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I felt like I should warn her somehow, but had no clue what to say or do. Part of me thought she honestly might be our only hope out of this hell. That if anyone could convince Jack not to do this, it would be her.
I’d tried to talk him out of it about twenty times since, but he was adamant, his mind made up. He had convinced himself that this was the only option so he wouldn’t follow in our parents’ footsteps. It was twisted logic that made no sense, but he didn’t see it that way. And no matter what he said, I knew that he was still madly in love with Cassie, and the idea of him marrying someone who wasn’t her had to be eating him alive.
Sitting in Jack’s room, I was messing around with his mini basketball, shooting hoops like I used to do when he was still here. My cell phone rang just as I missed another shot—Damn!—and Melissa’s name appeared. I hesitated for only a second before answering.
“Get the fuck over here,” she screamed into the phone before I even said hello.
My heart raced as a giant lump formed in my throat. Did this mean that Cassie knew?
“Uh,” I said, trying to play dumb.
“Don’t uh me, Dean. Get over here now. Jack just called. He’s marrying that stupid girl? Cassie needs you.” Before I could say anything, she gentled her voice. “Please come over,” she asked nicely, but she had me at Cassie needing me.
“I’ll be right there.”
I ended the call and jumped up from the floor, having no idea if Cassie had had a good conversation with him or not. I assumed if she needed me, things probably weren’t okay, but I didn’t know for sure.
All my questions were answered the second Melissa let me into their apartment. Cassie’s sobs could be heard from the front door, and it broke my heart to hear them.
“She’s devastated,” Melissa warned me before shoving me toward Cassie’s bedroom.
Melissa and I walked into the room to find Cassie in the fetal position, her body wrapped up tight on itself as she sobbed, her face soaked with her tears. Every other breath or so, she’d move her face into her pillow and cry so loud and hard. I’d never seen anything like it, never seen someone in so much physical pain from an emotional wound.
I sat down gingerly at the foot of her bed and waited. My brother was the one who had done this to her, and that knowledge made me feel somewhat responsible as well.
Not knowing what to do or say to comfort her—or even if I could—I reached out and touched Cassie’s calf, but she quickly swatted my hand away.
“Say something, Dean,” Melissa insisted, jabbing my shoulder with her finger.
Uncomfortable with all of this, I looked up at her pleadingly. “What do you want me to say?”
“Make her feel better. Tell her you talked to Jack. Something!” Melissa said, her eyes wild.
Cassie’s head jerked up as she met my eyes for the first time. “You talked to Jack?” she said, her voice still racked with sobs.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“I don’t know. He’s completely irrational. I can’t talk any sense into him at all,” I admitted.
“What about his agents?” Cassie asked, her voice raspy from crying. “I mean, what good are they if they let him go through with this?”
Feeling useless, I shrugged. “They tried, trust me. I guess I should be thankful they got him to agree to a pre-nup.”
Jack’s agents and I had ambushed him on the phone one evening and told him we’d support this sham of a wedding if he had Chrystle sign a pre-nup. Predictably, Jack had argued with us, but I was prepared for that and brought out the big guns. I threatened not to come, that I wouldn’t be there for the ceremony and stand up with him.
Thank God that worked. Jack hadn’t listened to any other bit of advice, but he listened to that one.
“They did? That’s good.” Cassie looked up at me with the slightest bit of relief in her eyes as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
“They tried to get him to wait, told him to get confirmation that the baby was his, but you know Jack.” I shrugged, figuring she knew as much as I did how stubborn and pig-headed he was.
Cassie sat up and pulled her pillow up behind her to lean against, her face puffy and her eyes red and swollen nearly shut from crying so hard and for so long. The sight gutted me.
“I’m sorry, sis. I tried to tell him this was wrong. I did everything I could to talk him out of it, but he won’t listen. He’s so stubborn, and he’s convinced himself that what he’s doing is right for the baby’s sake. Gran even tried to talk to him,” I admitted in a whisper.
“What? What’d she say?” Cassie asked, sounding hopeful.
