Cassian was practically on a hangover after he, Azriel and Lucien went to the bar last night and he had to deal with all the questions they shot at him. Even so, one thing led to another and the two had to agree on going to Sitka with him on a later date. Cassian had to keep himself from actually put together a series of questions and answers for Nesta to memorize.
Once the plane took off, he cleared his voice to start. "So, these are the questions that INS is gonna ask us, I took the liberty to search it up." Cassian opened his portfolio. "Now, the good news is, that I know everything about you, but the bad news is that you have four days to learn all this about me." He said, to which Nesta gave him an incredulous look. "So, you should…" Before Cassian can finish his sentence, she snatched the portfolio from his hands. "Probably get studying." he mumbled.
Nesta looked through the pages before asking. "You know all the answers to these questions about me?"
Cassian shot her a smirk. "Scary, isn't it?" How insufrible, Nesta had thought, almost shooting it verbally.
"A little bit." She replied instead and asked. "What am I allergic to?"
"Pine nuts." Cassian shot without looking at her. "And the full spectrum of human emotion." He added with sarcasm.
"Oh, that's... that was funny." Nesta huffed a laugh before asking her next question. "Here's a good one. Do I have any scars?" She smirked, thinking that he'll never get this one right. To her surprise, he chuckled in a very devious way.
"I'm pretty sure that you have a tattoo." He glanced at her, smirk still plastered on his face.
"Oh" Nesta backed up her question to not let him win. "You're pretty sure?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure." Cassian said while crossing his arms. "Two years ago, your dermatologist called and asked about a Q-switched laser. I Googled a Q-switched laser and found that they, in fact, do remove tattoos." He said before closing in with a grin on his lips, almost sharing a breath. "But you canceled your appointment."
Nesta couldnt stop the heat on her cheeks. Not only that, but that damned expression of defiance on his face made her gut heat up more than her own face.
Cassian pulled away, laying back on his seat and continued. "So what is it? Tribal ink? Japanese calligraphy? Barbed wire?" He whispered that last question almost dramatically.
"You know, it's exciting for me to experience you like this." Nesta gave him a sarcastic smile before resuming on reading the questions.
Cassian just smiled stubbornly. "Thank you. You're gonna have to tell me where it is, tho.~"
Nesta mumbled. "I'm not."
"They're gonna ask." Cassian kept insisting.
"We're done with that question." Nesta flipped pages. "We're done with that question." She repeated. Cassian just shook his head and looked out the window. Nesta couldn't help but glance at him, noticing all his features. The light softly makes his dark skin glow in various shades of gold and brings out more details on his neck, to which she noticed multiple dark blue stripes coming from underneath his shirt. She figured it was a tattoo of his own but she wasnt gonna dig deeper so she quickly looked for another question. "Ahem! On to another question. Let me see, let me see." She found a very interesting one. "Oh! Here 's one. Whose place do we stay at, yours or mine?" She gave him a smirk. "That 's easy. Mine."
Cassian's voice dropped an octave as he asked. "And why wouldn't we stay at mine?" He shifted on his seat to face her. It took all of her will to keep the heat from puddling on her core.
"Because I live in Central Park West. And you probably live in some squalid little studio apartment with stacks of yellowed Penguin Classics." Nesta said and smirked at his astonished expression. How did she know? He didn't want to even ask her.
There was a small Bing heard all along the plane as the pilot spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts. We are beginning our descent into Juneau."
Nesta frowned and snapped her neck to look at him. "Juneau? I thought we were going to Sitka."
Cassian nodded and replied simply. "We are."
Nesta dared to ask again. "How are we getting to Sitka?" By the long silence, the clench of his jaw and the look of annoyance, she felt a bit confused, It wasn't until half an hour later that she understood why he was so annoyed, The had to take another plane, which was constantly shaking and moving. The two barely had a grip on their seat. On the other hand, whenever the plane didn't shake, Cassian could see the beautiful black peaks covered in snow, almost like it was covered in a soft white blanket.
Once the airplane landed, Cassian saw three familiar females, two of them waving at him, through the window. One had golden blonde hair, wearing a red coat and black pants with matching boots, the other had dark skin with hair that almost resembled coal, she was wearing a similar jacket, only that it was autumn colored, black pants and brown fur boots. The last woman was shorter, black hair cut into a bob, she was wearing a white fluffy fur coat, balck winter leggings and fur boots, Two of them were holding cardboards that welcomed him, which he smiled warmly. "All right. Here we go." He said to Nesta with a smirk, to which she snorted.
"Where? Oh, there he is!" The blonde female smiled and pointed at Cassian coming down the plane with ease. Nesta, on the other hand, was struggling against the steps and the cold.
"Cassian!" The other female waved as the three gathered into a tight hug. "It's so good to see you!"
"Hey, Mor. Hi Emerie." Cassian smiled cheerfully before smirking at the shorter woman. "Good to see you too Angry Snowball"
"You watch your mouth boy. Even though you've just got here, I won't hesitate to give you a hard time" She replied.
Cassian chuckled and looked around. "Where's Rhys?"
Emerie chuckled. "Oh, you know your brother. He's busy when it comes to his birthday."
Mor slightly punched Cassian's shoulder. "Never mind about him!" She gave him a knowing grin. "Where's your girl?"
Cassian held back a wince and forced a smile. "She's... right there." He pointed. "There she is."
Nesta walked to him, careful with her steps. She mentally cursed that she had to wear heels to this trip.
Enerie winced before commenting. "I guess the word girl is inappropriate."
Nesta forced a smile once she got close enough. "Hi!"
"Hello." The two females greeted cheerfully and hugged her, to which she slightly returned the gesture.
"Nesta, this is my brother's cousin." Cassian pointed to Mor.
"Hi. I'm Morrigan but everyone just calls me Mor. I must say, you look stunning!" Mor held her hands, smiling from ear to ear.
Nesta was a bit awkward by her honest gesture. "Yeah, great." She said.
Cassian then pointed to Emerie. "This is her other half, Emerie."
Emerie just shook her hand with a smile. "Pleasure."
"Well, hello there." Nesta greeted but then the shorter woman got a bit closer to her than intended.
Cassian cleared his voice, as in hiding a laugh. "And the Angry Snowball in Amren."
"Now, do you prefer being called Margaret or Satan's Mistress?" Amren squinted her bright silver eyes. Nesta's eyes shot wide to her question. She was not gonna let her intimidate her so she shot back.
"I've heard it both ways." Nesta held her chin up.
"Actually we've heard it lots of ways." Amren said before pointing with a small smirk. "I like you"
Cassian threw an arm over Nesta's shoulders. "Congrats! You won the approval of the little ant!"
"Zip it!" Amren hissed at him with a glare. Cassian only let out a heavy laugh, to which Nesta could feel it resonating through her ribcage.
She cleared her voice and said, "Thank you so much for... allowing me to be a part of this weekend." She said, stumbling a little on her words.
"Oh, you're welcome." Mor clapped her hands with a smile.
Emerie nodded "We're thrilled to have you."
"Let's get you two back to the fort." Mor said cheerfully and hugged Cassian's arm.
Nesta forced a smile to hide a growing concern. "Ok." She said as she watched him, Mor and Amren walked ahead.
Emerie, on the other hand, looped her arm with hers. "I hope you don't mind, but you look quite worried. Is someone else coming to Sitka?" She asked her.
Nesta hesitated before answering. "Well… My sisters and my best friend are coming soon and my best friend is coming on a later date. I was just worried about their ride here"
Emerie nodded. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll make it here safe." She smiled. Nesta couldn't help but smile back.
After they took a ride through the town, Nesta realized something. Most of the shops had the last name of Paxton written on every banner: Sitka's Souvenir: The Paxton Collection, Paxton Pharmacy, Paxton Parcel and Post, Paxton General Store, Paxton, Paxton, Paxton.
Nesta looked at Cassian, who looked a bit distracted with the opening of a new gym, before looking at his back with a name tag on it: C. Paxton. She then shot her gaze at him. "Cassian…" Nesta whispered but he didn't listen. "Cassian!" She whispered a bit loudly but he didn't listen. She made an annoyed expression before punching his shoulder… HARD.
"Ow!" Cassian held it with a wince before glaring at her. "Please, don't do that! You punch like a triple W Wrestler!" He said with an unamused tone and Nesta didn't know if she should consider it a compliment or an insult.
Nesta glared at him instead and said sarcastically. "You didn't tell me about all the family businesses, honey." She gave a sarcastic grin to which he only stared blankly in annoyance.
Amren was the first to comment. "He was probably just being modest, lady." She didn't even look as she was plastered on her phone. Mor and Emerie chuckled.
"Oh." Nesta forced a smile.
Once they made it to a few docks nearby, Emerie parked the truck. Nesta got down to look around in slight confusion as Cassian went to the back to get her luggage. Nesta then asked him. "What are we doing? Shouldn't we check into our hotel right now?"
Mor answered her instead. "Oh, we canceled your reservation." She said with a smile. "Family doesn't stay at a hotel."
Amren then said. "You're gonna stay in our home."
Nesta was taken aback and now she didn't know what to do. So to hide her frustration, she said with fake joy. "Oh, great! Great."
Cassian noticed the fakeness in her voice so he decided to annoy her. He slightly made the impression of struggling with her luggage, which wasn't even heavy for him, and dropped it. "God." He said and gave her a smirk. "You're gonna wanna use your legs to lift that one." He said and walked to the girls. Nesta held back the urge to make a vulgar gesture at him as she grabbed her things.
Emerie looked at her, then at Cassian. "Cassian! Help her with those." She said to him. Cassian only clicked his tongue.
"I'd love to, but she won't let me do anything." Cassian lied. He just wanted to see her struggle. "She insists on doing it all herself. She's one of those... she's a feminist." He shrugged. The four of them saw her kick her luggage into its wheels as she began to drag it behind her. The three women on Cassian's side looked at each other in silence before resuming to walk to where their boat was. "Come on, sweetie.~" Cassian said, knowing it annoyed her more while she struggled to pull her luggage through the rocks and gravel.
"You see the shoes she's wearing?" Amren mumbled the comment to Mor, to which she nodded.
Later, Mor and Emerie were sorting the bags in place while Amren waited on the driver's seat. Apparently Emerie was more into pickup trucks, Mor into cars and Amren was a master expert in boats. "This is the last of 'em." Cassian threw one of Nesta's back to Mor.
"Hey!" Nesta tried to stop him but she was forced to watch how her expensive bag fell and floated on the water.
"Oh… Five second rule." Cassian only said with no concern for her bag at all.
"Got it! Got it." Mor said, yanking the bag on time before giving it to Emirie.
"That will dry right off." Cassian said out loud, smirking at Nesta before climbing down. Nesta was pissed at this point and decided not to follow suit.
"I'm not getting on that boat." She said in defiance.
"You don't have to." Cassian said simply before grinning at her. "See you in a few days."
Nesta opened her mouth but had to swallow to try again. "You know I can't swim long distances!"
"Hence… the boat.~" Cassain said and stood on the wooden platform, waiting for her to come down. "Come on." He held out his hand for her. Nesta just looked around and sighed. Come on. Here we go." He said again. Nesta carefully lowered herself on the latter and climbed down. Cassian was just looking at her, taking advantage of the situation to look at her ass, marked by her leather pants. "Looking good, boss. Take your time, though.~" He said, to which she only hissed and threw him her handbag.
Mor and Emerie tilted their heads to see how slowly and insecure she was climbing down that ladder. Only Amren commented. "She comes with a lot of baggage."
Cassian placed his hand on her ass so she wouldn't fall. "Just gonna give you a little hand here." He said and couldn't help but squeeze a little. Nesta growled.
"Hand off ass! Off ass!" She snapped as he obliged.
"There you go. You're there." Cassian said as Nesta managed to put a foot on the platform. When she made the attempt to turn around, she stumbled onto his chest. Cassian held her elbows with quick reflex to prevent her from falling. She somehow felt a bit calmer after feeling his strong hold on her arms, she even wondered how many women he had prevented from falling. Wait, why was she thinking that? Why was she even wondering about his own life!? She snapped out of her thoughts when Cassian cleared his voice and commented with a smirk. "Congratulations. I'm a hundred years old now."
Nesta scoffed and pulled away from him. "You wish." She dusted herself.
"You could've wore something more comfortable but you chose to let me see your ass. Hell, quite squishy too.~" Cassian purred as she felt her whole face heat up.
"Geez! You're insufrible!" Nesta snapped in embarrassment and got on the boat, to which Mor, Emeria and even Amren were chuckling.
Cassian gasped dramatically and held his heart. "Sweetheart, you're gonna break your daddy's heart!~" he smirked. Nesta's eyes shot wide open as Mor gave her a smirk.
"So you do have fun before marriage.~" She commented. Nesta covered her red face in embarrassment. But her comment did make her wonder slightly. How good was he on- She shot that thought out before she delved deeper. Control yourself, damn it! She thought to herself as they were now off, gliding through the waters at full speed.