I stagger on over as the party pours outside, taking their deafening laughter and overall merriment with them.
“Sammy?” My stomach drops like lead right through the floorboards.
“Oh, Cass! I’m so glad you’re here!” She swoons over his body with her own, and Cade doesn’t move, still looking from Piper to me as if trying to piece together the puzzle. “This is him!” Sammy practically mouths the words. “Cade and I were just talking about how wonderful things used to be between us. Isn’t this great?” she squeals with delight so loud I think my eardrums just burst in rebellion to her pleasure. “We’re getting back together!”
“What?” Piper and I shout in unison before taking a brief moment from the lunacy to examine one another.
“This is the nut job you said was stalking your brother?” I bark as if demanding answers to every problem in the free world, and, at this very moment, I wish I could.
Sammy’s eyes round out in horror as if I’ve just struck her with my ham hock of a fist.
“That’s right.” Piper’s face contorts as if she’s about to get sick. “And now she’s here trying to ruin my party.”
Cade lifts a hand in protest. “Nobody is ruining your party,” he’s quick to correct his little sis. “Sammy is just as excited to be here as anyone else. You’re playing nice tonight, remember?” He gently removes himself from Sammy’s death grip and takes a step forward. “What are you doing here?” he asks me sweetly, with more of a surprise to his tone than an accusation, but Sammy flops right back to his shoulder like a fly to honey, and my stomach does a revolution at the sight.
This is the boy I’ve been pushing her to land at all costs? Telling her that the girl he was seemingly interested in was merely a bump in the road? Hot damn, I just called myself a bump in the road and all but cheered on this stalker twat as she steamrolled my budding relationship. And I willingly gave her my hairdresser’s private number!
“She’s here because she’s my roommate,” Piper spits the words out to her brother with a touch too much venom. “She’s also my best friend. She goes where I go. So what?” She jabs a finger into her brother’s hard-as-steel chest. “Are you going to tell me who I can and can’t bring to my own party?”
Owen steps up with his jaw clear to the floor, and it may as well have shattered, judging by his inability to pick it right back up again.
Sammy hikes up on her heels and takes a little bite out of Cade’s ear, but he’s too busy staring wide-eyed at me to notice.
“Oh my shit,” I spit the words out at the gnat trying to shove herself inside Cade James’s pants. “You were using me this entire time! You figured out that I was sleeping with him on the side, and this was your little twisted plan to get him back from me. And to think, I gave you the name of my beauty salon!” That last sentence comes out deep and throaty because let’s face it—that was the ultimate betrayal.
“What?” she squawks so loud I want nothing more than to shove her back into the henhouse she pecked her way out of. “Bless your heart.” Her demeanor changes on a dime as she fans herself while forcing a smile. “Are you telling me you’re the C U Next Tuesday I’ve been afraid to meet?”
I suck in a sharp breath. “Did you just C U Next Tuesday me?” Dear God up in heaven, forgive me because I do believe both a commandment and a federal law are about to be broken.
Cade tries to pick up my hand, but I pull it right back out of his grasp.
“Cass—you’re my sister’s roommate?” His brows flex, and that sad smile of his looks pained by the revelation, and even in this tumultuous light he looks sexier than any man alive on the planet.
“Whoa, hold the fucking phone!” Piper jumps in front of my face. “What the hell did you just say? Are you sleeping with Cade? Oh my God! Is my brother Hot Buns?”
Both Scarlett and Daisy duck for cover, and Owen looks as if he’s wrestling with his own fight-or-flight instincts.
“Cake!” a cheery voice calls from the door as Cole and Roxy come in. Her arms are filled to the brim with that beautiful confection we spent the afternoon decorating.
“I’ll take that.” I swoop it right out of the box and whirl it around into Little-Miss-Out-to-Steal-Your-Boyfriend—right over her ever-so-perfectly-coifed-boyfriend-stealing hair. “How’s that for C U Next Tuesday?”
Piper is quick to applaud me. “What the hell is next Tuesday?”
“Cassidy!” Sammy shrieks, covered from head to toe in what looks like a pile of bull crap—just like the lines she was feeding me all along. “I thought you were my friend!” she shrills at the top of her lungs while making a run for the kitchen.
“Holy shit.” Roxy comes up beside me, as do Marley, Annie, and Baya. But Cade and I are still locked at the horns, having a stare down, while Piper rages to Owen on the side.
Cade closes his eyes a moment. “So you knew I was Piper’s brother.” He pushes out a tired grin. “And you knew Sammy?” He shakes his head, genuinely confused.
“And you—” Wait… How exactly is Cade the bad guy in all of this? Oh, that’s right. “And you’ve had a girlfriend this entire time!” Wait, what was it that Sammy said about their relationship? Oh hell, the room is starting to spin, and it feels as if my feet landed on a boat lost on high seas.
I snatch Piper’s keys from her pocket before leaning into Roxy. “Hold that boy off while I make a break for it,” I hiss as I run for the door.
I jump into Piper’s fancy car and hightail it to anywhere but here.
Deep down, I knew we were in for one shit ride tonight.
I just had no idea that it would end so spectacularly bad.
Cade
I’ve been caught off guard a time or two in my life, I’ve landed flat on my ass, the air deflated from my lungs and left with my head spinning, but never like this.
“Let go, man.” I free my hands and wrestle Cole off my back as I watch the dust evaporate in Cassidy’s wake. She’s long gone, and as soon as she left, she took my heart with her.
“I was just doing what Roxy told me, dude.” Cole helps me to my feet. “I’m sorry things worked out this way.”
“Yeah, well”—I sigh into the plume of dirty country air settling in the distance—“things aren’t over yet.” Not by a long shot.
“Are you okay?” Piper pulls me back and flattens her hands over my shirt as if ironing out the wrinkles. The party is in full swing with most of the guests circulating freely throughout the property. Bryson, Holt, and Cole stand on one end of the porch with their arms folded tight with concern. From over Piper’s shoulder, I spot Wyatt and Blake ready to charge.
Crap. I want to be anywhere but here right now.
“I’m fine.” I pull Piper to the side, and Owen follows. “Where do you think she went? Can you call her? I need to speak with her right now.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Piper pulls out her phone and takes a few steps away.
I look to her guilty other half. “Dude, you knew.” I’m not shitting around the bush with Owen. “That day at my house, you didn’t say a word.”
Owen glances skyward with the slight look of remorse. “I didn’t know what was happening until we were taking off. Cassidy made it clear she didn’t want Rex or me interfering. This is between you and her. I didn’t even tell Piper. I figured it would all come out in the wash.”
“It sure did.” A lungful of air expels from me as Wyatt and Blake descend on us.
“What the hell was that about?” Wyatt isn’t amused by the drama. He seldom is, so I don’t find it surprising.
Piper pops back, “She’s not picking up. But I’ll get ahold of her.”
Wyatt turns his concern to her. “What happened, Piper? Tell me right now.” Wyatt has always been more of a father figure than that of my own—ironic since my father and mother are somewhere on the grounds roaming around. Not that I want them to take part in any of this.
Piper glances my way briefly. “Apparently, Hot Buns here has been luring my
best friend to his place and having his way with her—nightly!” She smacks me on the arm. “Pig!”
“I’m not a pig. And it didn’t quite work that way. She’s a grown adult who chose to leave out the tiny detail that she was your roommate, and looking at the way you’re behaving, I can’t blame her.” I just wish to God she had mentioned it at some point. “And what’s going on with Sammy? How did they meet?”
“Beats me! Why don’t you ask her yourself?” She glares at the house as if it was my cake-laden ex.
Blake leans in, and it’s only then I notice he’s holding the baby in his arms. Baby Ben has large, serious eyes, a perfect smile laden with drool, and he’s the spitting image of his daddy. When Blake’s brother died, Blake took on the full responsibility of raising his kid. Ben is just now starting to walk, but he’s still held as much as he ever was.
“Dude”—Blake gives a hard blink—“can I do anything for you? There’s a chick in there with cake all over her hair. Do you want me to give her a ride home or something?”
“No, I got this.” My heart fills with grief over the fact Cassidy is out there somewhere nursing a wounded heart, and that in some unwitting way, I played a part in it. “I just thought if I asked my ex here I could get her to see how much Cassidy meant to me. And then, of course, I didn’t invite Cass… I never meant for her to get hurt, or for Cassidy to get her heart broken over something that’s not even happening.”
“You’re not mad at her, are you?” Piper tips her head to the side, but something about the gesture seems manufactured as if she’s asking for Cassidy.
“No. Please tell her I am not mad. I am in love with her, and I’m only sorry I didn’t get to tell her first in person. Please, Pipe, do not rock the boat any more than it already is.” My hands secure themselves over her shoulders, and I steady my gaze into hers. Sometimes, you need to treat Piper like the kid she is. “Look at me. Do not make this worse. I love that woman, and I do not want her broken-hearted. As soon as you find out where she is, I beg of you to tell me. I have to see her—today. There’s a lot that needs to be said, from both sides.”
“I can’t believe you love Cassidy Clayton—my roommate, my best friend.” Piper’s eyes fill with tears. “This is the best birthday present you could have ever given me.” She wraps her arms around me tight. “Why would she hide this from us?”
“Do you really need to ask?” I pull back and frown at the powder keg of a birthday girl before me. “What would you have done if she said she wanted to date your brother?”
Her lips swim as she pretends to be sick. “I guess you’re right. Initially, I would have thought it was a great idea, but eventually, I probably would have set her up with a dozen different guys just trying to deflect her from your ridiculous hot buns. Do you realize she told me things? You’re a sick pervert by the way.”
Now it’s me feeling like I’m going to lose my lunch. “She was happy. She wanted to share her joy with someone, and you’re her best friend.” I push the stray hairs from my sister’s eyes. “I’d better get inside and talk to Sammy. Can you please end this bullshit you have against her? If I’ve forgiven her, don’t you think you should, too?”
“If it helps stop crap like this from happening, I’ll hug it out even if it is my birthday.”
We head inside, and I freeze a moment when I spot Mom and Sammy chatting it up in the kitchen like old friends—they are, so it shouldn’t surprise me.
Sammy’s hair is relatively clean and slicked back into a ponytail with just a smidge of icing around the tips.
I head over and land a warm hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”
Sammy looks up with those soft eyes that I used to admire, and there’s something she’s saying with them—if I had to guess, I’d say it were an apology. “When life gives you chocolate cake, you eat it.” She belts out a jovial laugh, and my mother chortles right along with her.
Mom stands and gives Piper a kiss. “Happy birthday, sweetheart. You’re as stunning as ever.” She turns to me and clicks her tongue. “And look at you—breaking hearts wherever you go. At least you still have the right girl here for you.” She wraps an arm around Sammy’s shoulders and looks lovingly into her eyes. “If this one gives you any trouble, you just come to me. I’ll fix him right up.” She tries to take a few steps away, and Sammy snatches her up by the fingertips.
“When will I see you again?” Her Southern drawl extends a little too dramatically. Sammy always did know how to turn up the charm around my parents.
“Call me anytime when you’re back in the city, and we’ll do lunch.”
Piper hikes up on her tiptoes and leans into my ear. “There she goes again, weaseling her way into our lives. If you think this nightmare is over, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
Crap. I pray she’s wrong.
“Sammy, why don’t we head back to campus?” The farther from my mother and me the better.
Piper thumps on her heels and whimpers, “You’re not coming back, are you?”
“I can’t. My head’s all over the place. I need to see if I can find her. And as soon as you hear anything, please let me know. I just want to know that she’s safe and okay. She was pretty upset when she took off.” Hell, I’m pretty upset, and I don’t have a thing to be upset about.
Sammy comes over and threads her arm through mine. “I’m sorry about the way things turned out.”
I’d have a tendency to believe her, but something about the way she linked her arm through mine, the way she’s looking up at me in a slightly flirtatious manner has sent all kinds of bells and whistles going off. I hate to admit it, but Piper might be right.
“Don’t apologize. This is fine. I just wanted you to feel welcome during your stay at Briggs.” I nod to Piper because this is her cue.
“And I’m sorry if I’ve been a real bitch to you,” she spits the words out at Sammy with such hostility I’m afraid they don’t mean much. “And I’m sorry you think Cassidy would ever root for you to be with my brother when she clearly had staked her claim.”
Sammy glances up at me and blows out a breath. “You know, Cassidy and I share a class together. We talked. I like her. She gave me some great advice, and I took it.” She shoots venom at Piper for a moment before softening to her again. Maybe Piper wasn’t always the problem. Maybe it was simply the fact Sammy and my sister never got along.
Piper grunts in disbelief. “You obviously omitted one vital piece of information from your conversations, namely my brother.”
“That may be so, but I didn’t think it was necessary. Besides, she didn’t exactly mention him either. Apparently, she was hiding all kinds of information from the two of you. How can you ever trust a person like that?” Sammy wrinkles her nose as if Cassidy were an offensive odor. “I say good riddance.”
“Cassidy is trustworthy.” I don’t hesitate to defend her. “She has her reasons for keeping this from the two of us, but only she knows those at this point. I’m not accusing her nor am I angry. And, yes, I plan on trusting her again with any and everything.”
Piper smears a smug grin toward Sammy. “I guess that’s good riddance to you.”
Sammy gives my elbow a tug. “I’ll take that ride home now. I don’t feel much like celebrating anybody’s birthday.”
“Good!” Piper barks in her face. “Because the party doesn’t start until you leave! You’re a cheat; therefore, you are the only untrustworthy one around here.”
Piper sure knows how to bury the past—with a hatchet right through Sammy’s skull.
“Let’s go.” I lead Sammy to the door and nod to Blake and Annie as we head outside. Wyatt is standing there with Marley, both with startled looks. “Sorry about the scene. If there’s any damage from the mess we made, I’ll cover it.” I offer Marley a quick embrace and slap Wyatt five as he offers a quick hug himself.
“We need to talk,” he whispers as we pull away. “You know I want to help out with stuff like this. Know that I’m here for you.”<
br />
“Thanks. Tell Dad and my mom that I’m sorry I had to take off. I was thinking of heading home to see them for spring break, and now I’m not so sure.”
“Will do.”
I lead Sammy over to my car and let her in, not caring if she gets the entire interior smudged with frosting. I’m with Piper. I’m starting to feel like I’ll do just about anything to get this entire nightmare to come to an end.
We take the long country drive through Hollow Brook in silence until Sammy finally clears her throat.
“Please don’t hate me.”
“I don’t hate you. I didn’t hate you then, and I don’t hate you now. I invited you to that party. You were my guest.”
“And what about that other girl? If you were so into her, why didn’t you ask her to come? That’s what I don’t get.”
“That’s what I don’t get either.”
I drop Sammy off in front of her dorm and circle around to Cutler Tower. There’s not a sign of Piper’s car anywhere. I didn’t think there would be.
I head home and dive onto the couch, pull out my phone, and send the woman I love a text.
Cassidy, please, let’s get together. We really need to talk. Tell me where I can meet you or feel free to come over. I’m dying here.
But, Cassidy never texts back.
I didn’t think she would.
Cassidy doesn’t come home.
According to Piper, she’s safe, but Piper is refusing to betray her trust, so an entire week passes without a trace of Cassidy. Piper miraculously has her car back but won’t say a word regarding how or where she picked it up.
I voiced my concern with Professor Donovan about her absence, and he assures me she’s been in touch with him—letting him know that she would be missing her allotted three classes. Spring break is here, which puts another unwanted barrier between us, and I can’t take it. I can’t take this suffocating feeling of not being with her, not being able to share my feelings with her. Every single day I send a handful of texts, and every single day they go unanswered. Each new day I die a thousand grueling deaths, and each new morning I wake up to relive the nightmare all over again.