Chapter Eight
Rowdy
With Violet now living with Malachi, I had my apartment all to myself. I hadn’t brought a woman back here since before my sister lived with me. I didn’t want Violet to get uncomfortable, or hear anything.
Cassandra wasn’t like other women, though. She was special, and I was going to make sure she was treated as such. I was going to make sure she knew how much I cared for her, and that she wasn’t just a piece of ass for me.
She’d never be that for me.
After entering my apartment, I closed the door and flicked on the light. I hadn’t cleaned the place up in a couple of days, not expecting a female to come here, and I quickly grabbed some of the shirts that were on the floor and over the couch and tossed them into the laundry.
“Sorry about the mess,” I muttered, feeling a little embarrassed by it.
“It’s not that bad. You’d be surprised about what I’ve seen and consider messy.”
“You’ve seen a lot of guys’ bedrooms?” Anger filled me suddenly at the thought of her being in another guy’s place.
“I’ve had to clean the locker room for my dad. You guys stink, your hygiene is gross, and apparently no one knows how to pick up after themselves.” She smiled after she spoke, and it was like the room lit up.
“Not all of us are like that.”
“Do you really want to talk about men’s cleanliness right now?” she teased.
I chuckled. “No.” But as the seconds ticked by and the longer I stared at her, my arousal slammed through the roof. “What I want to do to you would probably scare you, Cassandra.” I watched her arousal start to take root, could even see the way her pulse beat at the base of her throat. “Take off your clothes, baby.”
Cassandra started breathing faster, and I got so fucking hard for her. The lust shining in her eyes matched mine. I knew it.
I wanted her like a fire bastard.
“You want me to get naked?”
“Yes,” I said instantly, knowing my voice as thick as hell. “It’s just you and me, and it’s been so long since I had you, Cassandra. I’m so very hungry for you.” God damn, was that my voice, all husky and filled with promise? “We won’t have any interruptions.”
“Unlike at the party,” she murmured, and I was aware she was looking at my mouth.
“I need you in my bed, want my scent all over you.” I was surprised by how much I wanted that. “I want you screaming my name when I take you again.”
She made this little sound, but then, thank fuck, she started to undress. I watched as she peeled every single layer of clothing off until she was stood before me naked. She was a thing of beauty. I was a fighter to the core, a complete asshole at times, but I knew how precious Cassandra was and is to me. She was inside my head, and my heart. What she didn’t know was that she held all the power over me, not the other way around. I had to go to her. I couldn’t wait around any longer. She called to me in ways no one else had.
“You sure you’re not going to regret this, are you?” she asked, and I heard the tremble in her voice.
“No. Fucking. Way.”
I’d been such a bastard to her, and I hated that, hated she felt like shit afterward.
“You made me cry, and as much as that sounds a little girly to admit, I want you to know it’s only because I care about you, Rowdy.”
Fuck, she cried? I made her cry?
“I’m so damn sorry, baby. I’ll never make you cry again.”
Cassandra averted her gaze and shook her head. “I’ve got a feeling when it comes to you that you’re going to make me cry a lot.”
I took a deep breath. I didn’t like how certain she sounded, as if I wouldn’t be able to help myself in making her miserable.
Stepping toward her, I cupped her chin, tilting her head back so she had no choice but to look at me. “Babe, I’m not going to hurt you. I swear it on everything I am.”
She licked her lips, and I saw the cloud of tears in her eyes.
I didn’t want to let her go.
Cassandra
I was a fool to think I could do this. I’d been told many times that Rowdy was only into casual fucking, not deep and meaningful relationships. But the way he looked at me, spoke to me ... touched me, told me he cared for me. He didn’t do relationships, and I didn’t do just plain fucking. Even as I said thought those words, I grabbed his arms, sinking my nails into his flesh, needing him like I needed to breathe.
I didn’t want to go, and yet I didn’t want to stay because I knew he could break my heart into a thousand pieces. The heartbreak would kill me for sure.
I need to tell him how I feel.