Page 43 of Gin & Jewels
“No, of course not. But I think he’s feeding info to the police.”
“What info?” I sipped my Dr. Pepper. The more I thought about everything, the more certain I was that there was no way Brad would have been trying to get close to me because of the robbery. Keith and his friends wore masks, and no one except us knew that he was my brother.
“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t want to find out. That’s why we left.”
“What about the house? That’s our fucking house, and now your friends are living there for free and alone.”
“It’s only a house, Cass.”
I laughed sarcastically. “Only a house?”
“I mean, of course, I would have liked to sell it and get the money”—he took a bite of his burger—“but I can’t chance going to jail.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have decided to be a criminal in the first place.” I hated my brother for putting me in this situation. I hated him for being a jerk my entire life and kidnapping me.
I hated everything.
I kissed Cassie.
Usually, when I kissed someone, it was on a date, and I was getting paid to make the woman feel special, but I’dwantedto kiss Cassie. An urge had washed over me that if I didn’t find out what it was like to feel her lips against mine, I would die. What would have happened if I hadn’t stupidly given her three alcoholic drinks? I thought she would be okay with amaretto because it didn’t have that much alcohol in it, but I was wrong. I felt bad as I left her at her door because I hadn’t meant for her to get sick, though she didn’t sway or slur as though she was drunk, so she was probably just not sure how to handle alcohol in her system and needed to sleep it off.
After a hug at her front door, I’d left. It was probably for the best because I wanted to do more than kiss her, and that scared me. We were friends, friends who were almost ten years apart in age, and she was a virgin. For someone to wait so long to have sex, that had to mean something, right? I didn’t think Cassie would want to lose her V-card to some guy she just met. She was probably waiting for marriage.
The next day I woke up, went to Club 24 to work out, and then texted Cassie to see how she was feeling. I wanted to stop by and make sure she was feeling better because my mother would tan my hide if she ever found out I got a woman drunk and didn’t check up on her. By the time I got home, I still hadn’t heard back from Cassie, so I texted again:
Please just let me know if you’re okay. I feel bad, and hangovers can be a bitch.
I showered and got dressed to meet my friends for lunch. We were saying goodbye to Paul before he went off to Quantico. He wasn’t leaving for a few more days, but Vinny and Tessa were heading on their honeymoon the following day, and they didn’t want to miss wishing him well on his next adventure.
By the time I got to the restaurant, Cassie still hadn’t responded. I wasn’t sure if I had done something to make her mad at me. Maybe she was at work and didn’t have time to text me back, but I didn’t like not hearing from her.
“Hey,” I greeted my friends as they waited outside of the restaurant. Everyone was there except Nick. We all hugged and shook hands as if we hadn’t been together the previous night.
“Where’s Cassie?” Cat asked.
I shrugged, trying to act as though I didn’t care. “Home? Work? I don’t know.”
“I thought you’d bring her,” Paul stated.
“Why?” I furrowed my brow. Everyone looked at each other with smirks on their faces, and I rolled my eyes. “Because I brought her to the wedding?”
“No.” Paul shook his head. “Because we saw you making out on the dance floor.”
I blew out a breath. “And?”
“And most of us have changed our bets,” Vinny stated with a slap on my back.
“I’m not next,” I reiterated.
“That’s what we’ve all said.” Gabe grinned.
I wasn’t going to tell them that I was starting to have feelings for Cassie. That would make them rag on me more, but fuck me, Iwasstarting to get feelings for Cassie!
On my way home, I decided to stop by The Velvet Box because Cassie still hadn’t responded to my texts. I needed to see with my own eyes that she was okay and just ignoring me. Maybe I’d apologize for whatever it was that I did. I parked and walked into the store, but I didn’t see her.
“Hi, welcome to The Velvet Box. Are you looking for anything specific today?” an older man asked. I didn’t recognize him.
“Actually, is Cassie working today?”
