Page 111 of Fractured Rhythm

Tristan:Yes. Give him hell if you need to.

Cassie:Thanks.

Tristan:Love you, Cas.

Cassie:Love you, too.

I fired off a quick text to Holly, letting her know that I didn’t know what was going on, but I was tired of waiting.

Then I turned back to my computer and focused on polishing the last video. I needed to figure out what was going on with him—with us—but I was also on a deadline.

Five minutes later, my concentration was still shot. I had to see him. I needed real answers.

Twenty minutes later, I approved the last video and headed for Bash’s apartment. He had a lot of explaining to do, and I had to hope that I wouldn’t regret this conversation.

BASH

“I need youto explain this,” Cassie’s voice cut through my apartment, and I froze in the hallway.

How was she here? Why was she here? Never mind. I didn’t care. I was just happy she was standing in my entryway and had let herself in with the key I’d given her. It’d been over a month since the last time I’d seen her, when we’d been blissfully happy and I’d been wishing I didn’t have to go to LA two days after the end of our mini-tour.

Fuck. That seemed like a damn lifetime ago.

And then those damn photos had come out. No. I couldn’t blame it solely on that. My affection for whiskey had been the bigger issue, and the reason the photos could’ve been taken in the first place. I hated that it’d taken so long to admit it, but I couldn’t focus on that.

“Bash,” she said, grabbing my attention.

“Hi, Cas. I’ve missed you.”

“Were you in rehab?”

“What?” My gaze darted between her face and the phone she held out in front of her. “Fucking hell. I knew I should’ve slipped out the back door.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

“Want to sit?” I gestured toward the couch. Memories of what we’d done on that couch—and not just sexually—flooded me. I wanted her to hear me out. I’d busted my ass, and I wasn’t completely better, but it was a start. At least I hoped she’d see it that way.

“Are you okay?” she asked, taking a tentative step toward me.

I wanted to reach out to her more than I wanted my next breath, but I held back. I wouldn’t rush her right now.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Health-wise, at least. I thought we could talk since you’re here. And no, I wasn’t in rehab.”

She moved into the living room and took a seat on one corner of the couch, curling one leg under her thigh, tension radiating off of her. “I know I shouldn’t believe anything I read online, but I hate where we left things and Tristan and Jax won’t say anything about you.”

“You asked them?”

“Of course, I asked them, you idiot.”

I couldn’t stop my smile. I’d missed that fire.

I sat in the middle of the couch, close to her but not touching—at least not yet.

“So that night. Those pictures.”

“I really don’t want to talk about those pictures,” she said.

“But we need to. You know that I would never cheat on you. You mean everything to me. But seeing those pictures and realizing that I was so drunk that I didn’t remember what had happened, if I had randomly made out with some woman that wasn’t you, really fucked me up. Actually, it scared the shit out of me. And you deserve better than that. You always have.” I took a deep breath, watching her fidget with her hands as she looked at me.

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