Page 72 of Cries of Cassie

“Our Starlight. Did the brothers not tell you your road name?” Mom asks. When I cock my head in confusion she glares at Jake.

“We’ve been a little busy,” my friend grumbles in reply.

I try the name out. “Starlight.”

She hums. “The light in the darkness. Honey, they already see the light. You. Just get home and settle into the family you’re all excited to become.”

They see brightness when they look at me. Not the dark hole I crawled out of.

Just gotta get home. Everything will be better then.

Chapter Forty-Five

Parker (Spider)

One day. Cassie's been home for only one day and we're all an emotional fucking mess.

Thankfully the threat to our club is eliminated, and we have the brothers to handle things around the property while we settle in with Cassie. Even though she's adamant we can go to our few meetings a day and help around the compound like we normally would, I see the worry she tries to hide.

Unfortunately, I'm not wise enough to know what exactly she's struggling with. It could be a whole slew of things. Be it Ripley's catatonic disposition, our hovering, the trauma she's wrestling with, or her inability to get more than an hour of sleep at a time.

My assumptions about what it would be like when we got her home and healing were wrong. So wrong it's left me off-kilter and restless. I had a plan for her tears, but they haven't come.

"Hey," Maddox mumbles, seating himself beside me.

The night is thick with humidity, but sometimes a cool breeze comes through that offers refreshment. It's addicting, waiting for that small relief in the weight of Detroit summer. Similar to Ripley's emotions peeking through, or a sign that Cassie is ready to share her struggles with us.

Alas, she hides behind soft smiles and sleepy eyes.

Maddox nudges me and keeps his leg against mine. "What's got you scowling at Maree's rose bushes just before midnight?"

"How long do you have?" I grumble, tossing a pebble onto the sidewalk.

Maddox hums. "For you? Forever."

"You don't mean that," I scoff, my feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty slipping through before I can force them into submission. "Ignore me."

Another soft nudge, reminding me he's still here even after my pissy comment. "Tell me."

The throaty command does wonders to loosen my resolve. Sometimes I need his dominant side to coax me along.

"She's too...okay," I respond. "After everything she went through, her body struggling to heal each day, and her shoulder? Fuck Mads, she shouldn't be smiling."

His silence irks me. Or maybe it's those pesky insecurities that make me believe he's judging me. I would be. I sound like a whiny asshole who wants his woman to be upset. Fucking hell though, she was tortured for hours just five days ago.

"Why shouldn't she smile?"

Taken aback by his idiotic question, I lean away from him and glare. "Do I need to remind you of the injuries she sustained? How about the fact that she was severely traumatized less than a week ago? Maddox, she was tortured, and she just fucking smiled at me not two hours ago because she caught me staring at her."

Mads shifts, leaning his back against the railing of our porch. With one bare foot kicked up on the step between us and his arms leaning on his bent knee, a chill creeps in. Why did he move away?

"Different question. Why should she smile?"

I open my mouth ready to fire off all the reasons Cassie shouldn't be smiling, but it feels wrong to take any semblance of joy from her. "They're fake. She's hiding her feelings. Isn't that obvious?"

He hums, annoying me enough to feel a little too defensive for the quiet evening blanketing us in rocky peace. "I agree she's hiding some feelings, yes. But I vehemently disagree that she's faking her smiles."

Nope. Absolutely unlikely. How can he not see what's right in front of him?! "Less than a week ago she was dangling from fucking chains and slumped in her own piss and blood, Mads! No fucking smile should exist after that!"