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Nancy nodded approvingly and offered me a slight grin. “The AC hasn’t kicked in yet. It’ll smell like sweat in here if you don’t let me get to your laundry quickly.”
“It’s something you can remember me by. All strong, sweaty man.” I winked at her and her smile widened. It might’ve hurt her head because her bun was always so tight.
“You’re too much, Chase!” She shook her head.
“It’s her job—to tend to this house and the people who inhabit it.” An unfriendly voice that could only belong to Cassidy interrupted Nancy and I. Rudely. What was it with people today? Here was the bane of Nancy’s existence.
Nancy’s demeanor changed with Cassidy’s statement. It pissed me off that Cassidy got away with treating Nancy like shit. Who the fuck was Cassidy, anyway? She was a nauseating blend of entitled and conceited. And I had encountered many girls who thought they were the shit, when they were very basic. The only reason for Pierce’s protectiveness of Cassidy had to be because of their blood relation. I didn’t even think he’d talk to her if they weren’t related. He may be spoiled too, but he always treated the staff at the Paloma Hotel and Nancy with respect. I wouldn’t be here, or even be his friend if it were otherwise. My summer arrangement had to come with one major string attached: Cassidy.
Cassidy flicked her pale blue eyes over my body like she was gonna fuck me. Like she’d fucked me before. Like what she had just said wasn’t degrading to Nancy.
“Nancy’s not your lackey. And this grown boy right here knows how to do his laundry and does it. Some grown girls should acquire that basic adaptive skill.” I heaved in a breath because this was a mental workout on my self-control. “I speak for myself. I know what I want. And I want you to keep it movin’. I was talking to Nancy.”
Cassidy’s mouth opened wide like I’d shoved a gigantic watermelon in her mouth. A look she likely wore often and I didn’t want to see it again.
I casted a glance Nancy’s way. “And we’re gonna go out for a late lunch today.”
With a grateful look, she bobbed her head and left the room. I stalked over and slammed the door in Cassidy’s face, but she opened the door and closed it, leaning against it. Damn it, I hadn’t locked it. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed before I went to the beach.
“You don’t have to play hard to get,” Cassidy said with an air of distaste.
When I felt her fingers linger on my shoulders, I instantly recoiled. “This isn’t a game, Cassidy. I don’t want you. Go after someone who does.”
As she sat at the foot of the bed and raised a brow, her mouth twisted in question. “Come on, Chase. Even with that scar on your face, you’re still good looking,” she said with mirth, in a failed attempt to make me feel like shit. “Surely you can’t be immune to this”—she swept her hands along the sides of her body—“unless it’s true that we’re batting for the same team…” She tapped her chin. “I’d be more than willing to help with that.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Comments about my sexual orientation didn’t bother me like it did with other guys I knew. “Stop being so goddamn juvenile and get your ass off the bed.” I strode to the door and pushed it open with more force than I had intended.
At a leisurely pace, she got up and shook her long, pale blond locks. “At least you know that”—she motioned towards the bed and then the entire room—“bed isn?
??t yours. You’re a guest. For now. And if I were to tell father that you’ve made inappropriate advances towards me, you’d be out of here.”
Squaring my shoulders, I shot her a bland look. “Go on and do that,” I managed in as flat a tone as possible. “I am not gonna beg to stay. If I am told to leave, I’ll keep it movin’ like I’ve been telling you to do.” I clasped my hands together. “Or do I need to tell your daddy or Pierce that I can’t get you off my dick? That you’re begging the help to fuck you?”
And, temporarily, she exited my life.
***
My arms and legs burned a little, but it was a good swim, the best way to work out my body. Get my mind right. It was a nice cloudless sky, and the beach wasn’t crowded yet. As I stepped out of the lukewarm water and onto the warm white sand, I returned a wave in greeting at a couple from the Paloma Hotel, and then sat down on my beach chair. Droplets of water trickled off my skin and I didn’t bother drying it off. The anger and frustration I had felt churning in my stomach stopped.
Unlike Rylan, Joel, and a whole bunch of guys around here, I never took to Cassidy or felt compelled to speak to her. Even before I learned what a nasty piece of work she was. The guys had said that she was a cocktease. I’d learned that when she’d finally slept with them, she’d acted like they hadn’t existed for weeks. Pierce knew that Cassidy had slept with his friends, plenty of other guys in Paloma’s Edge and nearby Miami. When someone had stupidly mentioned Cassidy’s sexual encounters when he had been close by, I’d had to hold him off from punching the other guy in the face. Rylan and Joel had been considerate enough to tell me about Cassidy when Pierce had left to go somewhere with Mona. They’d wanted to warn me because I was the new guy. They were both miffed to this day that she had ran the shots and had treated them like shit afterwards.
I had pointed that out to the Joel and Rylan that guys pulled the ill treatment on girls all the time after fucking them. And they had just sneered at me and drank more beer. I had respected Cassidy for getting her instant gratification and not making it out to be more than what it was. I’d once been loose just like she was. Very loose. Almost indiscriminately loose.
Literally hundreds of fucks later, I didn’t want to use any more girls for sex. It didn’t sate me like it once had. I had felt out of control, like any chick with a willing cunt was good enough for me. But I deserved better than that. I didn’t know why. But my persistent mind kept on telling me until I listened. I hated that I kinda understood Cassidy. She wasn’t exploring her sexual identity, like she probably had been doing initially. No, her goal was to conquer any guy she set her sights on. It made her feel empowered. I just so happened to be a flavor that she was intent on tasting. Cassidy’s warped identity was tied up in her efforts to be desired by every man. Any pity, or empathy, however, I may have felt for her from the jump dissipated. I had no right to judge. No place to think her vile. She was aware of how fucked up she was, and didn’t give a flying fuck about who she stomped on while she tried to reconcile her need for validation with the reality that outside of her Paloma’s Edge bubble, she would get lost in the crowd.
My phone buzzed, reminding me that it’d been an hour and a half since I had brought Bethany to the lobby at the Paloma. She’d still been concentrating over sections of her papers that she had highlighted before we entered the hotel. Watching her comb over her flyovers and apply a little makeup had me too hard for my liking. Thank goodness for boxers. My chest had felt heavy after I’d told Brody, one of the concierges, that Bethany had been waiting for Mr. Pruitt; I’d stopped and had come close to rounding on her and she’d craned her head up, peering at me. The light made her cerulean gaze twinkle. And I hadn’t thought that she’d felt any pull to me, but I’d seen it—whether or not she liked it, her control had momentarily vanished. On the most basic level, she wanted me. Her cute and warm-looking blouse didn’t hide the fact that her nipples had hardened.
The AC hadn’t caused her body’s reaction. In my car, her nipples hadn’t pebbled from the AC. Every opportunity I had, I drank her in like the rare delicacy she had to be. Mixed with desire in her eyes and the faint shade of pink that spread across her face was fear. Maybe she hadn’t felt a physical draw to someone in a long-ass time. I sure as heck could relate to that. Or it could have meant that she also hadn’t had a guy in a while. Damn me if I enjoyed that possibility too much. Not wanting to make her feel more flustered, I had grinned at her and told her that she was gonna do really well during her interview with Mr. Pruitt, and as a result, she beamed at me, stirring my cock again. I’d sped off so she wouldn’t notice. Why’d Pierce say she was on vacation but she’d acted like a stressed out job applicant? Man, I couldn’t get Bethany out of my mind or my erection to let up.
Pierce: Everything went ok?
Me: Yeah. Took her str8 2 the Paloma.
Pierce: I owe you one.
Me: U think? R u still with Mona?
Pierce: Yep. C u soon. Gonna c Beth b4 2nite, 4 sure.
