Page 56 of Kane

Eyeing Cassie up.

Licking their lips at the prospect of a Little to devour.

Well, that’s how it felt to Cassie in that moment anyway.

Cassie nervously took her cellphone out of her pocket and double checked for the name of the café where Lyle had demanded they meet.

Café Sin.

Right then, Cassie would have done anything for a more wholesome café name.

Café Flower.

Café Color.

Maybe even Café Cookie.

Literally anything but Café Sin. What Cassie wanted was innocence, play, and good wholesome intentions. This whole situation with Lyle was anything but that.

Cassie hated everything about the predicament she was in.

But she knew she had no choice.

Cassie felt that shehadto do this.

Her old Daddy had made of habit of questioning Cassie’s ability to stand up for herself. He would accuse Cassie of going into her shell and hiding at the first sign of conflict.

Worse, he would say that Cassie was weak.

A coward.

The name calling had hurt Cassie. Left a mark on her. It had taken a long time for Cassie to get her mojo back. Build her confidence back up.

It was undeniable that Cassie was sensitive. She knew she was. But she was way more resilient than her old Daddy every gave her credit for.

Cassie had always known that.

Even in the darkest moments.

And speaking of dark moments, she was very much in one at she stepped toward the front entrance of Café Sin.

The wooden door frame was painted black, but the paint was peeling. It was apparent that the wood itself was rotting.

The buzzing neon sign above the door momentarily seemed like it was the only light in the entire building as Cassie stepped into the foyer and looked around.

Shekind ofknew what Lyle looked like.

Despite keeping his social media profiles vague with an animated avatar instead of a photo of himself, Lyle had appeared on an online comic creator chat once.

But that was a while back and Cassie didn’t know what to expect now. Lyle could have totally transformed his appearance for all Cassie knew.

The uncertainty was making Cassie feel more nervous.

The trepidation about agreeing to see Lyle wasn’t going anywhere. If anything, it was getting more intense by the second.

The seating area inside the café was dark. Poorly lit. A staleness hung in the air. It wasn’t very nice at all.

This place smells worse than Daddy’s sports socks.