Cassandra

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No. It wasn\'t a dream.



The kiss lasted forever and, when forever ended, I was breathless. I felt like I was floating. Like I wasn\'t really there at all. That\'s why I had to keep asking myself if any of it was real. I panted, feeling light-headed, and kept my eyes closed. God, it was fucking magical.



The pressure from her chest and her hands on me fell away and I could hear her get off of the bed. My eyelids sprung back and I watched her grab her shirt and pull it over her head, concealing her precious skin. Her eyes, still moist with tears, were averted towards the blankets and wouldn\'t meet mine. I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion.



Had it been a dream?



"Cassandra," I said softly, breaking the silence. My voice sounded way too breathy. I had to calm down. Well, that may have been possible if I hadn\'t just had the most orgasmic kiss ever imagined. "That... was--"



She walked out of the room.



I coughed. What? "Cassandra?" I echoed, rolling off of the bed. "Wait!"



At the doorframe, I caught the briefest glimpse of her backside going into her office. I ran there just in time to meet the slam of the door.



Okay, what the hell was going on?



I knocked on the door. "Cassandra, please, open up!"



She didn\'t respond.



I tried the handle. It didn\'t work. I huffed in frustration. "What\'s wrong?" I called. "We just-- It was--" There wouldn\'t be any truth behind the words, "It was a mistake." I wouldn\'t be able to believe that. I mean, she wanted me to do it, right? She was the one that kissed me. I just happened to say those three words that usually taunted the other person\'s lips to come forward, but she had pressured that phrase from my mouth, too! It wasn\'t my fault, if that\'s what she was thinking!



I sighed again as she continued to ignore me. "Cassandra, please. You can\'t leave me out here. We have to talk about what just happened!"



"No, we don\'t," she said from the other side. At least there was a response.



"Yes, we do!" I retaliated. "We can\'t just kiss and pretend it didn\'t happen! You wanted it to happen!"



That was what provoked the tigress from her cave. Cassandra\'s office door flew back to reveal her fierce, wet eyes. "I didn\'t want it to happen, Taylor," she snapped at me. "What happened should not have happened. In fact, it didn\'t happen. It was a mistake. You don\'t love me, and I certainly don\'t love you."



I gasped in pain, my own eyes welling up with hot water. She stabbed my heart and twisted the knife just enough to make me suffer without dying. And the part that hurt the most? That lingering edge in her brown eyes: she was serious.



Taking whatever dignity I still had -- okay, there was no trace of such a thing -- I turned away, feeling sick to my stomach. I was such an idiot for believing that anything would develop between us. I should have listened to my instincts and kept quiet. Being a coward was so much better than being heartbroken. So much better.



Halfway down the hall, I heard her say my name and I heard her feet, but I gave up. I was done. I didn\'t want to wait for her any longer. I wasn\'t going to wait for someone that didn\'t love me back. I was done. I was fucking done.



A curtain of black hair was in front of me and made me stop and stare through the mist of tears in my vision. "Taylor, wait," she said quietly, touching my hands with hers.



I jerked them away. "Don\'t touch me," was on the tip of my tongue, but my mouth was too dry to speak.



"Look, I--" She pulled her hands back and ran them through her mane. "I didn\'t mean what I said."



I scoffed and bit my lip to stifle a sob. What a fucking liar.



"No, Taylor, listen to me!" she cried, grabbing my arms. "I didn\'t mean what I said!" She looked up at the ceiling to fight back more oncoming tears, and then she looked back at me, hopeless. "I\'m afraid, okay? I\'m afraid of what could happen to you. To us! If-- If Dave found out, we would both be--" I could see the bounce in her throat as she gulped.



"So he did hurt you?" I managed to say, but that voice was way too scratchy to be mine.



Her jaw clenched. If she wasn\'t going to admit that, then it wasn\'t worth listening. I budged against her to leave, but she pushed back. "Yes," she said aloud, avoiding my eyes again. "Yes, he hurt me."



"Then why do you... take it?!" I cried back, wiping away the blurring tears in my eyes.



"He\'s all I have!" she retorted, staring back at me. "He can\'t help it! He gets angry and I get in the way! He grabs too tight or hits too hard or..." Her breathing was like before -- harsh and fast. "He... He says he doesn\'t... mean it..."



Tears began to shed from both of us. "You can\'t let him do that to you..." I whispered, bringing my hand up to caress her cheek. She immediately leaned into the curve of my palm, resting there. Her hand cupped mine, too, and it was soft and warm.



"I... I used to love him... so much..." she explained softly, her words breaking up with the ragged breaths. "But he\'s always... so angry... and critical of... everything... He hates my art... and my cooking... and my voice... and my body--" Her voice broke and her eyes clamped shut, streams of tears flooding out of the creases.



I watched her weep openly and felt her warm tears turn cold in my palm. She really loved him once before. She used to feel loved by him, too. Now their marriage has fallen to abuse and pain and broken sobs. She doesn\'t deserve that.



"You don\'t deserve that..." I told her with all the voice I can muster, my head shaking slightly. I suddenly felt so tired.



She nodded and I felt fire in my veins. No, she doesn\'t.



"Stop that," I whispered. "You deserve someone that... loves you and everything you offer... Your art... your body... your cooking... your dimples... your kisses... Everything about you... is beautiful..."



Cassandra wore the faintest smile on her lips. Through her tears, she murmured, "You mean I... deserve someone that... knows my secrets... and patches my scars... and brings me cookies... without asking?"



I expected my cheeks to burn, but they didn\'t. I knew right away that she was talking about me, and all that did was make the swell in my heart larger and larger. "I love you, Cassandra..." I confessed, panting softly, "...and I won\'t wait to tell you that any longer..."



She grabbed my other hand and brought it up to her lips, kissing my skin affectionately with her lips, her eyes gently closed. "I love you, too, Taylor," she whispered, looking back at me.



I leaned into her, kissing her lips softly. She immediately kissed me back, putting her hand into my hair. I felt like we\'re long-lost lovers finding each other again after years of searching. I felt like I\'d missed her for decades and now that I had her in my hands once more, I knew that I will never let her go. Not without a fight.



Her lips were damp but ever-so gentle, and I held onto her face and her shoulder as our kisses grew more passionate. I loved how warm her body is against mine. I knew that I\'d never let her go. No man nor illness would tear us apart.



A quiet gasp escaped her mouth as we bump into one of the walls. I pulled away and bit my lip, savoring her taste. "Sorry..." I mumbled, licking the spot with my tongue.



Cassandra smirked and let her dimples show. She pressed herself into me and kissed my nose and just above my upper lip. Her eyes were soft and told me everything that was about to happen as she took my hands and pulled me with her down the hallway towards the master bedroom.