Seven (21 page)

When I fantasized about being with Casen, back in high school, I always imagined wearing this shirt. Now, here I am, over ten years later, doing just that. I smile at how it looks on me and turn side to side, admiring how it swallows my new svelte body.

I’m just about to crawl into Casen’s bed and wait for him, when I hear his phone ringing in the living room. I walk out to retrieve it and see Ian’s name come across the screen. I shiver and bring it into the bedroom. After a minute the phone chimes in my hand. Assuming it’s a voicemail, I set it on Casen’s night stand, and then freeze when a text message pops up. The words across the screen pull all of the air out of my lungs. I pick the phone back up, reading the message two, three more times. What I find scares the shit out of me. More than when I thought someone broke into Casen’s house. More than when Patrick had me up against a wall in the science room closet. More than when the police showed up at my house to tell me my dad passed away.

Ian:
Annie leads go dead. Ended in North Carolina. I’ll keep digging.

I don’t hear when Casen gets out of the shower or calls my name. I only feel him when he reaches for the phone in my hand and takes it. He reads the message and stares at me with desperation in his eyes.

“I asked him to do this before I even met you, Embyr.” He sets the phone down and grabs my hand. “I just want to know what happened. I wake up every day, wondering what happened to her. Ian is a private investigator, and I asked him for help.”

Just like it has done for the past two days, Aria’s words replay in my head one more time. “Karma is a bitch.”

Now, I know I have to tell him, before Ian does.

I wrap my jacket tightly around me, trying to keep the freezing wind out, as I walk the last two blocks towards Casen’s fire station. Leaves blow furiously at my feet, and everyone seems to be using anything they can to block the frigid air from slapping them in the face. It’s an unseasonably cool day in the city, and I don’t think anyone has brought out their winter clothing yet. I was lucky enough to get into my apartment today and snag my heavier jacket.

The past few days between Casen and I have been nothing short of amazing but this pit in my stomach is burrowing a deep hole through my body. I know I have to tell Casen who I really am and before Ian does. My mind was consumed with questions the night of Ian’s text.

Why is he looking for Annie?

Why didn’t he mention it when he told me the story?

What was he going to do with the information once he got it?

All of those questions and about a million more took up every single thought in my mind since that day. I’ve barely been able to eat or sleep and I always feel like, at any moment, everything is going to come crashing down, because it just might.

Casen has been wonderful. Sharing his home with me while they clear my apartment was something he didn’t have to do but continuously reminded me that he wanted to do. I’ve wanted for nothing since taking residence there. I have never felt so taken care of. Even though I have been fighting it, and fighting it hard, I think I am falling for him. Falling so damn far that I don’t know what will happen if I lose him. I know I’d be devastated. That seems to be the only fitting emotion. My life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. Some, my fault. Well, most my fault. My plan has backed me into a corner. There is nothing I can do but come clean. That scares me. The worst that could happen is that I will lose him. That feels like it would tear my world apart even more than the release of the video back in high school did.

I started off on this journey of fucking over the men of the PITCREW and now one of them has me on the brink of falling for him so hard that I may shatter and the pieces will never be put back together.

My hands fold across my stomach with the thought.

I don’t want to lose Casen.

I can’t lose him.

A chill runs down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I have a sick feeling in my stomach; the kind where you feel as though someone is watching you. My breathing deepens as I glance around me, but nothing seems threatening. Looking back, I find no one is following me, either. I turn around to finish the final block, before getting to Casen’s work and surprising him, when I crash into someone in front of me. My head gets the brunt of the hit against a hard chest and I close my eyes, willing the pain to go away. The stranger’s hands come up, grasping my upper arms. “Where you off to so fast, Emybr?” a familiar, vile voice asks, causing my body to stiffen in fear.

I open my eyes. My heart immediately begins to beat out of its chest, and I take a step back to break the hold of his grimy hands on me. “Don’t touch me!” I yell, staring Patrick down.

He takes a menacing step forward, invading my personal space. We’re on the city streets of Chicago, surrounded by hundreds, but I feel completely isolated. “Don’t touch you? That’s an odd thing to say considering the last time I saw you, I was fucking your sweet pussy from behind.”

My stomach coils with disgust as his eyes travel down my body. “What the hell do you want, Patrick?” I ask with false conviction, pulling myself together so I don’t show any fear.

His skin turns an angry shade of red. “What do I want?” He shakes his head and asks louder. “What do I want?”

The strong façade I’ve put on is cracking and if I don’t hold still in the face of this dangerous man, he will chew me up and spit me out. “That’s what I asked, isn’t it?”

He steps closer, his eyes are tired and fierce, and stress is written all over his face. “I want to know if you did it, Embyr?”

“Did what?” I ask, mustering some strength in my tone.

Another step closer. I feel like he is caging me in. I could run, but I’m afraid he would chase. I look to the left, the fire station so close, yet so far away. I’m almost backed against the wall by the time Patrick speaks again. “Were you moving my clients’ money?”

I stare him down. My fists clenching, ready for a fight, should this turn bad. “You did all of that yourself!” I spit my answer. “You fucked your clients’ over and now you’re just looking to find someone to blame. That account was made long before I even started working there.”

His eyes turn to slits. “How do you know that?”

I step forward, getting stronger by the second. I didn’t start that account. I didn’t screw over my clients. I just made it so other people finally noticed he was doing it. “I worked for you for a long time, Patrick. You may think I’m stupid, that all I was good for was a fuck and some coffee but I’m so much smarter than you think. Now, back the fuck off.”

Patrick’s face turns a shade of red I have never seen before and it puts me more on the defense. My knee is ready to rise up and connect with his balls, should he choose to make a physical move.

“You’re right about being smart, Embyr. But you’re wrong about one thing.” His eyes move down to my chest. “You weren’t a good lay at all.”

I lean in, getting as close to him as I can without turning my stomach. “Fuck. You.”

I can feel his breath all over my face as he retorts. “Been there. Fucked that. No thanks.”

I shove him as hard as I can with both hands and before Patrick can react I hear Casen yelling. We both turn our heads and watch as a murderous looking Casen storms toward us with Reece trailing behind him.

“Get your fucking hands off of her,” Casen roars from twenty feet away. I can see Reece cracking his knuckles. They are ready for a fight.

As they get closer and see Patrick, recognition flashes across their faces. I hear my old boss chuckling while taking a few steps back. “Casen Parker and Reece Craig? No fucking shit!”

Recognition is replaced by anger again. “Strickland,” Casen says. “Back away from my girlfriend.”

Patrick looks at me, and then at Casen. “Girlfriend, hmm?”

Casen towers over Patrick, they are chest to chest and I watch Reece take in the situation. “Yeah, my girlfriend, asshole. So, back the fuck off of her.”

Patrick raises his palms up and to the side, seemingly in defeat. “It’s all good, man. I was just speaking to my ex-employee.”

Reece chimes in, appearing next to Casen. “Conversation is over. Leave.”

Patrick continues to walk backwards but his eyes find mine and he says, “Do you pull her hair, Casen? Because she always loved when I pulled her hair while railing her from behind, over my desk.”

It happens so fast. Casen storms over to Patrick, fists clenched, and punches him so hard, Patrick immediately falls to the ground. He doesn’t get up. He just holds his hand to the bruise that is rapidly forming on his left cheek and stares at Casen.

“Come on, man,” Reece commands. Casen grabs my hand, and pulls me behind him until we get to the station. Reece gives Casen an unreadable look as we enter the door, leaving the two of us alone.

“Stop moving so much,” I softly tell Casen, gently wiping the blood off his knuckles. The knuckles he hit the brick wall, just inside the station, with.

He releases a deep breath and lowers his head. I finish cleaning his hand up inside the large bathroom and kiss the top of it. “Thank you,” he says.

I nod, sliding off the sink, and deposit the Band-Aid wrappers into the trash can. Casen pulls me by my hips into him and then lifts my chin. Looking distraught he asks. “Embyr, did you sleep with him?”

My heart starts to crack. This is the last thing I thought he would ever find out and it’s probably the least heartbreaking thing I need to tell him. I tip my chin down, answering his question truthfully and he drops his hands.

“We’re you two dating?” he asks. “Wait! He’s married. How long did it go on?”

Tears prick the sides of my eyes, threatening to spill down my cheeks. “I don’t know how long. It just happened. I have no other reasons for doing it besides I wasn’t thinking.”

Casen’s head falls back and he looks at the ceiling. Searching it as though it may hold all the answers. “Did you know he was stealing?”

I wasn’t expected that question but I’m too exhausted from all the lies to lie anymore. “I did.”

He finally looks down, his eyes meeting mine. He doesn’t say anything, so I decide to give him another truth. “I was the one who brought it to the attention of the police.”

His scowl lightens with those words. I feel as though for a brief moment, Casen thought I was allowing it to happen under my nose. Even though I was, it was to make sure he was caught and all that money would eventually end up back in the arms of its owner.

“I feel sick, knowing he has touched you, baby,” he whispers. “That you let him do that, knowing he is married.”

I allow tears to fall down my cheeks. “I can’t explain why I did it, Casen. All I can say is that is in the past, and a lot has changed. I’ve changed over the last month. You have to forgive me,” I beg.

He nods a couple of times, seemingly coming to terms with the slap in the face he just received. “Okay.” He walks over and kisses me on the nose. “I don’t like that he has fucked you, but I’m glad you did the right thing, Embyr, and tomorrow, when I get home, I’m going to fuck you so fucking good, any past lovers—that asshole included—will be long forgotten.”

I wrap my arms around him. “You forgive me?”

He places his cheek on top of my head. “There is nothing to forgive. All that was before you met me. The past is in the past, right?”

*****

Casen and I sit on the couch in the common room of the fire department, watching mindless television. I don’t want to leave just yet. The whole interaction with Patrick has shaken me. Soon, I’ll have to head back before he has to go wash the truck. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, my eyes are slowly peeling open and my ears perk up to the whispers of Casen and Reece.

“You can’t just let that go, Casen,” Reece speaks soft but harshly.

Casen shifts underneath my head lying in his lap. “Back off about it, man. It’s not your concern.”

I hear Reece huff. “It is my concern. You’re my best friend.”

“No,” Casen tells him, dragging a hand across my neck. “I’m not a child. There is no reason for you to worry.”

A chair shifts across the floor and Reece’s voice gets closer but quieter. “What about what Ian said? What about how all that shit happened to Patrick, Thad, and Evan. Now Wesley. We all need to be watching our back.”