Daddy Next Door (COMPLETED)

chapter 9

Filthy Dirty Lies
By: TheHarshLovet

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Max's eyes swiveled to Zanders face, presently a shade of purple known as fuchsia. "What the hell is going on here?"

Cassie yelped and headed back to the bedroom. Max tried to stem the tide of Zander's anger. "I can explain," he began, but Zander interrupted him.

"She's my sister, my baby sister. How dare you, man? I thought we were friends."

Overwhelmed by guilt, Max told him, "It just happened. Neither of us planned this to go behind your back; we had, in fact, planned on telling you today."

"Doesn't that just make YOU a boy scout, then?" Zander sneered.

"No, it doesn't make him a boy scout; it makes him someone I care about—a lot," Cassie said, returning to the room, slightly more dressed than before in one of Tony's tee shirts and a pair of his boxers.

Zander turned his furious expression on her. "Just yesterday, your date stood you up, this great guy you were so happy with. Now, all of a sudden, you are gaga for Max, someone who is too old for you, someone you've known all of your life?"

He turned from one to the other, his eyes glazing over in shock, remembering his conversation through text with Max just a few hours earlier. "It was Max who stood you up yesterday when Lucinda jumped him?" he asked his sister in a strangled tone.

"Yes," she replied, nodding. "But we've moved past that, all of the distrust from that."

Zander glared at Max with the same disbelief. "She's your ONE? Cassie? I thought you wanted to protect her, not expose her to your proclivities."

"Zander, you don't understand," Cassie began.

Holding up a hand to stop her, he stated, "No, I don't. And I don't want to." He looked at Max. "We're done."

Walking to the door, he turned back to look at Cassie. "I'll still be here for you when he finds a new lust of his life. Because he will, you know."

On that optimistic note, Zander slammed the door behind himself.

Cassie launched herself at Max and burst into tears. He gathered her close, crooning words of love to her.

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Max and Cassie spent the rest of the afternoon trying to forget Zander's harsh words. By mutual agreement, they decided to not try to contact Zander that day and instead focus the rest of the day on just being them—except for inviting their parents to dinner.

In Cassie's case, there was a bit of damage control there. She knew she needed to tell her parents about her relationship with Max before Zander did. Neither set of parents seemed to find it odd that dinner would be at Zander's house but with Cassie's cooking.

To prepare, they needed to go grocery shopping—their first public outing (since the boat excursion was definitely NOT to be counted or considered).

Of course, Max took this as his opportunity to build a stockpile of Cassie's favorite "little" treats at his house—juice boxes, (Capri) Suns, microwavable bowls of canned pasta, goldfish crackers, and fruit snacks. Cassie was delighted and felt absolutely cherished.

When they returned to Max's house, they still had a few hours before Cassie had to start to cook, so they relaxed on Max's couch for a few hours, watching Boomerang for old episodes of the Powerpuff Girls so that Cassie could cheer on Bubbles—her favorite.

As she bounced excitedly and giggled happily, Max rejoiced in how quickly his life could turn around for the better. Just last week, he was contemplating taking on a new sub to again purge Cass from his thoughts only to have his every dream come true—for the new sub to be Cass.