“Fuck, she left.”
“Do you want to go after her?” He asks. We are finally at my apartment, and he pulls into the spot.
I shoot her a text asking her to call me and that I want to make sure she is OK. I don’t mention that I just saw everything that happened because then she will know about my security cameras and may realize that there is one in my bedroom. If she asks how I know we will cross that bridge at a later time when we get there. My phone dings with her reply.
Cassie- *Hey. Everything’s fine. We are fine. I don’t want to talk on the phone right now; I’m heading to get the stuff for tonight. I’ll just see you later. *
“She says she is ok, but I’m still worried. If I go over there, though, right now, it will probably just piss her off.”
“Just let her be for a little bit. We can get your groceries and your car. Then we can go over there a bit earlier, and you can see what she says. Just keep texting her to make sure she is OK. In the meantime, send me that license plate number.” He is right.
“What are you going to do with the plate?”
“I have people. I’ll figure out just who he is, and we will figure out what to do next. Don’t worry; it will all be okay. Based on what you have told me, she's a strong woman.” He says it with such certainty that I believe him.
“OK, I’m going to go pack my shit for tonight, then we will go.”
Two hours later, we are back at my apartment with many groceries, toiletries, and other necessities. We also went andgrabbed my car; thankfully, it started up after a couple of tries. It might need a tune-up after sitting for nine months, though.
We decide to take Jayme’s car instead. I toss my stuff into his back seat. I am still fuming. Who the fuck does this asshole think he is laying his hands on her. Even worse is that this is her Dom. Dom’s are supposed to make sure their subs feel safe, and that was nothing but pure fear in her eyes.
She has been texting me on and off throughout the day but has been silent for the last half hour or so. She repeatedly said she was fine, but I didn’t believe her. I swear to God, if she is bruised, I will go over to his fucking house tonight and kill him.
Jayme’s connections managed to find out a lot more about Theo. He is Theo Blackmore. One of the Elites of New York. This fucker is very powerful. I don’t understand how Cassie got mixed up with him. Could he be from Vixens? Is that where they met?
This might be even more of a problem than I initially thought. It seems that no charges ever stick to this man. He is so rich he probably has the entire city under his payroll. Fuck! I need to get Cassie away from him. Maybe I will ask her to move to California with me. There is no way in hell she would stay with that fucker after he did that. Is there?
36. Cassie
Imay have gone a bit overboard on groceries for tonight, but my excuse is that it is Lucian’s first game night back with us. I bought almost every topping you could think of for pizza. Pepperoni, bacon, ham, chicken, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and, of course, pineapple for Ash and Lucian. YUCK! I got stuff for margaritas and some other beverages. I picked up those delicious brownie bites because those are Lucian’s favorite. I also got groceries for the week for my house since I will be home from work for almost three weeks thanks to this shoulder. Thankfully, it feels much better; I haven’t had to take more than basic Tylenol. Thank God for my high pain tolerance.
I barely make it into the kitchen with the bags without dropping them. I catch my reflection in the hall mirror and can already see the start of bruising on my jaw. I need to grab some cover-up because Lucian will absolutely lose his mind if he sees this, and I don’t need that right now. Theo ended up calling me about 10 minutes ago, begging for forgiveness. He apologized and said it wouldn’t happen again. Apparently, his last sub cheated on him throughout their whole relationship, and he said he was scared it was going to happen again. He also said he wants us to be official and exclusive only to each other, not even with Allie anymore. I told him I would think about it and let him know tomorrow.
I’m not excusing what he did, but I understand why he was paranoid. He has always been so amazing and sweet with me, soI’m torn. Do I still want to give this a try? I need to forget these feelings or whatever it is that I have for Lucian. I have a fantastic man who cares about me, spoils me, and makes me feel things I haven’t felt before. He also helps me explore any fantasy I want and never judges. Plus, he is hot as fuck. But on the other hand, he has now shown how violent he can get. So we will see.
I grab a glass of wine while I tidy up the house and chop up all the toppings for tonight. I still have about three hours until everyone gets here, so I decide to pop a headache pill and take a nap. My head is still pounding. I decided to put a bag of ice on the back of it because there was a knot. Theo said he would be spoiling me on Saturday as his way of apologizing. I wonder what that entails.
When I lay on the couch, I felt a heavy fog descending on my body. My couch still smells like Lucian’s cologne. The more I lay here, though, my heart is starting to hurt. We never fight, ever. But today, he was so irritated with me that he walked out on me. He has never done that before. I hope by tonight, things will be back to normal. He texted me a few times to make sure we were OK, and I always said yes. I wish that I could talk to him about everything that’s been going on: Vixens, Theo, and life in general. I will leave out the shit from in the parking lot this morning. He wouldn’t even give Theo a chance, and at that point, he would go after him.
I‘m already unsure if Lucian will even like Theo. He has always hated rich, pretentious assholes, which makes me wonder how he and Jayme became friends. When he meets Theo, well, actually, if he meets him, he will probably say the same shit as earlier. “He isn’t good enough.” Lucian has always thought I deserve more than I do. He is such a fantastic guy. Before I know it, I drift off to sleep only to be woken an hour or so later by hushed whispers near me.
"Do you think she’s ok? She’s breathing, but it seems off." I can hear whispers through my sleepy fog.
"Yeah, I think. Fuck, he did hit her head against the car. What if she has a concussion." Is that Lucian's voice? How does he know what happened?
"Wake her up then, Lucian. I don’t want to do it and freak her out." That's definitely Jayme's voice. Fuck, my head is still hurting.
I feel someone sitting behind me and a slight nudge on my back. Apparently, when I fell asleep, I laid on my side facing the back of the couch and buried my face into the corner.
"Cass, are you okay?" Lucian is sitting on the edge of the couch, rubbing my back.
I suppose I should wake up now. I yawn, stretch out, and look up at him. My body aches, too. Everything feels sore.
"Hey, sleepy head. Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" He is talking all calm and hushed. He runs his fingers through my hair, petting my head.
"Mmmm," I sigh as I roll over and lean into his touch.
He accidentally brushes over the goose egg knot on the back of my skull, and I can’t help but wince. His eyes darken with rage. Fuck, that look is sexy on him. His muscles go rigid, the veins flexing in his arm. Damnit, seeing his anger should not be turning me on.
