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I carefully set the last book back in the box and pushed down on the hand dolly, bracing the axle with my foot. A bit a bit tricky in heels, but I handled it like a fucking queen. I started wheeling it towards the back hallways where the bedrooms were probably located.
"Cass, let me help you."
Oh, hell no.Thanks, alpha male, but this puny female can take care of herself."I've got it." I purposely steered the dolly into the empty room across from the master bedroom.
Connor watched me from the doorway, arms crossed and leaning casually against the doorway like he was amused. I knew he wasn't, though. The telltale muscle in his jaw was jumping, telegraphing his irritation. "Is this about how things were left this morning?"
"Not at all," I said. "I just want to get settled."
Connor took a step towards me. “I’m sorry about the quick exit, that’s not how I wanted to leave things.”
“Don’t worry about it. I understand. It's just business."
"What?" Connor actually had the gall to look confused. "I'm talking about last night."
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
“Please, Cass. I hate this…this space that’s between us. What happened?”
I forgot who you were.My heart broke at the vulnerable tone in Connor's voice. Not because I actually felt sorry for sorry for him, but because of how easily the lies rolled off his tongue and how quickly I had fallen for them last night. I was shocked at his duplicity. For once in my life, I had let go and allowed myself to believe in the possibility of loving and trusting someone else, and it hurt to find that the morning light had turned that dream to ashes.
I turned and faced him, carefully mimicking the emotionless glare I knew now by heart. "I thought we were perfectly clear about what happened last night."
Connor blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't get me wrong, last night was fun. Scratching an itch, letting off a little steam—whatever you want to call it." It felt good to let the acid leech into my voice as I turned back to my books. "But that's all it was."
"What about before? I told you things I haven't told anyone."
"So? I told you things too. We need to prep for your Immigration interview."
Connor pulled back sharply. I pretended not to notice him staring at me as I finished stacking my books on the shelves. He grabbed my arm as I turned to leave. "So last night meant nothing to you."
"Let go of my arm, Connor."
"Look at me, first." He didn't let me go, but he did loosen his grip. "Look me in the eye and tell me last night meant nothing to you. Tell me that, and I'll let you go."
I met his eyes. They were dark with feigned emotion. More games. "Last night meant nothing. Nothing at all."
Not a single emotion passed across his face when I said it, and it felt like a horrible kind of vindication. Connor took a step back, his eyes falling to the open boxes of books on the floor before he turned to leave.
"Well. I'll leave you to it, then."
13
Connor
Isatatthefar end of the bar at Lady D's, nursing my beer and wishing it were something stronger.
What a fucking idiot I had been. Cassidy had played me, and I had never seen it coming. I had been so wrong about her. I'd thought I had found a kindred spirit, someone who had demons in their the past and was looking for a safe space, a safe someone to be vulnerable with. God, the things that I had told her. The way I'd let my heart believe…
I'd been such a fool.
Her lips had twisted with a cruelty I hadn't thought possible. Taunting my sincerity. Making a mockery of what had happened that night we’d shared. Sex had been nothing more than a bodily function for many years for me, and having my feelings thrown back in my face the moment I opened myself to the possibility of more hurt.
No. It didn’t just hurt. It fucking pissed me off.
It didn’t take much to see that Callum and Michael’s choice of apartment had triggered her. Michael was enough of an asshole to make me suspect the choice had been on purpose. I hadn’t realized it until the car had pulled up to the address, but by then, the damage was done, and Cassidy’s walls were firmly locked in place. Or maybe they had never come down at all.
