Maybe it’s just a funny shirt. And maybe she was just trying to be thoughtful.
Maybe I won’t wear it now, though.
My afternoon appointments rescue me from overanalyzing shit. I grab my workout bag and lock up our door. I can hear Nate and Cass talking down the hall, so I follow the sound of their voices. I have to give Nate a key anyhow, so I use it as an excuse to invite myself in.
I enter the room and catch Cass at the door.
“You love me and you know it!” I hear Nate say around the corner. Cass bends down quickly, kissing me lightly on the lips before rolling her eyes and whispering, “Your brother’s a pain in the ass.” She winks and picks up her step toward the elevator, clearly making her way to the gym.
“You better not!” I say, not really liking Nate using the word love with Cass. Stupid and petty? Yes. Do I give a shit if he thinks so? No.
Nate’s elbows-deep in Rowe’s drawers, flipping them over so they dump out all of her clothes when she comes back. It’s funny, and really, I’ll take any excuse to rifle through Cass’s drawers. I join in and flip her drawers over, too, paying special attention to the lacey things in her top drawer. I am looking forward to seeing those things in action.
My brother’s in love; I can tell. It’s not so much the way he talks about Rowe all of the time, but rather the way he doesn’t talk about her. This thing he has going with her…it isn’t transient. And as much fun as I had playing big-brother-little-brother party time with him this summer, this feels more like the way things are supposed to be. And it’s not just him—it’s me, too.
He pauses on one of the drawers, and he’s holding a picture. I can see over his shoulder it’s one of Rowe and the other guy; I wince before he turns around. “This is like the one I was talking about. Do you think she has a boyfriend?” he asks. I have no clue, so I tell him he should ask, but I also make a mental note to ask Cass about Rowe and that picture, and then it hits me—I have someone to ask. Cass is someone—my someone. Holy shit, how the fuck did that happen?
We get the drawers back in place and lock up behind us, heading to the elevator. I’m running late for my first training session, but I hear Paige’s voice as the elevator doors open. I shift my eyes to Nate and urge him to pick up his step. I follow him back to our room.
“Dude, I can’t stand that chick! How is it that I’m crazy about her sister?” Nate’s shit-eating grin clues me in on my big slip, but I don’t really care that he knows how I feel. I like a girl, a girl that isn’t Kelly. Kelly, who just wished me a happy anniversary from her home in Baker, where she lives with her husband and brand new baby boy. What the fu—
“She has great tits!” Nate says, bringing me right back to my Cass and her annoying-ass twin.
“Ah, that’s a good point. Way to focus on the positive. She does indeed have great tits,” I respond, waiting just long enough for her elevator trip to be complete, and her to be gone, before I head back down the hall to race to my training appointment. I pull out my phone to send a text that I’m running late to Sage, the girl who works the front desk, but I pause when I see one from an unknown number.
I miss you…baby ;-)
Cass, you just took another little piece of me.
Miss U 2, reformed baby-hater.
Chapter 8
Cass
I can tell something’s wrong as soon as I walk into our room. Rowe’s clothes are in a pile on the floor, her dresser drawers all empty and stacked on her bed. It looks like a break-in, only a really lame break-in. I can’t figure out why someone would just go through Rowe’s drawers and nothing else.
“Hello?” I say, my heavy backpack now clutched to the front of my body, like that’s going to protect me. I kick the closet door open, and it ricochets off the back wall, shutting closed again. It’s empty, as is the room.
I toss my bag on my bed and sit down looking at the strange mess of Rowe’s things across from me. Curious. I stand and tug on the top drawer of my dresser, and the second I do, I feel the tickle of my socks and underwear slide down into a mound around my feet.
“Son of a bitch!” I pull the next drawer, and the heavy thud of jeans and sweatpants follows where undergarments went. I’m about to pull open my third drawer when I hear Rowe come into the room behind me.
“Damn it, Rowe! I didn’t want to be a part of this war, but looks like I’m in it now!” I pull the third drawer out carefully, my hands doing their best to hold my clothing in place, but it’s useless, and shorts and workout clothes land in the heap too.