Page 23 of Fractured Rhythm

Chapter 6

Jamie:How do you get a bassist off your porch? You pay him for your pizza.

Cassie:Be nice. Tris was an excellent pizza delivery guy before you signed that deal.

Jamie:I miss Pisano’s. Miss you, Cas.

Cassie:Miss you, too.

CASSIE

“Isabel’s video shouldbe posted within the hour, and Duncan is getting me his final edits shortly,” I said to Roberta as I stood in her office doorway Wednesday morning.

“Perfect, Cassie. Just in time for everyone’s lunch hour. Not that we don’t know that people are watching on mute all day,” Roberta said with a grin. “The analytics are looking better every day.”

“That’s what we want,” I said.

“Absolutely. Have you narrowed down what classic recipe you’ll poll next?” she asked.

“Isabel wants to try the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie. I’ve also thrown out a suggestion for the best mac and cheese, so we have a few ideas going.”

“Great. My kids are addicted to that blue box mac and cheese, but I’m always looking for options. Maybe I’ll bring them in one day when you’re taste testing.”

“Definitely. I’ll keep you posted,” I said.

Her phone buzzed, and she glanced down. “Sorry. Have to take this.”

“Sure. Let me know if you need anything from me,” I said before I walked back to my cubicle. Maybe I’d have an office one day. Though I wasn’t sure I wanted that. It came with extra responsibility and was not nearly as much fun. I loved what I did, even if it didn’t pay all the bills.

Not that I needed the money. I had more than I knew what to do with. I didn’t even have to work if I didn’t want to. But it was Jamie’s money. It wasn’t something I’d earned. He’d given our father a little, but he’d given me the bulk of his estate. It had pissed my mother off completely when she’d stumbled into the will-reading days after the funeral she hadn’t attended. That she thought she’d get anything after she’d abandoned us for her next high showed how delusional my mother truly was. I’d kicked her drugged-up ass out of the room as soon as it was over. She’d called me selfish. Ungrateful.

My father hadn’t even shown up for the reading. He’d become a shell of a person after my mother left. Then when Jamie died—I didn’t have words for what he was now.

But I didn’t want the money. I wanted my brother back.

My phone chimed as I walked back to my desk.

Griff:Just checking in to make sure we are still on for dinner on Friday. My week has been crazy, and I can’t remember if we finalized anything.

I had no clue how to reply. I didn’t have plans for Friday, and Griff was a great guy. Our conversations were easy—friendly—but that’s all it was at this point. Running into Bash over the weekend drove home that fact.

Goddammit.

I didn’t want to think about how easy it’d been to slip into feeling as if no time had passed when he sat down with me at the café. So much more than time had passed in the last seven years, yet I wanted to see him again.

Ugh. This was why I had to avoid him. I couldn’t trust myself around him. I’d wanted to lick the spot of raspberry at the corner of his mouth on Sunday and that would’ve been a terrible idea.

I swiped through the calendar on my phone. No set plans for Friday. Dinner would be fine with Griff, but if he tried to kiss me again, I would tell him I just wanted to be friends. I’d given him a shot at being more than friends, and it wasn’t working, so I might as well end it now.

While I told myself it had nothing—I mean NOTHING—to do with Bash being in town, I knew I was full of shit.

My phone chimed again, but this time, it wasn’t from Griff.

Jax:Hello, Cassiopeia, it’s your favorite person in the whole fucking world. We’re in town to help Bash get his head out of his ass, and we’re going out Friday night. Bring your hot girlfriends and meet us. I promise to be on my best behavior.

I snorted. He was the only one who called me that. He’d had a passing interest in astronomy when we were in high school, and the name stuck.

Cassie:I don’t know what you think good behavior is, but I’ve definitely never seen you exhibit it.

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