From Ashes

“God, Cassi, I’ve been going out of my mind. How are you? Are you feeling okay?” He reached his hand out toward my face and I smacked it away.

“I’m fine. Why are you here?”

“Baby, I’m so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. Please let me in so we can talk about what happened.”

“There’s not much to talk about. You brought a girl home to screw because I wouldn’t. That about covers it all, don’t you think?”

“I—” He ran both hands through his hair and pulled them out hard, leaving his hair sticking up in all directions. If I hadn’t been so upset from seeing him again, I might have laughed. “I fucked up! I’m sorry, I was wasted and pissed because of what you called me—not that that’s an excuse, I know you had been asleep, I just wasn’t thinking. I mean, I was . . . but—”

“Wow . . . this is already starting off so well. You were wasted, you weren’t thinking, you were thinking. You know, you seemed pretty coherent to me.”

“Cassi—”

“No, I need you to go.”

“Can we please just talk about this? I’m sorry, Cassi.”

I put my hand on the door and started to step back. “I would say I’m sorry too, but I can’t, Ty. I’ll never be sorry for not giving you my virginity, especially when it made me realize what kind of guy you really are.”

“I’m not that guy!”

“Are you serious right now? Ty, you are that guy. I wasn’t ready and you kept pushing me. When I wouldn’t budge, you not only found someone else, you made it a point to insult me in front of her and then kick me out of our place.” I began shutting the door but he put a hand out to stop me. “I thought you did a pretty good job of saying this, but it seems we aren’t on the same page. So let me try. We’re over, Tyler.”

“Cassi, please! I’ll wait as long as you need! Cara was a mistake.”

My body was shaking and I was dangerously close to crying. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. Saying good-bye to my Tyler. I was literally seconds from giving in and rushing into his arms and begging him to make this better, the way he always had. I wanted what we had before, before I made the mistake of agreeing to turn our friendship into something more. But that was gone now. “It’s too little, way too late, Ty.”

“Babe,” he pleaded, and his eyes took on a strange heat as I began closing the door farther. Before I realized what he was doing, one arm was wrapped around my waist, the other hand curled around the back of my neck, and his lips were hard against mine.

I struggled so roughly against him that when Gage suddenly appeared behind him and pulled Tyler from me I landed hard on my butt with a low “Oomph.”

“You okay?” Gage asked. His bright green eyes were fixed on me and he was still trying to catch his breath from his run. Even in the situation I couldn’t help but admire his amazing body. His long-sleeved shirt was soaked and clinging to his chest and abs, and his loose mesh shorts showed his tight . . . calves.

“Yeah.” I nodded and pulled myself up. “Fine.”

One hand reached out and slid down my arm until it wrapped around my hand, and his eyes roamed over my face for a few seconds before he spoke again. “Go get back in bed, Cass, I’ll be in to check on you in a minute.”

“This is why you won’t talk to me? You and him?! How long has this been going on?”

My eyes went wide when I looked over at Tyler. Was he serious? He knew better than anyone how Gage felt about me, or—didn’t feel about me. “Ty—”

Gage pulled me so I was somewhat hidden behind his back. “Don’t even try throwing this onto her for something that isn’t even happening. You messed up. Your actions are what brought her here to me. You’re the reason y’all are no longer together.”

“I told you from day one, man, I told you to stay away.”

Before I could ask what Tyler meant by that, he was stepping up so he was chest to chest with his cousin, and I knew this was going to escalate quickly. “Tyler, just go,” I demanded as I pulled on Gage’s arm to move him back toward the entryway; his hands clenched into fists and I swear his body started vibrating. “Gage, come on. Let’s go inside.” Please, please, please don’t fight. I honestly couldn’t stand to watch anyone throw a punch, and Tyler knew that. I knew he wanted Gage to be the one to start it, because he figured it would freak me out enough to make me want to leave. “This is what he wants, please just shut the door.”

“What?” Tyler taunted. “Too good to hit me this time?”

I froze. Gage had hit him?

“For all the shit you’ve put her through, you deserved it and more.”

“What are you waiting for? I’m standing right here.”

Gage gently pushed me farther back and straightened up to look down at Tyler. “Darlin’, go into your bedroom.”

I watched Tyler’s smirk grow into a wide smile; he’d hinted at Gage’s temper before, but he knew I’d never seen it . . . and I didn’t want to. My body was shaking, and though I felt like I was nailed to the floor, I forced my feet to move and stepped right in between them, facing Gage but keeping my head down so I wouldn’t see the way he was looking at Tyler; his stance was telling me all I needed to know.

“Darlin’.”

“Please.” My voice was soft and shaky as I made myself reach out and grab his clenched fist. I ground my jaw as I held it and tried to stop how my body was violently shaking. Seeing this side of Gage would change everything; I couldn’t let him do this. “Just don’t.”

Gage’s body tightened before he hunched down, his hand going under my chin to tilt my head up. I had squeezed my eyes shut and they slowly opened when I heard his soft voice. “Cass.” His green eyes were wide as they looked all over my face.

“Please,” I whispered again, and he nodded. The hand not holding my chin relaxed and squeezed mine as he moved us away from Tyler.

“You need to go. Don’t show up here without an invite first, you got me?”

“Cassi—” Tyler began, but Gage shut the door and flipped both locks before wrapping his arms around me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Gage, I don’t want what’s happening between me and Tyler to ruin your relationship. You’re family. Maybe I should go—”

“Nope. You’re staying here. I don’t care if he’s family—hell, I’ve already dropped too many things he’s done because we’re family. But not this, not the way he treated you.”

“But—”

“We’ll be fine, Cassidy. He’s being a dumbass, I’m allowed to not want to see him.”

I just nodded my head.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry I scared you.”

“I’m fine, I just—I’m fine.”

His hand trailed soothingly up and down my back. “I’d never hurt you.”

“I know that, Gage,” I said on a sigh. He wouldn’t hurt me, but he didn’t understand I couldn’t see him hurt anyone else either.

G AGE

THINGS WERE NEAR perfect over the next few weeks. Cassidy had gone back to work the Monday after Tyler showed up, and he hadn’t bothered her since. I still saw him at school, and we were back on for going to breakfast Saturday mornings, but even though things were getting back to normal, they were still strained. I was taking Cassidy to and from work, and failing at helping her in the kitchen at night, but damn if it wasn’t one of my favorite times with her.

All the guys came over to my place for her cooking about once a week and I was glad it was less than what they’d been doing at Ty’s. I knew I was being selfish, but I loved our time together, and having a bunch of people over just got in the way of that. When it was just us, we’d curl up on the main couch and she’d watch TV while I did homework, and more often than not, I got to carry her to bed at night. If others were over, she always kept at least a foot between us, and even though it was small, I hated any distance from her. We didn’t touch a lot, but knowing I couldn’t put my arms around her sucked. Like now. We’d gone out to grab di