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Granny purses her lips and holds out the glass, which has way more than two fingers in it. “Drink this, honey. It will fortify the old bones.”
Cass doesn’t look like she wants to, but she reaches for it anyway. I reluctantly let her face go, dropping my hands to her shoulders and letting them hover there just in case. She winces, tips the glass back, then winces again after she swallows everything like a champ.
“Ugh.” She shudders. “That’s so gross.”
“We should never have involved you,” I say on impulse, my voice angrier than I intended. Oh, look. All the protective instincts I didn’t know I had are now coming out in full force. No, scratch that. I knew I wanted to keep Cass safe. Always. And this? She can’t very well just hide behind my beard and not face it. This is my life. I knew I’d have to tell her sometime, and Granny made it clear to me when she broke into my place and took me for breakfast that the time was now because things were getting serious with Cass, and even I couldn’t deny that. Not to Granny. Not to my brothers. Not to myself.
Cass’ cheeks go red, and I’m not sure if it was from what Granny asked, the whisky, or what I said. “No,” she says softly. “I was just…shocked, I guess. I don’t know what happened. I’ve never passed out before.”
“Oxygen deprivation,” Granny explains. “Makes the brain do funny things.”
“Yeah,” Cass whispers. “I got that.”
I glance at my brothers, who all have worried looks on their faces. Granny’s look is more certain, but then, she rarely ever doubts herself when she’s made a decision, and it was her idea to tell Cass. “I’m going to take her home,” I say roughly. I give Granny one of those just try and stop me looks.
Instead of arguing with me, she just shrugs and nods. She’s always full of surprises.
“I’m good,” Cass insists. “Really.”
“We can talk more in the car. Or at your place,” I say softly. “Without my brothers gawping at you.”
The guys immediately break away and do some awkward, innocent foot shuffling. Ransom huffs, and he goes straight to Ayana’s elbow for support while the twins head to the kitchen. I know they have pie on the brain. Granny watches me from a few steps back like she already knows the outcome of the entire world, and she’s not one bit worried about this not-so-minor setback.
Before Cass can argue, I scoop her up in my arms. Now that I’m holding her like this, I realize just how lightly built she actually is. She might be on the taller side for a woman and curvy to boot, but in my arms, she’s as light as air, as delicate as a feather, and as tender as a peach. Don’t even go there. And stop grasping her bottom like that. This is supposed to be a sweet hold, though I kind of have to hold her bottom unless I want to drop her. Don’t think about it, then. Just don’t. Think about…think about Ayana threatening to put your balls in a jar.
Cass leans her head against my chest, which makes everything in me constrict to the point where I feel like I’m in the middle of having a heart attack, but instead of pain, my chest turns to mush like mashed potatoes. A mashed potato heart attack.
I keep moving until I have Cass loaded into the station wagon, which is kind of cool, I have to admit, but it also drinks an absurd amount of fuel compared to my much newer, sleeker sedan. Even though my car is reinforced, I think this thing might weigh twice as much.
“Lennox,” Cass whispers when we’re stopped at a red light a block from the house. “It’s okay, really. I always knew there was something and that it had to be pretty monumental. And by monumental, I mean badass.”
My heart is slamming so hard that I can barely breathe. I realize, a few blocks later, what it is.
Fear.
I learned a long time ago that being afraid gets you nowhere. I guess those parts of me became deadened or shut off when I was a kid in order to get me through everything I went through. But right now? Yeah, I’m terrified. I feel like I’m going to lose Cass. Cass. A wonderful, sensitive, sweet woman who thinks she’s cursed and has all the bad luck. I’m afraid I’m going to lose her before I even truly have her.
I was so against it. I wasted so much time being childish and petulant when she was always my match. My granny knew it long before I did. The luckiest thing that ever happened to me? Meeting her by mistake through Ayana and Ransom. I’m sorry. So, so sorry that I wasted so much time. I’m even more sorry that Granny was wrong. Cass isn’t ready for this. We shouldn’t drag her into our lives. Granny took me for breakfast after she showed up with the station wagon, and she insisted that if I was getting close to Cass, then it was time to tell her. Granny said Cass had to decide for herself once she knew the truth. She wanted to know if Cass could be trusted with our secret. I told her that, of course, Cass could be trusted. I didn’t and will never doubt that, but now I’m doubting everything else.
