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“Worried somebody else would get the satisfaction of killing me first?”
He flashed a rare half smile at that, then moved to sit in the armchair beside my bed. “Something like that.”
“My knight in shit-stained armor. I’m honored.”
“They say it’s a concussion.” Cassian reached and softly lifted my hair to touch a tender spot on my scalp. “As long as you don’t drop more shit on your head in the next few days, you should be fine. And you’ll need to take it easy. I’ve had a few of these myself, believe it or not.”
“When can I get out of here?”
He shrugged. “That depends if you want to get out the proper way, or if you want me to bust you out.”
I laughed at that. “Busting me out of the hospital sounds like a convenient way to off me. How do I know you’re even telling the truth about my condition? What if I’m terminal. Just minutes to live…”
His lips twitched, almost like he wanted to smile again. When he flicked his eyes up to meet mine, I felt my stomach clench and grow hot. God. If he’d been on the Titanic, he could’ve saved the whole ship if he’d just looked at the iceberg like that.
“I don’t want you dead. Remember? I decided your next punishment is falling for me. I just need to make sure you don’t hit your head on the way down.”
I rolled my eyes. “You would be a shitty comedian.”
“Among other things.”
“Boyfriend. Friend. Son. Teammate. Should I keep listing things you’d be shitty at?”
“No. You should list the names of the guys who did this to you.”
I looked down, then shook my head. “I don’t need you to save me, Cassian.”
“It’s not about saving you. It’s about punishing the people who deserve to be punished.”
“Yeah? Like how you’re punishing me for the sake of your father? Or how you probably punish yourself for the sake of God knows who? When does it stop, though?”
“Maybe it doesn’t.”
“And what will be left of you? The punisher?”
He shrugged. “If you don’t want to tell me, I can figure it out for myself. I already have a pretty good idea.”
I hoped he was bluffing, but I also had a sinking feeling that nothing in Silver Falls could stay hidden from Cassian for very long.
I tried to reposition myself on the bed to get more comfortable. That was when I realized my bare breasts were pressing against the thin hospital gown. It was cold, too, and I had no doubt the peaks of my nipples were showing through the thin fabric. As if reading my mind, Cassian’s eyes fell to my chest, then he smirked. “The outfit suits you.”
“Shut up.” I pulled the blankets up to my neck. “And you know, you keep talking about me falling for you, but which one of us showed up at the hospital and waited like a concerned puppy?”
His jaw twitched. “All I heard was that you were in the hospital. It could’ve been serious.”
“And you were worried about me?”
“I’ve invested my time into you. Into seeing this thing through a certain way. And I was concerned that my time might be wasted if you croaked.”
I did my best impression of a frog, which earned me a disgusted sigh from Cassian. He stood, checking his phone. “I’ve got to go meet Sophie. And my parents are out of town for the next few days, so they can’t pick you up when you’re done. If you need a ride…”
I raised an eyebrow. “You will be the last person I call. Don’t worry. And by the way, if you really wanted to trick me into falling for you. Being single would be a good start.”
He stopped at the door and watched me with those biting blue eyes of his, then left.
I sank back into the bed and stared at the ceiling. Not that long ago, I’d known what I wanted. A normal life. Friends. Maybe a relationship before I moved on to college or whatever came next. I thought I wanted the kind of life I saw the girls in movies and shows get. Kisses on the nose and sweet notes slipped into my locker.
Except the more Cassian sunk his teeth into me, the more I found myself drawn to his darkness. He was selfish and possessive and rude. But he was absolutely fixated on me like nobody in my life had ever been. I hadn’t realized it all at once. The looks during his football practices. The way he made a point of coming to harass me at track or at his house. The relentless way he made sure nobody else could have me.
He treated me like something valuable and precious.
The only catch was he didn’t want me to cherish. I wasn’t going to wind up in his trophy case or lovingly admired every day.
