Page 126 of Off The Ice

Cassie heaved a shaky sigh, shutting the door with a reluctant thud.

I watched Cassie as she stared out the window, trembling as she tried to keep herself together as the small figure of her mom walked up the pathway to the tiny, dark house.

Her mom fumbled with the keys, hands unsteady. It took her a few tries, but eventually, the door creaked open, and she slipped inside without a single glance back.

When the door shut, Cassie dropped her head into her hands and cried, defeat evident in the slump of her shoulders that shook with emotion.

“Cassie,” I said softly, wanting so badly to pick her up and take her in my arms. To fix everything for her. But I knew that there was nothing I could do. Nothing Cassie could do.

“She’s not going to stop.” Cassie sobbed. “She might as well be going in there to die all alone.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, didn’t know what anyone could say, so I unbuckled my seatbelt and reached over for her, pulling her against my shoulder.

“What do you need, Cassie?”

“I want to go,” she said, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

“Go where?” I asked.

“Back ho—” She paused abruptly. “Back to your house.”

I didn’t flinch at the way she refused to acknowledge that somewhere along the last two months, it had become her home too. There were bigger things to worry about.

Instead, I took her hand and brought it over to my lap, taking hold of the wheel to take her far away from the pain of the night.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Let’s go home.”

Chapter Forty-Two

Liam

It was late, the lights were off, and my hands were occupied with Cassie’s hair. She was on her side, slightly curled toward me, while my fingers pulled through the soft strands over and over again.

It calmed me to have her so close. To know she was right beside me. She’d been sleeping in my bed every night, seeming to need me as much as I needed her. And now I knew why. Understood it in a way that I had only guessed at before.

And all I got tonight was a glimpse. A fucking glimpse into the life she’d lived for the last twenty-four years. And this was while her mom wassober.I couldn’t imagine how much worse off it was when she’d been drinking. How much pain Cassie had had to bear on her own.

Not anymore,I thought, my grip tightening on the back of her head.

There was a level of intimacy that had appeared between us almost overnight since the first time she slept in my bed with me.

I didn’t fool myself into thinking it was because she had any real romantic attachment to me, but rather knew that she just needed someone.

I was so fucking grateful that someone happened to me. Accidentally, despite all odds. Thanks to Maggie, of all people. It was so strange to think that without my sister, I never would’ve met this girl lying in bed beside me.

The thought unsettled me that I almost didn’t get this life with her. It had me holding her a little tighter.

Her warmth radiated into me from where our bodies touched, and the smell of her hair overwhelmed my senses. I always waited until long after she fell asleep to let myself drift off with her, not wanting to miss a second of the moment.

Especially not when I knew these moments couldn’t last forever.

The panic seized me at the thought of losing her, so strong it felt like anxiety had its grip on my throat.

“Cassie?” I asked into the dark. “Are you awake?”

“Hmm?” She breathed out as I felt the rise and fall of her chest.

“I don’t want you to leave,” I said suddenly.

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