A/N Thanks for all the reviews. And to Sandy and everybody else that is
worried about poor Marky. I have plans for him. Plans beyond Skinamax!
Marky is going to get some action soon!
Chapter 33
Roger quietly opened the loft door and walked in with his guitar. He was hoping Cass would have gone to bed, but she was on the couch, asleep, with her laptop on her legs. Mark was asleep in the chair. He had a feeling, after their conversation earlier, that Mark was sitting up with her because she wouldn't go to bed by herself. Oh well, he'll ask Mark about it tomorrow.
Roger shook Mark's shoulder. "Hey, Marky. Wake up."
"What time is it?" Mark asked as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"Almost two. Go to bed." Roger turned of the TV. "Cass wake up." He shook her gently.
"Hey you're home." She gave him a sleepy smile.
"Yeah, I'm home." He laughed. She always cracked him up when she was half- asleep. "Why didn't you guys go to bed?"
" I was working on something." She told him.
"Yeah," Mark said giving Roger a look as he shook his head. "She was working on something."
"Come on lets go to bed." He pulled her up off the couch. "I gotta take a shower first, I smell like the bar." Roger walked Cass over to their room and kissed her before going to take a shower.
"Cass you still awake?" He softly asked as he climbed in bed.
"Uh huh." She tried to sound convincing. "How was work?"
"Lonely." He told her as he pulled her almost on top of him.
She smiled at him and started to play with his hair, which was still wet from the shower.
"Do you feel better?" He asked her as he ran his finger down her back.
"Yes. Much better. I just had such a horrible headache it was making me nauseous."
"Did you ever eat anything? You still hadn't eaten when I left. I don't want you getting sick on me."
"Yes, I ate some toast. And an apple."
"That's not very much Cass." Roger's mind briefly went back to the days before she got there, that whole week and a half ago. Back to the days when there was no such thing as a refrigerator full of food or money to buy any. Roger knew toast and an apple were not a lot of food. "You want anything? I'll get you something. What do you want?"
Cass looked at him for a second and got a crooked grin. "Yes, you know what I want?"
Roger sat up and started to move to get out of bed. "What?"
"Breakfast, in about eight or nine hours."
"Smartass!" He grabbed her and tickled her for a second. "And here I was ready to go cook you something."
"How chivalrous of you Mr. Davis."
"Yeah well, like I said I don't want you getting sick on me, I don't think I can take it. Way to stressful. And annoying."
"Oh, thanks for the warning Mr. Concern and Compassion." She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "What exactly is so stressful and annoying?"
"In a word, Mark." Roger laughed. "Trust me he'll drive you crazy if you get sick."
"Please, the Boston tea party didn't involve as much tea as that boy tried to force on me tonight." Cass laughed.
"Do that again." He told her with a funny look on his face.
"Do what?" She laughed again at the strange request.
"Laugh like that. I like it." He realized he really did like it. It sounded good. It sounded right to Roger. More than that, it felt right to him. All of it did. Her, being here, with him, talking, laughing, all of it. It just felt right to him. And he liked it. Roger really, really liked it.
"You're very strange Roger Davis."
"I know, and damn proud of that fact too!"
"Hey everybody needs a goal I guess." She giggled again.
He smiled at the sound of it. 'Yeah? What's your goal Cassiopeia bunch of other stuff Sullivan?"
"Don't play the middle name game with me unless you know what you're doing Roger Jackson Davis." She smirked at him.
"Hey how did you know that?" He was a little amazed.
"I have my sources, and it wasn't Mark either. Well not exactly." He just looked at her for a second before she continued. "Okay, Joanne needed to know so she could have stuff ready for tomorrow."
"Joanne? For what? What's tomorrow?"
"Oh, I'm sorry baby we forgot to tell you. She called, after you left. She needs to see you, both of you. We need to meet her at ten thirty. At her office."
Roger sat up, confused and a little alarmed. "Why does Joanne need to see us? What about?" As he said it he could feel Cass tense up next to him. Even in the dark he could see the storm clouds cross her bright eyes.
Cass rolled on her side away from him. "We don't know. We never actually talked to Joanne today. Her assistant called Mark and got the info and set up tomorrow."
He heard her take a deep breath and he knew she was starting to cry. "Oh Roger," She sobbed, "it's them. I know it is! It has to be! I mean Joanne calls Carlton as your lawyer and now this! It's all my fault. "I'm so sorry. I should have known they would do something like this. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." She was crying hard now.
Roger pulled her up into his arms. "Please don't cry Cass. It's okay. Whatever it is."
"No it's not. Now they are just going to make life difficult for you and Mark. I'm so sorry Roger. If they make it too bad, I'll leave, I promise." She told him through her tired tears.
"No! Don't you dare say that." He squeezed her tight before grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her out some so he could look at her. "You don't ever have to leave. Do you hear me? No matter what happens. I don't want you to leave. Ever. Unless you want to because I'm a total fuck up, but never because of them or what they can or think they can do."
Roger put his arms around her again and held her tight while he started stroking her hair. "Okay Cass? Please promise me that. Promise me if you ever leave, it's cause your tired of me, or I'm a fuck up or something like that, but promise me you'll never leave because of them."
"But Roger."
"No, no buts. I mean it. There is nothing they can do, or even threaten to do that would make it worth you leaving. Please believe me on that Cass." Please he thought, I don't think I can take you leaving me. Not you too. Roger could feel the tears welling up in his eyes and starting to burn down his cheeks. "Please Cass." he said softly, still stroking her hair.
They had laid back down but he was still holding her tightly. She had stopped sobbing but Roger could feel tears still hitting his bare chest. "But Roger, what if they try and sue you or something? Andre plays so dirty! The legal fees would be outrages by the time he's done. And you guys could lose everything!"
It took a moment for what she had said to register in his tired brain, but when it did, Roger realized that what she had just said was about the funniest thing he had ever heard. He started laughing and wasn't sure if her would be able to stop.
"Roger I'm serious. This could be really bad."
He could hear the panic in her voice and he tried to pull it together enough to at least calm her down, even if he couldn't get her to see the humor in what she said. "I'm sorry baby. Really. It's just that, I mean look around. What would they ever sure us for? A couple of beat up mattress that sit on the floor? A couch and chair held together with duct tape? And let's not forget the matching milk crate coffee table." He chuckled at that.
"I mean if you didn't bring it or buy it, what else is there? A bunch of our old clothes? Mark's $2000 Visa bill he'll be paying $28 a month for the next ten years? The only thing we've got worth anything is my guitar, the one amp and Mark's camera stuff. And those are only valuable to us. Trust me. They really aren't worth money. Never enough to make hocking them worthwhile.
"And it's not like they can sue us for this place. Our illegally rented penthouse, which no one else in their right mind would want to stay in but us." And hopefully you he thought.
Suddenly she pulled back and looked at him. "Oh Roger! What about Benny? What if they find out about Benny somehow? What would he do to you?"
Benny. Fuck. He hadn't thought about that. Yeah, that could be a problem. All they would have to do is throw a little cash at Benny and he would be their lap dog, no problem. Just one more reason to hate Benny.
Yes, Benny could pose a problem. Really the only problem. And losing this place, no matter how bad it was, would suck, and make life difficult, but he couldn't let her know that. Especially now.
He pulled her in close again. "Don't worry about Benny. He's too lazy to kick us, well at least Mark out. Then he'd have to deal with this place on his own."
"But Roger."
"No really. Besides even if he did, we'd be okay. Might be a little hard shoving all those computers out there into a locker at Grand Central," he laughed at that thought, "but hey this time we would at least have some warning. We could get some of our stuff out. And this time hopefully it wouldn't be so cold out."
"What do you mean this time?" She asked him, wiping away a tear.
"What, Mark never told you about that week between Christmas and New Year's? When I first met Mimi?"
"You mean Maureen's protest and all?"
"Yeah, but he didn't tell you we were homeless?" She shook her head. "Leave it to Mark to leave out the good details. But in his defense, Maureen had just not only fired him as her stage manager, but also dumped him for Joanne. So his brain wasn't exactly on the current situation."
"Oh that part I heard about. All about. In long, drawn out, gory details."
She was perking up, so he kept going. "Well," he began, "Benny had the door bolted shut, with plywood over it, along with a chain all padlocked up. Mark and I had the clothes we were wearing. Period. Oh and his camera of course."
"Of course." She gave a small laugh.
Roger smiled. "Yeah so he's got his camera, we've got zero money, my guitar locked inside. Mimi at least had some stuff at work at the club. And Benny had somebody standing guard the first few days so we couldn't break in either."
"But what about the rest of the building? And what did you guys do?"
"Well Mimi's apartment was the only one with anyone in it on the second and third floor then. He wanted them empty so he could do the whole studio/condo thing he was planning. I don't know what he did about the three on the first floor. He was going to need to get rid of them eventually for his plan to work anyway."
"But what did you guys do? Where did you go?"
"Well we crashed on a few floors. Angel's for a day or two. But that place was already tiny with Angel alone, not to mention Collins who had suddenly shown back up in town. It was only a one-room studio. You should have seen it. Angel and Collins on this twin bed, me, Mimi and Mark on the floor. You had to go outside to change your mind."
She laughed at him. "So what else?"
"Well we tried Maureen and Joanne's new place. Joanne, who only just met all of us, was not overly thrilled. Little miss lesbian lawyer, all organized and neat, already dealing with El slobo Maureen. But only days after meeting us we end up on her floor. One guitarless, unemployed ex junkie guitar player, one current junkie stripper and Mark. At first I thought she was afraid Mimi and I were either gonna murder her or rob her blind for smack money, but then I realized it was Mark who was just really freaking her out. And he's lucky he lived through those two nights too. Man does he owe Mimi his life for that. He was making me crazy with the whole Maureen thing."
"I could see that happening."
That time she actually laughed. God how he loved the sound of that from her. "So we spent the next few nights on the floor of some of my old band member's. Stayed at Izzy's one night too. Finally, by New Year's Eve Benny stopped paying his guard dog so we decided to break back into the building. If for nothing else, to get our stuff."
"How?"
"Well, Angel got a blow torch somewhere. That was one of those you don't want to ask how things. But he cut through the bolts and chain. But the funny thing was Mark and Joanne, scaling the fire escape like Spiderman or something. With Maureen in tow, not real happy with Mark and Joanne's new found friendship." Roger couldn't help but laugh thinking back at all of it. For as bad as it was, it had some really good moments. Kind of like now.
"So you got back in?"
"Well yeah, after trashing the front door. And then about ten minutes later Benny shows up, claiming he was going to let us in anyway."
Roger started playing with her hair again. "So see it all worked out. It will this time too."
"I just have a really bad feeling about all of this. Roger I just know it's gonna be something bad. And it's all my fault."
Uh oh, here we go again he thought. "Cass don't worry about it, okay? None of it is your fault no mater what happens."
"But if they do something. If something happens and they come after you guys. I couldn't stand the idea of it happening just because I came here."
"It will be okay. Nothing is going to happen. They can't do anything to us. There's nothing to do. And I won't let them do anything to you. So stop worrying about it. Please? It'll be okay. I promise. It will be okay. Nobody is going to make Mark and me go anywhere. We're staying right here. And so are you." He assured her. "No one's going anywhere and nobody's leaving. Got it? Nobody."
Roger realized he was holding her tight, real tight. Almost squeezing her. He figured if he was hurting her she would have said something by now. Roger loosened up his grip on her, but was still holding onto her tightly. Almost as if he was afraid to let her go. Afraid that if he didn't keep his arms around her she might just disappear into the darkness of the night.
*****
"You guys it's time to get up." Mark banged on the bedroom door as he opened it. "Are you awake yet? Cass? Cass wake up and make him move. I'm going to take a shower."
"Roger." She said sleepily, gently nudging him, but never opening her eyes.
"You guys get up!" Mark yelled at them. "We are gong to be late if you two don't move!"
"Okay, okay," Cass mumbled at him. "I thought you were going to take a shower? Roger wake up."
"I was, twenty minutes ago. Roger wake up!"
"ShutupMark." Roger grumbled at him and it all came out as one long word.
"Roger we have to get up."
He felt like he only went to sleep a few minutes ago. His brain went back to last night's conversation and he realized he still had his arms wrapped tightly around her. "Okay, I'm awake."
"Good, but we have to get up as well." She laughed at him as she slowly untangled herself from Roger's arms. "Come on sleepy head, we can take a nap when we get back."
"Okay, okay." Roger rolled over and stood up as Cass climbed over and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm moving." He told her as he walked out of the room.
Cass reached over for the cigarettes on the floor by Roger's side of the bed. Her head was swimming and sending waves of nausea to her stomach. She lit a cigarette and laid back on the bed.
"Cass you moving?" Mark called to her. "You want some toast? We can stop and get coffee on the way. I guess we can get food too if you don't want toast."
"No toast is fine. Thanks Mark." She laid there smoking for a few minutes.
"You okay?" Roger asked her as he walked back into the room and saw her lying there.
"Yes I'm just tired." She said as she sat up and moved to get off the bed.
"Are you sure? You don't look so good. Are you still worried about today? I told you it's going to be okay. I promise." He pulled her into a hug.
"Yeas, I guess I am." She let out a big sigh. God she was glad he was here. He made her actually feel better.
They stopped at he coffee shop and Mark went in as Cass and Roger stood outside and smoked. "Okay, here you go. We gotta hurry up." Mark told them as he handed them their coffee. "Cass are you sure you're okay? You just look a little green."
"Yes I'm fine. Can we please move on."
Roger flicked out his cigarette and put his arm around her waist. "Will you stop worrying. You're getting like Mark." He gave her that mischievous grin. "And look at him. He's not worried at all, so it can't be that bad."
"He's right." Mark told her. "Nothing to worry about. This is going to be no big deal." Okay shut your mouth now Mark, before you keep talking and you blow it. She may actually believe you if you stop there. He watched Roger kiss her on top of her head and nod at him. Maybe he was getting better at this whole lying thing.
They walked up to Joanne's building. "You done?" Roger asked as he finished his coffee. She handed him her empty cup and he threw them out.
"We have time for another cigarette right?" Cass asked as she scratched at her forearm.
"No we don't." Mark told her as he pulled open the door. They took the elevator to the floor her firm was on and walked into the lobby. Mark told the receptionist who they were and they sat down and waited.
Mark couldn't help but fidget. Now that they were there, he really was worried. What could Joanne possibly have needed to see them about? And couldn't do it at the loft? Or her place? Mark was getting an uneasy feeling.
They were taken into a conference room to wait. Roger was holding Cass' left hand under the table. Every now and then she would let go to scratch at some itch. Roger watched her scratch and Mark fidget. He finally couldn't take it any longer.
"Oh for god sake will the two of you cut it out and relax!" He took Cass' hand in his and grabbed Mark's right wrist and pinned it to the table. "Can you hold off panicking till we at least know if there is something to panic about. It doesn't matter. We'll be fine. Geeze Mark we've dealt with worse."
"But--" Mark began.
"Enough! Just sit still and stop fidgeting. You're making me nuts!" It came out meaner than he meant. "I'm sorry I'm just tired. Tired and you're both driving me a little nuts at the moment. Cass what are you scratching at?"
She was clawing at her left shoulder with a pen from the table. "I don't know. It must be nerves or stress. God this thing itches." She switched hands with the pen and started scratching inside her cast again.
Mark opened his mouth to say something, but only gave a disapproving look.
Roger sighed and started to laugh a little. "It's a good thing I love you two." He reached over and took the pen from Cass and handed it to Mark, who had a strange look on his face now. "You've only got like two more weeks and it will be off. By the way how's your other hand?" He gently picked up her left hand and turned it over to look at her burn, which had pretty much healed up and was only wrapped across her palm now.
"It's okay. I'll just be happy when I'm done with tape, and gauze, and casts and can move around without all this crap around my ribs. And I can type. And move my fingers. And I can go running again." She looked up at him. He was just looking at her funny. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bitch and moan." She tried to smile while scratching at her neck.
"Well you only have a couple more days for your ribs to be wrapped up. And she's gonna cut the cast off your fingers then too. Two more weeks and it will be all over." Roger smiled at her and kissed her burned hand.
Mark had just sat there watching this whole thing. Had Roger really just said that? Yes he did. He said it was a good thing I love you two. A casual comment. No problem. Casual in reference to Mark, but what about Cass? Maybe this whole thing with Cass was more serious than Mark had realized?
Chapter 33
Roger quietly opened the loft door and walked in with his guitar. He was hoping Cass would have gone to bed, but she was on the couch, asleep, with her laptop on her legs. Mark was asleep in the chair. He had a feeling, after their conversation earlier, that Mark was sitting up with her because she wouldn't go to bed by herself. Oh well, he'll ask Mark about it tomorrow.
Roger shook Mark's shoulder. "Hey, Marky. Wake up."
"What time is it?" Mark asked as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"Almost two. Go to bed." Roger turned of the TV. "Cass wake up." He shook her gently.
"Hey you're home." She gave him a sleepy smile.
"Yeah, I'm home." He laughed. She always cracked him up when she was half- asleep. "Why didn't you guys go to bed?"
" I was working on something." She told him.
"Yeah," Mark said giving Roger a look as he shook his head. "She was working on something."
"Come on lets go to bed." He pulled her up off the couch. "I gotta take a shower first, I smell like the bar." Roger walked Cass over to their room and kissed her before going to take a shower.
"Cass you still awake?" He softly asked as he climbed in bed.
"Uh huh." She tried to sound convincing. "How was work?"
"Lonely." He told her as he pulled her almost on top of him.
She smiled at him and started to play with his hair, which was still wet from the shower.
"Do you feel better?" He asked her as he ran his finger down her back.
"Yes. Much better. I just had such a horrible headache it was making me nauseous."
"Did you ever eat anything? You still hadn't eaten when I left. I don't want you getting sick on me."
"Yes, I ate some toast. And an apple."
"That's not very much Cass." Roger's mind briefly went back to the days before she got there, that whole week and a half ago. Back to the days when there was no such thing as a refrigerator full of food or money to buy any. Roger knew toast and an apple were not a lot of food. "You want anything? I'll get you something. What do you want?"
Cass looked at him for a second and got a crooked grin. "Yes, you know what I want?"
Roger sat up and started to move to get out of bed. "What?"
"Breakfast, in about eight or nine hours."
"Smartass!" He grabbed her and tickled her for a second. "And here I was ready to go cook you something."
"How chivalrous of you Mr. Davis."
"Yeah well, like I said I don't want you getting sick on me, I don't think I can take it. Way to stressful. And annoying."
"Oh, thanks for the warning Mr. Concern and Compassion." She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "What exactly is so stressful and annoying?"
"In a word, Mark." Roger laughed. "Trust me he'll drive you crazy if you get sick."
"Please, the Boston tea party didn't involve as much tea as that boy tried to force on me tonight." Cass laughed.
"Do that again." He told her with a funny look on his face.
"Do what?" She laughed again at the strange request.
"Laugh like that. I like it." He realized he really did like it. It sounded good. It sounded right to Roger. More than that, it felt right to him. All of it did. Her, being here, with him, talking, laughing, all of it. It just felt right to him. And he liked it. Roger really, really liked it.
"You're very strange Roger Davis."
"I know, and damn proud of that fact too!"
"Hey everybody needs a goal I guess." She giggled again.
He smiled at the sound of it. 'Yeah? What's your goal Cassiopeia bunch of other stuff Sullivan?"
"Don't play the middle name game with me unless you know what you're doing Roger Jackson Davis." She smirked at him.
"Hey how did you know that?" He was a little amazed.
"I have my sources, and it wasn't Mark either. Well not exactly." He just looked at her for a second before she continued. "Okay, Joanne needed to know so she could have stuff ready for tomorrow."
"Joanne? For what? What's tomorrow?"
"Oh, I'm sorry baby we forgot to tell you. She called, after you left. She needs to see you, both of you. We need to meet her at ten thirty. At her office."
Roger sat up, confused and a little alarmed. "Why does Joanne need to see us? What about?" As he said it he could feel Cass tense up next to him. Even in the dark he could see the storm clouds cross her bright eyes.
Cass rolled on her side away from him. "We don't know. We never actually talked to Joanne today. Her assistant called Mark and got the info and set up tomorrow."
He heard her take a deep breath and he knew she was starting to cry. "Oh Roger," She sobbed, "it's them. I know it is! It has to be! I mean Joanne calls Carlton as your lawyer and now this! It's all my fault. "I'm so sorry. I should have known they would do something like this. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." She was crying hard now.
Roger pulled her up into his arms. "Please don't cry Cass. It's okay. Whatever it is."
"No it's not. Now they are just going to make life difficult for you and Mark. I'm so sorry Roger. If they make it too bad, I'll leave, I promise." She told him through her tired tears.
"No! Don't you dare say that." He squeezed her tight before grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her out some so he could look at her. "You don't ever have to leave. Do you hear me? No matter what happens. I don't want you to leave. Ever. Unless you want to because I'm a total fuck up, but never because of them or what they can or think they can do."
Roger put his arms around her again and held her tight while he started stroking her hair. "Okay Cass? Please promise me that. Promise me if you ever leave, it's cause your tired of me, or I'm a fuck up or something like that, but promise me you'll never leave because of them."
"But Roger."
"No, no buts. I mean it. There is nothing they can do, or even threaten to do that would make it worth you leaving. Please believe me on that Cass." Please he thought, I don't think I can take you leaving me. Not you too. Roger could feel the tears welling up in his eyes and starting to burn down his cheeks. "Please Cass." he said softly, still stroking her hair.
They had laid back down but he was still holding her tightly. She had stopped sobbing but Roger could feel tears still hitting his bare chest. "But Roger, what if they try and sue you or something? Andre plays so dirty! The legal fees would be outrages by the time he's done. And you guys could lose everything!"
It took a moment for what she had said to register in his tired brain, but when it did, Roger realized that what she had just said was about the funniest thing he had ever heard. He started laughing and wasn't sure if her would be able to stop.
"Roger I'm serious. This could be really bad."
He could hear the panic in her voice and he tried to pull it together enough to at least calm her down, even if he couldn't get her to see the humor in what she said. "I'm sorry baby. Really. It's just that, I mean look around. What would they ever sure us for? A couple of beat up mattress that sit on the floor? A couch and chair held together with duct tape? And let's not forget the matching milk crate coffee table." He chuckled at that.
"I mean if you didn't bring it or buy it, what else is there? A bunch of our old clothes? Mark's $2000 Visa bill he'll be paying $28 a month for the next ten years? The only thing we've got worth anything is my guitar, the one amp and Mark's camera stuff. And those are only valuable to us. Trust me. They really aren't worth money. Never enough to make hocking them worthwhile.
"And it's not like they can sue us for this place. Our illegally rented penthouse, which no one else in their right mind would want to stay in but us." And hopefully you he thought.
Suddenly she pulled back and looked at him. "Oh Roger! What about Benny? What if they find out about Benny somehow? What would he do to you?"
Benny. Fuck. He hadn't thought about that. Yeah, that could be a problem. All they would have to do is throw a little cash at Benny and he would be their lap dog, no problem. Just one more reason to hate Benny.
Yes, Benny could pose a problem. Really the only problem. And losing this place, no matter how bad it was, would suck, and make life difficult, but he couldn't let her know that. Especially now.
He pulled her in close again. "Don't worry about Benny. He's too lazy to kick us, well at least Mark out. Then he'd have to deal with this place on his own."
"But Roger."
"No really. Besides even if he did, we'd be okay. Might be a little hard shoving all those computers out there into a locker at Grand Central," he laughed at that thought, "but hey this time we would at least have some warning. We could get some of our stuff out. And this time hopefully it wouldn't be so cold out."
"What do you mean this time?" She asked him, wiping away a tear.
"What, Mark never told you about that week between Christmas and New Year's? When I first met Mimi?"
"You mean Maureen's protest and all?"
"Yeah, but he didn't tell you we were homeless?" She shook her head. "Leave it to Mark to leave out the good details. But in his defense, Maureen had just not only fired him as her stage manager, but also dumped him for Joanne. So his brain wasn't exactly on the current situation."
"Oh that part I heard about. All about. In long, drawn out, gory details."
She was perking up, so he kept going. "Well," he began, "Benny had the door bolted shut, with plywood over it, along with a chain all padlocked up. Mark and I had the clothes we were wearing. Period. Oh and his camera of course."
"Of course." She gave a small laugh.
Roger smiled. "Yeah so he's got his camera, we've got zero money, my guitar locked inside. Mimi at least had some stuff at work at the club. And Benny had somebody standing guard the first few days so we couldn't break in either."
"But what about the rest of the building? And what did you guys do?"
"Well Mimi's apartment was the only one with anyone in it on the second and third floor then. He wanted them empty so he could do the whole studio/condo thing he was planning. I don't know what he did about the three on the first floor. He was going to need to get rid of them eventually for his plan to work anyway."
"But what did you guys do? Where did you go?"
"Well we crashed on a few floors. Angel's for a day or two. But that place was already tiny with Angel alone, not to mention Collins who had suddenly shown back up in town. It was only a one-room studio. You should have seen it. Angel and Collins on this twin bed, me, Mimi and Mark on the floor. You had to go outside to change your mind."
She laughed at him. "So what else?"
"Well we tried Maureen and Joanne's new place. Joanne, who only just met all of us, was not overly thrilled. Little miss lesbian lawyer, all organized and neat, already dealing with El slobo Maureen. But only days after meeting us we end up on her floor. One guitarless, unemployed ex junkie guitar player, one current junkie stripper and Mark. At first I thought she was afraid Mimi and I were either gonna murder her or rob her blind for smack money, but then I realized it was Mark who was just really freaking her out. And he's lucky he lived through those two nights too. Man does he owe Mimi his life for that. He was making me crazy with the whole Maureen thing."
"I could see that happening."
That time she actually laughed. God how he loved the sound of that from her. "So we spent the next few nights on the floor of some of my old band member's. Stayed at Izzy's one night too. Finally, by New Year's Eve Benny stopped paying his guard dog so we decided to break back into the building. If for nothing else, to get our stuff."
"How?"
"Well, Angel got a blow torch somewhere. That was one of those you don't want to ask how things. But he cut through the bolts and chain. But the funny thing was Mark and Joanne, scaling the fire escape like Spiderman or something. With Maureen in tow, not real happy with Mark and Joanne's new found friendship." Roger couldn't help but laugh thinking back at all of it. For as bad as it was, it had some really good moments. Kind of like now.
"So you got back in?"
"Well yeah, after trashing the front door. And then about ten minutes later Benny shows up, claiming he was going to let us in anyway."
Roger started playing with her hair again. "So see it all worked out. It will this time too."
"I just have a really bad feeling about all of this. Roger I just know it's gonna be something bad. And it's all my fault."
Uh oh, here we go again he thought. "Cass don't worry about it, okay? None of it is your fault no mater what happens."
"But if they do something. If something happens and they come after you guys. I couldn't stand the idea of it happening just because I came here."
"It will be okay. Nothing is going to happen. They can't do anything to us. There's nothing to do. And I won't let them do anything to you. So stop worrying about it. Please? It'll be okay. I promise. It will be okay. Nobody is going to make Mark and me go anywhere. We're staying right here. And so are you." He assured her. "No one's going anywhere and nobody's leaving. Got it? Nobody."
Roger realized he was holding her tight, real tight. Almost squeezing her. He figured if he was hurting her she would have said something by now. Roger loosened up his grip on her, but was still holding onto her tightly. Almost as if he was afraid to let her go. Afraid that if he didn't keep his arms around her she might just disappear into the darkness of the night.
*****
"You guys it's time to get up." Mark banged on the bedroom door as he opened it. "Are you awake yet? Cass? Cass wake up and make him move. I'm going to take a shower."
"Roger." She said sleepily, gently nudging him, but never opening her eyes.
"You guys get up!" Mark yelled at them. "We are gong to be late if you two don't move!"
"Okay, okay," Cass mumbled at him. "I thought you were going to take a shower? Roger wake up."
"I was, twenty minutes ago. Roger wake up!"
"ShutupMark." Roger grumbled at him and it all came out as one long word.
"Roger we have to get up."
He felt like he only went to sleep a few minutes ago. His brain went back to last night's conversation and he realized he still had his arms wrapped tightly around her. "Okay, I'm awake."
"Good, but we have to get up as well." She laughed at him as she slowly untangled herself from Roger's arms. "Come on sleepy head, we can take a nap when we get back."
"Okay, okay." Roger rolled over and stood up as Cass climbed over and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm moving." He told her as he walked out of the room.
Cass reached over for the cigarettes on the floor by Roger's side of the bed. Her head was swimming and sending waves of nausea to her stomach. She lit a cigarette and laid back on the bed.
"Cass you moving?" Mark called to her. "You want some toast? We can stop and get coffee on the way. I guess we can get food too if you don't want toast."
"No toast is fine. Thanks Mark." She laid there smoking for a few minutes.
"You okay?" Roger asked her as he walked back into the room and saw her lying there.
"Yes I'm just tired." She said as she sat up and moved to get off the bed.
"Are you sure? You don't look so good. Are you still worried about today? I told you it's going to be okay. I promise." He pulled her into a hug.
"Yeas, I guess I am." She let out a big sigh. God she was glad he was here. He made her actually feel better.
They stopped at he coffee shop and Mark went in as Cass and Roger stood outside and smoked. "Okay, here you go. We gotta hurry up." Mark told them as he handed them their coffee. "Cass are you sure you're okay? You just look a little green."
"Yes I'm fine. Can we please move on."
Roger flicked out his cigarette and put his arm around her waist. "Will you stop worrying. You're getting like Mark." He gave her that mischievous grin. "And look at him. He's not worried at all, so it can't be that bad."
"He's right." Mark told her. "Nothing to worry about. This is going to be no big deal." Okay shut your mouth now Mark, before you keep talking and you blow it. She may actually believe you if you stop there. He watched Roger kiss her on top of her head and nod at him. Maybe he was getting better at this whole lying thing.
They walked up to Joanne's building. "You done?" Roger asked as he finished his coffee. She handed him her empty cup and he threw them out.
"We have time for another cigarette right?" Cass asked as she scratched at her forearm.
"No we don't." Mark told her as he pulled open the door. They took the elevator to the floor her firm was on and walked into the lobby. Mark told the receptionist who they were and they sat down and waited.
Mark couldn't help but fidget. Now that they were there, he really was worried. What could Joanne possibly have needed to see them about? And couldn't do it at the loft? Or her place? Mark was getting an uneasy feeling.
They were taken into a conference room to wait. Roger was holding Cass' left hand under the table. Every now and then she would let go to scratch at some itch. Roger watched her scratch and Mark fidget. He finally couldn't take it any longer.
"Oh for god sake will the two of you cut it out and relax!" He took Cass' hand in his and grabbed Mark's right wrist and pinned it to the table. "Can you hold off panicking till we at least know if there is something to panic about. It doesn't matter. We'll be fine. Geeze Mark we've dealt with worse."
"But--" Mark began.
"Enough! Just sit still and stop fidgeting. You're making me nuts!" It came out meaner than he meant. "I'm sorry I'm just tired. Tired and you're both driving me a little nuts at the moment. Cass what are you scratching at?"
She was clawing at her left shoulder with a pen from the table. "I don't know. It must be nerves or stress. God this thing itches." She switched hands with the pen and started scratching inside her cast again.
Mark opened his mouth to say something, but only gave a disapproving look.
Roger sighed and started to laugh a little. "It's a good thing I love you two." He reached over and took the pen from Cass and handed it to Mark, who had a strange look on his face now. "You've only got like two more weeks and it will be off. By the way how's your other hand?" He gently picked up her left hand and turned it over to look at her burn, which had pretty much healed up and was only wrapped across her palm now.
"It's okay. I'll just be happy when I'm done with tape, and gauze, and casts and can move around without all this crap around my ribs. And I can type. And move my fingers. And I can go running again." She looked up at him. He was just looking at her funny. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bitch and moan." She tried to smile while scratching at her neck.
"Well you only have a couple more days for your ribs to be wrapped up. And she's gonna cut the cast off your fingers then too. Two more weeks and it will be all over." Roger smiled at her and kissed her burned hand.
Mark had just sat there watching this whole thing. Had Roger really just said that? Yes he did. He said it was a good thing I love you two. A casual comment. No problem. Casual in reference to Mark, but what about Cass? Maybe this whole thing with Cass was more serious than Mark had realized?