Page 31 of Cass

He roughly pulls my mouth to his and kisses me. It’s aggressive and passionate. My body immediately reacts to the long-missed taste of him.

At the end of the kiss, he bites my lip. When he’s done, he just smiles at me. “I know this isn’t the time or place, but that ass will be mine again. Soon.” He smacks it hard as he pulls away and walks back inside, as if nothing happened.

I’m left panting like a dog. I turn around and slide down the wall. I’m equally confused and turned on. Trevor has always had the remarkable ability to shift from jokester to domineering in the blink of an eye. It’s exactly what I need. It’s like someone created the perfect man for me in a science lab. If only he was older, or I was younger.

I don’t know how long I sit there, but at some point, I hear the door open and Darian turns the corner toward me. “There you are. I was worried about you.”

I look up at her. “How was the sex?”

She smiles dreamily. “Amazing. As always. Why are you out here by yourself? Are you okay?”

“Yep. I just needed a little air. I wanted to think about a few things.”

She laughs. “You’re alone thinking, while there’s a room full of attractive eligible bachelors in there. Has hell frozen over?”

I know she’s just joking with me, but it rubs me the wrong way. I stand up. “Sometimes I’m good for things other than fucking, Darian.”

I brush by her and start to head inside, but she grabs my arm. “I’m sorry. I was just kidding. What is going on with you? Something is clearly bothering you.”

I pull away. “Nothing. I’m fine. Let’s just go back inside.”

“You’re very obviously not fine, Cassandra. Talk to me.”

Tears well in my eyes. She looks surprised by that. I look down and take a deep breath. Eventually, I look back up at her. “I’m just never going to be truly happy, Darian. The cards are always stacked against me.”

She has a concerned look on her face. “You’re unhappy? I didn’t know that. You’ve definitely been off kilter lately, but I didn’t think you were unhappy.”

She rubs my back. “Talk to me, Cass. Let me in. Let me help you.”

I pause for a brief moment. “For fifty years, I’ve never had someone that loved me as I am. My own father wanted no part of me. My husbands didn’t see me or truly love me. No one. And now, at fifty fucking years old, I’ve found a man who wants me exactly as I am, all the broken, unlovable parts, and I can’t have him.”

Her chin just about falls to the floor. “You met someone?”

“It doesn’t matter. I can never have him. The circumstances are way too complicated.” I look up, holding back the tears. “I’m not good enough for him anyway. I don’t deserve someone like him.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know why you always say stuff like that. Anyone would be lucky to have you. I don’t understand. Why can’t you have him?”

“There are a million reasons. His family would never accept me. Society would never accept us.”

“Since when do you fucking care about what anyone thinks?”

She doesn’t get it, and obviously I can’t explain it to her. “I’m done with this conversation, Dare. Let’s just go back inside.”

She shakes her head again. “No, I want to talk about this. You’re not just walking away from me. I won’t ignore it. You’re hurting. You need to talk to me.”

I gather myself. “Not tonight, Dare. Maybe another time.”

She sighs in frustration. “Definitelyanother time. I won’t ignore this. You will eventually talk to me.” I nod.

We link arms as we walk back in. “For what it’s worth, the girls and I love you just the way you are.”

I put my head on her shoulder. “I know you do.”

We head back inside. I do my best to ignore Trevor eye-fucking me the entire night. It’s a good thing Jackson can’t take his eyes off Darian, because Trevor isn’t even attempting to hide it.

At the end of the night, Jackson pulls his wallet out of his pocket, and out falls a pair of torn lace underwear. Darian and I are the only ones that notice. She just smirks and shrugs her shoulders at me, as she grabs them and throws them in her purse. Lucky bitch.

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