Page 75 of Vendetta

The door opened moments later, and we were met with a gorgeous middle-aged woman. She was easily a few inches taller than me, with raven-black hair that fell down past her shoulders,wearing a pastel green sundress that complimented her olive skin and vivid green eyes. She was jaw-droppingly stunning.

“Cash!” she cried out, throwing herself onto him and wrapping him in a loving embrace.

“Hi mom,” Cashton greeted her as he kissed her temple, wrapping his arms around her affectionately.

I turned away to give them a moment, Cashton’s father stepping up to offer me his hand.

“David Astor. And you must be Landry, I take it?”

“Yes sir, Landry Andrews. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Andrews, as in Senator Andrews?”

“Yes sir.”

“Oh wow, I’m so sorry for your loss. I heard about his passing on the news back in January.”

“Thank you,” my smile faltered in the slightest, but I quickly pulled myself back together as Cashton’s mom turned to face me.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Astor,” I greeted her, extending my hand to shake hers. She didn’t take it, pulling me directly into a warm hug instead.

“I’m so happy to have you here, Landry. And no need to call me Mrs. Astor, just call me Amelia. Both of you come inside, I have some hors d’oeuvres and tea waiting in the sitting room!”

—

“So just friends, huh?” Amelia asked, throwing a cheeky smile over her shoulder as she filled the tea kettle and placed it over the stove. Cashton and his stepfather had eventually madetheir way up to the office to talk in private, while Amelia and I had finished the tea as she shared childhood stories of Cashton and Emory.

I blushed at her question, trying to figure out the best possible way to answer.

“Just friends, really.”

Had I thought about what it could be like to be more than friends? I would be lying if I said no. But the truth of the matter was that a small part of me would always feel guilt over what happened to his sister that night, and a small part of him would always associate me with her death, whether he still blamed me or not. And even if none of that were the case, there was still the matter of all of the awful things he had done to me, and all of the terrible things we had said to each other. It would always be… complicated.

“Well, then you must be a very special friend, because Cash has never brought a girl back home to meet us.”

I nearly choked on my tea.

“Never?”

“Never. Sure, he had girlfriends. Never anything serious. But not once has he brought one back home to meet us. He’s always been very private about his love life, not one for titles or big public displays of affection. Something important to know about Cash is that though he doesn’t love easily, he loves hard when he does.”

My heart fluttered, just as it did every time I thought about him. I wanted to know more, wanted to ask her so many questions about her son. I wanted to know everything about him.

“You should have seen him with his little sister. He loved her with every bone in his body, everything revolvedaround her. He always felt the need to protect her. I’m sure he’s mentioned a bit about our past and what we went through…”

Her eyes flickered with grief, as if thinking about her past saddened her. I remember Cashton telling me about his upbringing, how hard things had been until Amelia met David. Looking at the beautiful woman in front of me, I only admired her more for her resilience.

“He has, briefly,” I admitted. She offered me a sad smile.

“The areas we lived in… They forced Cash to grow up faster than he should have. There was so much violence, so much crime around us. Life wasn’t easy. And with my job, I wasn’t home as much as I should have been. Cashton is a lover that was forced to become a fighter. Not just for himself, but for Emory. And there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret what he had to go through because of my choices.”

The guilt in her voice felt all too familiar. I wanted to run over and give her a hug, to tell her that she did the best she could have done given her situation, and that both Emory and Cashton had turned out great. But there was something I needed to get off of my chest first, and all I could do was pray that she would find it in her heart to forgive me.

“Mrs. Astor–”

“Amelia,” she cut me off, offering me a wink.

“Amelia… There’s something that I need to tell you.”

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