Chapter 43: Cassidy

##Chapter: 43

Book One; Stay

"All right, what do you want to talk about?" His attention falls to my mouth as his tongue darts out to lick at his bottom lip.

I glance around the semi-crowded parking lot. "Is there somewhere more private we can go?"

His gaze snaps to mine before he searches my eyes with more care as if only now realizing that what I need to tell him is important.

"Sure." He reaches over and slides the seatbelt across my chest. "This sounds kind of serious."

I draw a deep breath as the familiar feelings of anxiety prickle along my skin, and a thick ball of tension settles in my belly. "I promised to tell you what happened last year and that's what I'm going to do."

The heat filling his eyes moments ago dissipates as he pulls my hand onto his lap and holds it there. A heavy silence falls over us as we drive. By the time he pulls into a gravel parking lot that faces a small lake, I'm so tightly strung with nerves that my stomach is queasy. He cuts the engine before releasin