Page 58 of Dust Storm

Her spine stiffened when I grazed her shoulder with my fingers. “Lillian was my client. She had a very public meltdown at an awards show, threw me under the bus, and is now sunning herself in Spain while I got exiled to a cattle ranch that doesn’t have WiFi.”

“We have WiFi.”

She shot me a glare, but there was a good-natured twinkle behind it. “It’s basically dial-up without the obnoxious sound. Carrier pigeons would be faster.”

“Isn’t your ‘betrothed’ in Spain?” I asked as I finished off my beer.

Damn, I really wished I had another bottle.I hated thinking about that fetid sock puppet she was engaged to.

Cassandra muttered a handful of pointed profanities under her breath before taking a long drink. “Yeah,” she said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I becamepersona non grata, and he took over as her publicist.”

“What happened?”

She leaned back, resting the back of her head against my arm. “She earned herself a second DUI. Her legal counsel and I worked some magic and got the judge to agree to inpatient rehab instead of jail time. She was admitted against her will by court order and did three months there while I did some serious damage control and cleaned up her reputation.”

I gave a strand of cornsilk hair a gentle tug. “Still not seeing where you’re the bad guy.”

“I gave her a day after getting out of rehab to reintegrate into her life. Two days later, I had her presenting at an award show she was snubbed at last year. It was supposed to be a way for her to garner a little goodwill. You know—show how mature she had become. The whole ‘clap for others even if you don’t win’ thing.” Cassandra sighed. “I watched Lillian like a hawk. I swear I did. She only drank what I gave her and none of it was alcoholic. I wanted a second set of eyes on her in case I got pulled away, so Tripp worked the event with me. One of us was with her at all times. She was stone-cold sober when Tripp took her backstage to get ready to present, but when she went on stage she was swinging like a pendulum and slurring her words.”

I saw the frustration in her eyes. Cassandra prided herself on how good she was at her job. For it to be taken away from her because she couldn’t control a full-grown woman was unfair in every way.

I often spouted off the “life isn’t fair” adage to the girls, but this wasn’t fucking fair.

“She went off.” Cassandra tipped her beer back and chugged. “And I meanoff. Got up to the microphone, took one look at the teleprompter, then started ranting about how she should have won last year. How the girl who won didn’t deserve it. She pulled a flask out from between her boobs, did a shot on live TV, then said I was the one who always got her drunk so I’d have a job. She said that I paid off the judge and sent her to aspa because she didn’t need rehab. She accused me of starving her, hiding her keys, taking her phone away, and locking her out of her social media accounts so she couldn’t communicate with anyone. She said a million other vile lies before they finally cut to commercial and Tripp swooped in to get her off the stage. The poor girl who was supposed to win the award was devastated that her moment was ruined, and I was ousted from the industry.”

I scrubbed my hand down my beard. “Shit.”

“You can say that again. None of it is true, by the way. I did my job. We honored the legal process. I tried to protect her from herself, but I wasn’t a prison guard.” She let out a quiet breath and looked out at the black sky full of stars. “I made my case to the higher-ups at the Carrington Group. I was relying on the fact that Tripp had been there with me and knew I did my job well, but he didn’t back me up. Just said it would look bad if he was the only one defending me because we were engaged.”

I looked down at her hand when she said “were” engaged.

But that fucking ring was still there.

“He should have been the first to defend you.”

Cassandra didn’t say anything as she traced the lip of the beer bottle with her finger. “He was the first to defendher.”

That raised my hackles.

“They said I was too much of a liability to pair with another high-profile client. Becks had been asking around about business consultants, so I got the ultimatum to either hide down here until the storm blew over and they could assign me to a new client or look for a new job.”

“Look,” I said, turning on the swing so I could face her. “Not that I’m not appreciative of the work you’re doing here, but why the fuck did you take your lumps to stay with a company where you’re not wanted?”

She tilted her head. Her ear grazed my arm as she quietly admitted, “I’m scared that if I leave my job, Tripp and I will grow apart.”

“So you stayed, and yet you’re still apart.”

She swallowed and looked down, blinking back tears.

Just because I felt like she needed it, and it was something I’d do for my girls or Becks or my mom, I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her to my side. “Let me tell you something, Cass.”

I knew she wanted to argue with me for continuity’s sake, but her lips quirked into a half-smile instead.

“We might have a whole lot of differences, but I see your value here and I appreciate your work. I’m not just putting up with you.”

13

CASSANDRA

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