Page 55 of Cries of Cassie

Oh, this I don't want to answer. They'll blame themselves, and we just got our footing with each other. Which, unfortunately, is why I have to tell them. "My neck and hips."

"We hurt you," Ripley states, voice devoid of emotion. "Last night when we were bending you like a pretzel to take our mouths and cocks, we hyperextended you. Do I have that right?"

I gulp, not loving the way his voice hardened the longer he spoke. "I-I pushed myself too far," I relent.

Sadly, my attempt to take the blame off them doesn't work. Ripley jumps to his feet and starts pacing. Koa looks torn between him and Maddy, both of whom look like they're about to explode at my news.

My ears ring in the silence, a headache forming. Are they mad at me? "Maddy?"

Maddy shakes Koa off and stands over me and Parker. Jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, he growls, "So you're telling me..." Uh oh... "You’ve been in pain this entire time? Our one fucking goal, Cassidy, was to keep you from getting hurt!"

There is literally no way I can answer him without upsetting them further. Parker is my rock and Maddy is the hard place. I'm screwed.

"Maddy, I'm fine. I've lived with this since I was a teenager. I have my stretches and⁠—"

Parker cuts me off, "You'll see Bandaid while we're in church. After he's worked out a treatment plan with you and you're feeling better, your ass will be over my lap and red for days. Understand?"

Jaw. On. The. Ground. "You'll spank me for having a medical condition?!"

"No," Maddy interjects and thankfully sits beside me, looking a little softer. He grips my chin and pulls my face close to his. "You'll get your ass spanked for not taking care of yourself or allowing us to."

All their phones blare with a reminder, signaling church will begin in five minutes. The sound of a phone shattering against the wall makes me jump not with fear, but because the loud noise pierces my skull.

"Fuck, sorry," Ripley whispers. He looks so fucking gutted as he gathers the broken pieces of his phone from the ground. I'm prepared for him to storm out, but he comes to me and looks me right in the eye. "You'll go to Bandaid, immediately."

Swallowing, I accept his kiss but don't agree. Koa and Maddy do something similar before stomping out of the room.

"They're mad," I whimper, exhausted.

Parker grunts and lifts me in his arms as he stands. "I'll bring you to Bandaid's office, and I'll give you a massage at home after church. Okay?"

"Okay," I reply, allowing him this time to take care of me because I think I'm going to piss him off really, really badly soon. While they're in church, I'll run to the chiropractor quickly, hopefully to beat this migraine. I'll be back before their work is done.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Parker (Spider)

Leaving Cassidy in Bandaid's office felt wrong. I'm a president of this club, so I can skip church without getting in trouble. The thing is this will probably be the last meeting before shit hits the fan with Victor, so we need everyone up to date.

Especially the four of us. We need to be on the same page for Cassidy. Meaning all of us need to be here even if every atom in our bodies is demanding we go back to our woman.

The low murmuring of brothers taking their seats around the large table serves as background noise for the thoughts running rampant in my mind. How in the hell did I not question all her wincing and odd stretches before bed?

Well, I did but she always had the perfect excuse—not used to riding on motorcycles or working on the ground in the garage. How fucking gullible am I? Worse, how could I take her health at face value? I should have dug deeper. Demanded she tell me why those things hurt her body so much.

"Are we all here?" Maddox stands at the head of the table, arms crossed, looking like he'd rather be somewhere else. Same. "Bandaid is busy for a bit, so don't mind his empty seat."

We intercepted our club doctor on the way to church and told him to check on Cassidy first. He wasn't given any details since we're sticklers on not being late to these meetings, so I must trust that Cassidy will tell him the truth.

Glancing around the table, I notice another empty seat. "Where's Jake?" As a fully patched-in member who has been climbing ranks rapidly since his prospecting days, he's required at church too.

Ripley's chair creaks in the silence. When I glance at him, I'm not shocked to see him staring at the table, avoiding eye contact. Poor fucker is so upset about Cassie being in pain.

"Nobody knows?" Koa chimes in, sounding annoyed that we're wasting time on Jake. "Fine. We'll deal with that later. For now, we need to go over security first and foremost."

After a tremendous amount of discussion with the club and Connor, we decided it would be in our best interest to take the killing shot. Lure Victor out for a drug swap. Make him believe we've cooked something up and need his help to get it rolling. Tell him we won't meet him here or on his property because nobody can know we're dabbling in the darker shit yet. We want to bring proof back to the Shadows that this can change our lives for the better before telling them.

We need to figure out who's going as the faces of the plan, who's staying to guard our home and family, and what the story is.