Page 128 of The Pact

Looking back at Damian, I see his eyes narrow. “No one asked her to grovel. That’s her best friend. They’ve hit a rough patch. Why throw out the friendship without trying to work through the problem first?”

They’ve been going back and forth for a good five minutes. It all started when I got an email from Cassie and simply complained that I hated our communication has been reduced to emails and texts.

As much as I love spending time with the guys, I’m missing my friend.

Cole and Damian have opposing opinions about what I should do. Cole thinks Cassie should come crawling back to me, apologizing for her harshness. Damian feels I should reach out to see if we could move past the issues.

The arguing isn’t helping the dilemma.

“How good of a friend could she be if she’s blaming her for things that were out of her control and on top of that, criticizing our relationship with her?”

This is going nowhere. As soon as Damian suggested working things out with her, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. It’s time to end their debate.

I clear my throat. “I’m going to see if Cassie wants to meet up and talk.”

Glancing at Cole first, I see him unclench his hands and throw them up in defeat. I side eye Damian and see the hint of a smirk on his lips.

Cole stands. “I hope you don’t regret that decision.” The harsh tone is completely unlike him and makes me recoil. My eyes search his for any hint of regret, but I find none. Instead, he walks around the table and heads down to his room.

I’m still looking at where he just was when I feel two firm hands on my shoulders, kneading. I stare up at Damian. “Don’t worry about him. He’s stressed. You’re doing the right thing,” he reassures.

“What’s he stressed about?” Cole hasn’t confided in me about anything that’s been bothering him. I’ve noticed some small changes, however, I’ve been a little preoccupied with my own shit. Whenever he seemed off, I assumed he had a hard day at work. When I would ask him about it, he would brush it off and change the subject.

Damian looks out towards the wall of windows in the living room. “Just some work stuff, but we’re working it out. He’ll be fine.”

I believe him. Since my punishment and the aftercare, I feel connected to him in a way I didn’t think was possible. Something about what he did to me healed me a little.

I’m grateful for that.

Picking up my phone, I shoot a text to Cass asking if she’d be free to meet up soon to talk. I get an almost immediate response that she’s free for lunch this afternoon. A smile sneaks over my lips and I hope that this is one small step towards getting my life back on track.

I take a long sip from my sweet tea, my eyes darting around the restaurant. Looking at anything other than Cassie, who’s sitting across from me. I never would’ve imagined things would ever be this awkward between us. Even when we first met while interning, we got along like we were old friends immediately.

“How’s Anthony?” I ask, hoping that it breaks the tension.

Cass smiles. The caramel color in her dark hair catches the sunlight as she tucks it behind her ear. “He’s good! He got that promotion he’s been waiting on. I’m so proud of him.” She’s beaming as she talks about his accomplishment.

I feel a sting of jealousy knowing I can’t mention the same kinds of things to her without judgment.

“That’s good,” I say genuinely. “He deserves it.” This seems to soften her.

“How are…” She trails off and I wonder if she’s going to ask about them but thinks better of it. “Thea, I’m sorry.” Her shoulders slump with the words. “I had a lot of time to think about it. I was unfair. Gavin coming around and screwing things up isn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have blamed you. You know how much I hate saying sorry, so even after I knew I was wrong…my pride got in the way.”

I want to cry at her words. She has no idea how much they mean to me—that she’s willing to take responsibility and communicate her regret. No one important in my life has done that before. It makes me respect and love her more than she’ll ever know.

“I was consumed with the business and how it would be affected. I didn’t make sure you, my best friend, were alright. I didn’t ask if you were safe or needed anything. That was beyond shitty of me. I’m so sorry.”

I don’t know if she has more to say, but I can’t contain myself.

Pushing up from my seat, I come to sit next to her in the booth and throw my arms around her. Cassie doesn’t hesitate—she embraces me a second later. We sit there for a few minutes, probably catching a few stares.

She pulls away from me. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.” Her eyes shift away from mine.

I take her hands in mine. “Hey, you can tell me anything,” I reassure her.

Sighing, she spills her truth. “My parents are cutting me off financially.” My face scrunches. That doesn’t sound like them. “We didn’t have a falling out or anything. They up and decided that I need to learn some life lessons, that things won’t always be as easy as calling them up to ask for money. They’re right, but I’m angry and hurt. It’s made the past few months hard. I’ve been obsessed with making sure that the studio makes enough money so that we don’t fail. Because they won’t help if it does.”

My mouth hangs open. All of her disappointment and annoyance with me makes a little more sense now. “Cass, you could have told me. I would have…I don’t know, shared a bottle of wine and let you bitch to me about it.” That’s the pot calling the kettle black. I’ve hidden so much from her…I’m still hiding stuff from her.

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