Page 24 of Lucifer's Hounds

“Do you want some company on that couch?” he asks.

“Umm. Yeah, I guess,” I say, hesitantly.

The words aren’t even fully out of my mouth before I feel the cushion sink in when Cass snuggles in behind me. He shifts a couple times, changing positions.

“No, this isn’t working for me,” he says as he puts one arm underneath me and the other around me to lift me up and position himself beneath me.

“Just put me where you want me, then,” I fuss. Snuggling into his chest as I had when we were in Houston, I embrace the moment, fighting the urge to sleep. However, alcohol and exhaustion mixed together outweigh my fight and before I know it, I’m fast asleep in Cass’s arms, once again.

Chapter Five

“Lilly?”

A familiar voice pulls me from my sleep. I smile, then realize I’m lying here alone and there’s a hand on my shoulder, pressing me gently awake.

“Lilly, wake up.”

Opening my eyes, I see Scott standing above me. The look on my face must have given me away because Scott’s face shifts into confusion.

“What?” He asks. “You…wait…how? Why are you here? I thought you finished working on the road yesterday?” I ask, shaking my head as if that will force thoughts together and wake me enough to form full understandable sentences.

“I’m working on remodeling the interior, too. I have a key,” he says, staring down at me like I’m some sort of science experiment that has just begun talking when it shouldn’t.

“Oh. Where is Cass?” I mumble, trying to focus my eyes on my surroundings.

“Who?” he asks.

“Cass. He was here with me.”

“Lilly, no one was in here but you,” Scott says.

“Unbelievable!” I shout, tossing the blanket off of me.

“You’re fucking kidding me. Again? I can’t believe this shit!” I say, more to myself than Scott.

“What?”

“Let me break it down for you. I met Cass in Houston, about two weeks ago, and we spent two great fucking nights together, then he just up and disappears!”

Scott’s smug expression gives nothing away other than his amusement. “Okay. And?”

“And then he ends up being the new owner of the bar I work at! So, he comes in last night after I get shit-faced drunk and pass out, carries me to the couch, we wake up and have a conversation, he lays on the couch with me and then I wake up and the son of a bitch is gone again!”

“What’s got you all worked up this morning? And damn girl, don’t you know what a brush is?” Mindy says as she rounds the corner with a smile on her face.

Scott turns to Mindy. “I’m going to let you have this one,” he says, laughing as he walks back to the front of the bar.

“Looks like someone got a little drunk,” Mindy says, eyeballing my clothes.

“Yeah, just a little.”

“By yourself, or with the son of a bitch that’s gone again?” Mindy asks.

I offer her a mocking fake laugh. “By myself. You are not going to believe this shit.”

“What? Spit it out! Tell me.”

“I met Caine Sonnier, drunker than Cooter Brown at five thirty this morning.”

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