Page 55 of Cass

“You’ve been married for three minutes. These are your sons. Don’t you care about them?”

“How can you possibly ask me that? Of course, I care about them.”

I’ve had enough of this ping-pong match. I stand between them. “Both of you stop. I’m a grown man. Don’t talk about my life like I’m a child or like I’m not in the room.” I turn to my mother. “Mom, let’s go for a walk. We need to talk about some things.”

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

CASSANDRA

Darian and I are silent in the car. I think we’re both in complete shock.

After about fifteen minutes, I break the silence. “Dare, what do you think she’s after? Why would she do this?”

Darian shakes her head. “I honestly have no clue. I think you need to find out though. Right away.”

“I totally agree. Should I text her to meet? Like right now?”

“Yes. Just tell her you have some work emergency and ask her to come into the office. I’ll head straight to your office building.”

“Okay. You’ll come with me?”

“Of course, I’ll be with you.” She squeezes my hand.

I take out my phone.

Me: Hey. Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but there’s an issue with one of the files. Can you come in for a little while?

She responds immediately.

Beth: Sure. No problem. I have my son. Is it okay that he’s with me?

Me: That’s fine.

Beth: Okay. I’ll be there in about twenty-five minutes.

I turn back to Darian. “She said she’ll be there in twenty-five minutes.”

“Okay. I think we’ll get there just ahead of her. Let me call Jackson and tell him that we’ll be a little late for dinner tonight.”

She dials his phone on her Bluetooth. It rings. “Hey, sugar. I miss you. When are you coming home?”

“Hey. You’re on in the car with both Cassandra and me.”

I interject. “So no dirty talk.”

He laughs. “I promise.” He’s silent for a moment. “Cassandra, I’m really sorry about how I spoke to you this morning. I was wrong. I was in shock. I didn’t mean any of the things I said to you. It’s no excuse, but I hope you can forgive me.”

Darian and I smile at one another. “It’s okay. I understand.”

“It’s not okay. It’s inexcusable. I promise to make it up to you.”

“Just continue to make our girl happy. And give her lots of orgasms. Then we’re square.”

He and Darian both laugh. “Deal. But I’ll still find a way to make it up to you. I promise. Where are you guys?”

Darian answers. “We’ve had a crazy afternoon. I’ll tell you about it tonight. We have one more thing to do before dinner. We’re going to be a little late.”

“Okay. I’ll text everyone to come a little later. Be warned, Melissa is here and she’s losing her shit. Trevor told her about Cassandra. She went nuts. She and I had our first fight in decades. She and Trevor are outside now talking about it. Hopefully she’ll be calmer when they come back inside.”

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