Chapter 5:
The drive to Cassidy's house was filled with bursts of chatter, her phone pinged as they neared her driveway. "Damn it! I left my wallet at your place, Carter said I can come by tomorrow morning, is that okay? Liam ignored the fact that Carter had already gotten her number.
"Of course." Any excuse to see her again.
"Are you sure? My morning tomorrow starts at six. I will probably get there around six thirty."
Liam tried not to take a sharp breath, he had a rule. If the sun wasn't up, he certainly wasn't. Usually Alpha duties went against this rule and he really hated it, but for Cassidy he would stop sleeping all together.
"Sure that's fine, I'll make sure I'm at the packhouse a little earlier."
Liam walked Cassidy to her front door admiring the way she looked in the moonlight. He imagined kissing Cassidy, passionately, sweetly. With the gentle breeze and distant birds around them. But he decided against it. Just as she was about to walk into the threshold, she turned, tilting her head to see him. "Thank you for tonight, it was short and sweet." Too short.
Before Liam could reply Cassidy kissed him gently on the cheek, her lips lightly grazing the stubble on his chin.
With one last smile she turned and stepped into her house leaving Liam dazed. The scent of her perfume still hung in the air and teased him. Heart thumping erratically he drove back to his house thinking of a certain auburn beauty.
Cassidy was inside her house and far away from the person that was putting her senses into overdrive. She vigorously wiped her lips with the inside of her wrist. She shouldn't have done that. Why did she do that?
But she kissed practically everyone on the cheek. Her European clients always got very kissy, she had simply gotten used to it. Putting her germophobe tendencies aside, it had become part of the job description. She kissed more than she had hugged, but it felt different with Liam. Something had come over her and she wasn't thinking straight.
She thought of her sister, she modelled most of her life choices based on the fundamental question, what would Marissa say? She smiled and knew exactly what Marissa would tell her to do. Cassidy needed her 8 hours of beauty sleep before everything started again.
______________________________________________________________
The next morning Liam felt like a walking corpse. The only thing keeping him sane was the cup of piping coffee that was currently burning his hand. The pack house was his main home, but he spent his time stretched between this house and an apartment that belonged to his brother. It was filled with important things that could not be left in this public space. It was more private and a less disruptive place to work. Although, he was planning to sell it, realising that his job was only going to get more demanding. The current pack house was more of a community center. Liam and Carter had designed it, agreeing that the privacy of the whole pack was important. Everyone had their own houses within a circumference of this central point. The pack house had office rooms, meeting rooms, a movie room, tennis courts, spare bedrooms...It was a space that anyone could come into and feel welcome. It was busiest on weekends and afternoons, so a separate wing of the house was created for 'official' pack business, where Liam and Carter spent most of their time.
Carter who lived solely in this pack house had been early up too, painting the sunrise or something ridiculous like that. Now he was making them breakfast and Liam could already feel his stomach churning. Just as he felt his head drop onto his shoulder he heard the doorbell, he jolted awake. Stumbling over himself and spilling coffee all over his hands he reached it in record time only to hear it ring again. He flung open the door to reveal a bright, put together Cassidy. He saw her smile falter and he realized that he looked like something the cat dragged in. "I am so sorry I'm here so early, I didn't realize that you wouldn't be up!" She clutched her binder to her chest, before placing it on an outside table, bashful.
Against his will, a yawn rose from his chest. "No, no, no, it's no trouble. Come in!" Liam turned his body awkwardly to the side so Cassidy could pass through the doorframe. She angled herself but they both couldn't seem to pass successfully without injuring the other. Cassidy wobbled on her heels and then gave up, she placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself and laughed.
Liam placed his hands on her waist but ended up wiping the sticky coffee on her blouse. Before he released a string of apologises she placed a cold index finger on his lips and giggled. "It's okay, I have a backup in my car, never hurts to be prepared." Liam smiled against her finger, now a smiling half-dead corpse. Which wasn't much of a better look but he still enjoyed their closeness. He was wide awake now. Caffeine running through his veins he felt bold, daring. He seized the space between them and leaned closer a fraction. He stared into Cassidy's eyes. Despite the cold weather, her eyes were warm.
Just when he was about to cross the distance between them. Carter cleared his throat dramatically, causing both their heads to snap towards him. He had obviously been watching them, his arms were crossed and a signature smirk was plastered onto his face. Hands were removed from one another like they were ablaze. Cassidy tried to hide her embarrassment, checking her watch she avoided Liam's gaze. "Umm...my wallet."
Carter extended his hand and pulled Cassidy into a bone crushing hug. Putting on a thick Boston accent he squeezed her until a strangled laughing noise escaped from the back of her throat.
"Cassie, baby! It's been too long!" Carter retrieved the wallet from the large pocket of his jacket and handed it to Cassidy. She threw her head back and laughed, wiggling out of his grasp wallet in hand. "Well guys, it's been wonderful but I must get going."
"Aww, Cass can't you stay for breakfast. It's almost ready!"
Cassidy glanced at her watch and pressed her lips together, "I can stay for twenty minutes max." Liam's face lit up as the trio walked into the kitchen. He then pulled up a chair for Cassidy before whispering a warning about Carters culinary skills. She laughed his comment off proclaiming that 'one simply could not ruin scrambled eggs. Oh how wrong she was.
Crediting her loss of appetite to her tired self she became attached to her glass of orange juice. Much to Carters disappointment.
"So Cass, when will we see you again?"
Cassidy pulled out her phone and opened her full calendar, not expecting to find an empty slot. "I can do dinner maybe...Wednesday" She looked at Liam for approval and he nodded eagerly. Cassidy glanced at the time. Taking one lasting sip of her juice she turned and fixed her hair in the adjacent mirror.
"I am so sorry guys but I really need to go!" Quickly gathering her stuff she teetered over to Carter and quickly pecked him on the cheek, wiping her lipstick from his face she thanked him for a 'wonderful' breakfast. She did the same to Liam but cheekily didn't wipe away the smudge, she made her way to the exit laughing at seeing him turn as red as the shade she was wearing. "See you both soon!" She waved one last time and was out the door.
Carter broke the silence between them. "Bro it's time for dating 101 with Carter." Liam started choking, he didn't know if it was because of the food or what he had just heard.
"WHAT?"
"Look I'm going to give you some valuable advice, so just listen," Liam looked at Carter incredulously but let him continue.
"You need to start making things move forward, you have known her for like two weeks and you haven't spent quality time together, you need to get to know each other. Don't wait for me to arrange dinner with her-"
"Well she is SO busy! I seriously feel like I have to book an appointment to see her!" Deep down Liam knew Carter was right, today he had relied on him to make plans.
"Look, Liam, put all that romance shit you know into practice. You have been waiting for her for years! And after spending some time with her I can see that she is perfect for you! Hell, I wish she was my girl, she knows about art!" Liam growled and showed fangs for extra measure, Carter started laughing and continued.
"Calm down, geez! I'm in a perfect relationship with the love of my life, myself. But seriously, she isn't yours until you make her yours. "You haven't kissed yet." He said it like a statement.
"What! That's absurd..." He felt the red on his face darken.
"Well it's kind of obvious, you look like a freaking tomato and it was just the cheek. I think there is some immense tension going on between you two, have you even tried to make a move?"
"Of course I have! It probably would have happened today if you hadn't been a dick and interrupted!"
"In the doorway of the pack house at 6;30 when you look like a hungover Lindsey Lohan! How romantic! She is probably going to end up kissing you first, at the rate you are going, Miley's going to find Jesus and grow her hair before anything happens.
Sick of the taunting Liam took the bowl full of scrambled eggs and poured it down the back of Carters shirt. There was a lot of throwing and cursing in the time that followed. So much for a productive early morning.
Wednesday rolled around and Liam decided to make dinner for everyone, he would have preferred it to have just been him and Cassidy, but Carter was insistent, that he needed to supervise so he could keep them on track. Carter kept waltzing into the kitchen and critiquing what he was making, they were best friends but Liam or anyone for that matter could only take his overwhelming personality in small doses. Eventually, he got frustrated and confined Carter to the games room, upstairs and far, far away.
Concentrating on the task at hand he didn't hear a sharp knock on the door. Looking at the clock he frowned. Cassidy wasn't due to arrive for another 30 minutes. Apron still on, he opened the door expectantly. He opened the door to see the face of a concerned parent and a teenager with an attitude, Ace. He was used to unannounced visits from the irresponsible teen, for months he had slowly been working on helping him get back to where he was before his father had left them.
Just as he had mentally prepared himself to hear what Ace had done, his mother broke into sobs, her body shook violently as she gasped for air through tears. At his mother's cries Liam could see raw emotion in Ace's eyes, his shoulders slumped and his head sank. Usually, it was covered by pretending he didn't care but Liam knew that he was still healing and needed someone to help rehabilitate him.
Liam's heart went out to the broken women before him. "You don't need to say anything." He nodded for Ace to enter the house before hugging his mother goodbye. Liam set another plate on the table. Ace was going to join them, whether Liam liked it or not his duty as an alpha came first.