Real Challenge (Atlanta #2) (37 page)

The next morning, however, the bliss needed to be revisited. Cassie awoke first and gazed again at the ring on her finger. She beamed at the thought of being Mrs. Cassie Merchant. What an unbelievable thing to be. That title alone deserved a little more celebration.

Without hesitation, she woke up Scott with a quick push to the shoulder that landed him squarely on his back. His eyes popped open through the haze of his sleep and saw her there, smiling at him widely while she crawled directly over top of him.
 

He offered her a peaceful smile and a “good morning,” but Cassie decided they had enough sweet last night. She wanted some fun with her new fiancé, so she tickled his ribs relentlessly until he cried uncle.
 

Fully awake now and laughing, Scott pushed her over and tickled her in retribution. “Two can play at that game,
almost
Mrs. Merchant…”
 

The two were laughing hysterically and Cassie squealed while each tried to out-tickle the other. Finally, Scott had enough. He gave her an ornery smile, then pinned her down and gathered both of her wrists in only one of his hands. He kept his body heavy on hers so she couldn’t move at all, then dug his fingers into her ribs until she laughed so hard she almost couldn’t talk.
 

“I give up!” she managed to squeak out. “You win!”

Scott got a smug smile on his face and tickled her one last time before letting her go.
 

“Jerk,” she smiled.
 

“Victorious Jerk,” he grinned back as he pushed himself strongly into her body.
 

“Ah…” Cassie moaned as she threw her head back. She arched up into him, smiling while he took her strongly. “Scott…”

“Cassie you are so damn hot,” he said with a heated smile as he pushed against her harder.
 

The moment was a chorus of moans and friction as they reveled in their passion on a carnal, desperate level. Neither could get at each other strong enough. The depth of emotion coupled with their physical chemistry raged through their happiness. When they finally reached the moment of absolute pleasure, Scott was grunting loudly and Cassie called out his name from deep in her chest.
 

Completely spent, Scott collapsed over her and breathed in the floral scent of her hair and the earthy scent of her sweat. Cassie kissed his neck and held him tightly as she drifted back to reality.
 

“I could never get enough of this,” Scott whispered.

“Well, we have
always
to try,” she smiled.
 

Scott pushed up and smiled at her before kissing her softly one last time. “Take a shower with me?”

Cassie’s only answer was a nod and a happy smile. He rolled off the bed and helped Cassie out with his hand, then kept her hand in his as he walked her to the shower. The minute the water started, Scott picked her up and pushed her against the wall. “I told you, I can’t get enough…”

The next morning, Cassie didn’t have a shift at the clinic so she called Marcus and invited him over. Not only did she want to share her happiest news, she needed to talk to him about seeing their dad. She wanted Marcus to understand that she
needed
to see him, even if she didn’t understand why. Cassie was nervous about both reasons for Marcus’s visit.
 

About a half hour after she called, Marcus was at her door, still in his blue custodial uniform from his night shift. He walked in and gave her a hug.
 

“Hey, Cass,” he said with a smile. “You doing ok?”

“Yes,” she smiled genuinely. “Great actually…which is part of the reason I called you over.”

“Really? What’s that about?”

“Let me get you some coffee first. Have a seat in Scott’s recliner. It’s über comfortable.”

Cassie got them both a mug of fresh coffee from Scott’s awesome brewer and brought one over to Marcus in the dragon mug. Cassie actually used Scott’s blue mug, wanting a bit of him there with her while she and her brother discussed the tough issue of their dad. Plus, he had to be at least a small part of her announcement.
 

“First, let me start with the good news,” Cassie smiled. She sat on the couch at the end near the recliner and held her hand out. Marcus’s eyes widened at the sight of the ring on her left hand.
 

“He proposed?” Marcus said, shocked. “I didn’t realize it was that serious.”

“That’s only because you didn’t want it to be, meathead,” she laughed. “Ask Erin. She’s known for a long time. And Marcus, just so there’s no confusion, Scott makes me happier than I ever thought possible. He’s a good man. The one fight we had was devastating, but it taught us both so much. We’re even stronger now because of it.”

“Are you sure about this?”

Cassie rolled her eyes at her brother. “Would I have said yes if I wasn’t?”

“Good point,” he said, finally smiling. “Ok, so let me see that ring again.”

Cassie told him the significance of every part and he offered a genuine smile this time. Cassie could tell from his face that he approved, even if the very concept was difficult. Marcus would have a hard time with her engagement regardless of who proposed.
 

“I’m glad he makes you happy, Cass,” he conceded. “And I promise never to refer to Scott as a shoe-rack again…unless he actually needs his ass kicked.”

“Deal,” Cassie smiled. “I’ll be the first to tell you if he does. And Marcus?”

“What?”

“Scott and I already talked about it, and this is a very big deal to me.”

“What is?”

“I want
you
to walk me down the aisle and give me away at our wedding. You’ve been my one and only constant. It would mean everything to me. Please?”

Marcus actually got choked up and smiled at his sister. “Of course I will.” He got up off the recliner and pulled Cassie into a strong hug. “I’m happy for you, Cass.”

Cassie squeezed him back just as hard then pushed him back down to the recliner. She allowed a few quiet moments pass before she took a deep breath and looked Marcus in the eye.

“You’re going to want to stay seated for the second half of this,” she said. She took another sip off coffee and watched Marcus’s expression darken. He obviously knew what was coming next.

“You’re not letting it go, are you,” he said flatly.

“I can’t, Marcus,” she said solemnly. “I
want
to let it go. I keep trying to forget about it, but his stupid phone call keeps coming back to me.”

“Cass, if he’s sober or not, it doesn’t make a difference. He killed our childhood. You don’t owe him an audience for his apology.”

“I know, Marc, and I’m terrified of seeing him.”

“Then don’t,” Marcus said pointedly.
 

Cassie sighed in frustration and dragged her hand up into her hair and gripped tightly. A short moment later she eased her grip and ran her fingers the rest of the way through her hair.
 

“Here’s the thing, Marc. This is what keeps rolling through my head: it always comes down to joy, and I see it two ways. If I can hear the apology and maybe let go of some of my hatred, I can find more joy. And secondly, what if that’s what he’s looking for? Joy can change a person. If I can help a person with that, even him, isn’t that important?”

“I don’t give a flying fuck if he finds joy or not, Cass, and I can’t believe you do either.”

“Maybe not, but letting go of my own issues might help me. I know you can’t deny that one. Look how much better your life is now that you found joy and lost your rage. Don’t even try to deny it,” Cassie challenged.

“Yeah, but I did that without that bastard.”

“Well maybe I can’t. Maybe that’s why I can’t let it go,” Cassie said.

Marcus regarded her for a long moment and sighed. He saw the determined look on Cassie’s face and gave up trying to convince her. Now he just had to figure out how to do this with minimum damage to any of them.

“Cassie, think about one more thing,” Marcus started. “If you do this, I have to go with you. Not a choice. Which means Erin will insist on going. And I already know Scott will go. He told me flat out. So you’re decision affects all of us. Is it really that important?”

Cassie’s eyes, though still determined, shined with unshed tears. “I wish it weren’t, but it is. Are you going to hate me if I insist on meeting him?”

“Come on, Bug. You know I could never hate you,” Marcus said, standing again to hug her. “If you need this that much, we’re all with you. Every single one of us.”

Cassie nodded and one of her tears ran silently down her cheek. “If this is too much to ask, tell me. Will you set it up? I need this, but I can’t do it. God, I hate feeling so weak. This isn’t like me at all.”

“No, it’s not, but that’s because it’s Dad. You never had to stand up to him. I did it for you, and I still will. You
never
have to deal with him. That’s my job. Let me talk to Erin and we’ll figure out a time. Scott suggested a park if this ever came up. That way it’s on neutral ground, and the second you need to get away, you can.”

“Scott said that?” she asked with a hint of wonder in her voice.

“Yeah, I guess he’s not all that bad,” he smiled a little.

“Ok. Then we do this. Just tell me when,” she said, sounding resigned yet determined. “Thank you, Marc. I love you.”

“Love you too, Bug. Now tell me what else is up,” he said as he settled back down into the recliner and sipped his coffee.

Cassie dropped the tension from that difficult conversation and told Marcus about her job offer at the clinic, passing her latest test with flying colors, and about Scott’s proposal. Marcus took his turn in the conversation, talking mostly about Luke’s training and the addition of Trip to his responsibilities.
 

“Trip is the most obnoxious, talented fighter. All he needs is a little more strength and he could go somewhere. He’s wiry and scrappy. If we can beef him up a bit, he could do some real damage.”

“I’ll say it again, Marc. I’m so proud of you. What about the self defense class?”

“Well now that you guinea pigs are almost done, I’m so close to being ready for offering to the public. We’re ordering t-shirts for any participants and working on advertising.”

“That’s awesome. What does Bill think?”

“He never says much, but you know that hidden smile he has. I’m seeing it every time we talk about the partnership and the new ideas we work on together.”

“I love that man,” Cassie said warmly. “And speaking of him, you need to get to the gym and work on your strategy some more. I want to see you kicking ass in Vegas.”

Marcus smiled. “Ok. And congratulations on your engagement. Who’d have ever thought that you and I would be engaged at the same time.”

“Not me,” Cassie laughed. “And just so you know, Scott and I aren’t planning a long engagement like you two. I have no desire for a big wedding with a pouffy white dress. We’ll probably actually be married before you and Erin. Would that upset you?”

“No,” Marcus laughed. “Whatever makes you happy, and you know Erin won’t care.”

“Thanks. I’m going to call to meet her for lunch so I can show her my ring and give her the whole story. Have fun at the gym.”

While she waited for Scott to come home from work that day, Cassie beamed with happiness. Not only did she get to see her brother that morning, but she was able to lay to rest her circular thinking about their dad. Even though the decision was difficult, at least it was made. The rest of the details were out of her hands, and she had no doubt Marcus would work the meeting out as best he could, solely for her benefit. She was a lucky sister.

Plus, she got to see both Jenna and Erin at lunch that day and share her happiness with her two best friends. Again, they both gushed over the ring, marveling that All-American-Scott broke tradition and proposed with something other than a diamond. Erin’s jaw nearly dropped when she saw the stone on the ring.

“Cassie, that’s beautiful,” Erin said with awe that afternoon. “He must love you to no end to buy you a ring like that. I never thought I’d see the day.”

Jenna and Cassie laughed together at Erin’s statement, and they sat for a half hour talking weddings. And even though Jenna was no where near an engagement of her own, she was insanely happy for her two friends.
 

The front door disrupted her reverie and she looked up to see Scott shaking his head at her with a smile.
 

“You need to warn me before telling our future sister-in-law about my proposal. She about attacked me after lunch,” Scott laughed. “She actually squealed like a school girl. Man, Marcus did a number on her almost as much as you have on me.”

Cassie laughed out loud and hugged him tightly. “So did you turn in your two week notice today?”

“I did,” Scott smiled.
 

“How did they take it?”

“I would say shocked, but that’s not really a strong enough word. One of the partners actually asked me if I was having some kind of a mental break down,” Scott laughed.

“What did you say to that?” Cassie asked with a wide grin.

“I said ‘Yes, but in a good way’,” Scott grinned. “I told them that this was an entire career shift, and if I were still an accountant I’d never leave their firm. That seemed to make them feel better. But then they offered me a ridiculous salary increase, extra vacation time and quarterly bonuses.”

Cassie looked nervous for half a second. “And…”

Scott grinned widely. “You already know the answer to that. Now get me out of this god-awful suit.”

Cassie laughed and helped him with his tie, but only after she pulled him down for a kiss first. She got their dinner ready while he changed into his black cotton track pants and a “Team USA” shirt from ’04.

As they sat at their little table, Cassie said a sincere thank-you to Scott. “You have no idea how much I appreciate your letting me tell Marcus first. That was a very big deal. But now I know you’re going to call your parents. Do you want me to leave so you have some privacy?”

“Why would I need privacy? Nope. In fact, I’d like it better if you were here. Might calm my nerves. It’s not every day I tell my parents I’m engaged.”