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him pull up or walk around to the back.

“Oh my God,” Cassia breathed, realizing just how bad this

was for Adalynn. She should be able to choose. She should be

able to decide for herself what she wanted people to know. She

didn’t deserve to be outed like this.

Adalynn whirled around at the sound of Cassia’s horror, and

she gasped when she saw Jason.

Cassia’s hand flew to Adalynn’s shoulder, even as she took

a step forward. “Let me handle this.” She pushed past Adalynn

and out the back door. She left it open behind her, so Adalynn

could hear everything.

“Jason,” Cassia started, but he thumped his metal lunch pail

angrily down on the porch the men had recently been building

and scowled at her.

“There you were. Flirting with me and leading me on. That

must have been good fun for you. To be playing me like that

when you knew full well that I didn’t stand a chance. You just

wanted to humiliate me. You get off on things like that?”

Cassia was used to dealing with angry men. She’d heard her

father raise his voice more times than she could count.

Antonio had ruled by intimidation and force. He’d perfected

his menacing, icy glare, and when it landed on a person, they

usually got in line pretty damn fast. She could stay calm in the

face of Jason’s anger. She didn’t even mind the way he was

looking at her, like she was a bad smell permeating the air.

“I never led you on,” Cassia said calmly. “I was trying to be

friendly because I truly want to make friends with everyone. If

you thought it was more than that, I’m deeply sorry.”

“Sorry?” Jason scoffed. His cheeks and neck turned an ugly

shade of red and his nostrils flared as the color rose. “You’re