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Personally, Bailey didn’t like hanging around here. It wasn’t exactly a relaxing place to sit. The plastic chairs weren’t comfortable, and it was damn noisy. The whirring of the dryers and ceiling rotary fans blended with the gurgling of the washing machines and the tings of buttons and zips clacking against the metal drums.
As Bailey returned to her clean laundry, the creaking of hinges made her peer over her shoulder.
Carrying a basket overflowing with clothes, Cassandra strolled inside. Her step faltered when she noticed Bailey. “Oh, hey.”
“Yo.”
The feline made a beeline for a spare washing machine, the heels of her shoes clicking along the tiled floor that needed a good brush. The bright florescent lighting bore down on the pieces of lint and particles of detergent powder.
Bailey lifted a tee out of the basket, wrinkling her nose as a little static zapped her fingers. “I’d ask if you’re okay, but I’m not good at comforting people.”
“Comforting?” Emptying her basket of clothes into a washing machine, Cassandra looked at her askance. “Most people want to snipe at me, not offer comfort.” Sighing, she closed the machine’s door a little too roughly. “To be fair, they’re right to be mad at me.”
Bailey snapped out her tee and then neatly folded it. “I don’t know about that. I mean, it isn’t your fault that Sam likes you more than you do him. That sort of thing happens.” She placed her tee on the table and then plucked another out of the basket. “And there’s nothing you can do to change that your cat wasn’t along for the ride.” Still, most of the pride considered her public enemy number one.
“But I shouldn’t have agreed to date him,” muttered Cassandra, adding detergent. “I knew she was unlikely to accept him.”
“Did you warn him of that in advance?”
“Yes.”
“Then he knew where he stood with you from the beginning.” Bailey placed her newly folded tee on top of the other. “You were clear that things might not work out.”
“The way some see it, I gave him false hope by giving in to his pushy attempts to convince me to go on a date. That wasn’t my intention. I just thought we could maybe give it a shot.”
“I personally don’t see any wrong in it. It’s how most couples end up together.” She and Deke had done it. “No one knows from the outset how it’s all gonna play out, do they? There’s always a risk it’ll go bad. Sam knew that even without you warning him.”
Having added softener, Cassandra whipped a coin out of her pocket. “The way he’s acting, you’d think I’d pledged to be at his side forever.”
Bailey added a sock to her fast-growing pile. “He’s hurt, and his ego probably isn’t all too happy either.” It likely didn’t help that everyone was all Poor Sam. No one wanted to be pitied when they were dumped.
“I hate that he’s hurting. I never wanted that. Everyone’s acting like I set out to do it.”
“They’re just super protective of him. Shifters usually are toward healers.”
Clearing her throat, Cassandra jerked her head to the side to move her bangs away from her face. “On a whole other note … how are things going with you and Deke?”
“Couldn’t be better.”
“The imprinting is progressing, then?”
“Not in leaps and bounds, but a little.” Every now and then, she’d feel a spark of emotion that wasn’t her own. So she didn’t doubt that she’d soon be able to tap into his emotions at all times.
“That’s good.” Cassandra briefly grimaced at the speckles of powder on her fingertips as the washing machine came to life. “I wouldn’t worry about it being so gradual. I know a couple whose imprinting process was sluggish, then all of a sudden pow the bond clicked into place.”
“I’m not worried. The bond will form when it forms.”
Silence fell as Cassandra washed her hands in the stainless steel sink. As she tugged some paper towels from a dispenser, she turned back to Bailey. “I could tell that you guys were attracted to each other back when you first met, but I didn’t foresee you mating.”
“I’m pretty sure no one did other than Livy—she swears she knew I’d be perfect for him.”
Cassandra’s lips pressed into a thin line. “There was a time she swore I was ‘the one’ for Deke,” she said a little too casually. “It was back when I helped him through a touch-hunger phase. She only started all that because she wanted to pull him away from Dayna, though. Livy didn’t care who she pushed him toward so long as they convinced him to pull out of the vow.”
Carefully folding a camisole, Bailey felt her eyes narrow. “Did you think you were ‘the one’ for him?”
“God, no.” Cassandra flapped her hand and tossed the balled-up, wet paper towels in the trash can. “Don’t misunderstand me, he’s a great guy. He’s not someone I can see myself in a relationship with, though.” She said it as though it would otherwise be a possibility. Like he wasn’t very much permanently unavailable.
