Chapter 90 Chapter 0090
•CASSANDRA•
"Dante," I murmured when I opened my eyes in the morning and saw him looking at me. He was smiling while balancing his head against his palm.
"Good morning," he muttered as he leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Did you sleep well?"
I woke up and realized he was in higher spirits than he had been the days before. He had snapped at me yesterday, but was suddenly happy today.
"I slept well, and you?" I said as I turned over fully and looked at him. "Are you off today?"
"I thought I should take you and Alena out for breakfast and lunch," he answered. "We haven't had a day off together for some time, and I think we could both use it."
"You know I can never say no to that, but you were off yesterday," I replied, feeling worried. "Won't that be a problem?"
"The hospital is mine," he answered as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me toward his chest. "Even if HR wanted to fire me, they wouldn't have the nerve."
"They could try since they don't know you own the hospital as well," I giggled as he kissed my neck.
"I don't want to talk about work," he answered, his voice low. His grip tightened around me and I released a soft moan. "I have other plans for this morning."
He got on top of me and kissed me while his hand found my clit and rubbed around it gently. I moaned as the pressure built up until I felt as if I couldn't hold myself back.
"You're wet," he muttered against my ear. "You're wet for me."
I didn't answer as I arched my back, feeling my orgasm approaching. When he realized I was close, he slipped two fingers inside me.
The moment he started moving them I came and curled up under his weight.
I clutched the sheets and bit my lip so I wouldn't make too much noise when he thrust into me.
By the time we were done, I couldn't feel my legs. I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath.
"So, what do you say to a day out with just me, you, and Alena?"
I smiled and kissed him. "Yes. There's nowhere else I would rather be."
Later after showering, we found Alena in the living room. She was already dressed in the outfit she had clearly chosen herself, sitting on the couch with Gerald in her lap and her shoes already on the wrong feet.
Dante crouched in front of her without a word and swapped her shoes.
"Are we going to the park?" she asked.
"We are," Dante replied, standing up.
She slid off the couch immediately. "Can I feed the ducks?"
"If there are ducks," I replied.
"There will be ducks," she said with complete certainty, and walked to the door.
Dante looked at me over her head and I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.
The park was a twenty-minute drive and largely empty on a weekday morning, which was exactly what I had hoped for.
A wide stretch of green with a small lake at the center and a playground at the far end and old trees lining the path that ran the perimeter.
Alena went straight for the playground the moment we arrived and Dante and I found a bench nearby where we could watch her while we ate the ice cream he had insisted on buying before we even reached the park.
"It's ten in the morning," I had told him at the ice cream cart.
"It's a day off," he replied, and handed me a cone.
I couldn't argue with that logic.
We sat with our ice cream and watched Alena make her way to the top of the climbing frame with Gerald tucked into the back of her waistband so her hands were free.
She reached the top and looked out over the park with the satisfaction of someone who had conquered something significant.
"She has no fear," Dante said.
"None," I agreed. "It terrifies me."
He smiled. "She gets it from you."
I looked at him. "I have plenty of fear."
"You have fear and you do the thing anyway," he replied. "That's the same as having none from where she's standing."
I looked back at Alena who had started narrating something to Gerald from her position at the top of the climbing frame, gesturing at the park below as if giving a tour.
"Do you remember when we used to sneak out to the woods in Goldenmane?" I asked.
Dante laughed. "Mira would have been furious if she had known."
"She knew," I replied. "She always knew. She just never said anything."
"How do you know that?"
"Because she left the back door unlocked every time," I scoffed. "And Mira never forgot to lock a door in her life."
Dante was quiet for a moment, turning his ice cream cone. "I miss her."
"Me too," I replied.
We had been friends for four years before the world started pulling us in different directions.
We had four years of evening walks through the eastern woods and morning runs along the river path.
I had been happy there in a way that was simple and uncomplicated. I didn't appreciate the peace I had until I left Goldenmane Court.
But now I will never see it again.
"I wish it were possible to take Alena there sometime," I huffed. "She would love the forest."
"She would never come back," Dante replied. "We would have to physically carry her out."
I smiled and looked at my ice cream. I was about to lick it when my chest tightened painfully. I gasped, trying to breathe.
I clutched my chest. 'There's something wrong, Cassandra,' Lyra whispered in my mind. 'There's something wrong with Mason. He's trying to reach out to you.'
"Cass, are you okay?" Dante asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.
He snapped me back to earth, and I lifted my head and looked at him. "Yes, I am fine."
I straightened on the bench and took a breath. I redirected my attention to Alena who had climbed down from the frame and was now crouching at the edge of the path examining something on the ground with intense focus.
"What is she looking at?"
Dante leaned forward. "Knowing her, a beetle."
The tightness in my chest faded slowly, and I finished my ice cream and told myself it was nothing.
We stayed at the park until early afternoon.
When we arrived home, I cooked dinner while Dante gave Alena her bath.
By nine, Alena was asleep and the house was quiet. Dante also went to bed early, leaving me watching the last episode of Desperate Housewives.
And that tightness in my heart returned, but this time, I heard his voice
"You must save our son, Cassandra..."