by Moxie North
Cash took a moment to realize she was joking, but his bear was fucking happy as hell at the idea of a torrid love affair. He wasn’t even sure what that was but it sounded damn fine. Cash hadn’t realized his bear was so interested in meeting this girl until now.
“Well, my middle name is Queets. I don’t particularly like it, and it wouldn’t be much help,” he supplied.
“Queets?”
“Little town by the ocean, guess where I was conceived?” he said laughing.
“Wow, nothing like your parents giving you a constant reminder of them doing the deed.”
“Gross, I never thought about it that way,” Cash admitted. “What’s your middle name? What’s your last name for that matter?”
“Mom was being unique when she tagged me with the middle name Spirit. I’ll give you a moment to let that bad boy sink in,” she said, then paused dramatically.
“Spirit isn’t that bad. I kinda like it,” he said with a rough noise. His bear could sense the spirit in her. Even hurt and wounded inside her flame was just low, not snuffed out completely. Thank goodness.
“So what is your last name?” he pressed.
“Hackett, nothing too exciting,” she responded.
“Cassidy Spirit Hackett? You know, one more letter and your initials are my name. Don’t you think that’s a sign?” he teased.
“I don’t believe in signs.” This was said with a seriously sad tone. Cash’s bear chuffed in his head. He didn’t like it.
“Well, I do. I think signs are all around us. We just have to be willing to read them. If we don’t take the time, the fates often will use them to smack us upside the head. Or at least that’s what my momma always says.”
“Hmm, I’ve been smacked around enough this year, thanks,” Cassie responded with annoyance.
“Yeah, sweetie. Sounds like you’ve had your fair share. I’d like to help you. I know you aren’t real keen at being the center of attention. But I think if you met us one at a time, it would get easier.” Cash hoped he wasn’t pushing her, but he really wanted to meet her now. He had to see who was attached to that sweet smell.
“Wow, already to sweetie. This relationship is moving at lightspeed. You’ve brought me sugar and used an endearment. You know in Cassie world that’s practically a proposal.” She laughed.
“Sounds like you have no idea how a lady should be treated,” Cash remarked.
Cassie paused a moment to ponder that. How do you admit that you’ve had a habit of dating assholes so you wouldn’t get too attached to them? That you didn’t want to think about the future with someone that couldn’t keep their shit together for more than a week? Her near death experience made her realize she really didn’t have anyone to impress.
“No, you’re right. I haven’t met too many good men. Dax, he’s a good man. You must be too since you came out to help Effie, and you hadn’t even met her before.” Cassie was surprised when Effie told her the tale once she was back home safe and sound. She also described Cash for her. So now Cassie was trying to put a mental image to the man outside her window. She was tempted to hoist herself up and look out. But this was the longest conversation she’d had with anyone that wasn’t Effie in months. She didn’t want it to end.
“I did what anyone would do. I was close, and I could help. Besides when a man like Dax finds the woman meant for him, you guard her like she’s a precious jewel. Those are the kinds of relationships that the more you feed into caring for your partner, the more you get back. I couldn’t let a friend of mine lose that. Now I’m going to be a godfather to their baby. A sign that I was right to help like I did.”
Cassie liked that answer. A year ago, she would have scoffed at a man saying anything close to that. Mostly because she grew up with men calling women bitches in either anger or as a pet name. She spent months waiting for the real Dax to come out and show his true colors. Instead, he fell more in love with her best friend. Showered her with affection and love. It was amazing to watch.
“Maybe,” she responded.
“I’m tiring you out. I should let you rest. Can I stop by tomorrow?” He knew it was pushy, but he needed to hear her again, to see her face, to know her.
Cassie hesitated, “Uhh….”
Chapter 11
Cash thought fast. He didn’t want her to say no, so he offered up another solution. “I’ll make a deal with you. You accept a visitor tomorrow. One of the wives. I know Kenzi wants to see you. You let her visit, and I’ll sneak you anything you want through the window here. We can talk again, just like today. Nothing face to face. What do you say?”
Cassie thought about it. She’d briefly met Kenzi at Everett and Layla’s wedding. Everett was Dax’s brother. She didn’t know how to mingle, so she’d said a polite hello and stuck by Effie for most of the party. That was until she happened upon some guests changing into cougars in front of her; then shit got weird.
But Cassie liked talking to Cash. It wasn’t hard; it was like they were old friends. And she liked the anonymity of having him a wall away, not staring at her scar.
“Okay, but I want something good,” she demanded.
“Anything your little heart desires. If I can’t get it, I’ll have Sophie figure how to make it,” he promised.
“I want corn chip burritos. The kind with that fake squeezy cheese you get with drive through Mexican food. With that sour cream they squirt out of a caulking gun. The good stuff,” she said seriously.
“I’m sorry, corn chip burritos with fake cheese and caulk gun sour cream? Is that a real thing?” he asked in horror.
“Yup, I want at least two. And some of those deep fried churros too,” she added.
Cash wondered what he’d gotten himself into. He liked treats now and then too. But what she described was nauseating. But she sounded excited about the possibility, and he wanted her to be excited. Even if it was about a burrito. Fuck it, if she wanted it, he’d get it.
“I’ll see what I can do. Will this feast maybe garner me an in-person introduction?” he pushed.
“Maybe, depends on a number of factors,” she mused.
Cash looked out into the darkness. He liked playing this game, so did his bear, and from the sounds of it, so did Cassie.
“You gonna tell me or keep those to yourself?” he said sarcastically.
“Hey, stow the ‘tude man. Haven’t you heard? I’m a fragile head case,” Cassie declared.
“You’re no head case. You just need cheering up. I’d be pissed and blue if I was all laid up, my muscles getting weak. Hell, that would drive me crazy. I run regularly so even a few days in bed would make me lose my mind,” he told her. “Do you run?” he asked.
“Depends who’s chasing me,” came the acerbic reply.
Cash let out a low rumbling laugh. He’d met a few people like her. If they were running, it meant something bad was coming, and you should probably run too.
“You have a nice laugh,” came the feminine voice from the dark.
“Yours ain’t bad either. So you gonna tell me what the factors are to be granted a face to face?”
Cassie hadn’t thought of any reasons; she was just being snotty. She was out of practice being a smart aleck.
“Well, for starters, burrito integrity of course.” Cass wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded good.
Cash was still chuckling to himself when he said, “Burrito integrity. I’m assuming you mean form and function with taste not withstanding.”
“Not sure what you mean there, Billy-Bob. I mean it can’t be all mushy and cold,” she replied.
“It’s still Cash. And that’s what I said before. Next?”
Cassie rushed to think of something else. “Uh, sugar to cinnamon ratio on the churros. Nobody likes to start hacking when they snort up a cloud of cinnamon.” Sure that sounded reasonable, she thought.
“All right, I’ll do my best to procure the best fast food burrito feast I can. Which, might I remind you, we are not anywhere close to a major
city, so my options are limited. But I will endeavor to prevail. But then will you let me welcome you to the Rochons?” Cash said that last part softly, hopefully she’d realize he was truly trying to be a friend to her.
“Can I say maybe?” she softly asked.
“Yeah, darlin’ you can say maybe,” Cash replied. He was smiling. His brain had cooked up an image of this friend of Effie’s, and he wanted to see how close he’d gotten. Not that he was some expert on post car accident depression or anything, but being alone was against everything he knew. Humans and shifters weren’t that much different. Shifters just understood that they needed their packs or clans to survive. Humans always wanted to be so independent. It didn’t make you less to rely on someone for support.
“Thanks, Cash,” she said.
Man, he liked hearing her say his name. Shit, what was up with him? He realized he was getting hard just at the sound of her voice. He wasn’t some school kid, getting a boner over a pretty girl in the hallway. He was whispering to an injured girl in the dark through a window. Not exactly romantic in his book.
“Anytime, Cassie. I mean that. You’re a friend of Effie’s; that makes you family.”
He didn’t hear anything, he waited for another moment then figured she must be done. Tapping on the siding on the house twice, he turned to walk away.
“Cash?” came the small voice again.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” she said. Then Cash saw that small pale hand come out the window again. He reached for it and gently encircled her hand. His hand dwarfed hers while wrapping her cold digits in his warm palm.
“Like I said, anytime.” Giving her another squeeze, he went back to the front door and slipped inside.
The family was sitting around in the great room drinking coffee and chatting. All eyes turned to him when he strode in. He hung up his jacket and walked to the kitchen for coffee without saying a word.
“Hey man, we thought you left on us,” Wyatt called out from one of the overstuffed chairs flanking the fireplace. Jinger was in his lap curled up looking like she was about to fall asleep. Having twins mean they’d become expert catnappers.
“No, just went for some fresh air,” he replied, spooning sugar into his coffee.
“Fresh air huh?” Cage said. Not believing his cousin for a second. He’d walked down the hallway looking for him after dinner and paused when he heard Cassie talking to someone. At first, he thought she was watching a movie then, he heard her say Cash’s name.
“Good for the digestion,” Cash said, coming over to lean up against the fireplace. He took a sip and met his cousin’s eyes. Cage was a crafty one and being Alpha never missed much.
“Alright, I’ll let you have it this time. Just tread lightly,” Cage said.
“Plan to,” Cash replied. His eyes telling his Alpha that his intentions were on the up and up.
The rest of the group was looking back and forth between the two men as they spoke. No one else seemed to have the slightest clue what was going on. There were confused looks all around.
“Better,” Cage said, low but not angry. Cash understood and appreciated the fact his Alpha was so tuned into everything.
Chapter 12
The next day Cassie woke up feeling much more human than she had in a long time. She made it into the bathroom to brush her teeth and took in her hair. It was a disaster. Deciding the least she could do right now was a shower, she opened the door to ask Connie for help but then closed it.
She needed to figure this stuff out on her own. She pulled back the lavender shower curtain and looked down to see a bath chair had been installed. Dax thought of everything.
Grabbing the handheld nozzle, she dropped it into the tub and turned on the water. Contemplating her next move, she sat down on the bend and left her crutches propped against the wall. She gently removed her braces then twisted and contorted to get her clothes off.
She took a moment to pull the curtain closed and looked at her ankle. It was almost normal. The bruising and swelling were gone. But her ankle which was normally thin was now skeletal. She gave her toes an experimental wiggle. Those worked fine. She then tried to move her foot out the flexed position it spent most of the day in.
It was stiff but only hurt a little. She bent her foot until it was on the floor of the tub, and then pulled it back up. That still hurt.
Her other leg was not skinny; her knee was swollen. The PT said it was normal for those types of injuries to spontaneously swell. She could bend her knee a little. The hard part was putting her weight on it and trusting it. The PT said he wanted to move her out of her straight brace to one that moved. It was still a scary idea.
Cassie leaned over and grabbed the sprayer. Covering herself with the hot water, she let her head fall forward. The heat poured over her loosening her muscles. She sat, thinking back over her conversation with Cash last night. It was nice to talk to someone where she wasn’t worried what they were thinking about how she looked.
His voice had been deep; it had a bass to it that made the hairs on her arms stand up. She knew he was tall and had the same coloring as the rest of the Rochon men. Based on Effie’s description that is. He didn’t sound like he thought she was silly. Most people did, or they thought she was a bitch. Cass always preferred them thinking she was a bitch. It was better armor.
But he seemed to find her amusing. That was okay; she’d take that. The thought of seeing him had her nerves jangling. She was excited to meet him but scared. It was very overwhelming for her. She’d been numb for so long, not really being happy or sad. Just nothing. Now she was…something.
Grabbing the shampoo bottle, she squeezed out some soap and worked it into a lather. She dragged her nails over her scalp enjoying the feeling. She continued washing up and rinsing off. Cassie took a few more minutes after she was done to soak again. When she figured she’d abused the Rochon’s water heater enough, she turned off the water. Reaching around the shower curtain, she pulled a towel off the rack.
She had just started to dry herself off when the fatigue hit.
“Fucking wimp,” she ground out. This was not acceptable. Being weak from a shower was not who Cassie Hackett was. Cassie was a kickass, ball busting, rocker chick.
Luckily, she was rescued by a tapping on the door. “Sweetie? Do you need any help?” It was Connie. She’d been waiting for the sound of the shower to turn off.
“Yeah, please,” Cass called out.
The door opened, and Connie slipped in. “I was waiting for you to call me, but then I heard the shower start. I hope you don’t mind, but I kind of hovered around the door in case you needed me. Or I heard some terrible crash or swearing,” she finished.
“Thank you. I got this far alone, but now I’m wiped,” she explained.
“Of course, but we’ll get you strong again. Now how can I help?” Connie said grabbing an extra towel to dab at her hair.
“Well, I need to dry off and get dressed before I can get my braces back on. I forgot clothes, though, so I’m not sure what I would have done on crutches trying to hold up a towel,” Cassie said ruefully.
“Probably given my poor husband a shock, that’s for sure,” Connie tittered.
Cassie laughed. She could imagine the look on Edward’s face if she flashed him a little ass.
Connie helped Cassie dry off. She ran into her room and got her some stretch pants and a faded Ramones t-shirt. It was one of Cassie’s small shirts, but she didn’t feel like fighting with one of the baggy ones she’d stolen from Dax.
Connie also brought in a chair for Cass to sit on. She let Connie dry her hair. As the brush pulled through her short hair, she let her eyes drift shut. Cass couldn’t remember the last time someone dried and combed her hair. There were no childhood memories of it. She did remember the school sending notes home about her hair being dirty and unkempt. Her mother’s way of fixing it was to cut all her hair off. She had shown up to school with uneven, ragged hair all over her head. Her teacher to
ok pity on her and kept her after recess to even out the mess as best she could.
Cassie had never let her hair get long after that. She was afraid to. Even as an adult, she was very aware of how she looked. Better to be outlandish than for anyone to think that the way you look is because you can’t keep clean.
“How about some mousse?” Connie asked quietly.
Cass dragged her eyes open and saw her hair was shiny blonde and resting softly against her head. Without her normal crazy dye and hair pomade, her hair was almost cut in a boy style.
“No, not now. It feels good like this,” she said sleepily.
“Okay then, how about instead of breakfast in bed, we have breakfast on the couch?” Connie suggested.
“I think I can handle that today. Sorry I’ve been such a recluse,” she said, reaching for her crutches.
“You were just settling in, dear. But what was the big change from yesterday?”
“Cash,” Cassie said.
Connie looked at her in surprise, her eyes meeting hers in the mirror. “Cash?”
Cassie didn’t see any reason to not tell her, so she did. “Yeah, he snuck outside last night and brought me cookies to my window,” Cassie said this with a smile as she remembered touching his big warm hands when she took the preferred cookies.
“Why that naughty little…” Connie said with no anger in her voice.
“Yeah, he was nice. Talked to me. Promised to bring me fast food burritos if I reentered the world,” she said mockingly.
“Well, if that was all it was going to take, we would have had Taco Tuesday the first night you got here!” Connie exclaimed.
Cassie gave a small laugh. “Well, having someone knock at your window in the dark takes you off guard. I don’t know; he has a way of talking that made me forget for a while.”
“Forget what, dear?” Connie asked gently, placing a soft hand on her shoulder.
Meeting her eyes in the mirror again, she answered, “Everything.”