Page 23 of Lucifer's Hounds

I wake to the sound of someone snoring next to me. I shift beneath the blanket and open my eyes slowly. Thoughts of the night begin filtering through my mind and the events of the evening fly through my brain like a jet airliner. I drank at the bar, alone, and got sick. Alone.

Then someone moved me from the bathroom floor. As my eyes come into focus, I look to my right, where the atrocious sound of snoring is coming from.

A man is asleep in a chair next to me, his head leaned back and mouth wide open, snoring to his heart’s content.

“Who the fu—” I start to yell but all train of thought comes to a screeching halt as I take in the now familiar face before me.

Cass’s eyes fly open at the sound of my voice. “What? What’s wrong? What happened?” He asks, jumping out of his chair, stillhalf asleep. His eyes scan the room and once he realizes that there isn’t an imminent threat, he sits back down.

“Why were you hollering?” He asks, rubbing his temples.

Heat rushes to my cheeks. I’m so confused and there is a rage burning inside my chest. “I was in the process of going off on the stranger that was sleeping next to me. Now why the fuck are you here? How did you get in? How did you find me? Why didn’t you wake me up? Oh, and did I mention, why the fuck are you here?” I fire the questions back-to-back, leaving Cass no time to answer them individually if he wanted to.

He chuckles and the sound nearly sends me swinging, quite literally. “Slow down, Miss Summers. One angry question at a time,” he says, hands up in surrender.

“I’m here because I came to check on the progress of the interior remodeling job.”

“So, you’re a contractor?” I ask.

“No, not quite,” he grins. “Lilly, I own the place.”

“What? You’re my new boss?” I swear I’m still drunk and the room is spinning a little. The air feels like it was sucked out of my lungs, like I tried to do a somersault and landed flat on my back abruptly.

“You work here?”

“Well yeah! What, did you think I just broke into the place to steal some liquor, get shitty, and pass out in the bathroom?” I ask, throwing my hands in the air while shaking my head in disbelief. He’s joking right now. He has to be.

Cass laughs so hard he has a tear rolling down his face.

“Of course you didn’t. I don’t know what reason I had for you being here but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that.” He tries to catch his breath. When he does, all that remains is his smile. “Now, to answer your other questions, I got in with my key,” he pauses to hold up his keys and dangle them in front of me. “I found you because I followed the sound of the loud snoring.”

“Oh, you hush. You should’ve heard yourself just now. I’m pretty sure you were pretending to be a motorcycle.”

“Hey that’s a good one,” Cass says, an even bigger smile plastered across his face. My god that smile. I’m dreaming, aren’t I? I have to be.

“Wait, I thought the new owner’s name was Caine? Mindy told me today that his name isCaine,” I point out with renewed suspicion.

“My nameisCaine. My real name. I go by Cass, though, obviously,” he says.

“Oh.”

My head is swarming with questions I don’t have the energy to ask. He’s my new boss. He left me in Houston. He found me drunk and passed out in the bar and then stayed to keep guard over me while I slept instead of leaving me and going home, unnoticed. What in the hell makes a man do any of those things? He disappeared and just as quickly as he disappeared, he reappeared. My head throbs again, reminding me I’m probably still drunk.

“What time is it?”

“Five-thirty,” Cass says, matter-of-factly.

I groan. “Why am I awake?”

“Because I pretended to be a motorcycle while I was asleep?”

“Yes. That’s exactly why. Maybe I can do the same,” I say, rolling over to face the wall.

I’m exhausted, and still a little drunk, there is a gorgeous man next to me that I’ve been dreaming about for a solid two weeks now, and I haven’t touched him. He left me though, he just walked out. Why should I go out of my way to try and talk to him?

“Hey.” Cass rubs my shoulder.

“Hmm?” I mumble, half asleep.

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