Page 65 of Courting Trouble
Petra smiled thinly. ‘That silly kid couldn’t give you what you need.’
Cassie stared at her, stunned. ‘Is that what this is? You trying to get me back?’ She had to laugh.
Petra’s smile faltered, replaced by something brittle. ‘I didn’t say that.’
Cassie’s eyes narrowed, disbelief mingling with bitterness. ‘Then what the fuck do youwant?’
Petra shrugged. ‘I just want to know that you’re OK now.’
‘Ah. So this iscare?’ Cassie said, tired. She just wanted to get back to Delilah. Actually, she still needed that pee.
‘I shouldn’t have left things the way I did. I know that was a mistake.’
Cassie shrugged, disinterested. ‘Yeah?’
‘I just… didn’t know how to handle you when you were injured.’
‘You should never havehandled mein the first place,’ Cassie told her flatly.
Petra laughed like Cassie had made a hilarious joke. ‘Oh, really? We’re going there? When you’re now sleeping withyourstudent?’
Cassie shook her head. ‘She’smyage. About the age you were when we met, actually.’
But Petra was unabashed. ‘Still, you can see how it happens. That intensity? The shared ambition?’
Cassie rolled her eyes. ‘She’s playing a tennis player in a movie. We’re not trying to get to Wimbledon together. We’re done training in a week.’
‘And that’s why it won’t last,’ Petra said. ‘You’ve got nothing in common.’
Cassie crossed her arms, trying to keep her cool. She knew what Petra was trying to do. She wasn’t rising to it. But she had to play somewhat nice with Petra, lest they get booted. Delilah had a week left here, and Cassie wanted her to get the full benefit of that time. ‘OK, Petra. Whatever you say.’
‘She’s young and fun,’ Petra said smoothly. ‘And you should have a good time with her. But it won’t be more. Attachments fade. People move on.’
Cassie clenched her fists, forcing herself to stay calm. ‘Is that everything?’ she asked Petra.
Petra smiled. ‘Sure.’
Cassie walked away and headed to the bathroom, letting go of her anger, flushing it away like her long-awaited pee.
It was clear what Petra was trying to achieve. She couldn’t stand the idea of Cassie moving on. She wanted her broken, trapped in the pain she had left behind. Or worse, she believed she could reel Cassie back in. Either way, she was going to be disappointed. Cassie was finished with her.
She had not realised it before, but some part of her had been waiting for Petra to return all these years. Seeing her again, Cassie could finally see her for what she was and let it go. She could live again. She had not understood how numb Petra had left her until Delilah brought her back to life.
Her eyes were clear now. Her little detective act about Delilah’s identity was simply another manipulation. It was all Petra ever did. She had no idea how to relate to another person in any real way. No wonder she’d had to resort to seducing a twenty-year-old. Because an adult would see right through her. Cassie knew that because she was that adult now.
And yet, as she made her way back to Delilah, a thought crept in. Whatwouldhappen when the week was over, when the training ended and Delilah no longer needed her?
Sixty-Five
Cassie looked odd when she came back from the bathroom. She was doing a fake smile for a start, which Delilah had never seen her do.
‘You OK?’ Delilah asked.
Cassie did something next that was also very alien coming from her. She gave a thumbs-up.
‘OK, what’s wrong?’ Delilah said.
The fake smile fell off. ‘OK, look. It’s no big thing, but… Petra knows who you are and why you’re here,’ Cassie said quietly, undramatically.
