Bad Karma
Page 25
Javier’s chest felt tight. Why didn’t she tell me? He tried to speak. Couldn’t. Taking a deep breath, he let it out all at once. “No, sir. She sure won’t brag.”
Javier left the store in a daze. He climbed inside his truck and sat for a few minutes, his fingers wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. Tom Bailey’s words echoed in his brain. Master’s degree, academic honors, young genius ...Cassie was...Cassie. My innocent baby girl. My angel.
Javier turned on the ignition and the giant truck roared to life. He rolled out of the parking lot and headed toward the island.
Locating Cassidy Danforth was his only thought.
~*~
Spending the day with Darla and Chloe ranked as one of the most fun times Cassie had enjoyed since she’d been on the island. If she didn’t count the times she’d spent with Javier.
She’d taught Darla some basic moves, with Chloe and Lacy cheering them on from the sidelines. Now, she lay beside Darla on the mat, both laughing and damp from their exertion.
“That was better than sex.” Darla glanced at Lacy and covered her mouth with both hands.
Chloe sighed. “I’ve laughed so much, you’ve made my sides hurt. You two are like the sisters I never had.”
Darla grinned. “I always wanted a sister. Then I wouldn’t have had to beat up all the boys by myself.”
Cassie lay on her back, giggling. “I can just imagine you jumping on Calvin. That is one big guy.”
“I never got into it with Calvin. He always treated me like I was a little princess, even when I was a total hellion.”
Cassie rolled up to a sitting position. “And the others? Did you beat them up?”
Darla nodded. “Andrew and Zach and both sets of twins.”
Cassie rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. “That must have kept you busy.”
Darla giggled, setting the others off on a spree of laughter. “I never thought of it that way, but I guess a sister’s work is never done.”
Chloe held her arms out to Lacy who clambered into her lap. “So, Cassie, are you and Javier getting serious?”
She cleared her suddenly dry throat. “He gave me a key to his new apartment and I helped him pick out furniture for it.”
Darla hummed the tune of the Wedding March.”
Cassie grinned. “Well, you old married ladies make it sound so good.”
Chloe gathered Lacy in her arms and stood up. “Come upstairs with me and I’ll make us some lunch. I can’t let you two leave me. This is way better than reality television.”
~*~
By the time he reached Port Isabel, Javier was breathing normally, glad that none of his buddies with the Texas Highway Patrol had been cruising on that particular stretch of highway.
In his head, he’d replayed every second of dialogue he’d ever had with Cassie, from the first time he’d seen her leggy form sprinting on the beach to the last time he’d held her in his arms.
She’d said she was a teacher, but made no effort to correct him when he’d assumed that she was speaking figuratively.
He pulled into his parent’s driveway and ran his hands over his close-cropped hair.
Maybe Jorge was right. Maybe he didn’t know her at all.
Javier got out and slammed the door of his truck. He lugged in three cases of water and plunked them down forcefully on the kitchen counter.
Selena jumped, pressing her hands to her heart. “Mijo! Be careful. And don’t lift such a heavy load. You just got your stitches out.”
“Sorry, Mama.”
“What is the matter with you? Your face looks like a thunderstorm.”
He exhaled a long breath before turning to the sink and running a stream of cool water from the faucet. Cupping his hands, he splashed his face, and then took another deep breath.
Selena handed him a kitchen towel. “What is it that has you so upset?”
Javier leaned his hip against the counter. “Tell me everything you know about Cassidy Danforth.”
“Ay, que chula. Your Cassie is a sweet, innocent girl. And very smart, too.”
Javier gritted his teeth together. “Just how smart is she?”
“Why, I remember Skyler telling me that Cassie has a teaching certificate. That’s pretty smart for a twenty-year-old, isn’t it?”
Javier nodded. “Yes it is. How about a twenty-year-old with a Master’s degree?”
“Ay! A Master’s? That’s wonderful! I’m so proud of you, Javi. You got a beautiful girl with brains too.” Selena patted Javier’s cheek.
“Didn’t I though?”
He finished unloading the cases of water and got back in the truck.
Truth time.
~*~
Zach carried all the plywood up onto the deck. Some of it had gotten warped leaning against one of the concrete pilings underneath the house, but maybe it would straighten out enough to be usable if need be. He stacked it all flat on one end of the deck and placed a heavy planter on top.
He looked up when he heard the roar of a powerful motor down below. Javier Rios loped up the stairs with a grim set to his jaw.
“Javier? What’s going on?”
“Is Cassie here?” he asked.
“No, she and Sky went to pick up a few things at the store. What’s up?”
Javier looked upset. A muscle in his jaw kept twitching.
Zach gestured to a deck chair. “Sit down. They’ll be back soon. Have a beer.” He reached into the galvanized bucket of ice and pulled out a longneck, slapping it into Javier’s outstretched hand.
“Thanks.” He twisted off the cap and poured the cold liquid down his throat. “Tell me something, Zach.”
“Shoot!
Javier took another long swallow before going on. “Is Cassie some kind of baby Einstein, or something?”
Zach nodded. “Yeah, Cassie is a real brain child. She’s got a lot of intelligence, but there’s something about her...I don’t know. It’s like she’s a fresh-hatched chick about some things. When everyone else was out partying, she was in the science labs making the dean’s list.”
Javier seemed to consider that as he sipped his beer. “And everyone knows this?”
Zach nodded. “I guess. Why?”
“Can you think of any reason why she’d keep me in the dark?”
Zach eyed the other man and shook his head slowly. “No, I can’t.”
“Can you think of any reason she’d let me think she was just a delivery girl when she has a professional teaching job starting in a couple of months?”
Zach swallowed his own beer, not sure of the best answer. “Maybe she thought you knew.”
Javier heaved another big sigh. “I don’t think so. She didn’t tell me that she has two degrees either. I think I’m the only one around here who doesn’t know about Miss Danforth’s many accomplishments.”
~*~
Cassie knew all about anatomy. She knew it wasn’t her heart that she loved with; that the heart was the organ responsible for pumping blood and oxygen to all parts of her body, but when she spied Javier’s big red truck parked alongside Zach’s Jeep, it sure felt like that particular organ did a little happy dance in her chest.
“Somebody’s got company!” Sky sang out.
How could he make her panties damp when she hadn’t even seen him, hadn’t smelled him, hadn’t tasted his kiss or felt his strong arms around her? This is something way beyond Basic Anatomy.
She wanted to bound up the stairs and throw herself on him. But no. Better to be cool and help Sky carry the groceries upstairs.
She climbed out of the Audi and reached for the heaviest bag, trying to take her time about it and not glance up to see if Javi was watching her.
On the way up she met Zach going down to assist Sky with the other bags. He raised his brows and gave her a slight shake of his head in passing.
On the deck, she placed the bag on the same wooden picnic table where Javier sat with his boots resting on the attached bench. She turned to him wit
h a smile.
Javi’s dark gaze sent a warning signal straight to her brain, like the glint of sunlight on a knife just as it slashes or that dry rattling sound before the snake strikes.
Cassie’s throat constricted as she tried to draw a breath.
His mouth turned up at the corners, but his eyes were not smiling. He made a little motion with his fingers, wordlessly calling her nearer.
Cassie went to stand before him, like a naughty child awaiting her punishment.
He reached for her hands, pulling her between his spread thighs.
Resting her knee against the picnic bench, she stepped closer, so close she could smell him, the scent of his soap and whatever toiletries he used setting off an explosion of sensations. She moistened her lips. “Javi,..I...”
He stopped her, cupped her cheek in his palms and softly rubbed his thumb over her lips. His expression painted an eloquent portrait of anger and sorrow. “We need to talk.”
His softly spoken words sent a shiver down her spine.
Sky and Zach had reached the deck level and, perhaps sensing the thick atmosphere of emotions in the air, silently ducked inside the house with their burdens.
Javier’s eyes held hers, dark and dangerous, brimming with anguish. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
She wanted to run away, but she was trapped. Trapped by the hands caressing her cheeks, by the deep, velvety voice enfolding her, by the rock hard thighs imprisoning her.
She swallowed, summoning her courage. “Tell you...?”
“My God, Cassie! How many secrets have you kept from me?”
“Just the one. . .two maybe.”
He let out a short mirthless laugh and looked away, releasing her from his spell, then skewered her once again with his gaze. “Graduating from high school at fifteen? The scholarships and grants? All the honors and degrees you earned...Didn’t I deserve to know these things about you?”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Yes, you did. I was wrong not to tell you, but...”
“Do you think I’m too stupid to comprehend?”
“No, of course not.”
“You let me think your career was delivering sandwiches when you had a teaching job lined up.”
“I’m so sorry, Javi.”
“Were you laughing at me when I offered to support you and let you further your education?”
Cassie drew a shaky breath and licked her lips again. “No, but...”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Do you know the worst thing? The worst thing is that everybody else seems to know all about you. Everybody but me.”
“I didn’t tell anyone.”
“And yet, the only person kept in the dark was your big, freakin’ dumb boyfriend.”
“Please, Javi!”
He glared down at her, contemplated her mouth before delivering a cruel punishing kiss, devouring her, bleeding her soul dry.
It felt like goodbye.
He pulled away, still holding her face in his hands. Setting his teeth on edge, he glared at her ferociously. Some deep emotion seemed to wrack his body. He shuddered and pushed her away. Getting off the table, he strode toward the stairs.
She managed to choke out his name. “Javi!”
He turned, narrowing his gaze as he shook his head. “You know, I love you more than my life, but I don’t know if I ever want to be with you again.” He gave her a long, last look and departed.
Cassie heard him start the truck, sounding like the powerful roar of a wounded animal. She wanted to run after him, to beg his forgiveness.
But she didn’t.
She leaned against the railing of the deck and watched the big red truck depart, carrying inside it her shredded heart and the hottest man on the planet.
~*~
Javier drove away, feeling like he’d been gutted. Like one of the big fish brought in by the sports fishermen and hung up, disemboweled for public display.
He could still taste her kiss on his lips, feel her soft skin on his fingertips and smell the pear-scented shampoo she favored.
The pain was so razor sharp; he thought maybe it would kill him. That would be a relief. Then he wouldn’t have to feel. He wouldn’t have to want her. He wouldn’t have the urge to strangle her with his bare hands.
He smacked the steering wheel with his palm.
It had taken everything he had to walk away from her. To leave her standing there with her beautiful face looking like he’d torn the heart right out of her. But he had to.
Jorge’s right. She’s much too good for me. She should be with someone exceptional, a college professor or brain surgeon. Not an average Joe lowly public servant.
He parked in front of his new apartment and sat stewing in his assigned parking space for a while. He didn’t want to be alone, but he didn’t want to be with most of the people he knew.
He didn’t want to be around anyone who would pat his cheek and poor-baby him.
Most of all, he didn’t want to hear anyone say, “I told you so.”
He climbed out of the truck and rode up to his apartment in the silent elevator. Tomorrow, he would return to work. He’d be on duty for seventy-two hours where he might be able to focus on something besides Cassidy Danforth.
He unlocked his apartment and stepped inside. The scene hit him like a fist.
All of the furniture he’d chosen with Cassie had been delivered. The manager must have let the delivery men in. He stared at the plastic-wrapped sofa and the other items still in boxes. The bed frame and Queen-size mattresses leaned against the wall.
Javier expelled a long breath and locked the door behind him. He could call the store tomorrow to return everything. Or he could face the fact that he had made choices and they had blown up in his face.
He picked up the bed frame and lugged it to the bedroom, determined to make the best of the situation. He would make his bed...and he would pay it off and he would lie in it.
When the bed was assembled and the mattress and box springs were in place, he moved it near the floor to ceiling window at the far side of the room. It looked out on the bay. He’d wanted Cassie to have a view of the water when she awoke.
He choked down something that tasted like bile. If he could get through tonight and the following seventy-two hours on duty, there was a chance he could get over her. Get over the girl who owned his soul. Stop aching to kiss her, to press her sweet little body against his. Grow scar tissue over his bleeding heart.
It shouldn’t be hard to do, especially when she thinks I’m a total idiot.
~*~
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ammunition
Sky peered out through the curtains onto the deck. “I think they broke up.”
Zach looked skeptical. “Javier was upset, but he’s crazy about her. A man doesn’t blow away a once in a lifetime kind of love because of some little detail she didn’t tell him... They’ll fight about it. They’ll say I’m sorry and they’ll make up. It’s all part of the game.”
Sky frowned, sensing it was much more serious. “This is Cassie we’re talking about. She’s my brilliant little geek sister. She doesn’t play games. She doesn’t know how.”
Zach came to stand behind her, pulling her back to rest against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed kisses to the side of her face.
Sky sighed, feeling incredibly lucky to have found a man like Zach. Since she’d dated more than her fair share of assholes, she could appreciate what a treasure he was. Good taste had never been her forte. She marveled at her excellent fortune in finding such a man and wished her sister had been as lucky.
She let out a huff of exasperation. “She’s just standing at the railing, staring out at the water.”
Zach peeked out through the curtains. “Maybe she needs some alone time to sort things out.”
Sky shook her head. “This is Cassie we’re talking about. She lives on a different planet from the rest of us. She has isolation hardwired into her brain.”
Zach gave her a hug. “Let’s see if she’d like to go out for dinner or to see a movie.”