𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

45

HER PREDATOR

I could feel it in the air as I pulled up next to my father's car in the driveway, and Casei right behind him.

Something was off.

I quickly got out of my Jeep, coming up to Casei's door and opening her door impatiently. She stared at me, "I know I said we needed to talk, but no need to feel all rushed, Lowen."

"Something's wrong. We needa get inside right now," I told her quickly.

She reached into her car and produced pepper spray.

I cracked my knuckles, prepared for some type of worse as I unlocked the front door. We moved silently through the first floor of the house, and I sent Casei to check the bathroom downstairs while I quickly slipped into the basement to make sure that everything was fine down there.

After that, we both nodded at one another and Casei followed me upstairs. I started in my room and made my way over to my parent's. My mom wasn't home but my dad still had been nowhere to be found.

Then we heard a giggle.

"Outside. It came from outside," Casei whispered, pointing at my window as we stood in my bedroom once more to regroup.

"Are you sure? And if you heard it outside, why are you whisperin' then?" I asked.

She swatted me, reminding me of last night, with Dyl.

I grabbed her arm before she could leave out of the room. "Casei, I fucked up."

"I know you did. But that fuck up isn't even between us because we aren't together, Jaimes," she shrugged, not looking at me. She turned around, arms crossed, "You ever stop to think that maybe I want something more but you're holdin' us back?"

"I'm sorry. I keep fallin' back on-

"Old ways?" she scoffed, "Yeah. How many times have I heard that before? Did Euphemie fall back on old ways when they still decided to keep tourin' the country like nothin' happened after you were stuck with a murder and a trial on your hands in Houston? Was that old ways, then, Lowen?"

I stared at her, my heart cracking in two.

Her gaze softened. "No, Lowen, I shouldn't have said that. I'm still tense from the whole Naryna-Channin thing, and my cheek hurts," she rambled on regretfully.

"No. Maybe Channin was right," I told her, delivering my own set of words that I knew would hurt her, "Maybe you are coldhearted, Casei." I walked past her out of the room, heading down the stairs to the back door.

"I'm not cold, Lowen," Casei told me from the top of the stairs. Her bottom lip quavered, "Maybe to the world it may seem that way, but I'm tryin'."

I held my head down.

Forgive Casei and her hurtful words or lose her?

"I'll forgive you, if you forgive me," I laughed a little.

"What you did wasn't the same," she started.

"But both of our wrongs hurt each other both the same," I stated. She came down the stairs slowly, grabbing my outreached hand. "You just made a deal with Coldhearted Casei, love," she cracked a smile.

We heard the giggle again, this time much louder.

I focused back in on my initial urgency to find my dad and chase away this building anxiety in me. I led Casei outside, hoping that the ground was nice and solid and none of my deeds were exposed to the light.