Cass bursts out into uncontrollable laughter that has me scowling at her back and wanting to break up the conversation, but I know it’s because of the tequila, and honestly, I want to see where the rest of the conversation goes.
The girls finally get their laughter under control, only to start again when Cass brings up the ‘Never have I ever’ game. “I can’t believe Bobby screwed his cousin,” Cass laughs, making Bri snort back a giggle that has her choking on her own saliva. She stumbles a bit as she tries to right herself, but in doing that she pulls on Cassie’s waist again and makes her hiss in pain.
Once again, Bri is oblivious to it all, but I have my hands balled up in fists and am counting slowly to ten trying to control myself. “Speaking of that game,” Brianna starts, “There would have been a million other questions you could have asked besides the foursome thing, I mean, there are a lot of other things I’d be interested to know when it comes to these boys.”
“Believe me, I know,” Cass replies, “But I wanted to know just how much of a manwhore he’d become. I mean, I assumed he’d been involved in a threesome, but I hoped against it and then he had to go and confirm it so, I guess it had me curious.”
“And, now that you know?” Bri asks, “Does it make you feel any different?”
Far out, this conversation is like hitting the jackpot, I kind of feel guilty about listening in on what’s clearly a private conversation and not meant for my ears, but when it comes to information about me and Cass, well I’m going to take it any way I can, so I listen in closely not wanting to miss a word.
“Ha,” Cass scoffs, “ask me in the morning when I don’t have so much liquor going through my body.”
Damn it
“Ok,” Brianna laughs as we turn onto the girls’ street. They walk in silence for a few steps more when Bri turns her smirk on Cass. “You know, when you told me you hadn’t been with anyone for a while, I didn’t quite think you meant that the last guy was Jax, three years ago.”
Like I said. The fucking jackpot.
Cass sighs and grins at Brianna. “You caught onto that did you?” she asks.
“Like I could miss that bomb,” she laughs, “Now, explain yourself.”
Even though I don’t see her face I can just imagine how she would roll her eyes before answering. “I mean…” she sighs. “Sex means something to me. It’s about that connection between two people whether it’s hot and heavy or slow and sensual. So, for me, if there’s no connection then sex if off the table.”
Pft, I know Cass right down to the bone and I know, without even looking at her face that her answer is absolute bullshit.
“Ok,” Bri scoffs, as we near their driveway, “That’s the lamest answer I’ve ever heard. What’s the truth?”
Shit. I underestimated Brianna. I take my metaphorical hat off to her and I must remember, come tomorrow, to thank that little she devil.
Cass groans. “Fine,” she huffs. “I tried. I really did. I had the guy right there where I needed him and when it came down to the crunch, I couldn’t do it. I chickened out like a little bitch.” She takes a breath and leans her head against Brianna’s shoulder. “How can I sleep with another man when I still have Jax in my head?”
Fuck me. My mind spins. She left three years ago without a damn goodbye. I assumed it was because she was done and didn’t want to hurt me too bad, but if that was the case, why the hell is she still struggling to forget about me?
“Babe,” Brianna says with a sigh. It’s a moment before her next question comes and I must commend her, she is on fire tonight. “Why did you even try? With the other guy, I mean?”
Cass scoffs as she reaches into her bra to pull out their house key and finally starts to lower her voice as Bobby and I inch closer to them. “I’d heard the stories about him, you know, becoming the Carter-in-training and I guess it made me realize that he had moved on and was officially done with me. It hurt hearing about it so I wanted to inflict the same kind of pain on him but it backfired, like really bad,” she says with an embarrassed smirk, “I got a reputation for being the girl who doesn’t put out.”
“Shit,” Brianna laughs, “You don’t need to worry about that here, I think the whole campus knows that isn’t true.”
A triumphant grin spreads across my face. Fuck yeah. That night last week was fucking amazing and I don’t care who knows it. I’d be proud to let them all know this woman rocked my world.
The door is pushed open and Brianna waltzes in without a backward glance. Cass stops at the door to say goodbye while Bobby struts straight past and collapses onto the couch, falling into an instant sleep.
“Um, well, thanks,” she says, twisting her hands together. “You know, for walking us home and for that guy.”
“No problem,” I say as she starts to yawn and stumble back into the brick wall of the house. Shit. “Come on.”
I lead her through the house to her bedroom. I rifle through her draws and pull out her pajamas then order her to get dressed while I go and find some painkillers and a glass of water for the morning. I come back to her room to find her in her bra and undies, struggling to get her feet through the hole of her pants. With a sigh, I step up to her and start to help.
My eyes instantly roam her body and find her waist is red and has a small scratch scaring her perfect skin. “Wait here,” I tell her as I disappear into the bathroom and find some cream. I come back to find her laying on the top of her bed already curled up into her pillow. I sit down beside her and start rubbing the cream into her skin. She hisses in pain and I do my best to make this as quick as possible.
“I’m sorry,” she says softly, “I shouldn’t have drunk so much.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” I agree with a grunt.
“I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t there,” she says on a yawn.
I pull her blankets over her and watch as her eyes start to flutter. “Go to sleep, Cass.”
“Can you stay?”
With a sigh, I get up and lean over, placing a kiss to her forehead. “No, that’s not a good idea,” I tell her before turning and walking to the door, though, I don’t miss the deflated look in her eyes, a look that absolutely kills me.
I stand by the door for a moment and watch as her eyes close and she drifts into what I hope is a peaceful sleep. “Good night, Cass,” I whisper into the darkened room before I turn to leave.
I’m nearly through the door when I hear her mumble. “I knew, Jax. I’m sorry. I was scared.” I stop dead in my tracks. No, there’s no way. I turn back to look at her, but her eyes are closed.
“What did you know?” I ask.
Her eyes open just the slightest little sliver as she studies me in the dark. “The ring. I knew about the ring.”
And just like that, it all makes perfect fucking sense.
Without another word, I turn my back and leave.
Chapter 11
Cassie
“Fuck, babe, you can really sing,” Brianna says as I come strutting out of my room with an overnight bag. Shit, I hadn’t even realized I’d been singing, it must have been in the shower. My eyes widen as I stare at her in horror. I’m not ready to tell this secret yet. “Wait, where the hell are you going?”
Thank god. I give her a pointed look, cluing in that she’s being an absolute moron. “Sean’s wedding… remember?” I say, “I’m pretty sure I’ve told you this a million times.”
“Oh, shit,” she says with a guilty look. “I forgot that was this weekend. I was hoping for another pole dancing class.”
“There’s no way we would be able to get away with that.” I laugh as I open the internal garage door and dump my bag into my car. “The boys probably have their little freshmen wanna-be’s staking out the dance studio in case we happen to come by.”
“Yeah, I don’t doubt that,” she agrees. “But what am I going to do all weekend? Bobby’s still pissed at me.”
“Seriously? It’s been two weeks.”
“
Yeah, I know. I think he’s just shocked to find out that I’m actually a lot more like him than he had ever hoped,” she laughs.
“I mean, you kind of blindsided him with the whole threesome revelation.”
“Shut up,” she grins. “It was awesome and I’d totally do it again.”
“Ugh,” I groan, “Let me know how that goes for you.” She gives me a salute and I head back down to my room and grab the silver floor length gown that’s been hanging in my closet for the past year. I do another look around my room to make sure I have everything I need and head back out to the living room. “Ok, I’ve got to get going, have a blast without me.”
“Fine,” she groans as she throws her arms around me and squeezes the living daylight out of me. “Have fun. I’ll let you know if any brooding hockey captains come around to apologize.”
“Yeah right,” I scoff. “I’d pay to see the day that happens. It’s already been two weeks since I told him and he hasn’t said a word. I didn’t even get graced with a scowl during class.”
“Oh geez, that bad, huh?” she asks.
“Yep,” I shrug, adding the dress to the top of the ever growing pile of crap that has taken over the passenger seat of my little car.
“Maybe he just needs a few more days to sulk,” she says, trying to keep me positive. “We can put the ‘Fight for my man’ plan into action after that.”
“Ok,” I laugh. “It’s not going to be easy though,” I warn her.
“Nothing worth it ever is.”
With a roll of my eyes, I drop down into my car. “See you tomorrow night,” I call out the window before I start backing out of the garage. Bri follows me out and gives a wave before heading back in, probably to go back to sleep for the rest of the day, but really all she’s doing is nursing last night’s hangover so she can head out tonight with her girlfriends and do it all over again. I, at least, was sensible enough to be the sober one last night.
I flick on the tunes as I drive the twenty short minutes to my family’s home with a mix of happiness and sadness going through me.
The thoughts of coming home to the place that holds my memories of Mom and Dad and of course, Jax, frightens the living shit out of me, but at the same time, it’s the one place I feel I can be close to my parents again. I’m pretty sure the triplets feel the same way, hence why Sean is having his wedding on the property. You know, besides the fact that the property is an amazing estate, perfect for holding weddings and functions.
I drive past Jax’s parent’s home and scowl in that particular direction before turning into my driveway. I stop at the gates and enter my code and wait as the massive metal gates slowly open to allow my entry.
I hit the button for the window and drive slowly down the tree lined drive way, breathing in that familiar smell of home. My eyes open in amazement as I get to the house to find parking attendants and delivery trucks scattered around the whole front yard. Men and women in all sorts of different uniforms go about in a rush to prepare my home for Sean’s wedding.
White chairs are being carried around back while beautiful golden ones are being taken inside. Caterers are storming in through the front door, presumably to the kitchen. Swans are being lead to the lake while ladders and tables are being unloaded from the back of a truck.
I get past the initial shock and drive up to the front door, bypassing a man who’s struggling to untangle fairy lights only to have another man in a penguin suit stop by my door and offer to assist me with parking.
I hop out of my car and grab my things before handing the keys over. My parents used to throw extravagant parties all the time which were always amazing, but we never held a wedding here before and I must say, so far, it’s absolutely shocking and beautiful at the same time. Mom would have loved every moment of it.
I walk up the stairs leading to the entrance of our family home and walk on through the open double doors. The house is absolute chaos, but an organised chaos. I dump my things at the bottom of the stairs as my curiosity gets the best of me. I head on through the house towards the back room, the one I’m assuming the reception will be held in, and bingo, I was right.
The double doors are held open with massive white vases that have the most amazing flower arrangements welcoming the guests into the room, but that’s not what’s caught my eye. The whole room is decked out, well, it’s almost decked out, at the moment it looks like a million people scattering around, unsure of what they’re supposed to be doing.
The big chandelier in the center of the roof has white drapes flowing from the center all the way to the edge of the massive room. Beautiful white tables with golden chairs are set up everywhere. Both the walls and the pillars within the room have fairy lights framing them which I can just imagine would be a spectacular view come nightfall.
The room wide, glass bi-fold doors have been opened completely to a big dance floor which overlooks the garden and lake. I walk out to the dance floor and take in the gardens. My eyes land on the chairs and altar down by the lake and instantly begin watering. This wedding is going to be nothing short of spectacular and I know without a doubt that mom and dad are looking down on this day.
I turn back to the reception room and find an extremely well dressed lady running around like a mad woman, clipboard in hand and earpiece firmly attached. She spots me immediately and gives me a blank look. “Ah, you would be?” she asks, politely, though, I see the annoyance in her eyes at having to be disturbed.
“You must be Rebecca?” I ask, knowing immediately that this is the frustrating wedding planner Sean has had to deal with. “I’m Cassie, Bridesmaid and Groom’s sister, also part owner of this estate,” I add, just to put the cow in her place and remind her whose home she’s in.
“Oh,” she says a little shocked, the annoyance instantly leaving her features to be replaced by a massive fake smile. “Glad you’re here. The boys are on the second level while the girls have taken up the third,” she says as she glances down at her clipboard. “You should have roughly ten minutes to say hello to your brothers before you are required for hair and makeup with the girls.”
I give her a curt nod and exit the room in search of my brothers. I grab my things from the bottom of the stairs and make my way up. If Rebecca hadn’t of told me the boys were on level two, I would have figured it out pretty damn fast. The noise coming from this level is just ridiculous.
I knock on the loudest door to have none other but Cater appear. “Little sister,” he yells excitedly and clearly already off his face, “You made it.” He pulls me in for a hug while Sean and Logan appear behind him.
Logan closes the door and we all stand out in the hallway, the boys as happy as ever while I’m being squished in between their muscles. I hear more loud noises from behind the door before something smashes and I look up to Sean. “Tom is smashed and running around naked. You know how he gets,” he explains about his best friend. “You probably don’t want to go in there.”
“Yeah,” I say, “I think you’re right about that.”
“Has anybody seen Cassandra?” comes a high pitched yell from above.
“Oh shit,” I groan, “I think I’m needed.”
The boys all laugh, knowing just how much I hate the torture of getting my hair and makeup done. “Run along, young one,” Carter smirks.
I flip them all off before heading up the stairs and pushing open the doors to the massive suite. The room is in even more chaos than had been downstairs. How the hell is that possible? The girls are sipping on champagne in little silk robes, all colour coordinated, of course, while they sing along to music and get their makeup started. Sara, the bride, sits with her feet up on a stool, getting a pedicure while the hairdresser puts her blonde hair up into this massive, beautiful up-do.
“Cassie,” she squeals as I make my presence known. “How are you?”
“Good,” I say as I walk deeper into the room, a smile spreading wide over my face. “Have you seen the place? It’s absolutely stunning.”
“No, I haven’t,” she smiles, “Tell me they got the swans?” she asks with pleading eyes.
“Yes, I saw some idiot out the front struggling to get the bastard out to the lake. Quite funny actually,” I laugh. “The poor swans were ganging up on him but they seemed really happy in the lake, you know, once they got there.”
Her face melts into joyfulness. “Oh good,” she says.
I’m about to say hi to the rest of the girls when a lady comes and snatches the dress out of my hand and scoots me over to a chair. My hair is ripped out of its hair tie while someone else comes at me with a face wipe. I let out a sigh and give in. It will go quicker if I just tune it out and try to enjoy myself.
A champagne flute is shoved into my hand and the music is turned up while people all around me start their pampering process. Yeah, ok, it’s really not as bad as I thought it would be, I could definitely get used to this.
An hour later, we start getting into our dresses and I must admit, with my hair and makeup done, it takes my breath away. The silver strappy gown sticks to me like a second skin and drops between my breasts, showing off the perfect amount of cleavage.
My eyes follow the line of the dress down to where it flares with the slightest train. I know without a doubt that the moment the sun hits this dress it is going to sparkle and I just can’t wait. I slowly turn in the mirror to get a look at the back and grin as the dress dips right down and scoops just above my ass, showing off my sculpted back. With a smile, I slip on my heels and give myself another once over. Wow, just wow. I feel glamorous, like a celebrity about to take the red carpet.
The last time I felt or looked this good was my senior prom where I had the man of my dreams on my arm, how things have changed.
The photographer comes around next and that’s another event on its own. It takes forever. I feel like my feet are already going to fall off but I smile and do it for my big brother. We get pictures of pretending were getting dressed, pictures of the makeup artist touching up our already perfect makeup, and of course, pictures of helping the bride into her dress. Next, we head all over the property, getting every shot possible and I dread the time between the ceremony and the reception where we’re going to have to do it all over again with the boys, but of course, I’ll smile for my big brother.
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