Page 108 of Fractured Rhythm

Chapter 24

Jamie:Waffles are just pancakes with abs.

Cassie:I could really go for Polly’s.

Jamie:Oh man, me too. I get a stomachache every time, but it’s so worth it. Remember when we used to go every Sunday morning as kids?

Cassie:Yes. And maybe you shouldn’t eat stacks of waffles and pancakes that are bigger than your head.

Jamie:But it’s sooo good. Miss you, Cas.

Cassie:Miss you, too.

CASSIE

I slumped downon my couch, tossing my phone on the coffee table. He’d called me drunk. After everything. How stupid was he? Hell, how stupid was I? His drinking hadn’t escaped my notice. It’d ramped up right before the tour. And then those pictures…

Yes, his texts from Cameron had cleared him of cheating, but they’d shown something else. That he’d been so drunk he couldn’t remember. What if Cameron hadn’t been there? Would I have been able to trust him? To believe him? Especially if he couldn’t even remember on his own?

Compound that with my mother showing up and I was spiraling. Part of me wanted to reach out to my father to see if she was lying about being sick. She would’ve gone to him for a handout before me. But a larger part of me didn’t want to know—wanted to assume that she was lying, like always.

That made me a horrible person. Yes, she’d abandoned us and introduced my brother to what eventually killed him, but she was also my mother. At some point in her life, I had to believe that she loved me, wanted me.

“Stop it,” Holly said, pulling me out of my head.

“I’m fine.”

“You know that the definition of the word fine is that you’re never actually fine if you use it,” she said, handing me another glass of wine.

It paired perfectly with my pistachio ice cream. Light and crisp and—dammit—there went the tears.

Holly wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

“He thinks everything is fine because he didn’t actually cheat, but that’s such a small piece. I’ve lived with people who were addicted to one thing or another. I can’t do that with him. Yes, it’s not heroin, but his drinking could take over every decision he makes. I won’t sit back and accept that.”

“And you shouldn’t. You deserve happiness, and if it’s not with Bash, then it’s not.”

Then the tears started.

“My offer still stands on throat punching him. Hell, I’ll dick punch him if you want.”

I gave my friend a tiny smile. “You’re the best, you know that?”

“Yep. Now, can we switch to chocolate or cookie dough or something? I’m pistachio’d out.”

“Go for it,” I said, and she hopped off the couch, returning seconds later with a half-eaten carton of cookie dough ice cream and a new spoon.

She clinked her spoon against mine and dug in.

“I shouldn’t have picked up,” I said.

“Probably not, but I get it. Even after everything, he’s always been your everything.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? I can’t fall apart every time something bad happens between us. I’m stronger than that,” I said before I gulped down half of the glass.

“Yes, you are, but you’re also in love with him and have been for most of your life, so give yourself some credit and maybe a little break from beating yourself up. No one said this would be easy. I just can’t believe he called you drunk.” Holly shook her head. “Has that boy learned nothing?”

“I should’ve stayed away from him the minute he showed up at that bar. He was capable of lying to me for years without a second thought. What was to stop him from doing that again?”

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