Free Pure Lust Vol. 3 by M. S. Parker, Cassie Wild Page B

few weeks ago?
    I veered toward the waiting car and felt Kendra go with me. Paul automatically opened the back door for me, but I didn't get in.
    “Can you take Kendra home? We’re close to Cody’s so I’m going to see if he wants to grab some food, go out for a while tonight.”
    Paul looked like he wanted to argue, but then, after a moment, he nodded. I was, after all, marrying his boss.
    ***
     
    “So, sweetheart, are you going to tell me why you’re blue?”
    I delayed by taking a drink of the Cosmo that had just been placed in front of me. Lowering the glass, I smiled at Cody and shrugged. “Nothing. Well, nothing except stress about the wedding and needing to find a job.”
    “Yeah, about that. Why do you need to find a job? I thought you liked the modeling gig.” Cody studied me with shrewd eyes and I had a feeling those eyes saw far more than I wanted him to see.
    “I just...” My smile started to wobble and then it fell away completely.
    I can't do this , I realized as I sat there staring at his face. Lately, it felt like Cody was the only one I could really talk to. He wouldn’t make snap judgments about anything and he wouldn’t try to pat and soothe me or tell me that if I just listened to him, my life would be so much better. He would just listen.
    I couldn't lie to him about this anymore. I needed to tell somebody.
    “I slept with Flynn.” The words came out of me in a rush, like a dam inside me had suddenly broken.
    The only emotion he betrayed was a faint flicker of his lashes.
    “It happened before I met Edward,” I hurried to add. “Like right before. I'd interviewed at the company and Flynn barged in, pretty much wrecked the interview although I doubt I would have gotten the job anyway. I told him off when I ran into him at a club the next day and he told me he wanted to do a photoshoot of my hands. I needed the money.”
    The story came pouring out and Cody listened, nodding occasionally, but otherwise making no response of any kind. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all, which actually helped me keep going.
    When I got to the part about what happened after we’d completed the project with the kids, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. He drilled the heels of his hands against his eye sockets as if he hoped to blot out something he really didn't want to see, all the while muttered vicious ugly things I could barely hear over the muted noise coming from the dance floor a few levels down.
    In an abrupt motion, he stood up and pulled some bills from his wallet, tossing them down onto the table. “Come on,” he said, holding out a hand. “Let's go where we can hear ourselves think.”
    I don’t want to think…
    I looked at what remained of my drink and tossed it back before following Cody. It took nearly twenty minutes to navigate the floors and the maze of twisting, bodies.
    At one point, he called over his shoulder, “If you want a drink, we can find someplace quieter.”
    “No.” I gave him a weak shrug. “I’ve kind of hit the point to where getting smashed has lost its appeal.”
    He nodded and we stepped out into the cool evening. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked at the glitter of the lights of the city as we began to walk.
    After a few moments, he broke the silence, his voice flat. “Explain this to me again. You woke up at Flynn’s place? How?”
    “I don’t remember much.” I shot him a look. We came to the intersection and I rested a hand on a street light while I rotated one ankle, then the other. Heels sucked for walking. As we started to cross, I told Cody what I did remember, wrapping it up with what Flynn had said at the party, how he insisted nothing had happened and how he'd been pissed that I could actually think something might have.
    “He was enough of an asshole to let you think something had. Shit, you’d had sex once and he’s been jonesing for more—” Cody caught sight of my face and he grimaced. “I know my brother,