Broken Promises

Chapter 3

            Cassidy woke with a start, feeling someone move in the bed next to her. She turned slightly, her eyes falling on him. She sighed and slid from the bed, landing silently on the floor. He stirred, but didn't wake, and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her feet padded silently down the hallway, and she twisted the knob on the shower, stepping under the hot stream. The water ran down her body, taking the aches away with it. After wrapping a towel around herself, she reached out and cleared the steam from the mirror. She looked tired. A movement behind her made her whirl around, facing him.

            "My turn?" he asked groggily. She shrugged, watching him follow her tracks into the shower. Why not? He turned slightly as he felt a hand slide up his back around his shoulders, a sleepy but pleased grunt echoing off the tiles. She leaned her cheek against his shoulder blade. Neither moved for a while. "Everything okay?" he asked, finally breaking the silence. She shook her head against him, and he tried to turn to face her, but she wouldn't move.

            "I don't know who you are," she said quietly. This time she let him turn, feeling his fingers slide through her tangled wet hair and lift her face toward his. He looked down into her eyes.

            "Yes you do," he replied, leaning down to cover her lips with his. She sighed and rested her head against his chest as his fingers curled around the tips of her hair. Her hands pressed flat against his back, pulling him closer to her. He kissed the top of her head and yawned. She nodded and pulled out of his embrace, leaving him to shower on his own.

            He found her later sitting on the couch, staring at one of the pictures of him that had fallen from the manila envelope. She was dressed, her hair pulled back in a loop behind her head. He tucked in the end of the towel around his waist and sat next to her, taking the picture from her fingers.

            "You looked different then," she said quietly. He nodded.

            "Pre-shine job." She shook her head, and his eyebrow quirked.

            "I don't know what's different, but something is." He took a breath and paused, licking his lips.

            "That was a month or so before they took me to Slam City." She nodded. Obviously it was before Slam. Duh. "I'd been in Slam for three months before you showed up." She blinked, but didn't look up at him, instead reaching for the other picture of him on the coffee table. Her fingers ran over his cheek in the picture absently. "You walked through that door and for once in my life, I didn't know what to say." She smiled slightly, but it fell quickly. She knew the story, but knew he would tell it anyway. His eyes twinkled at the memories, and he laughed a little. "Every single guy down there wanted you. It'd been years since most of them had even seen a woman, much less been in close proximity. But every one of us knew that you were down there with us for a reason, and were scared shitless." She smiled again, and this time it lingered for a moment.

            "You're the only person that's ever beaten me in chess," she said quietly, hoping to hurry the story along. He smirked. It slowly morphed into a pained expression.

            "You're the only person I've ever trusted." Her eyes met his. "Completely," he finished, searching her. No expression, no indication of what she was thinking.

            "You shouldn't," she admitted after a beat, her voice low.

            "I know," he returned. "But I do." She shook her head, standing and going to the window. He followed, shifting the towel slightly. His arms went around her, under her arms crossed over her chest. He buried his face in the side of her neck, admiring the mark he'd left her with the night previously. He planted a soft kiss on it, as though he were trying to heal it for her, then leaned closer to her ear. "And so help me God, if you're the person who ends up killing me, that's the way I'd rather it be." A pause for emphasis. "And that's why I trust you so much." She nodded.

            "Trust isn't a part of my vocabulary any more," she said flatly. Point Cassidy. He gave up, leaving her standing in the window, her back suddenly cold. She wrapped her arms more tightly around herself and turned, but he'd already left the room.