Pello Island: Cassia Read Free Page B

kissing her cheek.  He was sitting on the edge of the couch and smiling at her.  She smiled back.  When he looked at her that way, she could almost forgive him everything.  Almost.  She rolled over on her back and looked at him.
    “What time is it?” she asked.
    “Almost ten,” he answered.
    “You didn’t wake me for dinner.”
    “It was nothing special.  Besides, we can always raid the kitchen if you’re hungry.”
    Darius put his hand on her cheek.  It felt warm against her skin.  His eyes look so blue, and his hair was just the way it had been.  What had they done to her?  She was also feeling things she hadn’t felt in so long.  He bent over and kissed her lips.  She felt as she had always felt with Darius, wanton abandonment.  She put her arms around his neck and pulled him close.  When it was all over, she felt a fool.
    “This can’t happen again,” she said.  She stood up and began putting her clothes on.
    “Cass, when are you gonna admit you still love me?”
    “I’m hungry.  I’m going to the kitchen.”
    Cassia walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs.  She stopped at the bottom and listened to see if Darius was following her.  This is ridiculous, she thought, and went to the kitchen.  How could he still affect her this way after everything he’d done?
    She opened the refrigerator and pulled out the eggs.  As she scrambled them in the pan, Darius walked in.  He took a seat on a stool by the island.  As he watched Cassia cook the eggs, he began banging the countertop with a spoon.  Cassia closed her eyes and counted to three.  Then she turned around and glared at him.
    “What?” she asked him.
    “Nothing.  I just wanted to see if you were listening.”
    And she wants me to marry him, she thought.  She put the eggs on a plate and sat on the other side of the island.  She grabbed her fork and shoveled the eggs into her mouth.  Darius put his hands under his chin and stared at her.  She stared back until he blinked.
    “Come on, Cass.  We had sex.  We always have sex.  Why do you get so pissed off afterwards?”
    “Darius, please let me eat in peace.”
    Darius got up and left the kitchen.  She could hear him open the front door and heard it close.  It was well after ten.  Where was he going?
    Cassia put the dishes in the sink, rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher.  After she wiped down the counters, she went to the front door to see if he had actually left the grounds.  She looked through one of the small windows that were on either side of the door.
    Darius was smoking a cigarette.  She could see the end of it glow in the dark.  He hadn’t put the outside light on.  Suddenly she felt guilty about treating him so badly.  Darius really wasn’t so bad.  If Morta hadn’t given her an ultimatum, she would never have been so mean to him.  She flipped the light switch, opened the door and stepped out.
    It was freezing outside.  Darius didn’t have a coat on and she could see his hands shake as he put the cigarette to his mouth.  
    “Darius, come inside.  It’s too cold out here without a coat.”  Cassia was biting her lower lip.
    “I’m fine.  I’m almost done.”
    She turned around and walked back inside.  She waited a few seconds and then walked to the den to sit in front of the fire.
    Darius found her there an hour later.  He had finished his cigarette and went straight to his computer to see if there were any flights to Vegas leaving that night.  When he didn’t find one, he came to the den.
    Cassia was sitting with her legs pulled up underneath her.  He walked over and put his hand on her shoulder.  She reached up and held it.  He then sat down in the chair next to her.
    “I almost booked a flight to Vegas tonight,” he said.
    Cassia looked at him to see if he was telling the truth.
    “You didn’t, did you?”
    “Nah, I couldn’t find one.  Then I called my sponsor.”
    “Does he know about you, about what happens to