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He shakes his head, and I get the feeling he’s disappointed in me. And for some reason, I actually care that he is. “Don’t stress about it, Cassie, you had a little too much to drink. I got you home safe. I only stayed to make sure you didn’t choke on your own vomit.”
I look at him, confused. He stayed to look after me? I was that sick? Geez, this is worse than I thought. My cheeks flush with embarrassment. “I vomited?” I wince. He just stayed to look after me, he didn’t take advantage.
He nods. “You didn’t make a mess, but you were really wasted.”
“Oh.” I close my eyes for a second, trying to calm myself. “I’m sorry I was such a write-off. Hope I didn’t ruin your night.” Saying that, I remember what sent me to the pub. I came down to have dinner with the rest of our group and saw him sitting with a blonde he had been hanging around with all day. I couldn’t stand to see the two of them flirting all night, so I got the fuck out of there before I had to. No matter how much I hate him, I may have a little jealousy issue when it comes to him being happy with someone else.
“I’m worried about you, Cassie, you don’t seem yourself.” I glance up at him. He looks genuinely concerned about me. Why he cares after all this time, I don’t know.
“Don’t stress yourself, I’m not your concern.” Why he gives a shit now six years too late is a mystery to me. I take a sip of my coffee, hoping its cool enough to drink. I need to finish my food and get away from this table, away from him and the way he is looking at me. I don’t like it. He’s making me feel uncomfortable. Or feel something, anyway, and I don’t want to feel any of it with him.
I finish what’s left on my plate quickly. I’m probably going to pay for it later with killer heartburn, but right now, that isn’t my priority.
“Okay, that’s fair enough. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of old habits, but I will stop worrying about you if you do something for me. You kind of owe me since I took care of you last night.” The cheeky dimples are back again. Fuck, why does he have to look so damn cute?
I give him a look like,Are you kidding me? You’re really going to bargain with me?“I didn’t know it was conditional,” I sass. “What exactly do you need me to do?”
“Try spending the rest of the weekend not hating me so hard. We’re both stuck here doing this together regardless, so can we try to get through this together?” he offers. He wants a truce for the weekend.
I look at him, wanting to still hate him hard, but he makes it so difficult when he’s being nice. I remember the glass of water and painkillers left for me this morning. And he did take care of me. It was actually really sweet. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly. Being nice to him opens up the possibility that he isn’t as bad as I have painted him to be in my head.
“Please, Cassie, can you just do this for me?”
I narrow my eyes at him, trying to work out why he is so desperate to have me around. I see where his eyes are flicking to, and now I get it. “Your little blonde friend giving you trouble?” I smirk. I’m on to him.
“She’s clingy. Nice and all, but I couldn’t get away from her yesterday.”
Here I was all jealous he had a new friend, and really, he was wishing he wasn’t with her. Might not have written myself off last night if I’d known that. “You looked pretty happy in her company from where I was sitting.”
“That’s because I was scared to leave.” He laughs awkwardly. “She’s coming over here. Can you just go along with the story I told her this morning to get rid of her?”
My eyes go wide, and I look at him, scared. “What did you...” I start to say but am interrupted by the blonde. She is all too perfect; young, pretty, her fitted dress looking professional but sexy. I hate her all over again.
“Are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend, Brandon?” she says, giving him a look, her attention then coming to me.
Girlfriend. I roll my eyes so only he can see. He told her I was his girlfriend to get rid of her. He’s going to owe me big time for this one. And I will agree to go along with it because I don’t need to see some bimbo fawning all over him for the entire weekend. But it doesn’t mean anything else. I hold out a hand. “Hi, I’m Cassandra.”
“Juliet. I met Brandon yesterday at the conference,” she says a little more shyly.
“Oh, nice to meet you,” I say with a tight smile. I stand, pushing my chair in, and look back to Brandon. “We better get going if we’re going to make the first session, sweetie,” I say, playing along. “Maybe we will see you later, Juliet,” I add, trying not to sound like the world’s biggest bitch.
“Yeah, catch you later, Juliet,” he tells her, following me.
“Yeah, maybe,” she says quietly, watching as Brandon takes my hand and we walk from the restaurant toward the conference room. I drop his hand as soon as we’re out of her sight. My hand in his is more contact than I can actually handle from him. The warmth from his touch sends vibrations through my body, a tingling I haven’t felt in way too long. Why, after all these years and everything I went through, can one brief touch from him have me torn up inside?
“Thank you,” he mutters as we take a seat together toward the front.
“You owe me,” I snip under my breath. “Couldn’t you just tell her you weren’t interested? You didn’t have to make up some elaborate lie that I was your girlfriend.”
“She wouldn’t take no for an answer. I hate having to hurt the girl’s feelings. I wasn’t sure what else to say, and she caught me coming out of the elevator this morning, so I just told her we’d had a fight and we got back together last night, that’s why I went after you.”
I shake my head and give him a look. “You could have just sent her a text; you seem to find it easier that way,” I say, being a smartass and probably pushing it too far, but he deserves it.
He gives me a sad look; you know the one a puppy dog gives his owner when he has messed up. “You know I hate myself for that.”
I sigh. “Yeah, I know. You’ve said. But I’m immature enough that I’m going to bring it up whenever I can.” I shrug.
“So, you’ll play my girlfriend for the rest of the weekend?” His face pleads with me. And I don’t know why I’m even entertaining this ridiculous idea. I should stay as far away from him as possible. The jolt of energy when he held my hand was enough to tell me that. But the truth is, I’m drawn to him. I always have been, and when we are forced to be in the same place, I find it hard not to gravitate toward his energy. I think that’s the mistake I made yesterday. Trying to stay away, it was just making me feel worse.
