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“Things were going so well,” she muttered.

“Baby?”

Cass’s head jerked up and she popped off the couch like it was spring loaded.

“Hey, babe! Um, you’re home early.” Cass checked her watch. Very early.

“What’s wrong?” God, Rebecca hated that damn feeling she got in the pit of her stomach. The one that told her something was wrong.

“Huh? Nothing.”

“Cassidy.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Tell her! She already knows something is up. “Yeah, okay. So, Rand showed up.”

Rebecca raised a brow. Why was Cassidy so nervous just because her best friend came by? “All right.” She watched as Cassidy shuffled her feet and stalled. “Cassidy, we’ve talked about this. You stalling only makes me think of my own scenarios.”

“Right.” Cass sighed, wondering how to explain something she didn’t quite understand herself. “Rand came crashing through here extremely upset.” She glanced towards the stairs, totally noticing that Rebecca looked that way as well. “She didn’t say much, but what she did say…”

This was where Cass began to feel a little strange. Was she betraying her best friend’s confidence by telling Rebecca what she learned? Or was she doing Rand a favor by getting advice from someone who has been through this? Another glance at the stairs and Cass made her decision.

“Okay, you obviously know about Rand and Connor’s lifestyle. Well, Rand said that Connor has been a little off lately. And that when he, you know, dominates her he takes it too far. She says it’s more about abuse now.”

“She said that? Exactly that way?” Cassidy nodded and that bad feeling in her tummy grew. “Did you call the police?”

“No, she said she didn’t want to involve them. That it was too embarrassing.”

“I see.” Rebecca didn’t know how she could argue with Miranda’s decision. Didn’t she make the same years ago? “What about confronting Connor?”

Cass shook her head. “Won’t let me. I wanted to go over there and show him…”

“Cass?” Rand bounced down the stairs completely naked. “Oh! I didn’t know we had company!” Rand giggled but made no attempt to cover herself up.

Cass immediately turned away, covering her eyes for even more protection from the sight. “What the hell, Rand?! Why don’t you have clothes on?”

Rebecca, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes at the sight. That bad feeling just turned into turmoil. So many questions were going through her head. The most glaring ones being, what the hell was Miranda Loring-Daly doing in her house? Why the fuck was she naked? And who the fuck says things like “I didn’t know we had company!” in someone else’s home?

“Oh, come on. It’s not like you haven’t seen this before.”

One more question, Rebecca thought as her eyes left Miranda and landed on a blushing Cassidy. A raised brow asked the question that she knew wouldn’t be answered. At least not at this moment.

“Will you go put something on!”

“Sure, sure. I came down to ask if I could borrow a pair of sweats or something. I sort of forgot to bring an overnight bag.”

“Yeah, whatever. Just get dressed.”

Rebecca turned just in time to see Miranda smile at her, spin, and bound back up the stairs as if she had not a care in the world. Turmoil became a perfect storm.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say…”

“You’ve slept with her?” Rebecca interrupted.

“Not, um, technically,” Cass stammered. She couldn’t believe Rand said that in front of Rebecca! Not that Cass had anything to hide, but she sure as hell would’ve told her in a much more tactful way. This is what was confusing her. Rand wasn’t acting like herself at all.

“Not technically?” Rebecca shook her head. “You know what? I don’t care. What I care about is another woman walking around our house naked.”

“I—I didn’t think she’d do that. She was upset and asked if she could stay here because she was afraid to go home.”