“It’s never too late to be yourself again. You’re still in there, you’re just hiding. I’ll be honest with you, life is a lot easier when you’re real. There’s no one to impress in this house, Cassie. We all fart and poop. Our shit sometimes smells up the whole house. We have bad habits, and sometimes have to disappoint one another because life gets in the way. It’s normal. It’s human. Let me ask you something, apart from moving here with Brant, had you ever lived away from your family before?”
I shook my head.
“So all you’ve known is what you experienced in that house with Mr. James and his whore?”
I let out an air-filled laugh when he referred to Tammy as a whore. She most certainly was. “I suppose.”
He pulled a book off the self. “Start with this one. It’s about a guy who rents a room and finds out the people he lives with are cannibals.”
I covered my mouth as I started to laugh. It had been so long since I’d naturally appreciated humor. It felt nice, but also made me feel terrible. While I was enduring a normal conversation with another man, my boyfriend was lying in a morgue. It was a tough reality. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “It’s too soon. I can’t.”
He followed me when I started to head in the direction of the room I’d be staying in. “You can’t what? Be all right? Is that it? You think you’re not allowed to have emotions?”
“My boyfriend is dead and I’m to blame. I know you’re trying to distract me, but I’m not ready to forget and move on.”
“I never said you had to. I was just trying to see you smile again. It’s nice.”
I hated him for being nice to me. I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On one hand I was suffering a tragic loss and desperate for a distraction. On another, I was starting over, possibly making new friends, and I felt like I didn’t deserve to. “You can’t possibly understand how I feel. I don’t even have the means to bury my boyfriend. Thank you for the book. I’m sure I’ll get to it in the next couple days. If you’ll excuse me I’m just going to go to bed. Cleaning tired me out, and I think my body needs the rest.”
I closed the door before he could tell me I was being ridiculous. I didn’t need another person in my life suggesting how I should feel. If I wanted that, I’d go home and face the people I’d abandoned for the man who was everything they’d cautioned me about.
Chapter 22
Logan
In the next week Cassie seemed to begin to settle down. After having words the night I’d given her the book, she’d been cordial, not really nice, but friendly enough. We didn’t have long conversations, or spend quality time together watching television. In fact, she didn’t come out of her room except to eat, shower, or clean, which I never complained about.
I’d arranged for a small service on behalf of Brant. I didn’t know him, but thought it was important she’d get closure. His cremation would be off the books; a favor from a friend of mine who worked at the crematory. It wasn’t the best funeral, but enough to give her something to hold on to. Charlie and I were with her for support, though I’m not sure she wanted us to be.
If she wanted space to cope I’d give it to her, but she wasn’t going anywhere, not until I knew she could handle living on her own. First she’d need to go back to work. Then she’d have to save up money. All of that took time, and I was willing to wait it out. Maybe I was crazy. Perhaps I was asking for something bad to happen so I’d regret it. Whatever the case, she had a roof over her head and plenty of hot meals to get her back to good health.
I could tell she had cabin fever, but for the most part seemed to have been managing her new clean life pretty well. After seven more days I could see more color in her skin, and her face was already beginning to fill out. Only time would tell if she’d be able to remain in control, but at least she was off to a good start.
After the service for Brant, she opened up a bit. Her conversations were friendlier, and she seemed to be trying to get along with me.
While the Cassie situation was handled, I worked my ass off to make sure all I’s were dotted, and t’s crossed. I couldn’t take the chance of someone like Rockefeller James going free. So far we’d uncovered three residences involved in the cyber theft. It totaled thirteen arrests, some people as young as sixteen being involved. Tammy, who’d divulged all of the necessary information we needed, had been transferred to a women’s facility. She’d remain there until she was given a fair trial. She’d given us the location of the body drop James had used when he murdered the roommate before Cassie lived there. If I hadn’t been around to save her, she could have been his next victim. I wouldn’t have been able to live with a clear conscience if that were to have happened.
Work was consuming me, and I knew once all the documents were filed I’d be due for a vacation. I’d been working countless hours to put these people away, and now that they’d been detained, I could put in for some R and R.
Since I knew Cassie wouldn’t be sticking around forever, I decided to go against her wishes and plan a trip to North Carolina. Even with us getting along, I knew this wasn’t where she needed to be. I didn’t intend on telling her where we were going until we were too far along for her to argue about it.
She needed to be back with her family, because without them she’d slip. I was one-hundred percent sure of it. There were too many hard feelings for her to not dwell on them.
I didn’t hint about the road trip to her until the day before we were to leave. She’d been staying with me for almost a month, and still not talked about her future. She was a smart girl, who knew how to manipulate her way out of situations she didn’t want to be in, so I had to be discreet. Once I’d packed for myself, and made arrangements to stop at a hotels in between, I manage to slip several of her things into a bag. It was going to be a three day road trip, and Cassie probably wasn’t going to like it very much.
It was a shame, because the more I got to know her, the better I felt about us being friends. She was great, attractive, and full of potential.
It was the morning of, and a last minute decision changed my plans to tell Cassie where we were headed.
I’d come home from work, after making sure all was taken care of for the next couple weeks while I’d be off, and found dinner on the table. She’d ordered takeout with money she’d had in her bank account. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I ordered a bit of everything.” There were five oriental boxes sitting open. I could see rice, and even lo-Mein noodles, as well as different types of meats and sauces. “I know you like spicy things so I took a chance and went for everything hot. Is that okay? Maybe I should have called first. I just thought it could be a good peace offering. I’m tired of holding a grudge, Logan. You’re helping me, and I have to stop being angry at things I can’t change. You’re obviously a good person; always looking out for others. I’m sorry for being hardheaded.”
I couldn’t help from smiling. “We’re good. I figured you’d come around eventually.” I sat down before continuing. “Now, as far as this food goes, I’ll have a little bit of everything.”
She seemed thrilled I was in a good mood. I was just glad she’d finally come to her senses and realized I was trying to do right by her.
Our conversation was nice as we ate. She talked about going back to work, and how she wanted to look for something more permanent. There was even a short amount of time where she talked about her jobs back home, and how she probably couldn’t find something with farming experience in Vegas. Little did she know I was about to take her home; where she belonged. It was for the best. If she decided it wasn’t what she wanted, at least she’d be forced to face the people who I knew still loved her.