Page 24 of Shattered Veil

Yep. That was the plan.

My fingers tapped on my thigh rapidly—pinkie, ring, middle, index; pinkie, ring, middle, index—until Garrett returned with my drink and Shawn’s. I thanked him quietly, took a large gulp, and felt it burn all the way down to my gut. The bell chimed above the front door.

Truthfully, I have no idea how I heard it over the ambient noise of patrons—perhaps it was because I was hyper-aware. Regardless, I turned my head toward the noise, and my chest lurched. Her jeans were black, high-waisted, and tight. The maroon long-sleeve shirt she wore left her midriff exposed, the silver in her navel glinting out just above the fastening of her pants. Her hair was up in a high ponytail that rendered her neck bare, and though I expected her dark eyes to meet mine, they didn’t. Instead, Cassie kept her attention raptly focused on Garrett, who had returned behind the bar. She gave him a cheery greeting, waving with a beaming smile, took one glance at the general direction of our table, and, without skipping a beat, looked back to Garrett and held up two fingers. He nodded, and I used all of my force of will to yank my attention away from their interaction because it felt as though I had lingered too long.

I stared at my drink, awaiting her fingers to wrap around the glass. The air to my left turned hot as she sat in the only available seat, everyone told her hello, and her well-manicured nails never appeared. I blinked as if my eyes were deceiving me, saw nothing different, and when I looked at her, she was smiling past me at Shawn.

“Hi. I’m Cassie—and you are?”

It was all too convincing, as if she had never seen his face, and Shawn stammered, “Uh, Shawn Brooks.”

“He took Jay to a strip club,” Zoey blurted, and my stomach dropped.

Cassie’s smile faltered for the briefest moment—so brief that I believed I was the only one to see it because my eyes were trained on her face—and she hummed, quipping, “Nice.” She looked at me, happy grin maintained but not reaching her eyes as she remarked, “Hope you had a good time.”

“I didn’t,” I told her.

Cassie murmured, “That’s a shame.”

As quiet as it was, I was the only one who was able to hear that her tone was scathing.

“Alright, alright,” Claire interjected. “He doesn’t want to talk about it. We’ve been over this.” I shot her a thankful glance, and she looked to Cassie. “So, Cassie…saw you saying hi to Garrett.”

Luke groaned. “This isn’t gonna go over well, baby.”

Claire waved a hand in his face, and he flinched backward to avoid it.

I pressed Luke, “What’s not gonna go over well?”

Luke rolled his eyes, and Zoey spoke for him, “Claire thinks that everyone needs to be paired off.”

Claire whined, “He’s nice.”

“Garrett?” Liam grimaced. “Garrett and Cassie? Cassie and Garrett?”

Luke deadpanned, “That is the combination of their names, yes.”

“He’s, like…a child, Claire,” Liam complained.

“He’s twenty-one,” Claire argued. “Close to Cassie’s age—would you rather she date an older man?”

My intestines twisted, and I grabbed my glass as casually as I could muster to throw the remainder of the liquid back in one swig.

Cassie joked, “I have no problem being a sugar baby,” the gulp I had taken got caught in my throat as I coughed, and Shawn gave me a single, rough rap on the back.

He leaned toward my ear to quickly mutter, “Pull yourself together, Jesus.”

Zoey’s eyes shined in Cassie’s direction, and she approvingly exclaimed, “Atta girl!”

Liam looked down at her disbelievingly. “Not atta girl. The fuck, Zo’?” Zoey snickered loudly, and he grumbled, “Either way. Garrett’s…twiggy.”

Liam lifted his beer to his lips, and Zoey returned, “Maybe he’s twiggy compared to you, ya big lug.” Despite his annoyance, I saw him hide a hint of a smile at her joking reference to his large, burly stature. Zoey continued, “And who gives a shit? Don’t comment on his appearance. Maybe your sister’s into that.”

“She can’t date the bartender,” Liam argued, albeit a bit softer. “They break up, what are Luke and Claire gonna do—fire him? I’m not gonna want to see him around.”

“Because help is so easy to find in this town,” Luke spoke over them both. “Yeah…no, I wouldn’t fire him.”

“You’re assuming that I’m into him,” Cassie interrupted, and I blew an exhale through my nostrils. “Who said I’m into him?”

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