A rumbling laugh comes out of me, causing Cassius to look at me fondly.
“I’ll try my best.”
We get through two episodes, with Cassius explaining every little thing to me as if I don’t understand what I’m watching, before he says he has to go.
“I was serious about you not leaving, Cassius,” I say as I get up from the couch with him.
He nods. “Yeah, I know, but I can’t leave them.”
“Will you ever?”
“I mean…” He rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’m sure I will. Honestly, I don’t think Cammy would let it be any other way, but now that I have custody of Chrissy, I have to be there. I can’t risk her going back to my mother.”
“Trust me, that will never happen.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Actually, I do.”
His eyes narrow. “What do you know?”
“Things that I can’t tell you. Just trust me when it comes to this. Your sister is in your custody until she is an adult.”
He bites on his cheek, and I see the emotion welling in his eyes. He leans into me, hugging me tightly. I hug him back and kiss his neck.
“Come by the office at some point tomorrow so we can discuss your position.”
He looks up at me, smiling. “What about the contract now? Can we cancel it?”
“We can. But the stipulation is that I still pay you.”
“So, either way, you have to give me all that money…”
“Legally, yes, I do.”
“And personally, I’m sure you don’t care that you’re doing it either…”
“Not a single bit.”
He kisses me, a deep press of his lips to mine.
“I am going to miss you,” he says.
“I’m going to miss you too.”
With another smile, he leaves out the front door, and I stand there until I can no longer hear his car.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Cassius
When things are good, expect them to go bad.
That should be my motto.
Every time I see light at the end of the tunnel, a storm is waiting for me on the other side.
My phone rings a few minutes from my apartment. It’s Cammy, so I let it ring because I’ll be there in a couple minutes to see what she wants. She’s the one who said I need to start doing things for me, and car rides with the music up and windows down, is something I can definitely do for me. Especially now that spring has brought warm air.