“Not.”
The line went dead, but I wasn’t giving up that easily. Dialing his number again, I grinned when he snapped at me.
“When I hung up, that was your sign that the call ended.”
“I need Josie to whip up some miracle for my friend.”
“Then call during regular business hours.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” I rushed out, making sure he didn’t hang up before I made my offer. “Take care of this for me, and I’ll get you front row seats to any boxing match you want.”
The line was silent for a moment. “Any?”
“You name the match, I’ll have them for you.”
Again, it was silent.
I glanced down the hall, making sure Cassidy was still asleep in her bed. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to have heard me.
“Fine. I’ll be over in an hour.”
“Wait, I haven’t told you where I am.”
“Don’t fucking need to,” he said before hanging up on me.
That didn’t exactly bode well for my secret, but it was possible he wouldn’t say a damn thing. After all, JR was a private person. He wouldn’t want gossip spread about him, so I couldn’t see him sitting down with his wife and gabbing.
In the meantime, I headed back to the bedroom with a fresh bottle of water and a new ice pack. Cassidy was passed out, her face smooshed against the pillow. But even while she slept, I could see the pain etched around her eyes, the way the lines of her face pulled tight.
Removing the pack on her face, I gently replaced it with a fresh one, brushing a few strands of hair behind her ear. It was strange to think that when I left the Parkers last night, all I could think about was burying my cock in her. But when I arrived and saw the way her house was torn apart, the fighter in me came out, and all I wanted to do was tear whoever did this to pieces.
There was no fucking way I was letting Austin anywhere near now that he had his sights on her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the fucker was going after anyone related to the Parker family. Since Cassidy dated Jeff in high school, that would make her a target.
But what wasn’t she telling me about him?
There was something in the way her thoughts drifted to earlier in the evening when I asked if she had been alone with him. That asshole had done something, and if she wasn’t going to tell me, I’d find out another way.
“Sam?” she sighed wearily.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“I need medicine.”
“Josie’s coming over. She’s gonna fix this,” I whispered, brushing the hair back from her face.
Her face creased in pain. “Talk to me. Distract me.”
Talk to her about what? I was no good with words, and even shittier with people. “Um…”
“Tell me about Thanksgiving.”
“It wasn’t anything to write home about,” I muttered.
“You don’t like it,” she murmured sleepily. “Why not?”
I thought back to Clara collapsing and the memories that assaulted me. I never talked to anyone about that shit, but since Cassidy was basically out of it, she probably wouldn’t remember anyway.
“My mom died around the holidays. She was talking to me…actually, yelling at me for acting like a shit. I remember she was in pain or something, and then she was dead two minutes later.”
