The Girl with the Gift

Chapter 6

Macey glared at Cas as she watched her friend sink into the kitchen chair. Cas couldn't even open her usually bright round eyes.

"I don't want to know." She said in a husky voice.

"Yeah, you really don't." Macey shook her head "If Luke breaks up with you I wouldn't blame him. For the love of all sanity--"

"Mace, stop." Cas said, holding up a hand. "It's bad enough I feel like I might die. I don't need you killing me too."

Macey sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry. And... Luke really seems to care about you. I might even be jealous." She teased, but it managed to draw a smile from Cas.

"I need to say sorry too. I had no idea you met his brother before."

"Oh, well about that—"

"I should have thought when you told me his name that it might be the same Alex. Also though, why did you act like you hated him? Didn't you save him?"

"No, no, I don't hate him at all." Macey laughed nervously. She reached for a glass and poured Cas some water which she accepted gratefully. She continued to give Macey a peculiar look, similar to the one early in the night.

"I could have sworn you were being such an ice queen to him at that first bar. I don't remember much after that to be honest."

"Oh is that right? You don't? I only had to carry you all the way home last night."

"What??" She gasped in horror.

"No, just kidding. Well kind of. Alex offered to drop us off at home so I did carry you for part of the way."

"Did Luke see that?!"

"Luke couldn't see his own hands." Macey shook her head. "This does not bode well for you two. Alex practically had to carry him."

Cas burst out laughing, then stopped when she looked like doing so made her head pound.

Macey sighed, ready to taker the bull by the horns. "I should have been completely honest with you this entire time, but the reason I was kind of cold towards Alex is because he offered me a job before."

"A job?"

"A... bodyguard job."

Cas twisted her mouth to the side. "Wouldn't that be strange? You're, like, half his size and skinnier than me, especially after all the food Luke has been feeding me."

"That's why, I thought that was strange and wasn't sure if I even liked the idea of selling myself out like that. But the money—he offered me 80k a year with bonuses and insurance and I even negotiated 4 weeks of vacation." She straightened, completely satisfied with herself.

Cas spit into her water. "80 THOUSAND dollars?" She squeaked. "I barely make half of that!" She seemed to think about that for a moment. "You accepted??"

"Well at first I didn't. Actually to be honest I thought I'd never see him again. But then he showed up last night... And well one thing led to another."

"Usually when you say that about a blind date that means sex but your saying that it led to a job... hysterical."

"I think both of us forgot it was a blind date actually. We became really good friends."

Cas seemed disgusted. "I go get myself stupid drunk for you to become friends with a multi-millionaire? Ugh. Why do I even bother?" Her head sank to her forearms on the table.