What Deceit Looks Like | ✓

32: maddox

I was exhausted. Furthermore, I was annoyed because I had to cancel dinner with Cassidy. I wanted to take her to one of my favorite places in the city, but there was another emergency board meeting called. If I'd known that being on the board of the company would give me this much extra work, I would have told Hayes he was fucking nuts for asking me to be on it.

Nothing was solved. Everything was just going back and forth between Hayes's people and his father's stragglers. So basically I had cancelled for nothing.

It's only eleven so there's a chance she's still awake, but I don't want to wake her up. Then again if she's sleeping, she won't answer. I press on her contact number and it rings a few times. I almost think she isn't going to answer, but when she does, I almost can't hear her because of all the background noise. "Cass? Where are you?"

"Hey, I'm sorry I can't really hear you."

I look in my fridge for a beer, repeating my original question, "Where are you?"

"I covered Jupiter's shift so she could go out with Alex tonight." She explains, quickly getting sidetracked, "I'm sorry, did you say you wanted a gin and tonic or a rum and coke?"

"I don't think I said either of those things, but it sounds like you're pretty busy." I joke and she pauses.

"Shit, I'm sorry Maddox. I get off in an hour if you want me to stop by then? Totally understandable if it's too late but-"

"I'll leave the door unlocked." Wouldn't have to leave it unlocked if we had gotten dinner because then I could have given her my surprise.

There's a long pause before she responds, "I'll see you then. I'm so sorry, but I have to go or I think customers might jump the bar to get their own drinks-actually I'll just tell you later. Love you bye!" Cassidy rambles, before abruptly hanging up. I shake my head chuckling before heading to the couch.

I'm sure that she'll have plenty to rant about before she crashes. I flip the channel to the news to let it play in the background. I lean back to close my eyes, and then I'm being shaken awake. "Hey there, I didn't think you would want to sleep on the couch."

I stretch slowly, "It wouldn't be the first time, but I'm glad you're here. Before you sit down, there's something for you on the counter that I set out earlier."

A smile forms on her face as she walks curiously towards the island. She holds it up with a puzzled look, "A key?"

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to move in. It's just so you can get in and out without problems since you're here enough anyway. I also thought I could clear out a drawer for you to make it easier when you stay the night." I'm trying not to make it sound like a big deal because in the long run, giving Cassidy a key to my condo is pretty low on the list in the scheme of things.

"That's really thoughtful of you," She says, sitting down and kissing my cheek. "Thank you."

"I know that you're enjoying living on your own, and I'd never try to take any of your freedom away from you. I think we'll get there at some point, just not quite yet."

I wish I'd been able to give it to her over dinner like I'd planned, but this is a close second.

"Thank you for taking the way I'm feeling into the equation. It really does mean a lot to me. I'm sure it will be put to good use." Cass winks before something reminds her of something," You would not believe how crazy it was tonight. There was a bachelorette and a bachelor party tonight. John accidentally double booked them so we were slammed."

"That explains why it sounded more like a rave instead of the low-key bar I've been in." I joke, and she groans.

"I don't think my head has ever pounded this much," Cassidy says, and I open my arms for her to lay in them. "You don't even want to know how many people puked in the bathroom tonight. It wasn't even midnight. They were that shit faced." She shudders, closing her eyes.