“Don’t worry; they won’t touch you as long as I’m here,” Cassius assured her, sensing her thoughts.
Again, Maria stared back at the fifteen-year-old boy. “What makes you think that?”
“Because I’m Lucifer’s son and the spitting image of Dom. They’d have to either be fucking stupid or asking for a death wish to touch you while you’re with me.”
Glancing back again, they appeared to be closer. “You sure about that?”
“I’ve snuck out of the house and walked these streets since I five, so … yeah,” Cassius assured her once more without a hint of worry. “I’m sure.”
Unfortunately, that didn’t mean much coming from the little Lucifer in the making.
Cass gave the man over the fence a nod. “Hey, Vic.”
“Hey, Cass.” Big Vic gave him a warm smile with a wave. “Tell Dom I said thanks for the homecoming present.”
“Will do.”
Maria’s mouth fell open, then quickly snapped back into place, thinking it had to be a joke. She had seen real murderers, but on the inside, that man was a Teddy bear.
“Yeah … he seems real dangero—”
“He went to prison for killing the man who raped his daughter.”
Maria kept her mouth shut now, understanding. “Oh.”
Cassius still kept trailing along. “Like I said, he wasn’t the one you should worry about.”
Again, she looked back over her shoulder, and again, they were even closer. “Since you were two, huh?”
“Yes.” Cassius shot her an ominous look with a raised brow. “Sound familiar?”
Maria stopped, staring over at him. She wondered how the hell he would know about her wandering problem around her father’s casino when she was just a kid. “You’re really starting to creep me out.” Looking back, she felt their presence sneak closer. She was either going to make a run for it or get back on his bike. “You know, you’re not very convincing, considering they’re still following us.”
“That’s because they’re following you, not me.” Cassius pedaled his bike faster. “They’ve been too busy staring at your legs and ass that they have yet to recognize me from the back.” Crossing in front of her, he slowly circled around her.
The second the three men saw his face, they scurried like three blind mice down a cross street.
Laughing, Maria looked at him, impressed.
“Don’t worry, that won’t last much longer.” Cassius resumed his riding spot beside her. “Once Dom gets the word out that you two are together, Blue Park will be safer than any place on your side of Kansas City.”
Maria found the last part of that statement interesting … until she remembered the first. “Me and Dominic are not getting to—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Cassius said, wanting her to save those words for someone who believed it. “Now, can you please jump back on so we can get home already?”
“No.” Maria flipped her gold hair behind a shoulder. “I’m still mad at you for not warning me about his little date back there before I made a fool of myself.”
“Is this the part where you want me to apologize?” he asked seriously, making Maria look over at him.
She realized how much older he looked, but just how young he still was. It was like a child asking if he was in trouble, like his father Lucifer and her brother Lucca, Cass’s emotions weren’t just stunted, they were nonexistent. He hadn’t yet mastered blending in, like bumping into someone at the supermarket and saying “sorry” because it was the polite thing to do. It was what people like Cassius needed to learn to survive so they could live undetected as a danger to society. Maria knew … because she was one too.
“You never have to apologize to me unless you mean it,” she told him, not wanting him to feel like he had to pretend with her. However, someone was working with him, trying to help keep him accountable, so much so that he was aware to ask the question if he should apologize.
“Is Dom the one helping you?”
Knowing what she meant, Cassius shook his head. “Kat.”
“Oh.” Maria smiled inwardly to herself. It meant Cass trusted her, and that strangely made her feel … happy.
Stopping, she tossed off her heels, hopefully for the last time. “How about we make a deal?” Picking up her shoes, she went to stand in front of his stopped bike. “Tell me why you wanted me to see Dominic with her, and I’ll let you give me a ride back to your house … Deal?”
It took Cassius a moment before he gave a single nod of agreement. “I knew, if you didn’t see them together, you would never be able to really understand what Dom was talking about when he told you that you hurt him by choosing somebody else.” On paper, what Cassius said might’ve been deep, but his blank eyes and even tone reminded her that wasn’t the case on the inside. “Those are just words to people like us. They hold no meaning.”