Page 17 of Acid

“The cameras were cut.” That is all he says, and I nod, already conversing with him several times about this.

The fucker’s head is all over the place, and the fact he hasn’t gotten over Cass hasn’t helped.

“I know. It looks suspicious; it looks fucking bad. Cass was covered in blood, and Brute was dead, but you know Cass, so why did you side with Faith so quickly when we both know you two just fucked once in a while, that she didn’t mean jack to you, while Cass was your future? Fuck, you ordered her cut, Steal, yet you held a gun to her head, and fuck, even before that, you made Cass make the effort in your relationship; it’s like you checked out as soon as she gave you the green light.”

He blinks, staring off into space, taking in my words, knowing the truth in them. He loved Cass, there’s no doubt about it. Her cut is in his office, but he had Faith in his ear throughout their relationship.

Cassidy would disappear a few evenings a week and wouldn’t explain where she went, which helped Faith manipulate him, using his fears.

He looks to where Perrie is delivering food to a couple, and his shoulders drop in defeat. He knows she means every word she says, just like she did four years ago, and her giving him hell is getting to him. She’s no longer the girl who would run to give him a hug or lean on him when she needed help.

“Cass was shaking that day after I found her in the kitchen,” he mumbles.

I nod, and agree, "She was, and instead of taking notice then and there, assessing the situation like you have done several times over the past four years, you saw what you wanted to see, believing Faith. And now Cass is gone, and Perrie, she’s on the warpath.”

He sighs, running a hand through his slowly graying, dark hair, Cass’s name clear as day on his ring finger. “I tried calling Cass to get the full story a week later, after fucking convincing you not to leave the club, but her phone was disconnected, and no one has heard or seen from her since she left,” he admits.

I swallow hard. “Piston taught her everything she needed to know; not even he can find her.”

He nods. “And I want to kick his ass for doing so, because I fucking miss her, but I’m also torn because of Brute. He was brother and she—orsomeone—stabbed him in the chest.”

I look around him and watch Perrie. She gives the family she’s just served a fake smile, causing my stomach to tighten with unease, before she goes back to the counter to grab a cloth.

“I think Cassdidstab him,” I offer, and he looks at me sharply. We make eye contact, and I state, “Her hands and chest were covered in blood, a few splatters on her face, and she was in shock, the kind you get after killing someone. But there must have been a reason. Cassidy was soft and caring. She wanted to be a doctor; she wanted to heal people, and Brute was fucking massive. Something doesn’t seem right, and you’re not going to get the answers you want from Faith, but you’re also not going to get them from Cass. If she hasn’t been in contact after four years, I don’t think she will ever be. I think you lost her, Steal, fuck you lost her beforehand because you kept siding with Faith, the letter you found was proof of that. And by ensuring Cass left town, you also lost Perrie.”

The moment he told Faith they couldn’t fuck anymore, she changed; she became devious. She realized she wasn’t getting his patch and decided on a new tactic. Suddenly, she was happy being his “friend”, continuously around him, inserting herself in his life, all while trying to set Cass up to fail, which worked in her favor, by the looks of things.

He should have banned her from the club.

“So, what do I do?” he asks with pain, and I sigh, picking up my pen.

“I don’t know,” I admit, “but how I see it, Perrie will hate you until her sister returns, and as for the old Perrie, she died when her dad did.”

And she did.

She doesn’t laugh, make jokes, or even smile my way anymore, while Halliwell’s Gym has been boarded up, meaning she doesn’t even go there anymore.

So many fucking happy memories in that place, the only memories that help me forget my past for just a few hours a day.

“Gotcha,” I state as I wrap my arms around Perrie from behind, sweat dripping from my body.

Perrie squeals when she feels my shirt clinging to her, and I laugh before I grunt as I’m forced forward, then flipped. I’m suddenly on my back on the ring floor, her foot on my chest as her dad laughs from the ringside.

That little?—

“You were saying?” she asks cockily, and I narrow my eyes playfully before I knock her other leg, and she falls backward, landing with athump.

Perrie groans as John’s laughter doubles, and I breathe heavily. “I said, gotcha….”

“Hey, baby….”

I blink and look up to see Andrea, Perrie’s, well,supposed to bebest friend, looking down my body as she bites her bottom lip, twirling her bottle-blonde hair in her finger, and I cringe, suddenly feeling fucking dirtier than normal.

Steal notices my discomfort and snaps, “We’re in a meeting,” causing Andrea to jump back in shock, clearly not seeing him standing there. She tries to smile before turning and heading in the direction of where Perrie is currently filling up two glasses, knowing she won’t get through my prez.

The woman’s been trying to get my attention for years.Never going to happen….

“What kind of fucking friend does that? She knows you and Perrie have history,” Steal snaps, but I furrow my brows, watching as Perrie’s body tightens.

---