From Ashes

“Yeah?”

I turned the knob and pushed open the door, worrying when I saw her curled up in bed. “You feeling okay, darlin’?”

She sighed and turned so she was facing me. “What’s up, Gage?”

“Uh—I ordered a pizza.” It sounded more like a question, but I was so damn confused I didn’t know what to say or do anymore.

“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure I can fend for myself when you’re out. I’ve been known to get in the kitchen every now and then.”

Man, with that tone, she’d skipped snarky and gone straight California bitch on me. “Um . . . I’m not going out.”

Her eyebrows shot straight up and she mashed her mouth together tightly before forcing a smile that looked pained. “So your date’s coming here. Did you want me to leave?”

“Cass, seriously? It’s Saturday.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So . . . ? It’s movie night.”

“Wow, um . . .” She shook her head slightly and her whiskey eyes got even wider. “I’m sorry, but I’d rather not be watching movies with you and your date.”

Holy shit, she really thought I had a date with someone other than her? I knew this wasn’t exactly a date, and she lived with me, but these were my nights with her. She had to know I wasn’t about to let someone come between us and our night together, much less another girl. I mean honestly, it’s not like I was subtle with everything I felt about her. I was pretty damn pathetic when it came to Cassidy; anything involving her and I was there with a smile on my face. Not that I cared; I was in love with the girl, and everyone knew it even if I hadn’t told them. Shit, even the guys last night were talking about how I couldn’t stop looking at her, and she’d been right there. “Darlin’,” I said softly, “you are out of your damn mind if you think I have a date with some chick tonight.”

Her face scrunched up and she looked so damn cute I had to force the corners of my mouth not to turn up. She had been upset because she thought I was going on a date. Everything from last night through today finally made sense, and yeah, it felt damn good to know she’d been jealous. “But last night . . . you told everyone—” She stopped and tilted her head to the side. “You don’t have a date?”

“Oh no, I do. But apparently my date would rather spend the night alone in bed than on the couch with me, a movie, and a pizza.”

“You didn’t go out with the guys because of our movie night?” she asked softly.

God, I was in love with this girl. “Uh, yeah. Now are you gonna come out there with me, or do I have to throw you over my shoulder, hold you down on the couch, and force you to watch a movie with me?” Damn if my pants didn’t get tighter thinking about pinning her down on the couch.

She failed miserably at hiding her smile and slowly got out of the bed, making her way toward me and the door. When she passed me she paused and turned her head up to look back at me. “Thanks, Gage.”

Chapter Eleven

CASSIDY

GLANCING DOWN AT my watch, I almost sighed in relief when I saw there were only five minutes left of my shift. It was Friday and, for whatever reason, this Friday seemed like a Monday. We had angry customers in the drive-thru who yelled at Lori because it took her almost three minutes to get their six-drink order out to them, then a snotty kid threw his hot chocolate on the ground because it had whipped cream—seriously, what kid doesn’t like whipped cream?—and his mom demanded we make him another for free, even though she’d never mentioned anything about the whipped cream before I’d made the drink. Lori had gotten emotional after the six-drink order, and we’d traded spots right after, so she had gone out to clean up the mess while I started on another hot chocolate, and in her barely two months of preggo glory . . . she proceeded to get morning sickness, right there in front of everyone. This, incidentally, made said snotty kid throw up right next to her as well. If that hadn’t been enough, the mother started yelling that she was going to sue us for causing her child to throw up from, and I quote, “forcing that awful whipped cream into my baby boy.” I hadn’t meant to, but I was so over the day already I’d snorted out a laugh when she said that, and she decided to take her anger out on me. Said that it wasn’t saying much for Starbucks if they’d let a drugged-out child with track marks make their customer’s drinks as she pointed to my tattoo of Ursa Major on my arm. Yay me.

I was just slipping off my apron and punching in my code when Stacey walked in with an older woman I’m assuming was her mother. Stacey looked amazing; she was glowing and couldn’t stop smiling, exactly the way a girl should look the day before her wedding.

“Hey! Didn’t expect to see you today, but I must tell you, you missed one awesome day.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes getting bright.

“No. It was awful, be glad you weren’t here.”

“Oh.” She scrunched up her nose at me and smiled. “Well, we’re meeting up with my girls to get our nails done but I’m glad I caught you before you left. I was wondering if you’re going to bring a date tomorrow. I know things with Tyler ended a few months ago, so I didn’t know if you planned on bringing someone else . . .” She trailed off.

“Huh. I hadn’t even thought about that. I guess I’ll just go by myself. If this is about the price for catering, I’ll totally eat for two if you want me to.”