Page 6 of Cloak of the Vampire
“... so I said, ‘Ty, youknowFinn hates that you bust his balls in public,’” Skye was saying. She’d been rambling on and on about her possessive boyfriend, Tyler, after Cassidy sat down. “And you know what he tells me? ‘No one calls my woman a bitch and gets away with it.’” She sighed. “I was likeHoly shit, that’s so hot, so of course I dragged him to the nearest room and—”
“Fucked his brains out,” Cassidy cut her off with a dry, uninterested tone.
Skye shot her a look. “You sound disappointed,” she noted flatly.
Cassidy raised her eyes from her phone and turned to her. “I know what Tyler is capable of,” she said, green eyes glinting ominously. “Been there, done that, did not buy the T-shirt.”
Silence spread across the table, and I stared at Cassidy, gaping. This was the one topic we never talked about. It was an unwritten rule, so much so that we never even mentioned it, not since Skye started dating Tyler. It was for the sake of their friendship, after all.
But Cassidy, already in a peculiar mood, seemed to throw caution to the wind.
Skye folded her arms and glared at her. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
As if she’d been waiting for this, Cassidy jumped to her feet. “What is wrong withme?” she repeated, angrily incredulous. “Why do you think I care about what you and Lil-Dick Tyler are doing every moment of every day?”
My heartbeat escalated. This had never happened before. For the three years I’d known them, Cassidy and Skye had never fought, not even once. For Cassidy to not only confront Skye about anything but also seemingly purposefully pick a fight with her about Tyler, the mostsensitive topic between the two of them, was not just out of the ordinary; it was downright bizarre.
Concerned, I glanced between the two of them. “Cassidy,” I said quietly as Skye rose from her seat, her pretty face twisted in rage. “Skye, both of you, sit back down—”
“Oh, don’t you fucking start, Aileen!” Cassidy sniped at me. “You know I’m right! You’re just as sick as I am from constantly hearing about Tyler and how good he fucks her!” She shot a vicious glare at Skye. “Besides, you know why he’s with you, don’t you?”
Skye gasped, obviously hurt, and I felt my heart kicking in my chest.
“Cassidy, don’t—” I started, but she wouldn’t have any of it.
Cassidy leaned over toward Skye, her eyes full of blazing emotions I couldn’t quite decipher, as she hissed, voice venomous, “Everyone knows that whenever he sleeps with you, he wishes it was me.”
That did it.
“How dare you!” Skye snapped, angry tears filling her eyes. “You stupid slut!”
I stood up, eyes jumping around the room. We were drawing too much attention for my liking. It was enough that there was that man staring at Cassidy. We didn’t need for this to become even more of a spectacle. “Calm down, both of you,” I said quietly. “Let’s sit back down and talk it out.”
Cassidy threw her phone on the table. “As if I’m going to stay and ‘talk it out,’” she said, mimicking my voice exaggeratingly. “I’m gonna go get some air. Don’t fucking follow me, either of you.”
I grabbed her wrist. “Cassidy, wait—”
She threw my hold off and strode outside the bar.
Skye grabbed her purse. “What a cunt,” she hissed furiously. She turned to look at me. “Are you seriously going to stay and watch the show after what she just said to me?”
“Skye, stay,” I said as gently as I could. “You know Cassidy didn’t mean anything she said. It’s just the nerves talking.” Though I wasn’t sosure about it. I’d never seen Cassidy lose it like this before. Not since her breakup with Austin.
“Whatever,” she said, glaring at me now. “Keep being her little pushover minion, for all I care. I’m out of here.”
She stormed out of the bar, her blonde curls waving behind her.
I slumped in my seat, wondering how the hell things had deteriorated so quickly.
Choosing to wait for Cassidy to come back, I walked toward the bar and ordered tap water. I drummed my fingers on the counter as I drank, and the more minutes that ticked by, the more anxious I became.
What was taking her so long?
The band was already getting settled on the stage, but Cassidy was nowhere in sight. It wasn’t like her to be late for anything when it came to the band. Nothing about today was like her, to be honest.
I sipped the last drop of water in my glass and instinctively glanced toward the man who’d been looking in Cassidy’s direction.
He was gone.
