I was surprised to find jealousy roar to life in my body, so strong it was physical. My heart pounded and my body flooded with adrenaline, the way it did right before a job, before everything got eerily calm.
I wanted to march across the shop, grab the guy by his boring shirt, and throw him against the wall. I wanted to punchhis blandly attractive face (no broken nose for him), beat him bloody, make sure he knew Cassie was mine.
Ours.
Except she wasn’t. Not really. Which is why the smart thing to do would be to wait until he was done talking to her, lift a hand in greeting, let Cassie come to me when she was ready for her lunch break.
Except I’d stopped doing the smart thing a long time ago.
Now I just did what I wanted to do.
I stalked across the store.
Cassie saw me coming. I clocked it in the way her eyes got bigger, her attention pulled away from Mr. Boring.
Would he make Cassie come with an anal plug? Roll the Wartenberg wheel over her luscious flesh while she was blindfolded? Doubtful but the thought of it made me want to kill him anyway.
I sidled up next to the guy, closer than was socially acceptable, invading his space.
He glanced up at me with a look of annoyance that turned quickly to surprise, then edged away a couple of inches, seeking to reclaim his space.
I closed the distance between us so that we brushed elbows.
“Hey, Cass.” The nickname came easily. Everyone called her Cass — everyone who really knew her.
And I was starting to really know her in spite of the fact that we’d given her physical space since the blowout with Bram.
I knew that her favorite takeout was Thai and that she preferred Coke to beer. I knew that her hair was the color of a new penny when it was dry and an old penny when it was wet and I loved it both ways. I knew that she slept in shorts and a tank top that gave me a delicious glimpse of her tits when she leaned over the island to grab the coffee Vigo made her everymorning. I knew that she loved to have her pussy eaten, that she let out sweet little moans right before she came.
“Um, hi,” Cassie said. “I’ll be ready in just a second.”
I’d come to help her go through her parents’ papers upstairs in her apartment, see if we could find anything that might connect to the Russian guy who’d hired Travis Dorsey to run her parents off the road.
“Sounds good.”
“So, uh, yeah. It’s not super exciting but it is rewarding,” the guy next to me said.
Cassie nodded. “It sounds like it.”
But her attention was no longer fully on him, and I felt like a peacock strutting its feathers to realize he’d lost her.
Juvenile, I know, but my life was all about honesty. Especially with myself.
“Well, maybe I’ll see you around,” the guy said.
“Probably not.” My voice was neutral but he must have caught the cold edge because he shifted on his feet and stepped away from the counter.
Cassie closed her eyes briefly, like she couldn’t believe what was happening.
The guy avoided my gaze as he turned to leave.
“What was that?” Cassie said when he was gone.
“That was me getting rid of the dweeb who was coming on to you.”
See? Honesty was easy if you just committed to it.
“He was just being friendly,” she said. “And just because we’re temporary roommates doesn’t mean you own me.”
