Page 68 of Forbid It

ROBBIE

By the time I’ve finished in the shower and let my body temperature return to a reasonable cool instead of oh-my-god-I’m-burning-from-the-inside-out, I’m ready to return to the girl I left in my room.

A towel firmly wrapped around my hips, I cross to my bedroom door and gently knock.

No answer.

I push the door open, but all I find is my bed stripped, the sheets in a heap on the floor, and no Cassie in sight. I cross the carpeted floor and pull back the curtains as if she’s playing a trick on me and is hiding pressed up against the glass.

My heart pounds in my chest as dread starts to curdle in my gut. No.

No.

I take the stairs two at a time, my bare feet silent on the carpet. I race back to the sofa where I’ve been storing my bags and tug out my clothes, yanking them on furiously before throwing my towel over my shoulder.

By the time I’ve made it to the kitchen, there are three people in there and none of them are the one I’m looking for.

“Where’s Cassie?” My voice comes out breathless and from the stern look in my mother’s eye, I already know the answer.

Iwan leans back in his chair.

“She’s—”

Gwen slaps her arm across his chest. “Shut up, Iw.”

“What’s going on?”

They all look away from me. My mother clatters around the kitchen, gently moving clean plates and wiping the spotless surfaces.

“Mum?”

“Cassie left,” Gwen tells me firmly.

“Left?” My eyebrows rise. “Left how?”

“She had a car waiting.”

How long was I in the bloody shower?

“Why—” I swallow my question. I know why.

She left because of that look in her eye. Her body language when she refused to look at me.

I fucked up.

I just wish I knew what I did.

“Where did she go?”

“Back to America,” Gwen tells me, lifting her chin. Iwan turns his head to her, something passing between my brother and his wife that only a couple who’s been together as long as they have can communicate.

“The children will be back soon,” Mum says, not even looking at me. “Let’s get these snacks ready for them.”

Gwen shoots me a final glare before rising to her feet and helping my mother.

Iwan gestures with his head, and I follow him back to the living room. He perches on the edge of the armchair and waits while I take a seat on last night’s bed, obviously unslept in.

I can’t believe that less than an hour ago, I woke up with Cassie’s body wrapped so tightly around mine I’d sleep forever just to stay with her, and now she’s gone.