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“You—you know what our lifestyle is, right?” Rand asked, unknowingly mirroring Cass’s thoughts. “Well, ever since we had lunch with you and whats-her-name, things have been off with him.”

Considering the state Rand was in, Cass chose to overlook the “whats-her-name” shit. For now.

“Off how?”

“He got more, you know, dominant. It’s never been more than I could handle. But it’s getting worse, Cass. More like abuse.”

“The fuck?”

Cass sprang up and headed for the door. She didn’t think, just reacted.

Rand ran after her. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to kill him!” In her mind, Connor became Samantha. She couldn’t do anything then, but she sure as hell could do something now.

“Stop, wait!” Rand pulled at Cass’s arm. “I don’t want him to know I told you!”

“Fuck that, Rand! He hurt you and he’s going to pay for it!”

“Can’t you just stay here with me? I need you, Cass. Look, I came here because you’re my best friend. I love that you want to defend me, but right now, all I need is a place to stay. And maybe a shower.”

The grin on Rand’s face confused Cass. What the hell was there to grin about? Then again, maybe this was Rand’s way of coping. She had always been pretty dramatic, but as far as Cass knew, this was the most traumatic thing to happen to her.

“Fine. You know you’re welcome to stay here. But before you do anything else, you need to file a police report.”

“No.”

“Rand.”

“I said no, Cass. This is embarrassing enough! I don’t want to drag this out in the open where my family can see. They don’t know about our lifestyle and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. He’s the problem, Rand. Not you.”

Rand responded with a flick of her hand. “Yeah, yeah. I don’t really want to talk about it anymore right now. I’m tired. Could I just take a shower and lay down?”

Cass sighed. “Yeah, of course. Did you bring anything with you?” Rand shook her head. “Okay, I’ll find you something to wear. The guest bedroom has been turned into an office, but I can fix up the pull-out for you.”

“Can’t I just sleep with you? I’d feel much safer.”

“Uh, I don’t think Rebecca would like that.”

“You’re still with her?” Rand scoffed. “I thought that would have run its course by now. Anyway, if she gets all jealous that you’re trying to help a friend, she doesn’t have to know I’m here.”

One, two, three… Cass clenched and unclenched her hands, reminding herself that Rand has been through a lot. “She’ll know since she lives here.” Practically. “If you want to stay upstairs because you’ll feel safer, we can sleep down here.”

“Lives here? You can’t be serious, Cass. She’s…”

“Enough, Rand. Look, I get that you’re going through something and I want to be there for you. But I can’t have you putting my girlfriend down. Please?”

Rand rolled her eyes. “Fine. May I take a bath or is that off-limits, too?”

The only bathtub in the house was in the master bathroom. “Go ahead. You know where the towels are. Just grab some sweats or something from my room. Take your time. When you get out, I’ll fix you something to eat and we can talk more about this, yeah?”

“Sure. If I’m up for it.” Rand turned to go upstairs, pausing at the first step. “What time will she be here? I was kind of hoping I could just hang here for a while without anyone else around.”

The muscles in Cass’s jaw contracted. “I don’t know when Rebecca will get home.” She emphasized the word “home” in hopes it would penetrate through Rand’s thick skull that this was exactly where Rebecca belonged. She was thankful that Rand didn’t respond before disappearing upstairs.

Cass sank down onto the couch and buried her head in her hands. Rebecca was not going to like this. The two certainly didn’t hit it off the way Cass and Hunter had. In fact, as Cass could tell from her very short, very odd conversation she just had with Rand, there was an underlying animosity. She didn’t know why, but it sucked. Now Cass invited Rand to stay with them without talking to Rebecca first. Surely, she would be the one person who could understand. Right?