I actually briefly considered backing out of my driveway and just leaving. I could come home in the morning and get ready for work. But then I realized that would be silly, so I parked the car and got out. Cassie stood about 5 feet away, waiting for me.
"Liv, we need to talk," she said, once I had shut my car door.
"I don't really think we do," I replied, shifting to step around her.
She put a hand on my arm, but pulled it away quickly when I glared at her. "Please," she said softly. "I think you'll want to hear what I have to say."
"Does it include an apology?" I snapped, starting to walk towards my front door.
"Yes," she replied, trailing behind me.
"Then I'm listening." I stopped in front of my front door and turned towards her.
She looked at me curiously. "Can we go inside?"
"No. You can say whatever it is you need to say, and then we can both move on with our evenings."
She sighed. "Fine. I'm really sorry that everything went down the way it did." I cocked an eyebrow at her. So far, this was shaping up to be a piss poor apology. "You weren't supposed to find out that way."
"Find what out that way?" I interjected. "I didn't find anything out."
She shook her head sadly. "You weren't supposed to find out about what Brody was doing until I had the proof. He has you completely fooled. He has everyone fooled. I'm actually really impressed...but he truly is doing shady shit. I'm sorry you found out like this, but better from me than from the FBI, right?"
I gaped at her, then laughed and shook my head. "Goodnight Cassie." I turned and unlocked my front door, then slipped in and slammed it shut and locked it behind me. "What a fucking lunatic," I muttered to myself.
I stomped up the stairs and gathered together clothes and makeup for the next day. I was really starting to get excited about moving in with Brody. We'd been spending so many nights together lately, and this back and forth and packing shit was getting old.
I peeked out my front window before I left, but Cassie was nowhere to be found. I sighed in relief, because I didn't really feel like being accosted by her again, and left.
I made it to Brody's house without further incident. I quickly filled him in on what happened. "Maybe you should stay out here for a few days, and Lauren should stay with Alex," he said when I finished.
I made a face. "I don't think she's going to do anything. She's not legitimately crazy, she's just got some wild hair up her ass about this."
"Even so, I'd feel better if you called Lauren and let her know, and if you stayed here for a few nights," he replied stubbornly. "I'll take you home to get some stuff tomorrow after we look at those houses, and you can come back here and stay through the weekend. Please?"
"Fine," I grumbled. "But only because you said please." I pulled out my phone and called Lauren, and Brody took his out too, presumably to freak Alex out by taking this all way too seriously. I filled Lauren in and she agreed that Brody was overreacting, but then said that Brody had just texted Alex about it and now Alex was also insisting that she stay with him for a few nights. We commiserated passive-aggressively about our overprotective boyfriends for a bit, then hung up.
I refused to talk about the subject for the rest of the night, and Brody obliged me. I wasn't trying to be a brat, I just didn't think it was a big of a concern as Brody seemed to be worried about. By this point it was getting fairly late, and we ended up going to bed not long after I got there anyway.
By now we had our morning routine fairly well choreographed. I got up and showered first, then Brody showered while I got dressed and dried my hair. He went downstairs and made coffee and breakfast while I put my makeup on (and I admit that this is my favorite part of spending the night with him. There's nothing quite as awesome as having breakfast made for you before going to work), then we ate together and left. Some mornings he had to be to work earlier than me and he had mastered getting ready quietly--sometimess I didn't even wake up until my alarm went off.
He'd been going in early most of this week, so I was expecting him to already be gone by the time I got up on Thursday morning, but he rolled over and groaned when my alarm went off. "Good morning, beautiful," he said his voice raspy from sleep.
"Good morning," I replied. "I thought you'd be gone already."
"I thought we could ride in together," he said casually, rolling over again and stretching.
"So Crazy Cassie doesn't get me?" I asked, rolling my eyes and hauling myself out of bed.
"Something like that," he replied. I shook my head and headed for the bathroom to shower.
When we were eating breakfast, I said, "You know, I could just drive myself into town, and then I could stop at home and get my stuff, then meet you for our appointment with Elena. Then you don't have to schlep me all over the place."
"I don't mind," he responded. "I like riding into town with you in the morning."
"Why don't you just say that you'd rather keep a close eye on me to protect me from Cassie?" I asked.
Brody sighed. "Yes, Liv. I'm being overprotective. It's annoying the shit out of you. I get that. This situation is a little weird and it's got my hackles up. I'm sure you're right and I'm overreacting, but the last time I wanted to try to protect you and you didn't let me, you got in a car accident and you could have been seriously injured. I haven't quite recovered from it, so give me this one, please?"
"Okay," I conceded, finishing the last bite of my toast. "If it means that much to you, you can drive."
"Thank you," Brody said.
I grabbed our plates and put them in the dishwasher, then finished my coffee. "Ready?" I asked. Brody said he was, and we headed out.
You'll all be relieved to know that Cassie didn't show up at my job. She also wasn't waiting at my house when Brody and I stopped there so I could get clothes for the next few days. I bit back the bratty impulse to say "told ya so"--I'm clearly maturing.
I was excited to go look at houses, and it helped me forget about my irritation at being chauffeured around the city by my overprotective boyfriend. We met Elena at the first house, and as we pulled up, Brody frowned. "Needs a new roof," he said, squinting up at it. Probably not a good sign if we haven't even parked the car and are already seeing a problem.
Elena got out of her car at the curb and greeted us cheerfully. "So this one clearly needs a new roof," she said, once we got greetings out of the way.
"I just said that to Liv," Brody replied. "It really does."
Elena nodded and then said, "Also, just so you know, the listing agent is here." That meant little to me but Brody cocked an eyebrow at her, then shrugged. Elena led us inside and introduced us to the listing agent. I soon realized what Brody's face was about. The listing agent followed us around and didn't give us much space to actually look at the house. Any time we asked Elena a question, the listing agent jumped in with a rehearsed and insincere sounding answer. I'm reasonably sure Brody and Elena were both ready to strangle him.
We didn't spend much time there. On top of the roof needing work, neither of us cared much for the layout. We followed Elena to the next house, which I liked a lot from the outside and was excited to see the inside.
Elena let us into the house with keys from a lockbox. I loved the entry way and living room. When we walked into the kitchen, Brody made a face. "How old are the appliances?" he asked.
Elena looked down at her notes and then said, "Dishwasher was replaced last year, dryer the year before. Everything else is original to the house. House was built in 2002."
"So we'd be replacing everything within a year or two," he responded. "Hmmm."
As we continued through, I pointed out a spot where the baseboard was pulling away from the wall, and then we quickly found some indicators of poor workmanship on the house. We left this house a little disappointed because we had liked it otherwise.
"Well, we have three to look at on Saturday," Elena said optimistically. "These were just the first two."
We said goodbye and got in Brody's SUV. My irritation at him for insisting on driving me into town today had faded, and I was just ready to go back to his house and relax for the evening. "Should we cook or pick something up?" he asked as he drove away from the house we'd just looked at.
"Pick something up," I replied immediately.
"Good choice," he agreed. We stopped and grabbed some takeout and then continued on to Brody's house. His worry about the Cassie situation now had me a little nervous as well, and I was relieved to see everything the way we left it, no Cassie to be found, when we got to Brody's house.
After we ate, Brody said he had a little work to finish up. I cleaned up the kitchen a little, washing the dishes from that morning and sweeping, then grabbed my Kindle and laid on the couch to read for a little bit. Brody emerged from his office about an hour later. He moved my feet, sat, then set my feet down in his lap. He began massaging one of my feet and said, "What did you think about the houses today?"
"I liked the second one, but didn't like that it didn't seem made very well. But I really liked that it had a fireplace and I thought the master bedroom and bathroom were perfect for us. I really liked the kitchen too. The first one sucked."
"I agree," he replied, picking up my other foot. "I just want to make sure to give Elena some detailed feedback so she knows what to look for."
"I know it was just the first two," I said, "but I'm really hoping that we have a little better luck on Saturday. It's a little discouraging to see two disappointing houses right away."
"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm biased, because this house was the third one I looked at, and I know that's not normal, so I'm trying to remind myself that it's not likely to be that easy this time around. We'll find something though." He grinned at me and slid his hands up my calves as he shifted on the couch and moved up to kiss me. "Let's forget about that for now."
"Hmm, okay. What would you like to do instead?" I asked, teasingly.
He kissed my cheek. "I have a couple potential things in mind." He kissed my other cheek. "I could go back to doing work." He kissed my lips. "And you could go back to reading." I could feel his breath on my jaw as he moved so he could press his lips to my neck. He started at the base of my neck and kissed his way all the way to my ear. He tugged on my earlobe with his teeth and then said softly, "Or we could go upstairs..."
That was an easy choice.
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