Juice: The O'Malleys Book 1, contemporary Adult Romance (21 page)

Cass looked at Rory waiting for him to intervene.

Rory stood as still as a statue and spoke quietly.

“Do not do this Abigail. Do not do this. If you do, it will end badly for you. I will destroy you.”

“Oh don’t give me that Rory. You no longer
GET
to tell me what to do! I’m not yours anymore. Although, I’m sure I could still make you as hot for me as you always were.”

She looked back at Jonathan, who was standing behind her smiling pathetically and looking more than a bit out of it. Cassidy felt Rory tense beside her and saw that his fists were clenched by his side. She had never seen him looking so vicious, so violent. He leaned in to Abigail and almost whispered.

“Leave now Abigail. Go home. You are not welcome here and take that mutt with you.”

He nodded in the direction of Jonathan, his lip snarling. Jonathan was pale and the blood seemed to have drained from his face.

Cassidy shrunk back from the group, Abigail turned to look at her, eyes flashing.  “You poor thing,” she said, shaking her head in fake concern. Her lips bared like a vicious dog.

“You don’t know do you? He is fucking you as a reward for your brother’s lungs. You must feel so used. So betrayed.”

Cass was incensed at the mention of Harry.

“My brother’s what? What the hell are you talking about you crazy bitch? Rory what is she talking about?”

“Oh did he not mention it? Rory’s sister, sweet girl. Aoife isn’t that her name, Ror? She was dying you see, sad story. She needed a lung transplant and all the money in the world couldn’t buy one for her. But she got lucky. They found a match for her. Your brother’s death saved her life. She got his lungs.” Cass saw the shocked faces of Marie and Mark as they looked to Rory. “I knew Rory would find you. He always was such a romantic, always one for a happy ending weren't you, Ror? And like a little pet dog you latched on to him. Thinking a man like him would want a girl like you. Bless.” Abigail put her hand over her mouth and giggled shaking her head.

“Get her out of here, now,” Rory shouted. Cass watched his face contorted in rage. Security launched forward and began to drag Jonathan and Abigail from the room.

Abigail threw Cassidy a look of pity as she passed her.

“Poor Rory, having to shag a fat lump, because he felt he owed you something. He’ll never love you.” Marie screamed and launched forward with her fists flailing as Mark tried to hold her back. “Rory, get them out of here !” Cass blinked as Mark roared at Rory. She had never heard Mark shout before and it frightened her.

“Get them out of here, Get them away from her! Get out you bastards!” Rory lurched forward and Darragh and two security guards held him back as he tried to reach Abigail and Jonathan. Cassidy started to hyperventilate and raised a shaky hand to wipe her sweating forehead.

Darragh put his arm around Cassidy’s waist as she sagged.
This cannot be happening. Rory had asked her about Harry about his life and his death.  He would never betray her like that. Never lie to her. Would he? Was it all a lie? All the things he had said. She loved him so much.

Pushing Darragh away she looked at him through her tears.

“You knew too, didn’t you Dar?”

Darragh hung his head and wouldn’t meet her eyes. Running a hand through his long hair he nodded, just once quickly. “I’m so sorry Cass. He was going to tell you tonight. What a fucking mess.”

In the background Cassidy could hear Abigail still shouting at Rory as she was escorted out. “How does it feel Rory, how does it feel to be hated?”

Cassidy blocked her hateful voice out as she swung around and half walked, half run from the room. Abigail’s words rang in her ears.
A reward for your brother’s lungs. Having to shag a fat lump. He’ll never love you
.

Clutching her handbag to her chest she made it outside the hotel and around the corner, just as the retching began. She emptied the contents of her stomach on the ground splashing her shoes. Gasping for air she dropped her bag and put her two hands flat on the wall in front of her.
Fuck!

“Cassidy, Cass!”

She felt Rory’s hand on her back and shrugged him off. She bent down and riffled through her bag to find a wet wipe.

“It’s true, isn’t it?!” She heaved again. Rory looked at her for a moment in silence, his breathing ragged. He pushed back his hair and stood with his hands on top of his head, fingers laced in each other.

“Yes, Cass. It’s true. Some of it. Aoife was the recipient of Harry's lungs. And I wanted to find you. She…wanted to find you and your parents. She wanted to thank you for giving her life again. She can’t enjoy life, she can’t live. The guilt…Please let me explain. I never intended to hurt you. I never-”

“You never what?! Never meant to get a fuck buddy out of it too?!”

“No!” Rory yelled. “No! Cassidy, you were never that, you aren’t that to me.

You are-”

Cassidy raised her palm in front of his face.
His beautiful treacherous, lying face.

“Shut up! I can’t even bear to look at you! Jesus, how you must have laughed. Your family got some of Harry and then you got some of me. Your sister got Harry’s lungs and you got my heart. Double whammy for the great O’Malleys.”

Rory’s head snapped back as if he had been slapped.

“Cass, please let me explain. I never meant to deceive you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you when I first met you. And then, you were so-. We were so-”

He took a deep breath.

“We got on so well. I waited and it just got harder and harder to explain. And then, I fell in love with you. I swore I was going to tell you tonight. Please don’t shut me out. Cass, please.”

Cassidy shut her eyes tightly and shook her head putting her hands over her ears to block him out until he was silent. Sighing, she rested a hand on his chest, softly feeling the thump, thump of his heart. “Don’t, just don’t. I can’t do this now. You lied to me, you used me. You hurt me. I despise all that you are!”

Cass saw his eyes widen and recognised the flash of pain that crossed them, she felt a moment of regret at her words. Rory would never hurt her intentionally. He didn’t have it in him. Walking away from him, she headed down towards the kerb and into the nearest waiting taxicab; she wrenched the door open and sat in locking the door behind her.

“Cassidy, wait please! Don’t run away. Let me explain!”

“Looks like the man wants to talk to you sweetheart” the taxi driver said looking concerned. If there was going to be trouble he wanted none of it.

“Please take me to Earlsworth Lane, as quick as you can.”

Cassidy could barely get the words out and turned her head away as Rory banged on the window beside her, and tried to pull open the door. Burying her head in her hands, she sobbed.  How the hell had she been so gullible, so stupid? A man like him, wanting a woman like her, that bitch Abigail was right! It was too good to be true.

She would never be that lucky. This is what it felt like to have your heart broken. Like a million shards of ice piercing her head and settling in her heart. Closing it over, freezing it. Looking at the ceiling of the cab, her nose swollen and her eyes stinging she rubbed her tongue off the top of her teeth. She should never have trusted him.

Never have let him inside her head, her heart and her damn bed. Oh Harry! What the hell have you started? No. This wasn’t Harry’s fault, or Rory’s sister Aoife’s fault for that matter. She wondered about Aoife. What was she like? Did she know about the deception? Rory had stolen all that from her, she couldn’t tell her parents. It would break their hearts to think someone had deceived her in such a shameless manner. No.

Rory O'Malley was dead to her; as dead as Harry, and just as cold. She would move on and get back to work. She opened up her purse and looked at the commission cheque he had given her earlier. Half tempted to rip it up and throw it out the cab window. It felt dirty now. But she needed it, Marie needed it. And she had worked for it, in and out of the bedroom. She curled her lip in disgust at her own stupid heart. Her job at the O’Malley Resorts was finished. She would never have to see him again.

Putting it back in her purse, she chewed on her nail until the cab stopped outside her flat.

“Will you be okay, miss?”

“Yes. Thank you. I’ll be fine.”

She ignored the look of pity and concern on his face as she handed him a twenty. 

“Just fine. Keep the change.”

(
Cass)

If you are looking for a friend without a fault,

You will be looking for a friend forever.

Irish proverb

C
assidy woke feeling fuzzy and hung over. Damn Marie and her damn vodka. Ugh, what the hell did she eat last night? She tried to lift her head from the pillow and felt the room spin on its axis. Rory. He was the first coherent thought in her head. He had lied to her and broken her heart. How could he have done it? How could he have listened to her talk about Harry and all the while knew that his death had given life to his little sister? That he lived in her. She closed her eyes tight. No! Harry was gone, it was just tissue, just a set of lungs taken from him while he was still warm and given to Aoife to make her well again. She couldn’t hate Rory, she couldn’t even pretend to. He was everything that was good. Everything that was kind and generous and real. And now, everything about their relationship was a lie. How could she ever trust him again? And that foul Abigail, Jesus, how the hell did he ever put up with that whiny bitch for a girlfriend? He really needed a kick up the hole. Even if they never got together again, she hoped that his balls would turn black and fall off before he would look at Abigail again. Oh wait! Nooooopleasedontmakehisballsturnblackandfalloff! Cass groaned and rolled over. Damn Rory O'Malley and damn her stupid heart. Marie and Mark had arrived home a half an hour after her. They were visibly upset and shaken by what had happened. They had arrived on the scene just as her cab was pulling away. Marie said that Mark was going mad and had fucked Rory out of it. Marie looked so sad and disappointed that Cass had felt even more angered by his betrayal. He had let them all down. He had suckered them in and lied to them all. Marie had said that Mark was meeting with Rory that morning and when he returned Cass had refused to talk to him about Rory. She couldn’t bear to hear his name mentioned. She buried her head under the quilt and began to cry again.

(Rory
)

Distant hills look green.

Irish proverb

R
ory paced up and down the length of his office. His jacket and tie were discarded on the floor and his shirt half open. He grabbed the half empty bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey and poured another drink. It had been over three weeks. Three weeks since he had seen Cass properly. He had gone to her flat every day and then to the gallery and spoken to Mark and Marie, who would look at him and shake their heads, she hadn’t been in to work. They had been angry, as he expected. But, they had listened to him with open minds and as the days went by, they had shown him forgiveness. He was ashamed of himself and sleep had become an elusive friend. For the first time in his life, he had done something he couldn’t excuse. He had betrayed them all, Cass and her family, Marie and Mark, Aoife, his family. And Harry too. All of them. All the people he professed to care about, he had hurt. He needed to see Cass, to explain himself to her. It was becoming a sad ritual. Calling to her flat in the mornings, ringing her constantly and then dropping by the gallery to see if she had ventured out. Flat, phone, gallery, flat, phone and home. He was sick of it. He’d never had to work for a woman before. Then again he had never messed with a woman’s life or head, as much as he had with Cass. He stood at the window and looked down over the London eye, which shone like a giant Ferris wheel outside his window.