Cassie (The Coven's Grove Chronicles #3) (5 page)

Cassie grabbed a couple of hotdogs, and a drink on her way out. No one seemed to notice that she left alone, or that there had been an “altercation” in the restroom. She strolled out to Caleb’s cherry ride, hopped in, and sped off without a second look.

The first order of business was to get some music playing. Though the car was from the 60’s, the stereo definitely wasn’t. A Pioneer screen with built in Bluetooth bleeped at her, begging to be fondled. Cassie didn’t see a place to insert a CD, but after a quick search she found an Ipod in the console.
I hope it’s not password protected
. She turned it on.
Score! Now to see what he listens to
. She tapped the vid screen on the stereo and linked up with the Ipod. Playlists ranging from 70’s classic rock to current-day rap, filled the screen.
Talk about all over the board
. She didn’t bother searching for anything in particular, instead she just hit shuffle. “Burnin’ miles” popped up, and Cassie smiled.
Hell yeah
.

Eventually she would have to ditch the car, which was a damn shame, but she needed to get her bearings first, and figure out a destination. She rummaged through the glove compartment, with one hand looking for a map. Then she had an epiphany.
You’re such an idiot
. She glanced at the stereo, and sure enough, there was a GPS on it.
Embrace technology, don’t fight it
. She tapped the screen a few times, and pulled up a rough location. She was still in Colorado, obviously, but the best she could tell, Caleb had gotten them to the eastern side of the state.
Looks like Kansas is my next stop
.

T
he minutes had turned into hours as the classic Shelby chewed up the miles, giving Cassie’s mind plenty of time to wander. She’d decided to bounce the car when she got to Kansas, and then head south. It was a sketchy plan, but she’d found over two grand in the bounty hunter’s wallet, so she wasn’t in a big rush to figure out the details just yet.

Whenever she was uprooted like this, Cassie couldn’t help but wonder what her life would have been like if her dad hadn’t died. Successful perhaps, or maybe even famous. It was nice to dream about what might have been, but real life always had a bad habit of catching up with her. In the beginning she’d had a normal family: piano lessons, soccer practice, school programs, the works. Once the reality of her father’s death had truly taken hold however, that life faded away, as if it’d been an elusive dream. Her mom slowly became more distant. She started drinking at night, and then during the day. It wasn’t just that though. The little things that mothers were supposed to do for their kids didn’t get done anymore. No more whispered words of encouragement, or packed lunches, no after school activities, and no more family nights. Dinners became whatever Cassie could scrounge up. There was more than one call to the house from Cassie’s principal to let her mother know that Cassie was in the office waiting to be picked up. Everything had gone to hell, and eventually, Cassie began lashing out at anyone who gave her the time of day. Later in high school, she spun even further out of control. Drugs. Violence. Theft. Those became her new activities, until the incident with Mr. Carson of course. After that, she’d had enough, and struck out on her own, never looking back.

Cassie glanced at the clock. It was 2:30 in the morning.
I’ve got to stop and get some sleep
. The headlights lit up a road sign. The closest stopping point was Goodland, Kansas, 10 miles out. She punched it up on the GPS, finding it to be a small town with a slew of hotels to choose from.
Good a place as any
. She took exit seventeen when it came up, and drove straight to the Super 8. The rate was a little more than some of the others Cassie had seen, but the place was clean, and she had the extra money.

Dinner was a bag of chips and a candy bar. The hot shower was nothing short of glorious, and the queen sized bed might as well have been a fluffy cloud floating its way up to the heavens. Sleep came fast. The dreams...well, they were something unexpected.

Usually when Cassie was this tired, she couldn’t remember her dreams, there was only a blank spot in her consciousness. Tonight however, that damn blonde bounty hunter invaded the otherwise blissful void. His chiseled features, broad shoulders, and sculpted abs, tormented her relentlessly during the night. But as tempting as those visuals were, she hungered for his touch most of all. That warm tingling set fire to her core unlike anything else she’d experienced before. Not that she was the font of knowledge when it came to sexual relations, but she’d never heard of any reference to the kind of exchange that had happened between her and Caleb.

She awoke, shuddering in the midst of an orgasm. The dream had become real and played through her body, like a jolt of electricity. She called out Caleb’s name, as she arched her back in ecstasy. The climax eventually passed, and she eased back down on the mattress. The sheets were damp with sweat and... other stuff. “Jesus Christ,” she panted. “What the hell’s wrong with me?”

Cassie rolled out of bed, and stumbled over to the sink. Her limbs trembled, as she washed her face. She looked in the mirror, and she could have sworn, for a split second, that she was glowing. Not a lot of things scared Cassie anymore—she’d been through too much—but this new “manifestation” was freaking her out. It had taken years for her to get a handle on her freakish strength, or at least come to terms with it. This tingling thing was just as weird, and she wanted no part of it. She stripped her underwear off in a rush, and jumped in the shower, scrubbing herself until her skin was bright pink. She shivered, as she toweled herself off; not from the cold, but from fear.
Time to get the hell out of here
. Foregoing the discarded undergarments, Cassie went commando, and lit out of the place without checking out.

It was daytime, even though it didn’t really look it with all of the cloud cover. Apparently a cold front had blown in just after she’d gotten her room early that morning, and hadn’t let up since. At least she didn’t have to stare into the sun while driving. She was currently on Highway 70 heading east, and she’d stay on it until she hit 135 south. From there she didn’t know where to go, but she’d figure it out. The main thing was to get as far away from Colorado as she could. Unfortunately, the roads were getting worse by the minute, putting her plan in serious jeopardy.

Shit
.

An hour crawled by before a town big enough to have a few car lots crossed her path. Colby, Kansas was the name, but it might as well have been Shangri La. The sleet had turned into heavy snow, and Colby’s glowing streetlights were beacons of salvation. Putting miles between her and Colorado was going to have to wait, but she could still do something about the car. A damn shame too. She was really starting to love those leather seats.

A sign with exit 53 plastered on it passed by, as Cassie got off the highway. The GPS search brought up a car lot, MC Auto, and right next to it, was a bar and grill, Montana Mike’s Steakhouse.
How convenient
. She could swap out her wheels and grab a beer without having to travel more than twenty yards. Which was good considering the shitstorm that was coming down.

The farther into town she went, the worse the roads got. Cassie went straight to the car lot, hoping to take care of business, but it was closed.

Double shit
.

She settled for the steakhouse, and whipped into a spot close to the entrance. There weren’t many cars, so the space was easy to find.
Gee, I wonder why?
she thought sardonically. Cassie pulled on her jacket, but it wasn’t enough to shield her from the cold wind that cut into her when she got out of the car. T-shirts and jeans didn’t hold up in this kind of weather, regardless of the coat. She only slipped twice, thankfully with no spills, as she rushed to the door. Warmth crept into her froze hands once she was inside, and she stood in the lobby for a few moments, thawing.

Montana Mike’s was a pretty big place. There was a lot of seating with the bar located in the back, near the kitchen. It was dark, like in most steak joints, but it was cozy. Cassie waved down a waitress, and pointed to the bar.

The woman gave her a nod, “Go ahead honey. Josey will take care of you.”

“Thanks.” Cassie went over and grabbed a stool. She looked over the menu, that was actually just a single sheet of bluish paper, while she waited for the bartender.
Steak, steak, or steak. Well, I think I know what I’m having
. She set the menu down and rubbed her temples. It had been a hard couple of days. Getting uprooted wasn’t a pleasant experience, and even though she’d gone through it many times in the past, she had never gotten used to it. What really sucked was that she’d been genuinely happy working at the lumber mill. The work had been hard and required a strong fortitude, but it paid the bills, and kept her in shape. The people were friendly, and generally stayed out of her business. Now that was all gone. Once again she found herself starting at ground zero, searching for a new place to call home.

“What can I get ya?”

Cassie looked up to find a tall, dark haired, heavy set guy, in his mid-thirties, standing just behind the bar. “Josey, right?”

“Yep,” Josey replied. He swung a towel over his shoulder, and smiled. “I’d say you’ve had better days. Need an aspirin?”

Cassie grinned, and nodded. “Yeah, along with a Guinness and a steak. Medium rare.”

Josey grabbed a dark beer out of the cooler from under the bar, and a bottle of aspirin off the counter behind him. He set them in front of her. “Steak’ll be right up.”

“You just saved my evening,” she said, and then took a swig of beer.

“That’s my job,” Josey replied, as he went through the kitchen doors.

Cassie popped the top off the bottle of aspirin, and chased three of them with another drink of beer. She continued to rub her temples in vain.
Damn headache
. She needed more rest, but there wasn’t time. Despite the bad weather she would have to be moving on. Changing cars could be solved with a simple hotwire, but would force her to switch vehicles again down the road, and she wouldn’t get the trade-in value for the Mustang.
The price of not getting caught
.

The door to the kitchen swung open, and Josey walked out behind the bar. “What can I get ya?”

At first Cassie thought he was talking to her and that he had lost his mind, but when she glanced over at him, he was looking past her.

“I’ll have what she’s having,” someone said. The voice was smooth and masculine.

Cassie almost jumped out of her chair. She hadn’t realized anyone had come in, let alone take a seat at the bar a few stools away. She looked over at the new arrival, and groaned under her breath.
What is this? Hot guy week
.

Chiseled features, crystal blue eyes, and dark hair, sat atop a basketball player’s type of body. He grinned his pearly whites at her, and nodded at her beer. “Good choice.”

Look away, just look away
. “Works for some,” Cassie replied, quickly looking back at her bottle.

Josey set another Guinness on the bar, this time in front of tall, dark, and handsome. The bartender then took his leave back into the kitchen.

“Have you tried—”

“Look man,” Cassie interrupted. After her run-in with the last hot guy, she was in no mood to be hit on. “I’m not interested, okay. Let’s just drink our beers, and keep to ourselves.”

His eyebrows rose, and he raised his hands in surrender. “No problem.”

She might have felt like an ass any other time, but Caleb’s cheap shot still stung. Fuck men. Cassie instantly regretted the thought, as images of her and Caleb ravaging each other in the front seats of his car, floated past her mind’s eye. Her core clenched involuntarily at the memory of how hard he had made her climax.
Asshole!

Josey came out of the kitchen, breaking the awkward silence that had filled the space between her and Handsome. A steaming steak, with a side of fries, was slid in front of her. “Let me know if you need anything else.”