“Can’t say there was much thinking involved. Still have a fucking hangover,” I grumbled as I threw back the black coffee to try to get my sluggish brain to compute any fucking thing.
“I got back from New York, a run you were supposed to go on, and find out that you were here drinking it up and fucking Tay-Tay. I thought you wanted Cass?”
“I do. I did. Fuck, I don’t even know anymore. And no, I wasn’t fucking Tay. I’m not saying it wasn’t headed in that direction when I took her to my room, but nothing happened beyond a kiss or two before I passed the fuck out. You can ask her, if you don’t believe me.” I was quick to add the last part when his face projected his disbelief.
“Why? I don’t fucking understand.”
“She’s selling her land. At least part of it, anyway.” I told him. It felt like just as much of a kick in the gut as it had the minuteDime discovered it. “And she’s using Simone as her realtor to get the job done.”
“Bullshit,” Grunt growled.
“Swear to the fucking heavens, man. Go ask Dime. He’s the one who discovered it.”
“Dime discovered that Cassidy Billups is selling a chunk of her land and using Simone Galloway to do it?” He asked, still unable to believe it.
“That’s what I fucking said and it’s not the whole story. The land she’s selling is adjacent to the family housing property for the club that used to belong to my grandfather.”
“No fucking way. I do not believe any of that for a single second and the fact that you did and obviously still do means maybe you haven’t learned a fucking lesson yet about having some faith in the woman you claim is your future.”
“She can’t be my future because she obviously lied about her involvement with Simone.”
Grunt shook his head and walked away from me. Later, when I saw him in the bar area of the clubhouse, I grabbed Tay-Tay and pulled her on my lap as I stared in his direction. Grunt looked like he was ready to skin me alive, but he didn’t understand what Dime had found. It was a clear betrayal and damn if it wasn’t more like a double betrayal. She was still linked to Simone and lied about it, and she was selling property that was adjacent to the club.
I glanced down at my phone when it buzzed to find a text from him.
Grunt: You’re about to eat your words and wish you weren’t such a fucking hothead.
Knuckles: How do you figure?
Grunt: Because you can’t help yourself - you’re a fuck up when it counts the most.
Knuckles: Never let the club down, asshole.
Grunt: No, but you sure as fuck have a history of letting the woman you claimed to love down.
Knuckles: What are you talking about?
Grunt: Head’s up, asshole.
I lifted my head to look across the room where Grunt sat at the bar. He had his back turned to me as he nursed a beer. Before I could glance around and take stock of the room, I heard her voice.
“I wish you would have just asked me the minute you found out. I would have put your concerns to rest. The majority of my family’s land went to me when my father died, but the five acre tract at the furthest point from the house was given to Tiffany because it held no value as it had no water rights with the land when it was broken off. If she had received any other chunk, she could have fought for the rights, if she didn’t own them outright because of where the wells are on the property.”
“Shit,” Bigfoot mumbled as my still-sluggish brain tried to process what I’d just heard.
“Yeah, Tiffany fought me for more of the land and the house, but she didn’t have a leg to stand on. I’ve owned the house and the twenty-five acres it sits on since my mom died. Dad Willed the other half to me, minus that five because he figured giving her something would keep the courts from saying she was owed more. He was right. Had he cut her out completely, they wouldhave awarded her something. It was all my mother’s family land to begin with, so I’m a bit miffed that the bitch got any of it, but I swear I had no knowledge that she was even trying to sell or I would have given you a head’s up. I haven’t talked to her in person since I left for the Army after graduation. The whole eviction and battle in court from her contesting my dad’s will took place through my lawyer. I can give you his information, if you need it.”
“That won’t be necessary, but I appreciate you taking the time to come talk to me about this when I asked.”
“Sure. I don’t know what they’re up to, but…” Cassidy’s voice trailed off and when I finally wrapped my head around the fact that I heard her voice because she was in the clubhouse, the rest of the world came back into sharp focus and I had Tay-Tay sitting on my fucking lap. Correction, I had Tay squirming on my fucking lap to get my attention.
Cassidy had a great poker face and didn’t let on how she was feeling other than the fact that she never picked up whatever she had been saying to Bigfoot again. Instead, she marched straight for the door and didn’t stop for anything or anyone.
“Hey, wait!” Sammy called out to her. “Grunt’s birthday is coming up, can I trouble you to get some pies made for him?”
“Text me the info,” Cassidy called out without turning around and then she walked through the door as though a fire nipped at her heels.
“Thought you had a thing for Cassidy?” It took a minute to realize Bigfoot stood in front of me and the glare on his face dared me to lie.
