Page 27 of Light From The Dark
I chuckled. “Why don’t you make pancakes, then? I’m sure Casey would enjoy the view as much as I will.”
He cocked his head as he thought about it. “I could do that.” He nodded and tossed the end of the shirt over his shoulder, holding on to it and heading for the door. He stopped and looked back at me as I buttoned up my black dress shirt and began tucking it into my unbuttoned slacks. “But tonight, you get to eat dinner in boxers.”
I laughed as his chuckle faded down the hall.
We were drinking our coffee when Casey came into the room, her eyes planted firmly on the floor with that irresistible shade of pink covering her cheeks. Yeah, our girl was still embarrassed by what she had done last night. It was obvious she had enjoyed it, though. Her muffled screams of pleasure hadn’t been hidden any more than her quiet groans had been the night before. She was probably feeling out of sorts, thinking that spying was the worst kind of betrayal. It made me feel bad that we had put her in the position to begin with.
I stood up and made her a cup of coffee the way she seemed to prefer. I made sure to run my hand across her shoulder, my thumb brushing the soft skin above the neckline of her shirt as I walked by. Her little shiver and the goosebumps that rose on her arms were like a balm to my horniness for her. Before I sat back down, I leaned down and kissed her cheek, lingering there long enough to inhale her sweet scent.
“Morning, sugar. How did you sleep?”
The pink that had covered her cheeks when she walked in darkened with my question. I watched her squeeze her hands in her lap before lifting one to her cup. The little tremble couldn’t be missed, but Brent and I pretended not to see as she brought the cup to her plush lips and mumbled behind the mug’s rim.
“Good, thank you.” She cleared her throat and looked like she was about to say something else when Brent took that moment to stand up, bringing her attention to his naked chest. Her breath seemed to catch, and she stuttered. “I—uh, I…” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her head turned to me, and I couldn’t miss the way her eyes kept darting to the side as Brent made her a plate of pancakes, slathering butter over the top and pouring a generous amount of syrup. “I was wondering if there was a clothing store near the diner that I could walk to after my shift is over?”
I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out, taking her hand from her lap and gently squeezing it. “There is a store a few blocks over. But it’s supposed to rain pretty hard today. I can drive you so you don’t have to walk.”
She looked over to the window. “Oh!” It was dark, with ominous gray clouds covering the sky. “That looks bad.”
Brent shrugged as he sat back down after placing a fork directly into Casey’s hand and kissing her cheek the same way I had. “Storms can get pretty violent around here.” He gave her a smirk. “Don’t worry, dollface. You have two big, strong men that will protect you.”
She tore her eyes away from the storm brewing outside and looked at him with worry. “We don’t really get violent storms back home.”
It was the first time she even hinted at where she had come from. I decided to take the chance to let her know we now knew her story. What the media had to say about it, anyway. “Back in California?”
Her eyes got wide as they flew to me, then back to Brent. When she looked back at me again, her shoulders slumped. “You know.”
“Sugar, look at me.”
She raised her eyes from the table and turned to me. Her tears broke my heart, and I stood up from my chair to squat down next to her, invading her space so she could see every bit of sincerity inside me.
“You went through something horrific.”
She blinked, and a tear escaped her watery eyes. It quickly made a trail down her now pale cheek and hung off her chin. I reached out before it could fall, gently brushing it away.
“Baby, we are here for you. Both of us. You can tell us anything. If you want to talk about it, we will listen. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay, too. But know this, Casey. We will protect you. Always. We won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
A sob broke from her chest, and she flung her arms around my shoulders and began to cry in earnest against my throat. I let her get it out as I slowly rubbed her back and looked up at Brent from over her head. He looked stricken and at a loss for what to do. I gestured with my eyes until he snapped out of it and stepped closer until he was awkwardly patting her back. I had to hold back my chuckle. He looked as if he wanted to cry, too.
“Let it out,” I murmured in her ear. “Let it out. Give it to us so we can carry it for you.”
My words made her cry harder for another long minute before she pulled back and started wiping her eyes. Brent quickly reached over to grab a napkin off the table. Instead of handing it to her, he turned her face toward him with a finger under her chin. He gently wiped her cheeks dry.
“Dollface,” he spoke quietly. “We need to know more about the man that kept you.”
She nodded, blinking up at him. “I will tell you everything. But can we do it later tonight? I…” She looked around the kitchen, her gaze landing on the stove clock. “Can we talk about it after work?” She gestured at the clock. He nodded, still holding her chin as he stared down at her with concern. I knew he wasn’t used to displays of emotions, he’d never been around people that showed anything but anger growing up.
“Of course.” He swept his thumb over her cheek before letting it rest on her full bottom lip. “You’ll be okay.” It was a statement of fact. For him, there was no other option, one I wholeheartedly agreed with.
I stood back up and picked up her abandoned fork, pressing it back into her hand. “Let’s finish breakfast so we can get you to work. I hear your boss is a real hardass.”
She giggled at my wink. Brent looked relieved that her tears had dried up and almost collapsed in his chair, seemingly exhausted by the short bout of intense emotions.
Seventeen
CASEY
The morningat the diner went by quickly. Grace had given me a couple of tables to get used to being a server instead of just running plates and drinks out. I had been nervous. It seemed like such a huge responsibility, but it wasn’t as bad as I had built it up in my head.