Chapter 18

"My father's feeling better. I think he's going to want us to leave soon." Dean let his hazel gaze roam down Cassie's neckline, appreciating the beauty of her chocolate colored skin and the allure of her neck as it curved into her shoulder. Gently he reached down and caressed it with his lips, keeping the touch feather light.

Cassie gave a contented sigh, relaxing even further in his arms. "You never did say why he was laid up in the first place…"

Her dark hair was soft and full. He ran his fingers slowly through it. He wasn't sure he would ever get tired of doing that. "Work accident." He brought his mouth up close to her ear then used the tip of his tongue to follow the curve around it. He heard her breath deepen.

Cassie half turned her head until their lips met. Dean moaned low in his throat as they shared a taste of each other.

The last two weeks had been a whirlwind. Dean had come with his Dad to Athens, Ohio for what they'd thought would be an easy job. Athens was known as a spirit filled or strange vibes kind of place since before the 1800's, but nothing with any real kind of strength had ever been found there. So not expecting much, they'd come to learn their minor ghost was actually an incredibly powerful vengeful spirit. It had thrown his father bodily down the stairs in the half burned house, which had landed him face first into a puddle of dirty water. They'd been able to take care of the ghost after a lot of chasing and body tracking, but as a parting gift due to the fall, his Dad had strained his back and gotten violently ill from the water he'd accidentally swallowed.

Never a graceful patient even under the best of circumstances, Dean had made sure not to be anywhere near the motel room as much as possible while he recovered.

Their lips parted as Cassie leaned away and Dean held back though he wanted nothing more than to taste her forever. She ran her hand over his chest sending an army of goose bumps chasing each other over his body beneath his shirt.

"You don't really need to go when he does, do you?" Her brown gaze met his.

Dean could lose himself in those eyes. Dive in them and never come back. His gut clenched at the thought. Over the years, he'd been with a lot of women. They gave him physical relief and he made sure they got theirs as well. They had fun, got their engines revved then each went on their own never to see one another again. It was a fun game. Cassie though, Cassie was different.

Not that he'd thought that when the two of them had reached simultaneously for the last cannoli at Mistretta's Italian Market and Deli, a treat he'd been drooling to get his hands on for several days.

He'd seen the same stubborn hunger he was feeling on her face and despite his lower half's registering that she was hotter than hell, his brain was already set on having the damn thing and he wasn't giving it up without a fight. As she straightened up and put her hands on her hips, her lips pursed in a stubborn line, it'd been obvious a fight was what he was going to get.

In the end they'd split the cannoli in half, ten minutes spent measuring the thing to make sure one or the other of them didn't get a bigger piece, then grinning like kids when they finally got to eat it. That grin had grabbed his heart and kept it. And when they started talking, they couldn't stop. The manager kicked them out at closing and one thing had led to another and he'd been coming by to see her every day since.

Dean's heart fluttered, fluttered for Pete's sake! Guy's hearts weren't supposed to do that kind of thing. But hell if he didn't like this woman, maybe even loved her, if he could do such a thing. She was as stubborn as he was if not more, a spitfire in her own right. She did what she wanted, knew her own mind. In just the two weeks they'd been together they must have had a dozen fights. Yet that only helped him like her more. And unexpectedly he found that she helped fill the void losing Sammy had left in him. He knew she could become family. At times it frightened him he could feel this much. "My Dad needs me right now. With being sick and everything, I can't leave him to do the work by himself. But I'd be back. No way you could keep me away."

He hugged her closer, at the moment wanting nothing more than to ravage her and be inside her and never let go.

She laughed, running a hand teasingly over his close cropped hair. "And just exactly what is it that you and your father do? You've never said much about that either."

Dean's ardor suddenly dampened. Here it was, one of those bumps that came up every single time no matter who he was hitting on. He didn't need to be a producer or a talent scout or any of the other glamorous titles he normally used on the bar bunnies though. He didn't have to make himself bigger than life for Cassie. Already he'd concocted a likely occupation, one he and his Dad would share, and would let him seem normal. The prepared lie rose to his lips but before he could say the words, they died there.

He stared into those soulful dark eyes and realized he couldn't lie to her. He couldn't take the chance Cassie would see the falsehood for what it was and plunge him back into emptiness. He didn't want to hide his true self from her. He wanted, needed for her to like him for whom he really was. All that he was.

It scared him to want this. It scared him to the core. He'd only ever exposed his true self to two other people in his life – his brother and his father. What he gave everyone else was a shell, a shield even -- something that kept them from getting too close, kept them at arm's length.

Cassie must have seen something in his face because her brows drew slowly together as she stared at him. Looking away, Dean slid her off his lap, then took her hands in his own.

"Dean?"

He looked up, scanning her face for some idea of what would happen if he told her the truth, and not finding anything there that would help. He could feel perspiration gathering at his temples, his pulse grow fast and unsteady, more nervous at that moment than he'd ever been facing ghosts or other things that went bump in the night.

"Cassie, I want you to keep an open mind." Dean swallowed hard. "Can you do that?"

Her frown grew more pronounced. "What are you talking about?"

He rubbed the back of his neck then dried his wet palm against his jeans before taking her hand again. "It's about what me and my Dad do for a living."

"Okay…"

She was looking at him strangely. He wasn't sure what to make of it. He didn't want to lie to her, but now he wasn't so sure he could actually stammer out the truth. He swallowed hard. "We hunt down and get rid of ghosts."

Several expressions crossed her face at his pronouncement and Dean started to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Cassie suddenly jumped to her feet, snatching her hands from his.

"Dean Winchester, what line of bull are you trying to feed me?"

He hurried to stand up. "What? No. No! I'm not feeding you a line, Cass. It's what we do. Really! It's why we came to Athens in the first place. We had to put a Mrs. Carothers to rest. A mean spirited bitch she was too."

The light went out of Cassie's eyes her face growing hard. She stepped forward and bodily pushed Dean back with her hands on his chest. "Get out."

"But Cassie, I'm telling you the truth!"

She grabbed his leather jacket off the couch and threw it in his face. "I told you to get the hell out!"

Dean took a step back, not having the faintest idea what to do. He'd thought her more open minded than this. "Cassie, please! I'm telling you the truth!"

She knelt down beside the couch never taking her raging gaze from him. Reaching a hand underneath, she pulled out a bat. "It just figures, you know? Just my luck." She stood back up, setting the bat on her shoulder, her hands griping the handle down low. "Dean Winchester, you're a friggin' lunatic and I want you out of here. And if you won't go on your own…I'll make you."

"No, Cass. Come on." He put his hands up, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. "You know me! Didn't I ask you to keep an open mind?"

She took a menacing step forward so he had no choice but to take one back. "Open mind, my ass! I know what this about, you unimaginative idiot, and I want you out. Go, now!"

He knew her, had faced her stubbornness before, her strength and conviction. She wouldn't hesitate to swing that thing and take his head off with it if she thought it was needed. He took another step back.

The doorknob poked hard into Dean's back. There was nowhere else for him to go. This was all going so terribly, terribly wrong. How could he make her believe him? He locked his gaze with hers and realized there was none. She had closed herself off.

Fumbling, he opened the door behind him.

Cassie rushed at him, and he half tripped moving backwards out into the hallway. Before he could do or say anything, she grabbed the door and yanked it closed.

He stared at the numbered door with numb disbelief. "Cassie, dammit! Give me a chance. Please, you've got to believe me! I suck at it, but I really am trying to be honest with you!"

He jumped back as the bat smacked into the door from the inside.

"If I were you, buster, I'd be scrambling out of here about now. Cause I'm calling the cops on your ass this minute!"

Dean stared at the door, the cold realization that he'd lost her despite the fact he'd tried to do the right thing dawning on him. "Cassie…"

His features felt heavy, his cheeks drooping off his face. For once he hadn't lied and all it got him was thrown out and a door slammed in his face. And just like he'd lost his father for not being good enough, how he'd lost Sammy for not trying hard enough, now he'd lost Cassie as well.

Barely able to get a breath down his constricted throat, Dean turned away from the only light he'd found in the last two plus years and left.