dimension. I never felt like I had her undivided attention.
With my dad, I had always come second to the business. He wouldn’t have said that was the case if I asked him, but actions spoke louder than words.
Then Theo… Well, Theo had her own demons.
I cleared my throat awkwardly and took another step away from Cal, trying to ignore the rush of disappointment that flooded through me when he let me go.
“Help my mom clean up. I have to go figure out how I’m going to cover up this black eye before guests start arriving. I expect you to be gone by the time I come back downstairs.”
