Operation: Endgame (14 page)

“No problem. You’re just doing your job and I appreciate it. By the way, I’m Cassie. Are you going to be here all day?”

“Yes, I’m Officer Pete Larson. I’ll be here until early evening.”

“Thank you. There will probably be another man coming over sometime this morning, my TA, Derek Haines.”

War watched their exchange with interest and now he was standing there glaring at Cassie with his massive arms folded across his incredibly wide chest. Warren, aka War, was a massive guy and he could be as intimidating as hell when he chose to be. He was about 6’3” tall and easily 250 lbs. of pure muscle. He was in his early 40’s, but was proud of the fact he kept himself in prime physical shape. They dated for ten months the year before, but War was too competitive to handle the attention Cassie received from the video game. War also was in charge of the History department at Tech. He didn’t handle it well when Cassie started getting the calls for her expertise versus calling on him for his when he was tenured and she wasn’t.

The reasons for their mutually agreed upon breakup didn’t change the fact he considered her under his protection. He’d acted as a friend and mentor a long time before they’d become romantically involved and that friendship had continued even after they stopped sleeping together. Now, Cassie could see every protective instinct he had raring up in the face of the fact she’d obviously been attacked. He wasn’t afraid to intimidate her to get the answers he needed. She hadn’t even had a chance to step back to allow him into the house when he started leaning into her face, literally growling, “Cassandra, what the hell happened to you and why the hell didn’t you call me?”

Unfortunately that just happened to be the point when Jake came limping into the room, with his sleep rumpled face looking confused, searching out to find Cassie. He quickly took in War’s aggressive stance with Cassie and didn’t like what he saw. He quickly pushed his way in between them and shoved at War. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you need to back off. Right now!”

“Oh, God. Jake, stop it. War’s not hurting me, but I can’t deal with anything more this morning without coffee and some ibuprofen. Everyone, inside the house right now.” Cassie pushed both men who were almost visibly snarling at each other into the house. God save her from two posturing alpha males. Her head and body hurt too much this morning to deal with this.

She headed into the kitchen, but Jake pushed her into one of her barstools with an order, “Sit. I’ll make the coffee. You relax and introduce me to your friend.”

Cassie sat down wearily, resting her pounding head in her left hand, “Jake, this is War. He’s my boss in the History department and he’s a friend. He’s here because he’s been running with me in the mornings ever since the stalker stuff started. War, this is Jake. You’ve heard me talk about him before.”

War settled into one of the barstools next to Cassie and gently lifted her chin so he could look at the bruising on her face. “What happened Cassandra? Who did this to you?”

“My stalker friend doesn’t like me riding my motorcycle. He ran me off the road yesterday. I’m okay. Just really sore.”

Jake pushed some ibuprofen and a glass of water across the counter to her. “Take these, darling. They’ll help take the edge off.”

War looked once again at Jake, taking in his sleep-rumpled appearance and the way he moved easily through her kitchen. “So are you living with Cassandra?” His voice had taken a menacing edge.

“Yes, I’m here to protect Cass,” He put a hard emphasis on his nickname for her, “and fulfill whatever other needs she might have.”

The insinuation in that statement was hard to ignore and Cassie rolled her eyes. “Cut it out Jake.”

War gave Jake a hard look. “So, if you’re here protecting her, what the hell happened yesterday?”

Cassie didn’t give Jake a chance to answer War’s challenge. “That was my fault. I took off without telling him and that was stupid on my part. I shouldn’t have underestimated this guy. Don’t worry, I won’t do it again. I have plenty of protection now with Jake and the nice police officer you met as you tried to come in.” War still looked concerned. “I’m sorry I forgot to call you, War. I don’t think I’m going to be running for at least a couple of weeks, until my collarbone starts to heal. I’m also not going to be in today. I checked myself out of the hospital with the promise I’d stay home today. I need to call Derek, because he’s going to have to handle my classes. Do you mind offering him a hand if he needs it?” She knew Derek would be fine, but it always helped to smooth War’s ruffled feathers if she catered to his ego.

Jake pushed a cup of coffee towards Cassie. Then he lifted a cup towards War, “Would you like some?”

War shook his head, “No, I don’t drink caffeine.”

“Seriously? I thought all professors lived with a coffee cup in their hand.”

“Not me. I don’t put anything into my body that isn’t good for it and caffeine is definitely not good for your body.” He looked disapprovingly as Cassie lifted her coffee cup to her lips.

“War considers his body to be a temple. He doesn’t understand the allure of caffeine and alcohol by us mere mortals, but as long as I get to enjoy the eye candy while I drink my coffee, I can live with that.” Cassie lifted her cup in a toast as she took another sip, and gave War a teasing full-body perusal. He was dressed for running, so while his body was fully clothed in his cold weather gear, the layers of spandex and lightweight running materials did nothing to hide his many muscles. War had an ego and they were good enough friends still that she could give him a hard time about it.

War smirked at her and said, “Whatever I can do to make your day easier,” He halted when Jake snorted, but War just gave him a superior look and continued, “but some of us do still have to get to work today. Are you going to be okay?” He looked her over again looking for hidden injuries, not trying to hide the worry in his eyes.

“I’ll be fine and back in the office tomorrow. Thanks War. Again, I’m sorry about the scene on the porch this morning.”

“No problem, Cassandra.” He gave her a gentle hug. “You take care of yourself.” He gave a nod to Jake and headed towards the front door.

After War left, Jake gave Cassie an appraising eye. “How’s the pain?”

“The ibuprofen is starting to take effect so it’s getting better.”

Jake nodded and then looked back at the door. “So how long did you and War date?”

“Almost a year.”

“You realize he’s still in love with you, right?”

“Love? No. Honestly, War only loves himself. He’s fond of me and we’re still friends. He’s in love with the fantasy of us, but that fantasy was never a reality. I could never be what War needs. I’m too independent and we have different goals.” She shook her head remembering how things had been with War. War needed someone who could stand behind him and prop him up and feed his ego and that person couldn’t be Cassie. She was too much of her own person to stand behind someone else. Besides, she wanted a family and War never made it any secret he didn’t have any desire for children in his life.

She looked at Jake, again taking in the exhaustion that lined his face. “Thanks Jake for taking care of me last night. I need to call Derek and I can tell you’re exhausted. Why don’t you go back to bed for a few more hours?”

Jake shook his head, “No, but I do think I’m going to go take a shower. Are you going to be okay for a few minutes?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”

Cassie called Derek to let him know what was going on and that she wouldn’t be in for the day. He was worried about her just like everyone else, but assured her he could handle things in her absence with no problems. She then texted both Julie and Penelope so they wouldn’t hear stories from anyone else, assuring both of them she was fine. She debated getting hold of Colton, but she knew he was out on a mission so she didn’t want to do anything to distract him. He would be furious when he found out what was happening and that she didn’t tell him about it, but she’d rather apologize to him after the fact then distract him with it all now.

With her head and body throbbing, that was the end of Cassie’s energy, so she drug herself back to her bed figuring she’d earned the extra sleep.

The day passed in a drowsy haze for Cassie. Jake awoke her at lunchtime with grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. While she’d been sleeping, he’d built a fire in the fireplace, so she relocated to the couch, cuddled under a quilt. She tried to read a bit, but her head continued to ache which made concentration difficult. Detective Barnes came by in the afternoon and took another statement from her about the accident. There hadn’t been any DNA or other clues on the flowers and now they were examining her motorcycle and the accident site to see if there were any clues to be found there. The girls came by at dinnertime with a wonderful Mexican casserole made by Julie, the only cook among the three of them. They showered her with care and love, but they could tell Cassie was about at her limit so they didn’t stay long.

Jake pushed Cassie into her bed by 7:30 that night. He’d been watching her carefully all day and knew she was still dealing with a lot of pain. The stress on her body was taking its toll and he wasn’t so sure that she would be ready to go to work the next day, regardless of what she thought. Jake was restless and couldn’t get his mind to settle enough to even think about going to bed himself, so he was still awake when the whimpers from Cassie’s room began. He rushed to the side of her bed. She was thrashing around in the bed, still asleep, and whimpering. He wasn’t sure if she was having a bad dream or simply in pain. He settled in behind her and pulled her close to him. “Shh, it’s okay, Cass.”

She awoke slightly and whispered a questioning, “Jake?”

“Yes, it’s me darling. Go back to sleep. I’ll keep you safe.”

She nestled into his chest and settled back into a sound sleep once again.

When the alarm went off the next morning, Cassie found herself nestled into a very warm, very hard, very masculine chest. Cassie inhaled the smell that was wholly Jake as he rubbed up her back. She didn’t know how he’d ended up in her bed, but she was enjoying the fact he was there right now as she slowly took inventory of the aches and pains of her body. He soothed her simply by his presence.

Jake, on the other hand, was wondering at the insanity that had led him to believe he would ever be able to sleep with Cassie’s lush body snuggled up to his all night long. The only thing that had kept his libido under control so he didn’t ravish her was the fact he knew she was physically hurting. That didn’t keep the lust from pounding through his body as he held her. He rubbed up and down the spine of her back savoring the fact she was in his arms and alive. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head and whispered, “Good morning. How are you feeling today?”

Cassie rubbed her hand over his pectoral muscle feeling the nipple pebble under her ministrations, and tried to ignore the heat pooling in her lower body. “My head is definitely feeling better. As to the rest, I’m kind of afraid to move to find out.”

Jake chuckled low and sexy. “We could invite your students to class in your bedroom, but I’m thinking the University may frown on that.”

“I’m afraid you’re right, so I guess I need to move and see how bad it really is.”

“Hang on. Let me sit up first so I can help you get up without straining your shoulder.”

Once Cassie was up and out of bed and sipping a cup of coffee, the prospect of going to work was looking like a more viable possibility. Her body was definitely achy, but with the exception of her broken collar bone, everything seemed to be in working, albeit a bit slow, order.

They just had one serious problem she didn’t think Jake had considered. But they were friends and it’s not like he hadn’t seen her naked before, so she looked at him and tried not to blush. “Um, Jake, I need to go take a shower, but I’m going to need your help.” She gestured towards her right shoulder which had been bound up in a sling since she got home. “Until my collar heals a little bit, I can’t get my shirt on and off. I also don’t think I’m going to be able to wash my hair by myself. Do you think you can help me?”

Jake looked at Cassie trying to take in what she was saying, but all that seemed to sink into his psyche were thoughts of Cassie naked, wet, and in his arms. The lust that had been simmering since he crawled into bed with her the night before surged through his system and directly into his cock.

Cassie was obviously concerned because he wasn’t answering. He just couldn’t get enough blood to his brain to get his mouth to work. “Jake, I’m sorry. I just don’t think I can do this by myself. Maybe I should call Julie or Penelope.”

Jake finally found the ability to speak. “No, no, don’t be ridiculous. Of course, I can help you. Are you ready to go right now?”

Cassie tried to ignore the butterflies that had started up in her stomach. This was just Jake. No reason for this reaction. He was simply helping her as a friend. “Yes,” she said and she hoped Jake hadn’t noticed the quiver in her voice.

Jake and Chris had helped Cassie rebuild this bathroom, but he hadn’t remembered the huge claw-foot tub that was front and center in the bathroom when she made the request. As he looked at it now, he had an idea. “Hey Cass, how about a bath rather than a shower so I can stay dressed and dry through this process?”