“It’s Cassie,” I say as more of a statement than a question. Where Aidan is concerned, no matter how many women he screws, it’s always her. He has spent most of his adult life trying to fuck her out of his heart and his head.
“Luc, it’s finally happening. She’s coming out of it.” I look at his hopeful face and don’t know what to say. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this from him through the years and nothing ever changes. When she said his nickname a few weeks ago, it gave him hope. I admit that it’s something new, but there have been other things which seemed to indicate she had some awareness of her surroundings and nothing’s ever come of it. No matter how I feel about Cassie, it kills me to see him go through this kind of torture.
“Aidan…you shouldn’t read too much into her saying your name. She—”
“It’s more than that,” he interrupts me, looking almost excited now. “Her doctor says she’s been interacting some with her nurses and the other patients.”
“Interacting how exactly?” I ask, feeling a ripple of unease running through me.
“Saying thank you and answering questions from fellow patients.”
My ripple of unease is more like a fucking tidal wave now. Aidan is right; this is a new development. Cassie has spoken through the years, but generally words that have no place in the conversation at hand. The doctors have always believed she was talking to herself and not responding to whoever is present at the time. She also has a gut-wrenching habit of rubbing her stomach and humming as if she were still pregnant and singing to her unborn child…my fucking child. I can’t be around her and risk seeing it. I told her doctor to stop sending me reports after the last one, which included that bit of information. It’s a completely messed-up state of affairs that I’m her legal guardian and pay for her care, even though she killed my baby and tried to kill me. It’s pure fucking guilt on my part. I long ago instructed the facility to send their reports to Aidan and Max; I simply couldn’t handle it. “Aidan,” I say, trying to get back on track, but still reeling from his news. “She has spoken at times through the years.”
“But her doctors say this is the first time her words are in the right context. Luc, the new medication regimen they are trying with her is doing something. She’s starting to come back, I can feel it.” Fuck, the only thing I feel at his words is nauseous. I love Aidan like a brother, but his dreams are my nightmares. I don’t want a world that involves Cassie, and I wonder if he even knows what he’s hoping for. She’s killing him little by little without ever laying a hand on him.
I give him the usual song and dance about not getting his hopes up, but I’m only going through the motions. I’m too rattled to put much into it. Finally, I change the subject, and we go through the list he’s made of items that need my attention. When Cindy buzzes my phone to tell me I have a call, I’m grateful. I’m afraid he’ll start talking about Cassie again, and I know that regardless of how much I want to support my friend, this is one subject we’ll never agree on again.
Lia
I’m in the kitchen finishing a simple meal of tacos and Spanish rice. I still haven’t had much of an appetite, so when I was actually craving Mexican food, I decided to seize the opportunity. Luckily, Lucian’s cabinets are fully stocked with most of my favorites from the grocery service we use. I hear the front door open and tense before Lucian’s voice rings through the apartment. “Lia, where are you?”
“I’m in the kitchen,” I call back as I sit a glass of sweet tea in front of my plate and a Corona with a lime wedge in front of his.
“What’s all of this?” he asks, looking surprised as he takes in the plates of food I have on the bar. He closes his arms around me, pulling my back into his front. He runs his nose down my neck, smelling my scent as he does so often before dropping a soft kiss there.
I relax into his big body, loving how safe I feel. “I thought I would make dinner for us tonight. I’m getting kind of tired of restaurant food, and I figured you were, as well.”