"You don't remember taking the pills?"
In some distant part of her brain, Cassie thought she heard a note of
panic in Austin's voice. She didn't want him to feel that or anythingelse for her. His concern only made matters worse, keeping her on thatemotional roller coaster that would eventually crash with her on it.
"How ... how long have I been out?" she asked, trying to avoid his eyes.
"Not long." He let go of a harsh breath, then pressed, "You do remember what happened, don't you?"
"It's slowly but surely coming back. One of those so-called ladies had an iron fist and I ran into it."
A smile tickled the corners of Austin's mouth.
"That you did. I warned you, but it was too late."
Cassie winced.
Austin frowned again.
"You need something else for the pain? It might be too soon, though."
"Good Lord, no. My head's reeling already."
Austin chuckled.
"Strong stuff, huh?"
She nodded, and when she did, a lightning bolt of pain shot up her cheek.
Grimacing, she raised her hand, determined to feel the lump that must be the size of a goose egg, only to run into something cold instead.
"Here, let me have the ice pack," Austin said.
Once the ice was gone, Cassie placed a couple of fingers on the welt, only to quickly remove them.
"Hurts, doesn't it?"
"Yes."
"I could kiss it and make it well, like I used to."
Those thickly spoken words packed such a wallop that Cassie couldn'trespond. She held her breath while he held her gaze.
It was in that moment that the mood changed. It was as if they suddenlyrealized what a compromising position they were in due only to theirsheer proximity.
Cassie's heartbeat did a dance, and the room seemed too warm. Itsizzled.
Or was that her insides?
"Cassie."
Her name came out sounding like an ache as Austin's face came closer,stopping only scant inches from hers. She felt his breath against hercheek, saw on his chest, through the thin material of his shirt, thehair that she knew tapered to his navel--and lower.
She must have groaned or made some kind of sound. His eyes darkened, andhe answered with a strange sound of his own. If she were to move amillimeter, he would touch her, touch her mouth.
She moved that millimeter, and his lips met hers, only to freeze as ifshock had them wedged in its powerful jaws. Then his mouth moved again,his lips and tongue licking and tasting.
Sweet. Oh, so sweet.
Cassie's fingers danced on his back as their wet, devouring mouthsturned to hot adhesive--sticking together. Cassie wanted to pull away,wanted to stop the insanity, but she didn't have the strength or thewill.
It was the stab to the lower stomach, and the gathering moistness at theapex of her thighs, that set off the alarm. However, before she couldpush him away, Austin jerked his mouth from hers and lunged to his feet.
He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. His erratic breathing andthe bulge behind his zipper gave his thoughts away. If he hadn't pulledback.
"Dammit, Cassie!"
Mortified, she sucked her bruised lower lip between her teeth to stop itfrom quivering while hoping the pain would offset her swimming head.
"Cassie," he said again, sounding like he was choking.
"Don't say anything, please," she managed to whisper before sinking intoanother blessed void.
"Why don't you have the money?"
Sweat was thick on his skin, but Randall felt chilled, chilled to thebone marrow. In fact, he was shaking inside like some defenseless,hungry dog fighting for a bone.
"I will have it, I promise," Randall wheedled, facing his accusers, twomen who could pass for ordinary businessmen, dressed in nice suits, fromnice neighborhoods, with nice wives and two-point-three nice children.
Too bad for him that was a smoke screen. They were evil, heartlessbastards hired to beat up guys like him who didn't pay their debts tothe boss.
If they punched him in the stomach one more time, he would puke all overtheir Gucci shoes. What did he have to lose? Just his life, he remindedhimself painfully.
But what the fuck, maybe that was the answer.
His life wasn't worth a red cent anyway, and he sure didn't have anydignity left. When he had driven to this out-of-the-way place and foundthem waiting for him, with those looks of steel on their faces, he'dsoiled his pants on the spot.
The thinnest of the two had noticed that immediately. Snickering, he'dnudged his playmate from hell and said, "The boss didn't send a diaper.That's a shame, too, 'cause it looks like we need one."
The other man had thrown back his head and laughed out loud.
"From now on, we'll have to put some in the trunk for leaky asses likethis one."
Randall had never been as humiliated in his life as he'd been at that moment.
However, fifteen minutes later, his humiliation, now mixed with fear,skyrocketed.
"I'll ask again, Lunsbury, just in case some of that shit went in your ears.
Why don't you have the money?"
"Because I'm strapped for that kind of cash right now."
The tall one with the loud laugh slapped him across the face, burstinghis lower lip. Randall yelped. The man hit him again. He yelped again.
"Please, don't hurt me," he begged.
"I promise I'll get the money.
I've never let your boss down before."
The two men looked at each other while Randall shivered in the hundred-plus temperature. He'd had no option but to tell the truth.
He didn't have the money, but if he hadn't shown up, they would havecome after him.
That would have been worse. Instead of looking into their baby blues, hewould be lying in some ditch bleeding. But maybe that would bepreferable?
Hell no, it wouldn't. He was tougher than that. Besides, he had an out.
Two outs, actually. His problem was, he hadn't figured out the best one to use. He would, if he lived through the day.
The thin goon reached out and suddenly patted Ran- dall's cheek, then
straightened his tie.
"Tell you what," he said, a brittle smile on his lips, "we're gonna give you another chance to make things right."
Randall's stomach rebelled against the foul taste in his mouth. He
swallowed hard. "" I. you won't regret it."
"Oh, we know that." It wasn't what he said but the way he said it that made Randall long for a bona fide toilet.
"You bet," Randall said, squeezing the cheeks of his buttocks together.
"I'll be in touch."
Both men grinned, then one nudged the other and said in a mocking tone,
"He just cracked a funny."
"Yeah, so he did."
The thin guy's eyes turned mean.
"You be in touch, all right. But we'll stay in touch."
After they left, Randall didn't know how long he stood there before he
was able to get in his car and drive off.
Nineteen i to Oo how's business?" "Okay, I guess," Cassie said.
She was sitting at the foot of her mother's bed after having had her
coffee downstairs. Wilma, whose day hadn't started off well, had opted to have breakfast in bed.
"What do you mean, you guess? You don't know?"
Cassie heard the teasing note in Wilma's voice, but she found it difficult to respond in the same vein, not when her heart and mind were heavily burdened.
If only she hadn't let Austin kiss her, but she had. Now she had to try to make sense out of something that made no sense at all.