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CASSIDY DIPPED HER FEET INTO THE POOL as she sipped on her drink, her mind skimming for reasons as to why JJ has deemed it fit to jump in and defend her during her own problems. She had assumed that after he left her to wake up alone in her room, that was the end, and now here he was, picking fights he had no business picking.
She looked up at Rafe as he sat down besides her, his own beer held in his hand as he looked down at her. He opened his mouth to speak but Cassidy just scoffed and turned away from him with a frown.
"Topper told me what happened. He said that some pogue trash tried to pick a fight at the marina," he finally admitted what he had wanted to talk to her about since they had arrived back at her house, his own anger subsiding once he saw that she was okay and she hadn't left with the scum.
"JJ didn't try to fight him," Cassidy snapped in defense of the boy, squinting as the sun hit her eyes from above her sunglasses. She sipped her drink again as Rafe sighed and grabbed her free hand with his, squeezing it softly.
"You know how they are, Cass. They worm their way in from the bottom and take whatever they can reach. I'm surprised he didn't take anything last night—"
"It was you?" She whispered, her unanswered question of how Topper had even known that he was there last night was finally answered at his words. He sighed again and nodded, chugging the rest of his beer before he placed it down besides him.
"Look, I came to check on you and his bike was in the driveway. I knocked but nobody answered so I just left," he blurted and stared at her like she had almost been murdered and he had arrived just in time to save her.
She just turned away again and glanced over at Topper and Sarah laughing in the water, the two of them smiling in some unbreakable happiness that never seemed to waver.
"He drove me home and I let him stay for a little because of the rain. Nothing happened," she defended her pride almost instinctually, her heart aching at her very own words and she had no idea why. She had no feelings for the boy but if they were to find out that they had slept together, there was no doubt that the story would be twisted into soemthing it wasn't.
Rafe simply nodded at her words and watched as she got up and made her way into the house, her defenses falling as soon as she made it into the safety of isolation.
Sometimes she hated the way that she was painted out to be. She hated that people assumed that she was some heartless monster who cared nothing more than when her next shopping spree could be. It was forced upon her so much that she just began to act the way that people assumed the acted.
Cassidy walked into the empty kitchen, opening the refrigerator to grab another drink. She turned and looked at the stools that she and JJ had occupied last night and felt nauseous over how fast things that changed from then to now. There was no way in hell he would ever talk to her again after she'd left him to dry on the dock.
