“No kidding. If the guy has a single ounce of humanity in his body, then he’s got to be choking on guilt for all that Lia has endured.”

“Unless he’s a good actor, he’s feeling it. I don’t know if it’s driven by mere curiosity or something more, but he seems very drawn to her. Enough to crash our dinner last week to meet her.”

“This is like Jerry Springer shit,” Aidan marvels. “They write books about this kind of messed-up stuff. Wait; did he have anything to do with her mother turning herself in out of the blue?”

I had mentioned her mother’s arrest to Aidan over the phone but hadn’t gone into any details. “Yeah, and he’s looking for her stepfather.”

“Prison’s too good for that bastard,” Aidan snarls, echoing my sentiments exactly. It’s something Lee and I don’t see eye-to-eye on, but what am I supposed to do? Recommend he kill the sick fuck instead, or better yet, help me find him so I can have the pleasure? “Man, no wonder you’re stressed. That’s a lot to deal with.”

“It is what it is,” I say simply. I look him over, noticing again how tired he looks. “What’s going on with you? You look like shit.” Aidan and I are nothing if not blunt with each other.

“Thanks,” he says dryly as he runs a hand along his jaw. “I’m just not sleeping that well. You know I have problems with that at the best of times.” Aidan has always been somewhat of an insomniac, but it looks as if things have been worse than usual lately.

“I appreciate you stepping in and running things here while I was with Lia. I apologize for dumping that on you; I know it was a lot to ask.”

“You know I’ve always got your back. And that’s not the cause of my stress,” he adds quietly. Fuck, I know what’s coming, and I don’t want to hear it, but it’s so clear that he needs to talk right now. There is only one thing, or one person that can brings him this low.

“It’s Cassie,” I say as more of a statement than a question. Where Aidan is concerned, no matter how many women he screws, it’s always her. He has spent most of his adult life trying to fuck her out of his heart and his head.

“Luc, it’s finally happening. She’s coming out of it.” I look at his hopeful face and don’t know what to say. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this from him through the years and nothing ever changes. When she said his nickname a few weeks ago, it gave him hope. I admit that it’s something new, but there have been other things which seemed to indicate she had some awareness of her surroundings and nothing’s ever come of it. No matter how I feel about Cassie, it kills me to see him go through this kind of torture.

“Aidan…you shouldn’t read too much into her saying your name. She—”

“It’s more than that,” he interrupts me, looking almost excited now. “Her doctor says she’s been interacting some with her nurses and the other patients.”

“Interacting how exactly?” I ask, feeling a ripple of unease running through me.

“Saying thank you and answering questions from fellow patients.”

My ripple of unease is more like a fucking tidal wave now. Aidan is right; this is a new development. Cassie has spoken through the years, but generally words that have no place in the conversation at hand. The doctors have always believed she was talking to herself and not responding to whoever is present at the time. She also has a gut-wrenching habit of rubbing her stomach and humming as if she were still pregnant and singing to her unborn child…my fucking child. I can’t be around her and risk seeing it. I told her doctor to stop sending me reports after the last one, which included that bit of information. It’s a completely messed-up state of affairs that I’m her legal guardian and pay for her care, even though she killed my baby and tried to kill me. It’s pure fucking guilt on my part. I long ago instructed the facility to send their reports to Aidan and Max; I simply couldn’t handle it. “Aidan,” I say, trying to get back on track, but still reeling from his news. “She has spoken at times through the years.”

“But her doctors say this is the first time her words are in the right context. Luc, the new medication regimen they are trying with her is doing something. She’s starting to come back, I can feel it.” Fuck, the only thing I feel at his words is nauseous. I love Aidan like a brother, but his dreams are my nightmares. I don’t want a world that involves Cassie, and I wonder if he even knows what he’s hoping for. She’s killing him little by little without ever laying a hand on him.

I give him the usual song and dance about not getting his hopes up, but I’m only going through the motions. I’m too rattled to put much into it. Finally, I change the subject, and we go through the list he’s made of items that need my attention. When Cindy buzzes my phone to tell me I have a call, I’m grateful. I’m afraid he’ll start talking about Cassie again, and I know that regardless of how much I want to support my friend, this is one subject we’ll never agree on again.

Lia

I’m in the kitchen finishing a simple meal of tacos and Spanish rice. I still haven’t had much of an appetite, so when I was actually craving Mexican food, I decided to seize the opportunity. Luckily, Lucian’s cabinets are fully stocked with most of my favorites from the grocery service we use. I hear the front door open and tense before Lucian’s voice rings through the apartment. “Lia, where are you?”

“I’m in the kitchen,” I call back as I sit a glass of sweet tea in front of my plate and a Corona with a lime wedge in front of his.

“What’s all of this?” he asks, looking surprised as he takes in the plates of food I have on the bar. He closes his arms around me, pulling my back into his front. He runs his nose down my neck, smelling my scent as he does so often before dropping a soft kiss there.

I relax into his big body, loving how safe I feel. “I thought I would make dinner for us tonight. I’m getting kind of tired of restaurant food, and I figured you were, as well.”

When I feel him tug on my ponytail, I smile as I wait for him to explore my new ponytail holder. “Is this…? I see him look over to the trashcan in the corner, which I had pulled out to empty after dinner. The yellow tie hanging from one side is a perfect match for the one I have tied into a bow in my hair. He gives a dramatic sigh. “Thank God, it’s not my underwear this time.” He spins me around until I’m facing him and takes my mouth immediately. I keep my mouth shut to tease him, and then yelp in surprise when he bites my lower lip before licking the sting with his tongue. Lucian’s kiss as usual takes no prisoners. He is a master, knowing exactly how to stroke, suck, and explore. I move against his kiss restlessly, immediately wanting those heavy lips to move lower…much lower, but he cuts me off just as I’m on the verge of begging.