Wild Forces: A Friends to Lovers Romance (O-Town Book 2)

by Karen Renee

  The look on her face told me she hadn’t heard anything Clint had said but only what I had said.

  “Cassie,” I started.

  But she turned to Cecilia. “I knew, I knew this was a bad idea. Don’t worry about me, I’ll get an Uber home.”

  I pushed past Cecilia and caught up with Cassie in no time because she couldn’t move at her normal pace.

  “Cassandra, listen to me,” I said.

  “No way, Gabe. How long have you known my mother cheated on my Dad? Huh?”

  “Five minutes ago,” I snapped.

  Her lips quirked to the side with a look calling bullshit.

  “I’m serious, Cass. I heard Ryan hitting your mother up for more money, then her refusal, along with the threat to charge him with money-laundering. When Ryan pointed out it would implicate, if not incriminate your father, too, she said ‘Two birds, one stone’. I didn’t know for certain she was your mother until he mentioned you might be charged, too.”

  Her chin dipped. “Really?”

  My eyes widened as exasperation filled me. “Yes, really! I made moves to invest in the club specifically so you and your Dad wouldn’t be in the line of fire.”

  “You couldn’t have just told me all that on Monday?”

  I looked past her for a moment, but when I met her eyes again I shook my head. “Would you have believed me? I hadn’t even officially met your mother. And seriously, Daughtry, that was no time to lay that on you. With my temper as bad as it is, I have no idea—”

  “I’m so glad you brought up your temper. Gabe, you’ve got a real problem, and I’m sorry, but we can’t continue with the way you react –and sometimes overreact to things.”

  “What?” I whispered.

  “You heard me. I would say we could go back to being just friends, but that won’t work.”

  “Cassandra,” I turned my head to the side as my throat clogged and I cleared it. “It was a misunderstanding. You didn’t tell me what you suspected Ryan was doing.”

  “I still didn’t tell you. How do you know—”

  I tore my hand through my hair. If I didn’t stop that, I’d end up with early-onset baldness like Vamp and need to shave my head. “Your dad is the client, Cassandra. He shared your suspicions with Clint. Brock running into you at the chop house happened because he followed your mother. He knew she had a reservation; what he didn’t know was that you would be accompanying her.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Dad’s... Why would he investigate my mother?”

  I rested my hands on my hips so I wouldn’t reach out to her although I itched to hold her. “He investigated Ryan, but your mother paying the club a visit prompted a look into her.”

  The narrowed eyes turned into a squint. “Without telling my father that was happening? I do not think so.”

  “Believe it,” Clint said from the mouth of the hallway. “He said he wanted answers, and he didn’t care what we had to do to get them. Tailing your mother didn’t prove anything initially, until Gabe told us about what he overheard. And he only did that because you spotted Brock at the Chophouse, Cassie.”

  “What does me seeing Brock have to do with anything?”

  I gentled my gaze on her. “Honey, after you gave Brock what-for, it hit me that he wouldn’t just show up at a place like that. And really, who gets to the Kres and immediately has to leave? Not anybody I know, but I could see him having to get away from you. Which meant, he was tailing your mother. I called him on it, he didn’t want to fess up to it, but I shared what I had heard.”

  She put her hand on her side and exhaled. Instinctively, I moved to her and guided her to a nearby padded bench. Once she sat down, I squatted in front of her. “Honey, do not exhaust yourself over this. I am sorry about not telling you, but do you see the bind I was in? I had to protect you from being accused of money-laundering.”

  Her lips pressed together and I knew she saw my side of things, she just didn’t want to own up to it. To my surprise, her eyes skated to Clint, who had come closer. “My sister’s... only my half-sister?”

  Clint sighed. “I’m sorry, Cassandra, but yeah. And I can’t say any more about that. Your father’s still in the office with Mr. Oteros, but he knows you’re out here. He hasn’t even spoken to your mother.”

  She hung her head and exhaled. “I can’t go home,” she mumbled.

  I cupped her chin with a hand. “Say that again, honey?”

  Her tormented eyes caught mine. “I can’t go home. If she... if Sera’s not his, I don’t want to be there when that gets discussed. And I can’t go to my apartment because of the fucking, fucking stairs.”

  I pressed my lips together to prevent my grin. “Lucky for you, baby, I’ll carry you up to my place.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Gabe, I’m not down with—”

  “I’ll sleep on the couch again, if I have to. But, dammit Cassandra. You are not pushing me away.”

  Her lips pushed out in a semi-duck-lipped pout and I fought chuckling or kissing them in equal measure.

  Cassie

  I COULD SEE FROM HIS expression he wanted to laugh at me. That annoyed me, but with my world shaken to the core I didn’t have time to be annoyed.

  Sera wasn’t Dad’s daughter. How could my mother cheat on my father? Then another thought struck me.

  Was I my father’s daughter?

  Clint stood close by, and I looked up at him. “What about me? Do I need a paternity test or something?”

  He shook his head, but I held up a hand to stop him. “Sorry. Never mind. God! Now this makes much more sense. A couple Christmases ago, mother gave me one of the new genetic tests. She was really insistent I do it since it cost so much money. No wonder.”

  Had she ever wanted to have Dad’s child? Quickly, I swallowed, because I felt bile rising up, but no way would I spare that kind of reaction for my mother.

  I caught Gabe’s beautiful cobalt eyes on me, but I looked up to Clint. “How does Ryan play into any of this? It still doesn’t fit.”

  Clint frowned. “Seems Ryan had a thing for your sister a long time ago. He followed Sera on the day she confronted your mother with the results of a genetic test she’d sent off.”

  My brows furrowed. “I thought those only came out like four or five years ago? Mother made a big deal about that when she gave me mine for Christmas.”

  Clint shook his head. “Your sister’s nothing if not resourceful, and there was a lesser known company, Family Tree DNA, which ran tests as early as 1999. Sera had hers done late in the year 2000.”

  “When she was eighteen,” I muttered.

  “Right. Little did either of them know, Ryan lurked and heard the entire exchange. When Sera stormed out of the room, Ryan confronted Felicia.”

  My brows furrowed. “But why?”

  “Why did he confront your mother?”

  I nodded.

  “He’s a year younger than your sister, so seventeen-year-old guy, he wanted to force your mother to get your sister to notice him. That didn’t work out since she was on her way to college anyway. He knew your parents were loaded and he pressed his case with your mother.”

  My head tilted. “Really? How do you know this?”

  He smiled as though he understood and respected my skepticism. “Yeah. Monday night, I cornered Pruitt with what we knew. He’s slick on the outside, but he crumbled under pressure.”

  I squinted at him and he shrugged. Then he added, “As far as you know.”

  I gave him a nonplussed smile, but then I heard footsteps in the hallway. The sound receded, indicating the person walked the opposite direction and it hit me how the building was set up. There were entryways on either end of the corridor, and whoever was leaving was exiting to the south side of the building. I tired to lean forward, but my recent surgery prevented that.

  Gabe gently pushed me back, but Clint had turned his head at the sound and he seemed to know what I was trying to find out.

  “That was your father. He’s leaving. You w
ant, I’m sure Mr. Oteros will fill you in as much as he can, but I don’t think he’ll have more to tell you than I just did.”

  I shook my head. “That’s all right. I just wish Dad would’ve come by to see me, since he knew I was here.”

  Gabe made a noise and I looked to him. “Honey, I can see how devastated you are right now. Can you imagine what he’s going through? I don’t think he wants you to see him that way. Do you?”

  Tears sprung to my eyes as I realized how smart Gabe could be and how lucky I was to have him around.

  “You’re right,” I croaked, and turned my head away so he wouldn’t see me cry.

  He crab-walked forward to slide his arms around my waist. “You comin’ to my place, baby?”

  I whipped my head to him and glared. “You can’t call me ‘baby,’ right now, Gabe!”

  “Why?”

  There was no way to hide the anger from my face, so I didn’t. “Because, you just can’t. It’s not right. I’m not sure I forgive you yet.”

  He chuckled, and I growled.

  “What is so funny?”

  “You,” he said, getting up to sit next to me on the bench.

  “I’m not funny, mister.”

  “Whatever you say, but seriously. I’ll take you to your place if you want. Carry you up the stairs and everything, but I’d rather you stay with me, darlin’.”

  “Why?” I whispered.

  He gently turned my face to his. “Are you shitting me? I love you, Daughtry. And, I hesitate to bring it up, but I could be your baby-daddy as far as I know.”

  The tears came so fast, I couldn’t keep one from sliding down my face. “Nope. My cycle kicked into gear yesterday.”

  He looked like he had been deflated, his torso slumped so dramatically. “I’m sorry, honey.”

  Now my eyes widened. “Sorry? Really? So you did plan to get me pregnant?”

  He chuckled. “I really didn’t, but I won’t lie, baby.” A sheepish grin crossed his face. “I liked the idea a whole lot.”

  My eyes closed while I shook my head. “You would,” I muttered.

  He leaned into me cupping my cheeks with his hands. “You listen to my CD?”

  “No,” I whispered, suddenly wishing I had.

  “Shame on you, Cassandra,” he chided. Then he added, “Lucky for you I know you so well. I got an extra copy in my truck. Let’s go. Get you some food, and some painkillers if you need ’em.”

  IT HIT ME WHILE LISTENING to the new Michael Franti music. Gabe was communicating to me, and in one of the best ways in my opinion. I hadn’t apologized to him yet, and I needed to do it before he had to heft my weight up the stairs.

  When we pulled up to a red light, I looked to him. “Gabe, I’m sorry.”

  He stared at me for a beat. “What for, baby?”

  “For being so hard on you. I shouldn’t have turned you away from my hospital room, but I heard what you said in the breezeway and I hated you for it.”

  “Breezeway,” he started, but the car behind us honked. He faced forward and drove onward.

  “Yeah. I heard you talking about getting pizza after dropping off my brush and that being ‘done.’ In my mind it was just that easy for you to get rid of me and I... I don’t know, I guess I made assumptions on top of all the other shit between us.”

  He exhaled hard through his nose while his hand reached out to squeeze my thigh. “That’s all right, Cassie-Cass. I had no idea you were in that apartment, but I figured someone was watching, and I couldn’t let anyone know I was freaked the fuck out about where you were.”

  “You were?” I asked.

  He shot me a hard look. “Bet your ass, I was freaked out. That shit was fucked up.”

  Since he wasn’t wrong, I had nothing to add to that.

  Then I blurted, “But pizza? Really? It just seemed so damned easy for you to drop off my brush and go get a slice.”

  “Honey, we didn’t go get pizza at all—”

  “Yeah, Cecilia made that clear. I guess I was thinking of how easily you ditched other women.”

  His hand squeezed my leg. “Well, stop that shit right now, because you are not other women. You’re my only woman.”

  “You sure?”

  “Daughtry, you do not need my reassurances at this point.”

  I put my hand over his. “It never hurts, Gabe.”

  He turned his head to me. “So noted, baby.”

  We lapsed into silence, until he asked, “You weren’t going to listen to the CD?”

  I sighed. “No, but Cecilia did her best, I can tell you that. When she figured out I wouldn’t listen to it, she made the case for at least speaking to you, and then she brought me to the offices.”

  “Listen, I was gonna inundate you with flowers and shit, but I knew that wasn’t your speed. Dad said whatever gesture I made, it had to matter. And it’s like I told you, Cassandra, music always matters.”

  33

  Only Good Version

  Gabe

  MY BREATH CAUGHT WHEN she violently turned to the window as “I Can Still Feel You” played. Part of me wanted to be thrilled at the reaction, but I knew better. When I paused the song, she looked back to me.

  “Why’d you do that?”

  “Pause the song or put it on the disc?”

  “Both,” she whispered.

  My lips tipped up as I turned back to the traffic. “I paused it because of your reaction, and I wasn’t sure if it was a good one or a bad one. Jury’s still out on that, by the way, honey.”

  “Not sure I know myself, Gabe.”

  “Okay. Well, I put it on the disc because you’d pushed me away. I had been a supreme jackass to you, and even when I was at home, those words rang true.”

  I braked for a tourist moving from the left lane to the far right in order to exit at the last minute. Orlando traffic was not for the faint of heart, that was for sure. My hand went to her leg as our exit approached.

  When the song changed, she glanced at me. “Now you just want to be friends?”

  I snorted. “You pay attention, my dear, he’s advocating for more than friends, but Michael Franti’s nothing if not smart as hell. A man’s gotta start somewhere with the woman he loves.”

  As if on cue, Franti sang about making out and realizing they were more than friends.

  Cassie grabbed my hand. “You’re right, Sullivan. I’m so glad we’re friends.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t flirt with me when I can’t fuck you because of your wounds.”

  She giggled, but cut it short. “Don’t make me laugh, Gabriel.”

  I shrugged. “Do what I can, honey, but I’ve always been a funny guy.”

  We were motoring through the apartment complex parking lot when “Wild Horses” started.

  “I can’t believe you even have this song,” she said.

  Before I could say more, she added, “How hard was it to add that song? And you didn’t puss out by finding a cover version.”

  I squeezed her leg. “It’s the only good version of it, you know.”

  “I never told you this, but this is my favorite version because it’s raw, gritty, and you can easily hear Keith’s vocals.

  “Like I said, only good version.”

  She slugged me in the bicep. “Shut up. I’m just amazed you overcame your disdain.”

  Once I swung the truck into a parking space, I turned to her. “I don’t have disdain for them. They’re just not rock gods. But, parts of this song are completely true, too. No way I was gonna let you slide through my hands,” I tucked her hair behind her ear. “You get that, don’t you?”

  She leaned into my touch. “Yeah. God, you can be so freaking lovable.”

  “For you, I always aim to please. Now, stay put and I’ll carry you upstairs.”

  She opened her mouth to argue and I shot her a reproachful look.

  “Fine,” she muttered.

  Her weight wasn’t a burden, but carrying her reminded me of the first time I did it, and
I wished I could drape her over my shoulder again. That had been a lot of fun.

  I set her on her feet in front of my door. “Have to say, Daughtry, the last time I carried you was more fun, but we’ll do that again soon enough.”

  She shook her head while she walked into the apartment. “You know if Cecilia’s coming back anytime soon or not? If I’m staying here, I need her to get some stuff for me.”

  I closed the door, and chuckled. “I can run over to your place too, you know.”

  She smiled at me. “Not so sure I want you pilfering through my bathroom items for feminine supplies. Like I told you, Sullivan, you’re not a soon-to-be daddy after all.”

  I shrugged a shoulder. “Did you really think you were pregnant?”

  Her eyes widened when she shrugged. “I really won’t ever know, but I’m normally within a day or two of my target and Monday I was already a couple days late. Tuesday wasn’t looking so good either, but a gunshot wound is quite the trauma for anyone.”

  I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her loosely. “Yeah, we don’t need any more of that shit.”

  She gazed up at me. “No. We don’t.”

  Her eyes seemed more hazel than green today, but I knew that was the lighting. “You gonna kiss me, baby?”

  “No,” she whispered. “You’re gonna kiss me, G-Rock.”

  “Damn right.”

  Cassie

  WHEN GABE KISSED ME, the feeling was all the sweeter because earlier in the day, I didn’t think we would kiss again. His hold was gentle but his kiss was even gentler. I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not, and I kissed him back with force.

  In his loose hold, he raised a hand to my head and tried to pull away. I pushed toward him and he groaned. I reached up grabbing the back of his head, and pulled him to me. His tongue pushed back against mine and as usual, he took over.

  God, how I loved when he kissed me. And to think I was ready to shove that aside because of his temper. My disappointment in myself made me pull away from him.

  He cupped my cheeks. “What are you thinkin’ about, Cassandra?”