Page 85 of Racing Heat

“Okay, well, want to have brunch or something after we lift?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter Thirty-One

~JASE~

Ithink my first chance at giving them a pep talk went well. I hear Mac tell Cassie that she’s hanging out with Danny tonight, which means maybe, just maybe, I can get Cassie alone at my house. I shoot her a text to find out.

Jase:Hey, love. You have any plans tonight?

I send the message and then walk out of the locker room and back to my office to gather the rest of my stuff. I find August in the hallway on the way out the door.

“Hey, man,” he says, clapping me on the back. “Tough loss tonight.”

“Thanks. We’ll get them focused again for the next one.”

“You heading out tonight at all?” he asks me, transitioning our conversation into the personal.

“Nah, home to sleep a bit. I’m tired.”

He nods. “Okay. Sometime soon we should do another boys’ night or something. Get together and watch a baseball game. Grill at my place or some shit like that.”

I hold my fist up and bump it with his. “Yeah, we should do that. It’s been a while since we all hung out without having the women around.”

He grins. “Agreed. It’s a shame we can’t get them set up with guys we don’t mind hanging around, you know? Might make our nights more fun.”

“There’s always Hendrix for you,” I tease him, knowing full well she hates him.

“Not going there,” he says with a shake of his head. “I gotta split. Enjoy your night.” My phone chimes.

Augusts turns back to me. “That your evening plans?”

I chuckle. Oh, little does he know… I say nothing and he continues on, ready to go home for the night. When he’s out of sight, I check the text she sent me.

Cassie:I was hoping for plans with you.

Her message makes me grin. I’m glad I waited to check this until after he walked away. He would have noticed my expression, and I wouldn’t have gotten away from him without some sort of an explanation. I didn’t want to lie to him or have things get back to Cassie.

Jase:Perfect. My house?

I watch the bubbles appear and disappear before I finally get a response.Come on, don’t over think it,I think to myself.

Cassie:See you there.

I want to fist pump the air at her response. Instead, I gather myself and quickly leave the building so that I don’t have to keep my expression so guarded.

Jase:Can’t wait.

I hurry out of the parking lot and speed toward my house. I’ve never been so excited to get home.

I’ve only ever taken one girl other than Cassie there. She was one of August’s ideas of helping me. The woman was nice enough, but she was convinced that I was married and that my wife and kids would be over soon. She talked a lot, which wasn’t what I was really looking for that night. I know the house is big, but it’s nice to have a place where I can retreat from the world.

When I lived in Manchester, it wasn’t like that. I lived in a high-rise. There was no backyard that I could wander around in that was just mine. I could go to a park, but there were people, couples, and families there. Reminders of everything I had lost or what I had potentially lost. So, the house, while it’s too big, works for me.

I pull into the garage and hurry into the house. I have some food being delivered because I imagine she’s hungry. I know that I’m hungry for her, but I don’t want to be that man who takes her as soon as she enters the house, even though that’s been on my mind since I saw her standing in my office.

I check my phone to see that my DoorDash driver is on his way to my home with the food. I’m hoping to have everything set up before she gets to my house. I want to take care of her tonight and make sure that even though they lost, she doesn’t have a shit night.