Page 48 of Cassie
“Yeah, but I’m here and not there. Makes it kinda hard to grovel.” He glanced at Mason. “Not askin’ for an easy out, boss.”
“I know you aren’t,” Mason said. “But Chismoso’s right, you’ve fucked up. What’d she tell you last night?”
“That I’d taken the choice away from her. And by not giving her a chance, I’d made it clear I felt she was weak.” He snorted. “Which is bullshit. Can you imagine fighting demons in your own head just to be able to walk outside? That’s strength. She’s got this routine when she wakes up, like she’s got to rev herself up just to get out of bed. If you knew what she’d lived through, you’d see it too. Strongest woman I know.”
“That old saying that women are the weaker sex?” Mason shook his head. “Lies.”
“You speak truth, brother,” Chismoso chimed in. “How are you gonna fix it if you aren’t even going to be there for a couple of weeks? You can’t let her just sit and stew, brother.”
“I don’t know,” Hoss admitted. “But I’ve got to fix it.” He dropped his gaze, and then told them the truth. “I love her.”
***
Sammy
“Son?” Fear from the late-night call spiraled into relief as he recognized his father’s voice wasn’t tense or upset. “Did I wake you?”
Sammy sat up in bed, groggy as he punched a pillow to stuff behind his back. “It’s okay. What’s up?”
They trawled through the normal routine of questions about Faynez, then he knew his dad was circling to the real reason behind the call when he asked, “You heard from Cassie?”
“Uh, Pops, I know you know I don’t really know her.” Sammy grinned at the circular makeup of his answer. “Sorry, I’ve been hanging with Faynez too much.” His dad laughed and he grinned at the sound. “You sound good, Dad. Everything okay in Texas?”
“Yeah.” A long sigh sounded through the phone and Sammy frowned slightly. “And naw. Everything here is good. Good meetings with the locals, had a barbecue last night and didn’t have to bleed anyone.” Sammy snorted, but knew his dad wasn’t exaggerating. The club life might not have been something he’d picked for himself, but he understood how things were. Through the years he’d spent more than one night waiting for his dad, hoping he would walk through the doorway of the house with all his parts intact. Things had settled down a lot over the last bit, but that didn’t lay his memories to rest.
“Sounds like a good party, then. You know when you’ll head home?” Sammy didn’t mind staying with Faynez when he could, but there was a stretch of away games coming up in a few days. Gilda would be here, but she wasn’t that much older than Faynez, and he worried what the girls would get up to in his absence.
“No earlier than originally planned. Hey, I had a question for you.” His dad paused, and when he continued, Sammy felt the quaver in his voice like a stab in his gut. “I fucked up with Cassie. We had a fight and I rolled out the next morning.”
“But you talked to her since, right? There’re these things called phones and some even have cameras so you can talk as if you’re right there.” He shook with laughter until he realized his dad hadn’t joined him. “You talked to her, right?”
“No, son. I haven’t. I lost my phone and I—” Silence for a moment, then Hoss admitted, “I just wanted to protect her, you know? But in doing so, I did her wrong. She needed to know I had her back, and I didn’t show her that. I do, I swear to God, I do, but I wasn’t quite on the right path.” Raw and painful, Hoss choked on a laugh. “I wondered if you could go by her place. Make sure she’s…okay. Make sure she’s there. Talk to Tug, he’ll help you understand. I can’t do it, because it kills me to think about. Sammy, I love you, and I know this is a lot to ask, but can you help me out, son?”
“Anything for you, Dad.” Sammy kept his voice low and firm, the tone he used when talking to rookies who were on the edge of panic about their choice in teams. “You can doanything, and you’ve taught me the same. That means together, there’s nothing we can’t tackle. I’ll talk to Uncle Tug. Then I’ll go see about this Cassie everyone’s talking about. I already like her, because she makes you happy, but it’ll be good to officially meet her.”
***
Cassie
“Sucks, what happened to you.”
The man’s voice surprised her, coming from the darkness alongside her back porch. She jerked to her feet and took the two running steps to her back door, standing open in the warm spring night. Slamming and locking it behind her, she turned and peered out the glass as she pulled her phone from her pocket.
“Cassie.” She heard the word, but it wasn’t a voice she knew, and the face when it appeared wasn’t one she instantly recognized either. “Hi there. My name is Sammy Rogers. You met me, kinda. You know my dad.”
That gave her pause, and she waited, finger hovering over the connect button. Seeing he had her attention, he continued talking, his voice pitched to carry.
“Your seats are behind the bench, right behind us. You probably don’t recognize me because—” He gestured towards his head. “—the helmet. I talked to you once, a while ago.”
She did recognize him. Samuel Rogers, a defenseman for Fort Wayne. Sammy. Sam.Hoss’ son. She nodded.
“Gonna let me in?” Even before she finished shaking her head, he was laughing. “Deserve that, scaring a pretty lady like I did.” He smiled. “Can you hear me okay?”
She nodded, her chest so tight with fear, rigid with it, she couldn’t have spoken if she wanted to.
“Okay. So here’s the deal. Dad’s a really good guy. Like...really good. Sucked for him that my mom died like she did. They were just starting their lives and she was gone. Sucked bad, but he didn’t let that stop him being a great dad. Infant daughter, traumatized just-adopted son, wife dead—would have been easy for him to check out. Let the willing aunts and uncles in there to help him deal. But he didn’t. He did what needed doing, even as it sucked.”
He took a breath. “Sucked so bad sometimes, can’t tell you. Just no words. But he just did whatever was needed. Helping and healing all of us along the way. I love him so much.” He paused, then said, “You getting this?” She nodded again.
