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It’d taken a while, but I’d finally remembered her from a family disturbance call years before. Knowing I’d made the wrong decision in not following up on that call destroyed me more than I could ever explain. With my past—what my father had done to my sister and me—it’d been suffocating to know I’d let someone live through years of abuse.
And then I’d run into her at a coffee shop a few days later, and everything had changed...
World slowing and noises fading...all that cheesy shit I’d never wanted any part of.
Before officially meeting her, I’d never wanted to even date anyone. I’d always said I was too concerned with my career, but the idea of anything more than a night or two with a girl had always scared the hell out of me.
But Cassidy? From the moment her eyes had lit with recognition when she’d seen me in the café, I’d known I would’ve done anything to make her stay with me in California instead of going back to her boyfriend.
Sure, she had a similar past to mine and would understand my fears of turning into my father in a way most people couldn’t. She was also the strongest person I’d ever met emotionally and, in a way, physically. But it was more than that.
It was her.
This spark that the small and deceptively fragile-looking girl exuded from deep down.
All of it made for a dangerous combination that had me ready to make her the center of my goddamn world.
Then she’d gone back to Texas, and I’d about gone out of my mind worrying about her.
Her boyfriend had been the cause of her black eye, and no matter what she’d tried making me believe about it being an accident, I hadn’t been able to get the memory of it out of my head. So, I’d gone after her, sure I’d find her with more bruises and intent on bringing her back with me.
She hadn’t...clearly. She’d told me to leave and had relaxed against her boyfriend when he’d come near her like he was a safe place for her, shocking the absolute shit out of me and breaking something inside me with a single move.
But despite her obvious trust and comfort in her boyfriend, I hadn’t stopped worrying about her. And no matter how many girls there were—no matter how many nights I’d tried erasing thoughts of her—she was always there. Her honey-colored eyes and soft smile haunting me with the chokehold they still had on me.
I pulled into my spot and slowly made my way up to my apartment. So lost in thoughts of a girl over a thousand miles away, I somehow didn’t notice the one right in front of me until her voice filled the otherwise silent hall.
“Hey there, super-mysterious neighbor. You’ve been gone a lot lately.”
“Maci,” I grunted in acknowledgment.
“Where’ve you been?”
“Is that your business?” I shot back dryly.
“Wait, wait, don’t tell me.” She stopped trying to unlock her door and raised a dark eyebrow as she pointed at me. “I can smell you from here, so was her name Sweetheart? Or maybe it was Sweetheart.”
“Hilarious,” I said impassively.
“Well, I thought it was.”
I rolled my eyes and continued past her to my door. “Good night, Maci.”
“Yeah, whatever. Good seeing you too, Connor,” she mumbled as she returned to her lock. “Don’t ask how I’ve been. It’s cool. Asshole.”
“Maci...”
“Yes, douchebag?”
My eyes narrowed on the way she was clearly fighting a smile. “You think you can try keeping it down tonight?”
Her expression fell and her head jerked back, confusion bursting from her and reaching out to me.
“I’m tired of being kept awake from your headboard hitting the wall.” When her gray eyes flashed with mortification and anger, I unlocked and opened my door before sparing another glance at her. “And you need to work at faking it. You sound pathetic even from my bed.”
“You are such an asshole, Connor Green!”
“So you’ve said.” I stepped into my apartment and locked the door behind me seconds before hers slammed shut.
