WANT (completed)

ch. 63 | Compromise

ASA'S POV

The moment Cassandra says that she needs to tell me something, I know that it can't be something I want to hear. That added with her tight grip on my arm tells me that it's something that will either hurt or piss me off, and I'm going with the latter and not the former.

"What?" I ask, rolling my shoulders back without moving away from her. My jaw flexes as I look over the anxious expression on Cassandra's face, feeling extremely at ease.

Cassandra winces slightly, and I have the urge to comfort her because I immediately think that she's in physical pain. My eyes flicker over her body quickly before they come to meet hers, and when I make that eye contact, she shakes her head and squeezes my forearm.

"Not like that..I just...Ethan came to the office today," she whispers softly, and although I feel like I should be relaxed that Cassandra is talking about something I already know about, I can't.

"Yeah, Zac told me everything. About what Ethan said, and how you reacted. It's okay, baby," I try to give her a small smile, although it's more of a flat look on my face as I kiss the top of her head. "Really. I know he showed up out of the blue."

As soon as I speak up, tears well up in her eyes and she shakes her head repeatedly. My face falls and I raise my eyebrows slightly while bringing them together in confusion all at once. Did Ethan say something that I don't know about? I might not know all the details, but Zac felt confident in what he was telling me, and I oddly believed everything he said.

"He might have said some things that I didn't tell Zac about..." Cassandra trails off, looking down and using her fingers to fumble with my hand  that's now resting against her belly again. "About us. About the baby."

My eyes lock on her face, trying to read the expression that she's holding, but Cassandra doesn't look up at me. I can feel the rage building in my chest. It was already there, but my issues with Ethan and what he did to Cassandra were pushed on the back burner because I wanted to be there for my wife completely. Those exact feelings that I was holding back are building up as she speaks, not at all helping me remain calm.

"What did he say, Cassandra?" my voice is stern as hell, and I know that I shouldn't be coming off as mad to her, because I'm not at all upset with her. I'm upset with myself for not being there today, and sure as hell angry (and likely going to be even more pissed off) with Ethan.

Cassandra peers up at me through her lashes, and she's on the brink of letting the tears escape. My heart pounds in my chest, and I'm terribly afraid that he's said something about me that she's unhappy about. But what could he possibly say that's true? Cassandra knows everything about me. We agreed to having no more secrets and lies, and I've kept my promise on that.

"Cassandra," I repeat her name, urging her to continue. I know I should be more cautious and gentle, and I'm trying to be, but my patience is wearing thin and it's not helping that she's keeping me on edge when I know something is wrong. "What? Did he say something about me or did—"

"No, not like that. Nothing like that," Cassandra shakes her head, her hair flowing down her shoulders even more with the added movement. "He just...he told me to leave you, and that I shouldn't be having this baby..."

I narrow my eyes at her, feeling my increasing anger by the second. I'm beyond pissed that her ex-boyfriend not only had the nerve to show up like that, but the fact that he had the audacity to tell her something about me and our baby? There's not a fucking chance in hell that he gets to get away with that.

"Did he threaten you?" I find myself asking, receiving comprehending her body language and lack of wanting to communicate what happened in that room as something out of the blue.