Bait: The Wake Series, Book One(56)

I climbed back into the jeans and T-shirt I'd worn over the night before and washed my face in the sink. He'd left his toothbrush there, and so I took the liberty of borrowing it. My hair was a fine disaster and between my legs was gloriously tender. I felt incredible.

When I got to the room, which was right next door, I heard Casey talking on the phone as he approached the door to answer my knock.

“...Audrey, calm down. You can always drop the class if you don't like it.” He opened the door and gave me a chaste kiss, and then held up a finger to tell me he would be another minute.

“Well, Dad can get over it. Take the classes you want. It's your life.” Then he listened for a few minutes and walked over to the window to finish his call. All he was wearing was cargo shorts and they were hanging so low I would bet money he didn't have underwear on beneath of them.

There were two trays on the table and I could smell the coffee from where I stood. My stomach growled. I looked under both covers and they were the same. A stack of pancakes with whipped topping, strawberries and blueberries made to look like a flag.

He watched as I discovered the breakfast and put his hand over the receiver and said in a hushed voice, “See? Patriotic,” as he pointed to himself. He then pretended to be serious as he whispered to me, “Blake, I eat those every morning.”

I put my hand over my mouth and giggled.

“I love you, too, Audrey. Don't stress out. Go have some fun. Tell Morgan to call me... Okay. ’Bye.” He ended the call and took a seat across from me at the table.

“I like these pancakes.”

He said, “I thought you would. I like when it when you smile like that.”

“Then keep making me.”

And then he did.

We left our phones off and walked for hours. We ate hot dogs and stopped to watch street performers in front of The Bean in Millennium Park. We talked about our families and jobs. He bought us ridiculous Uncle Sam hats and we wore them the rest of the day.

We ate at a bar on The Pier and watched fireworks over Lake Michigan. We drank and laughed and kissed.

He was freedom and throwing caution to the wind. He was no work and all play.

We held hands on the sidewalk and in the cab as we rode back to my brother's building. When the car pulled up outside, he got out with me, walking me to the glass doors of the entrance.

“Today was a very good day,” he told me. I agreed that it was.

“So now what?” After the day we'd had, I was even more confused and heavy-hearted parting with him. His face was tinted red from the sun and his eyes looked more like deep blue than I'd even seen.

His face changed from the easy-going, carefree Casey with the permanent grin, to a more mature-looking sober one.

“That's all up to you, honeybee. I'm free.” He wrapped his arms loosely around me, low on my back and we swayed back and forth on the sidewalk holding a stare that was loaded. Loaded with ‘should we's and ‘shouldn't we's. Loaded with pleasure and reality.

We lived far apart.

He traveled more than not.

I was engaged to someone else and no matter which way I looked at it, I couldn't keep him for myself. It was too selfish.

“I think you like being free. It suits you,” I told him.

“What suits you? What do you want?” Something in the timbre of his voice sounded like a truth. He really wanted to know where my head was. The trouble with that was I didn't have a clue.

“I don't know. I like talking to you and being with you, but—” Then he kissed me. His mouth cloaked mine with an unspoken urgency.

“Mmmm...No buts,” he said against my lips. “Just leave it like that. You like talking to me and being with me. That's all I need right now. Let's leave it right there. Okay? No pressure.”

Why was it when people said, “No pressure,” it added an ocean's worth to the situation?

“Okay,” I said.

“Okay,” he said back. “It's settled. We're still friends.” He placed his lips on my forehead and made a low humming sound, I closed my eyes and savored it.

Then he let me go.



The next weeks were busy. I worked alongside Bridgett and followed her wherever she went. Since she ran the Seattle office, I was naturally paired up with her most of the time. I made friends with another new hire, Melanie, who worked out of the San Francisco branch. She and I were basically hired to do the same job.