“You don’t look too good, mate. Here, take my seat.” Cass jumped up and moved across to me, pulling me out of my chair. That mischievous glint in his eye…I had a fairly good idea of what was coming next.
“You can sit on me, beautiful.” He collapsed into my chair and patted his thigh.
“No.” Caiden’s voice rang out, startling me.
Every single head turned towards him.
“Where’s the fucking popcorn when you need it,” I heard Zayde comment under his breath.
“No? Why not, huh?” Cassius stared at Caiden challengingly, and Caiden stared straight back, unblinking.
For fuck’s sake.
“Caiden, can I have a quick word with you?” I eyed him cautiously. “Please,” I added. I walked to the door and out into the hallway, hoping he’d follow me. Leaning against the hallway wall, I waited.
A few moments later he slipped out of the room and came to a stop in front of me. His expression was shuttered, but I saw the muscle ticking in his jaw, and his clenched fists.
“What was all that about?” I kept my voice soft and quiet, trying not to provoke him. “Do you have an issue with me and Cass?”
“There is no you and Cass,” he said roughly, planting his arms either side of me so he was all up in my personal space. Again.
“Why not?”
“Because I said so.”
“Well, I’m afraid that’s not a good enough reason.” My body was reacting to his proximity, shivers running down my spine and my heart beating faster, and I closed my eyes briefly, trying to regain control.
I could feel his hot breath on my ear as he leaned even closer. “You’re not his.”
“I’m not yours, though, right? You made that pretty fucking clear last night.” I let some of my anger over his behaviour bleed through into my tone, but my voice still sounded breathy and lustful, even to my own ears.
“No. You’re not. How many fucking times do you need to hear it?”
“So you don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me, is that it?”
He looked at me silently for a moment, then shrugged, a quick, jerky movement. He lowered his thick lashes, his gaze darting to my mouth as I bit my lip, thinking hard. Should I say it? Fuck it. It’s not like I could make things much worse between us.
“You want to know what I think?” I waited until his eyes met mine before I continued. “I think you do want me. I think you’re lying to yourself.” I slid under his arm and stalked away from him, but he grabbed my arm, pulling me back.
“What?” I snapped, my patience finally running out.
“Stay the fuck away from Cassius.”
“He’s my friend. Unlike you, he can actually admit that he enjoys spending time with me.”
He laughed darkly, his grip on my arm tightening. “Don’t flatter yourself, Snowflake. He’d drop you in a second if I wanted him to.”
“Whatever you say.” I sighed. “Look, as low as your opinion is of me, I have no desire to cause trouble between the two of you. But maybe you should look at why you have such a problem with me and him.” I shook off his arm, and this time he didn’t stop me.
“Great talk. Really productive,” I muttered to myself as I re-entered the room, Caiden on my heels.
“Enough fucking time-wasting. Let’s get down to business,” Zayde commanded, and I nodded. This conversation was over, for now, and we had more important things to worry about.
Sinking into the empty chair at the desk, I picked up the manila folder I’d left there. The Four crowded around me, peering at the contents.
“Right. There’s not much to go on, but this is all I have.” I spread out the papers in front of me. “There’s the Alstone Holdings printouts—all generic information that you could easily find online.” I indicated the sheets that I’d placed together with a paperclip.
“Then, we have this photo of my mother. I don’t know if it means anything to any of you?” I handed the image to Zayde. It was a grainy, blown-up image in black and white. She was sitting at a table, partially obscured, and I could see a man’s hand but hadn’t been able to glean anything useful from it.