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I figured Lillian would know, just assuming Casey came home and sobbed on her mom’s shoulder. They were very close and shared pretty much everything.
“How is she?” I ask, chewing on my bottom lip in worry.
“Well, I haven’t seen her yet, so I’m not sure. I was asleep when she got home, but I’m sure you’ll be able to patch it up… no worries. ”
I blink in surprise. “If you haven’t seen her, how do you know about our fight?”
“Hunter called me about half an hour ago to give me a heads up. He said you’d be coming over here to talk to her. ”
That absolutely amazes me. I never said a word to Hunter that I was going to come see Casey. In fact, I was on my way over to Last Call when I got the wild hair up my butt and decided to just nip this in the bud. The fact that Hunter seemed to know me a bit better than I knew myself freaks me out a bit, but I push that thought aside. I have to deal with Casey now.
Casey and Brody still live at home, which in the grand scheme of things seems pretty lame. Brody actually has an excuse since he just got out of prison and needed to acclimate, but I bet anything he’ll be getting his own place before too long. Casey is a different story. She never held down a job long enough to afford to move out, and I didn’t have high hopes for that with the way the real estate market is right now.
“So… uh, did Hunter tell you what the fight was about?”
Lillian gives me a knowing smile. “Come on… let’s have a cup of coffee. Casey will be up soon, but you and I can talk for a bit. ”
Oh, just great. Lillian and I were going to talk about my relationship with her son. I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be doing more—which is definitely my sarcastic voice coming out.
I plop down at the kitchen table, while Lillian busies herself with pouring the coffee. My shoulders hunch forward and I sink down into the chair, mentally preparing to shield myself for whatever may be coming.
“What did Hunter tell you exactly?” I ask hesitantly, dreading what she may know.
“He told me everything, Gabby, starting from when he broke your heart five years ago and ending with him staying at your house last night. ”
My face flames red at the thought of Hunter’s mom knowing such intimate details about my relationship with her son. I’m hugely mortified that she knows I had crushed on him and stupidly tried to kiss him—no correction, did kiss him—when I was eighteen. I’m even more embarrassed that she knows we spent the night together. Not that she doesn’t know her kids have sex. I mean, hello… we’re adults. But I just don’t like it so blatantly shoved in her face.
“And you get that look off your face right now, Gabby Ward,” she says to me sternly. My eyes snap up to hers, and I see she’s giving me the “mom” look, which means she’s not going to tolerate something. I’m just not sure exactly what it is she’s censuring me for.
I open my mouth to say something, but before I can, she sits down and leans across the table toward me a bit. “Gabby… I’m thrilled you and Hunter are together. You’re like my daughter… a part of this family. I cannot think of a better woman for my son than you. ”
My mouth hangs open, and I stare at her agog. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. And why wouldn’t I feel that way? You know I love you, right?”
“Yes, but…” My mind runs amok. It seems so silly that I was concerned about this… about how the family would feel, and that was part of the reason I wanted to hide it.
“But what?” she asks gently.
“I don’t think Casey approves,” I say in a quiet voice. “And I won’t ruin my friendship with Casey over Hunter. ”
Lillian sits back in her chair and makes a snorting sound. “First… if Casey would make you choose between her and Hunter, then Casey doesn’t deserve you as a friend. But I know my daughter, and I know deep down she would love the idea of you and Hunter together. She loves you like I do… more even. Trust me, Casey will approve of this. ”
“Hunter said she’s just mad we kept it secret. ”
“I suspect that’s the case. ” Lillian stands and leans over to kiss me on top of my head. “Now head back to her room and make sure she’s up for work… but don’t leave out of here without resolving things. ”
I stand up and give Lillian a smile before I head down the hall. “Lillian… you know this thing with me and Hunter? It may be nothing. It may amount to nothing in the long run. ”
She gives me a wise look and an understanding smile. “But it may amount to everything. Just enjoy it, Gabby. ”
I nod at her and murmur “thanks” before heading back to Casey’s room. Knocking softly on the door, I hear her call me in. She’s sitting in bed, her back resting up against her headboard. Even though she’s still in bed, wearing her pajamas, I can tell she’s been up for a while because her eyes are clear and not a hint of grogginess surrounds her.
“Hey,” I say softly as I close the door and take a seat on the edge of her bed near her feet.
“Hey,” she says, keeping her eyes averted and pinned to her hands, which are clasped in her lap.
“I am so sorry, Case,” I begin, laying my hand on her ankle, which rests under the covers by my hip. “I never meant to hurt you, and it was stupid for me to keep that secret from you. You’re my best friend. You should have been the first person I told. ”
She lifts her face and stares at me, her lips drawn downward. “I can’t believe you’ve had feelings for my brother for a few weeks, and I never knew. I must be oblivious. ”
Her voice isn’t bitter or angry, which immediately relieves me. She says it in wonder, questioning the very strength of our friendship that she didn’t see it. Which makes what I’m getting ready to tell her that much worse.
“Um… it’s actually been a bit longer than a few weeks. At least where I’m concerned. ”
“What do you mean?”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Pushing her legs aside to give me more room, I cross my legs, leaning my elbows on my knees as I face her. Then I tell her about what happened five years ago, and I catch her up on everything so she knows exactly how the concept of Hunter and I came to be.
When I finished, she just shakes her head at me. “I can’t believe you kissed him graduation night. How did I not know that?”
“Because I was mortified and so embarrassed, and I didn’t want to relive my humiliation. I only wanted to forget about it. ”
“No wonder you were such a bitch to him all these years. ”
“Yeah… I don’t have the best coping skills apparently. ”
There’s a moment of awkward silence. Casey’s gaze drops back down to her hands while I continue to look at her, waiting to see what else she’ll want to know before I beg forgiveness again.
“I’m scared,” she finally says, and I jerk in surprise at the small sound of her voice.
“Of what?”
“I’m scared you’ll hurt him… or he’ll hurt you, and then I might lose one of you. ”
Oh, my heart breaks and then fills with pain over these words. I don’t want my bestie to have these fears, even though I’ve had the same ones myself. It’s my burden to bear though, not hers, so I lean forward, crawl my way up the bed, and flop down beside her, grabbing her in a hug.
“That won’t happen, Casey. Our relationship is… um… casual, I guess. Our feelings aren’t too deep, but we have years of care and friendship in the mix. We won’t hurt each other, I promise. And even if we did, we’d never make you choose between us. You’ll always have us both. ”
She looks at me like I have a neon sign hanging above my head with a bright, glowing arrow pointing down at me that says “Idiot”.
“What?” I ask, not understanding the look on her face.
“You’re sleeping with Hunter,” she points out.
Yes, yes I am, and damn, it is good.
“Your point?” I ask with one of my eyebrows cocked.
“My point is—there’s nothing casual about that. ”
I snicker and then let out a burst of laughter. “Casey… I’m sorry, girl, but you sleep with men all the time and it’s casual. ”
I’m not prepared for Casey’s hand when it flies forward and slaps me soundly on my forehead. “You are an idiot. Of course, it’s casual for me. That’s because I don’t have a heart when it comes to men. They’re good for two things only, and that’s an expensive dinner and an earth-shattering orgasm. But you… Hunter… you are both ruled by your hearts. Once you decided to get intimate, you both went past casual. ”
Her words hit me like a freight train, because in their simplest form, they ring utterly true. I have an overwhelming sense of dread that maybe she’s actually foreshadowing a moment in time where either Hunter or I get hurt… maybe both of us.
“No, no, no, no,” she admonishes, and my eyes snap to hers. “Get that look off your face right now. ”
“What look?”
“The one that just got scared over what I said. The one that said you were going to break it off with Hunter right now to avoid further hurt down the road. ”
Holy shit. She got all of that with a look? That was exactly the path my thoughts had started to take when she called me on them.
I open my mouth to say something but she cuts me off, grabbing onto my hands. “Don’t you dare break it off with him because you’re scared, Gabby. I don’t want you to break his heart because you’re scared. ”
I’m stunned by her words and by her absolute turnaround from being pissed at me to not wanting me to break things off with Hunter. Her hands squeeze mine painfully.
“Promise me, Gabby,” she says urgently.
“I promise,” I squeak out, fairly certain she crushed the bones in my fingers. “Does this mean you’re no longer mad at me?”
She pulls me forward and gives me a quick hug, thankfully releasing her death grip on my hands. “You know I can’t stay mad at you long. Never could. ”
“And you’re not worried that I’ll… how did you say it… ‘get my claws into Hunter’?”
She snorts. “Hey… we’ve been besties for almost our entire life. I know how to push your buttons. ”
“That you do,” I agree. “So, we’re cool?”
“Cool as an Eskimo’s dick when he takes a piss,” she says with a grin.
I wrinkle my nose in distaste. “All right. I’m out of here. I need to get into work. ”
“Oh, no you don’t,” she says. “We need to dish about Sasha. ”
That’s right. I completely forgot about her and her skanky ways when she kissed Hunter last night. Sitting up beside Casey, I cross my legs again, resting my elbows on my inner thighs.
“Okay,” I tell her conspiratorially. “Hunter told me a little bit about her and assured me they weren’t together. Tell me everything you know. ”
Casey sits up straighter, and she gets a serious look on her face. We’re getting ready to do some five-star gossiping. “I only met her once, about three months before they broke up. Remember when we went out to Huntington Beach to watch one of Hunter’s competitions?”
I nod, definitely remembering when Casey and her parents flew across the country to watch him compete. Casey was so excited, as were her parents, because they just couldn’t afford to trot across the globe to watch him.
“Well, she was a bitch… couldn’t stand her. She was rude to my parents, rude to me, and was a complete bitch to Hunter. I assume their relationship was really on the downswing at that point. Hunter was pretty embarrassed by her behavior. We all went out to dinner that night, and all she did was complain. Complained about the way Hunter surfed, about what clothes he was wearing, about what food he ordered. I swear… he sat through that meal with his teeth clenched so he wouldn’t tear into her. The only saving grace was Dad… I mean, you know how easygoing he is, and he could talk for hours with a complete stranger. ”