Cassie (Book #1 of the "Cassie" Series)

Chapter #28: F**k Up

11:10 pm

"Hey, you can stop crying now." Chad reassured me while he rubbed my left arm, giving a half-hearted laugh. "I might not be looking the most handsome I've ever looked right now but you don't need to cry about it."

"I'm sorry it's just... two years? This has been going on for two years? That's how long you guys have kept this to yourselves?" I choked back sobs. I was horrified, sickened, and most of all just plain sad for them. I get why they felt they couldn't say anything, but at the same time, I just wish there was anything that either Hope or I could have done. I didn't want to think of the fact that there was this monster that was hurting my best friends. Now that he's told me the whole story, it makes me think back to all the times that Chad and Naya have missed school and come back with a limp, or a bruise, or some sort of pain that they shrugged off. I'd only met Tony once, at the wedding, and he seemed like a perfectly normal guy. There were no red flags for us to really figure out something was going on.

"Yep. Two whole years. It's not been easy keeping this from you, but once we figured out what we were going to do about it, we were going to tell you. I just..." he paused, letting out a heavy sigh and refusing to look me in the eye. "The last thing I wanted was sympathy, or for you to look at me any different." he finally said. That felt like a gut punch hearing that.

"I never would have looked at you any different, either of you. You two are brave, putting up with him for as long as you did. You shouldn't have had to go through that, no one should." I buried my head in his shoulder, and he rested his head against mine. "Promise me you'll go to the hospital tomorrow, right?"

"Of course." he chuckled. I wondered why he kept laughing tonight, going through what he went through, and he's still chuckling away.

"Why do you keep laughing? Just a question." I asked, making Chad laugh even harder. I took my head up from my shoulder and realized he wasn't just laughing, he was crying too. 

"Because it's over, Cassie. It's finally over." he said with a grin, leaning his head back and wiping his tears. "We're free."

I shot him a weak smile and cuddled up to him. I just wanted to stay with him, at least until his mom and Naya came back from the station. I didn't want him to be alone. 

"You can go home if you want." he said quietly. 

"I'm not leaving you." I assured him, pulling his head down to my shoulder and letting him cry into my dress.

11:30 pm

We moved from the floor to the couch, and there was a thick air of silence in the room. I sat on the couch alone, waiting for Chad to come back from the kitchen. He insisted on getting us some drinks, even though I told him repeatedly he didn't have to do anything. I looked around the room, the blood still staining the carpet, and the ceramic plates still surrounding the place. Looking at the sight of the dried red blotches on the carpet gave me shivers, knowing what had happened before I'd arrived. Chad came back from the kitchen with two mugs of cocoa, placing them down on the coffee table and smiling.

"Thank you." I said, taking the red polka dot mug and sipping from it. I was grateful for the drink, everything felt so cold at the moment, I didn't know whether it was just because it was winter or because of how tense everything was. 

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't get you a drink?" he said, winking with his bruised eye. "I'm gonna go and change, I feel like you'd be more comfortable if I wasn't sitting here in a bloodstained shirt." he said, rushing upstairs and leaving me on the couch alone again. As soon as he left, a text came through from Ryan.

Hey, everything good over there? 

It wasn't my business to tell him or anyone for that matter.