53. Cassidy

"Lookwho decided to grace us with her presence," Lila drawls as I flip her off and move behind the bar. It feels like it"s been too long since I worked back here now that we have Saylor to help cover. But after Hayden"s showdown with his dad a couple of days ago, he and Sawyer have been breaking down every minute of their childhoods and I needed to get out of the house. "Though if I was the one getting railed by a hockey god every night, I wouldn't bother showing up either."

I roll my eyes as I tie an apron around my waist and grab a glass to start pouring drinks. I frown down at my stomach, wondering if that's a tiny bump I see. I have no idea how far along I am, and I should definitely get in to see someone to find out. "You"re just jealous."

"Damn straight I am," she says as she mixes a drink for one of our regulars. We"re busy tonight, but not so busy that I can"t keep up with Lila and Saylor. The Sin Bin is my baby, and I"m proud of how well it"s doing, even though it"s been a lot lately with everything else going on in my life.

"Aren"t you gay?" Saylor asks as she walks behind us to grab a fresh bottle of gin. "And have a baby with, like, another girl?"

Lila rolls her eyes at me as she passes the drink she made across the bar. "What, being gay and in love with my girlfriend means I don"t have eyes? And can't appreciate good sex? Besides, Cassidy"s husband is hot as hell."

Saylor stumbles to a stop, turning wide eyes on me. "Husband? You got married?"

I nod as I finish pouring a beer for someone down the bar and slide it toward them before flashing her my rings. "Yep."

She stares at me for a second before she shakes her head like she"s trying to clear it. "Okay, we"re going to need details later when it slows down." I bristle a little because I"m protective of my relationship with Hayden and I don"t really know Saylor enough to want to share intimate details of my life with her.

Once she"s on the other side of the bar and not in hearing range, I move closer to Lila, jerking my head once toward my newest employee. "What"s her deal? How"s she doing?"

We both look over at her in a totally not cool and not at all stealthy way. Thankfully, Saylor"s frowning down at her phone while she types on it so she doesn"t see us. "She seems good. A little distracted sometimes, but she gets the drinks out fast and hasn"t screwed up too bad yet."

I nod as I grab a rag and wipe down the bar top while we have a second to breathe. My feet are aching and I still don"t know how I feel about all the changes happening in both my business and private life, but I"m trying to just roll with it. I"m not really a spontaneous kind of person, but I"m trying. "Okay, that"s good."

Lila nudges me with her elbow. "Don"t worry about her too much. She"s fine."

"I"m not worried," I say, but it comes out sounding defensive and Lila laughs. "I just want to make sure she"s not going to, I don"t know, burn down my bar or chase off all our regulars or something."

"She"s not." Lila laughs. "And if she tries anything, I"ll kick her ass for you," Lila says as she makes another drink for someone who just walked in.

"Deal." I watch her work with a happy smile on my face, knowing she"s got my back no matter what. I leave her and Saylor to work while I head up to the office. I"m so behind on paperwork, it"s depressing. It"s been hard to find time with everything else going on, so I"ve been putting it off. Now that I"m here, I need to get it done so I can focus on other stuff.

I sit down at my desk and groan at how good it feels to sit down. It doesn't take long to pull out the stack of receipts and invoices that are due to be paid and start entering them into my accounting software. It"s tedious and boring, but it needs to be done so I don"t get any late fees or penalties.

By the time I"m finished, my neck hurts like a bitch, my eyes sting, and my ass is numb. I"m in desperate need of a walk to get some blood flowing back into my legs, and my stomach growls because I"m starving. I check my phone and grin at the message there from Hayden.

Hayden: You know it"s unhealthy for you to be away from me for more than half an hour

Hayden: Doctor"s orders

Then he sent a picture of him and Sawyer cheesing for the camera, his brother in his white lab coat. It"s ridiculous and I kind of love it. Hayden"s possessive, but then so am I. We have that toxic co-dependency vibe going on and honestly, I"m living for it.

Cassidy: Huh

Cassidy: And here I thought the road worked both ways

Hayden: Smartass

I send him a picture of me flipping him off with my tongue sticking out and he sends back a heart eyes emoji which is so unlike him I can"t help but laugh.

Hayden: Come home now

Hayden: I've got something I want to give you

Cassidy: It's your dick, isn't it?

Hayden: You'll have to come home to find out

Cassidy: There"s this incredible invention called the car

Cassidy: If you want to see me, better figure out how they work

Cassidy: Or learn to be patient because I still have a couple of hours here

Hayden: We both know if I show up there you"re not getting shit done

Cassidy: True

Cassidy: Guess you"ll have to suffer through

Hayden: Cold

I grin as I slip my phone into my pocket and stand up, stretching my arms over my head as I try to get some feeling back in my body. Lila"s off in a few, so I head down to the bar to tell her goodbye. I think I got enough done upstairs that I can spend the rest of tonight with Saylor slinging drinks until closing.

Lila looks up when she sees me walking toward her and rolls her eyes. "I know you didn"t finish all that paperwork."

I laugh as she unties her apron and tosses it on the counter before grabbing her purse from behind the bar. "You know what? Paperwork is now a banned word in my bar." I pull her in for a quick hug, noting Saylor"s not behind the bar. "Where"s Saylor?"

"She"s been distracted, so I told her to go take a break and deal with whatever"s bugging her. That was about ten minutes ago, so she should be back any second."

"Got it. Give Tavi a kiss for me, k?"

She nods as she waves and heads out the door. I take her place behind the bar and start pouring drinks for the customers who are still here, but it"s slowed down a lot.

Eventually, Saylor comes back in with red-rimmed eyes looking like a wreck. I check the clock and it"s only about half an hour until closing. "Hey, you can cut out early if you want," I tell her. I"m tired as hell, my feet ache and are no doubt swollen even though I"m not even that pregnant yet, and I"m the kind of hungry where it"s walking dangerously close to the line of nausea.

But I also know being emotionally wrung out isn"t a good space to be in when you"re handling drunk customers.

"Can I ask a favor instead?"

I raise my eyebrows because I kind of thought letting her go home early for personal reasons was the favor, but I bite back my irritation. Snapping on my employee because I"m hangry isn"t going to help. "You can ask, but no promises I"ll do it."

She nods like she gets that. "Can you give me a ride? My car"s in the shop and I don"t really have any other way to get home." She sniffles and oh god, if she cries I have no idea what I"m going to do. I"m not good with tears. "I just found out my boyfriend"s been cheating on me and he was supposed to be my ride, but I can"t handle seeing him right now."

I groan. "Why are men the worst? I swear they"re all trash."

She chokes out a sad laugh as she grabs her stuff and starts untying her apron. "I mean, you married one, so you must not hate them that much."

I shrug because she"s not wrong. "Hayden"s different." He"s still an asshole sometimes, but it"s more in a fun way than a dickish one. And he"s mine, so it"s okay.

"Yeah, well, I wish mine was different," Saylor says as she tosses her apron into the bin with the dirty bar rags. "But thanks for doing this. It means a lot."

After I call a ride for the last customer, we close the place down. Then I wait for her to walk out of the door before I flick off the lights and lock up behind us. "No need to thank me. My ex was a cheating shitbag. I"m actually jealous of all the people who"ve never met him. That's how horrible he is."

Saylor shifts her weight from one foot to the next, but gives me the faintest smile before falling into step beside me as we head to the parking lot. "I guess we"re about to have that in common, then."

I unlock my car and climb in behind the wheel, trying not to think about the awkwardness between us. Saylor"s quiet and on her phone, so after connecting my phone to the car, I click on the playlist at the top of my app and Choke by Royal The Serpent plays while I sing along.

I may or may not also fill the time fantasizing about everything I'm going to eat when I'm done with this. Steak tacos? Lemon chicken? Either way, I'm gonna need a milkshake.

My mouth's full-on watering as Saylor gives me directions to her place. She lives further away than I thought, in a suburb north of the city. As I pull into her driveway, I"m wondering why the hell she works at my bar, considering she lives all the way up here. There must be dozens of bars between mine and her house.

My phone buzzes in the cupholder where I tossed it. No doubt it"s Hayden wondering where I am since I forgot to text him, and I go to reach for it when Saylor opens her door to get out. But before I can grab my phone to check, she asks me if I want to come in. Considering she hardly spoke to me the whole way here, the idea of sitting in her house in uncomfortable silence for the next however long is about as appealing as having all the hair on my head plucked out one by one, but then I feel like an asshole when I see her glassy eyes.

I remember what it was like when Roman cheated on me and I felt like I had no one to talk to who understood what that kind of betrayal felt like. I sigh and turn off the car, unbuckling. My stomach churns when I think about it, so as much as all I want to do is go home, curl up in bed with Hayden and eat all the things, I"m going to do my best to be here for her.

And it"s not until I"m stepping inside the dark house behind her that I realize two things:

One—I left my phone in the car.

And two—I think I just got played.