AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m worried, Jack. This is taking so long. The longer it takes, the more you have to lose,” Gran pointed out, clearly talking about Cassie.
Jack sighed. “I know exactly what I have to lose.”
“Then you gotta talk to her, man. You’re wasting time, and Cassie thinks you don’t care about her. She honestly thinks that you let her walk out of your life for good. She’s confused. She’s hurt. And you’re just letting her feel that way when you could stop it.”
Hopefully something I said would get through. He needed to reach out to her in some way, whether it was a text, an e-mail, or a voice mail at her office.
Jack shook his head. “I know you don’t understand, but I can’t tell Cassie that everything is going to be fine and that I want to be with her. Not when I can’t be with her yet. Do you get that? Chrystle is a psycho who isn’t letting me go, and Cassie would get sucked into it. She’d have to deal with Chrystle too. And I don’t want her to ever have to think about that person again.”
He gave me a pointed look. “You know how Chrystle is. Would you want Cassie to deal with that?”
When I shook my head, he said, “I don’t want to put Cassie through that. I just want to reach out to her when I don’t have a single piece of baggage holding me back from being with her forever.” Studying my face, he groaned. “Does that make any sense at all, or do I sound completely insane?”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t argue. “No. I get it. I totally get what you’re saying. I just wonder if there’s a balance there. Maybe I could tell Cassie not to give up on you? Something to give her hope.”
“No,” he said, his voice resolute. “As long as she’s not dating anyone, I don’t want you to say anything, Dean.”
I swallowed. “Well, this guy from work keeps asking her out.”
Jack’s face hardened. “Has she said yes?”
“No.”
“Then we still have time.”
I bit my tongue, wondering how much of it he was willing to gamble with when it came to Cassie.
Getting Lucky
“So did you ever ask out Miss I’m-So-Pretty-It-Hurts-To-Look-At-Me yet?” Melissa asked me at lunch, nodding her head in the direction of Serena, who was sitting with a group of her sorority sisters on the other side of the student union.
I ducked my head to hide my smile. “Not yet. Why? Jealous?”
Melissa scowled. “Why haven’t you? Asked her out, I mean.”
“I thought you didn’t care?” I asked before taking a bite of pizza.
“I don’t. I was just wondering.” She poked at her salad. “I just like to keep Cassie in the loop. She asks about your love life and stuff.”
This time I did smile. “Ah. Cool. I can tell Cassie myself, you know.”
We continued eating, and the silence stretched out uncomfortably between us.
A few minutes later, Melissa grabbed her tray and stood up. “I have to go. But I was wondering if you’d like to come over later?”
Although I was half-tempted to toy with her and tell her I was busy, I knew I’d better say yes before she changed her mind.
“Sure,” I said with a noncommittal shrug.
“Okay. Text you later.” She walked away, and I watched her as she went.
• • •
Later that night, I showed up at Melissa’s apartment with a cherry Slurpee in hand, trying to be charming. Apparently she had the same idea, because the smell of brownies hit me in the face when she opened the front door. We both laughed.
She reached for the Slurpee and took a quick sip. “Thank you so much for this.”
I bent down to give her a hug and her lips were suddenly on mine. Shaking off the surprise, I gripped her by the ass and lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around my waist.
