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Chapter 7

Mac and Dick had been together for two months and she had never been as happy in a relationship before. When she woke up that morning in Dick's bed she had an overwhelming sense of dread. It had been 11 years since the day Cassidy jumped off the roof of the Grand. Other then mentioning him in passing, Mac and Dick had not actually spoken of him yet.

Dick had asked her the previous day to go with him to the cemetery to place fresh flowers on his grave. Apparently, he always went on Cassidy's birthday and the day he died. Mac had visited the grave once during her freshman year at Hearst when she realized she needed to face what happened that night, but never since. She broke down and cried for almost an hour that day for the boy she thought she knew and the damage he did to her before he left. She had spent the last day emotionally preparing herself to today.

Mac was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Dick entering the room.

"Good morning."

"Hey there. How was surfing?" Mac stretched in the bed.

"Great. I stayed out later than I meant to, but the waves were amazing this morning." Dick walked to the door of the bathroom. "I'm going to jump in the shower. You're welcome to join me."

Mac smiled up at him and winked. "What's in it for me?"

When they made it to the cemetery, Mac stared out the window as Dick pulled up near the grave. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten before getting out of the car. As much as she didn't want to be there, she also didn't want to make Dick go by himself for another year.

Mac followed Dick to the grave where he set the flowers he brought down. He stepped back and threaded his fingers through Mac's. She felt anxiety forming in her chest.

"Is it bad that I still miss him?"

Mac place her other hand on his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I don't think it's bad. It shows how much you love your brother."

Dick nodded his head slowly. "I was a horrible brother to him. I used to torment him all the time."

"That's what siblings do. Look at Ryan and me, we are constantly driving the other crazy."

"I've seen the two of you and it isn't nearly as cruel."

"Maybe not, but I do remember the two of you getting along. You used to be inseparable. Wherever one Casablancas boy was, the other was there too. The night he died you were cheering him on as he chugged a beer. At least your last memory of him was a good one."

Dick smiled at the memory. "That is a good memory. I was proud to see him finally letting loose and having a good time. You probably have a happy last memory of him."

Mac was confused by the statement and looked down at her feet. Her last memory of him let her feeling self-conscious and broken. How could he think that her last memory of Cassidy would be happy?

"What do you mean my last memory must have been happy?"

"You know…you two were supposed to finally…" Dick rubbed his head. "It kinds of freaks me out to talk about you and Cassidy having sex."

Mac scoffed. "I never had sex with Cassidy. Full disclosure. We never did more than kiss and hold hands."

"Oh. I'm kind of relieved to hear that." He kissed the side of her head. "Do you think he would be okay with us being together?"

"I don't know, but I believe he would want us to be happy. So, as long as we love each other and are happy, than he would accept it."

"I should have been there that night. Maybe I could have talked him out of jumping or at least done something to stop him. Do you know where I was when he jumped?"

Mac shook her head no.

"I was at the graduation party doing body shots off of some girl whose name I don't remember."

"For future reference, maybe just tell your girlfriend that you were just doing shots and leave off the body and girl part." She squeezed his hand and gave him a light smile.

"I'll have to keep that in mind." Dick let out a small laugh and placed his arm around her shoulders. "So where were you when it happened?"

Her body quickly tensed. She realized that he didn't know where she was when Cassidy jumped. Before she even knew it, a tear was silently sliding down her face.

"Mac?"

She stared down at her feet avoiding looking at him. "I just assumed Logan had already told you how he and Veronica found me."

Dick placed a hand on her chin and pulled her face to look at him. "What do you mean found you?" He moved his hand to her cheek and wiped the tear away with his thumb.

Mac could see the worry in his face. She quickly decided it would be best to rip off the band aid and just lay it all out there for him. "Cassidy made Veronica believe he had killed me, so after he jumped they rushed down to find me huddled in the room wrapped in a shower curtain."

"What did he do to you?" Dick cradled her face in his hands and Mac could see the fear in his eyes about what she was going to say next.

She shook her head. "He didn't do anything. He couldn't so I took a shower and while I was in the bathroom he took all my clothes, the towels, and even the sheets from the bed. He did not physically hurt me at all."

Dick pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest. "I'm so sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have asked you to come here."

Mac pulled back to see his face. "I came here for you, not him. I will come here with you anytime you need me to."

"After what he did, why would you want to?"

"Because I love you."

It was July fourth and Dick was throwing is annual bonfire party on the beach at his house. They had been together for three months at this point. Mac was hanging by the fire drinking beer with Wallace and Veronica.

"So how's Logan doing?" She asked Veronica. Logan had been deployed for five weeks now.

"He's good. I'm missing him like crazy though." Veronica took a swig from her beer. "Where's Dick at?"

Mac started looking around. "I don't know. I haven't seen him in a while. I'm going to go inside and grab us some more of the good beer. Think I'll look for him on the way."

Once she was inside the house, she went upstairs to look for Dick. She heard voices coming from his bedroom. She paused outside the door and listened.

"You need to get out of my bedroom and leave my house." She heard Dick say.

"Oh come on Dick. That's not what you were saying last year? Why are you putting a shirt on, you should be taking your clothes off." Mac didn't recognize the woman's voice.

"Look um…Ann…Amanda I'm not interested."

Mac smiled to herself because she was glad that Dick was turning the girl down and that he apparently didn't even remember her name. It sounded like he was constantly moving throughout the room.

"It's Amy. Since when do you turn a girl down?"

"Since I started seeing my girlfriend. Please put your dress back on."

"She'll never know. You're not leaving this room without getting laid."

Mac decided it was time to let her presence known and pushed open the door. She saw the young woman who she would place no older than 23 in nothing more than her bikini. Dick had his hands on her shoulders holding her back from him.

"Um…hello?" She took a few steps in the room and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Shit." Dick tried to move around Amy. "Babe, it's not what it looks like. I swear."

Amy grabbed a hold of Dick as he tried to move past her. "Come on Dick. It's exactly what it looks like."

"Again, get out of my house?" Dick grabbed her wrists and removed her hands from his shirt. He came to stand in front of Mac. "I swear I came up here to change my shirt after I got beer spilled on it and she just followed me up here."

Mac rolled her eyes before approaching the girl. "Hi Amy. I believe in a woman's right to casual sex, so how about you go downstairs to the bonfire and find one of the hundred single guys down there who would be more than willing to sleep with you."

"Because most of those guys don't have a clue what to do to a woman."

Mac laughed to herself. "Honey, you're preaching to the choir. I am very aware that most men don't have clue. Soooooo, let's try this." In her sweetest voice, "get out before I pull you out by your hair." She smiled at the girl and scrunched her nose.

"Bitch." Amy walked out the door.

"And I thought I was being very nice about you trying to sleep with my boyfriend." Mac called after her and then turned to look at Dick. "I can't leave you alone for a minute." She approached Dick, who looked scared and placed her arms around his neck. "You're not in trouble." She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss. "What did she say about you not leaving this room without getting laid?"

Dick pressed his forehead to hers and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God." He smiled before pressing his lips back to hers and tightening his arms around her waist to bring her body closer to his.

"Seriously!" Amy had come back into the bedroom.

Mac and Dick didn't let go of one another but turned their heads towards Amy.

"Why are you back?" Dick groaned.

"I forgot my dress." She pointed towards a dress on the floor just next to Mac's feet.

Mac let go of Dick and bent down to pick it up. She threw it at Amy. "Bye now." Once Amy had walked out of the room, Mac wrapped her arms back around Dick's neck and started to continue where they left off.

Dick pressed her back into the wall and began to pull at the bottom of her dress. She pushed her hand down his pants and stroked him. Mac then ran her other hand into his hair and grasped it tight as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He pushed his board shorts down and moved her underwear to the side as he entered her. She let out a moan of pleasure as Dick moved a hand over her breast and moved his lips to her neck.

Mac pulled up his shirt and rubbed her hand on his back. She slipped one leg down off his waist and slid her hand down to grip his bare ass as he continued to thrust inside her. He pulled back to look at her and she stared into his eyes. She felt herself tip over the edge just as Dick crashed his lips into hers and began to throb inside her. They continued to make out as they both came down off their highs.

"Mac? Are you up here?" Veronica's voice filtered into the room just before she walked through the opened door. "SHIT!" She covered her eyes and turned around. "My eyes. My eyes. I can't unsee that!" Veronica bolted out of the room and slammed the door. "CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR!"

Dick started laughing as Mac unwrapped her legs from around him and let go of his ass. He pulled his shorts up to cover himself. Mac fixed her underwear and looked at Dick who couldn't seem to stop laughing.

Mac started to laugh a little herself. "It's not that funny." She covered her mouth.

Dick gave her his goofy grin. "Yes it is."

"You should get back down to the bonfire." Mac leaned back against the wall.

"Just me? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go into the bathroom to clean up and change my underwear."

Dick smirked at her. "What are you doing wearing underwear? Doesn't that give you panty lines or something?" He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips.

"Oh shut up." She slapped his chest and turned to go in the bathroom. "And you may want to stay clear of Veronica. She brought Mr. Sparky with her tonight."

"So basically, I just heard that I should wait for you to go downstairs where there may be a blonde pixie spy lying in wait to attack."

Mac came back out of the bathroom and opened the drawer she kept extra clothes in to find a new pair of panties. "Are you scared of Veronica?" She turned to Dick and slid the underwear on.

"I'm man enough to admit it. Yes I am, but don't tell her that." Dick pulled her to him. "Thank you for trusting me."

Mac let out a small laugh. "I have to confess. I was standing on the other side of the door for a little while, so I heard what you said."

"But you do trust me?" Dick's face fell.

"I trusted you before I came up here. All this did was reinforce it. Do you trust me?" Mac raised an eyebrow at him.

His face lit up with a smile. "Of course. Although if I had walked in on a guy trying to get you to sleep with him, I wouldn't have been as nice as you were." Dick tapped his finger on her nose. "He would have ended up in the hospital."