The Forgotten Night (10 page)

“Okay, I’m going,” he said, kissing her once more.

“Go, Andy, I’ll call you tomorrow,” she promised.

Andy let go of her waist and walked out to meet his sister. Cassidy followed him and waved to them as they walked out the door.

* * *

Cassidy shut the door behind Andrew and Rachel and locked it. She turned around and leaned against it, feeling like she was in a fairytale. He loved her, and always had. She couldn’t help but giggle and jump up and down a little. She was so happy, nothing could change that, not even to facing Robert.

She looked around the first floor, but there was no sign of Robert. Maybe he’d gone back to the hotel. As much as she wanted to break things off with him, she really didn’t want to do it tonight. She didn’t want him to ruin what had turned out to be one of the best nights of her life.

In fact, everything was really quiet. She didn’t even hear the staff in the kitchen and wondered how long she and Andrew had been in the study.

Slowly, she ascended the main stairs and made her way to her room. She didn’t bother turning on the upstairs hallway light, she knew where she was going. When she opened her bedroom door, she swore she could smell alcohol, but pushed the thought aside. She took off her shoes and tossed them across the room before walking into the bathroom. She unzipped her dress and slipped on her pajama pants and camisole. She opened the door and draped her dress on the bed and walked to the light switch and flicked it on.

Robert sat on her small sofa. “Hello, Cassidy,” he said gruffly.

Cassidy shivered at his tone and knew something was wrong. She looked around and saw the empty bottles of vodka at his feet. “Hey, Robert. I thought you had gone back to the hotel.”

“No, I’ve been up here since I left you in the study,” he said bitterly.

Cassidy saw something in his eyes she had never seen before and decided it wasn’t a good idea to tell him about Andrew tonight. “It’s really late, Robert, do you mind if—”

“You want me to go so you can call over your fuck buddy?”

“What?” she asked breathlessly.

“I heard you downstairs, Cassidy. Don’t think I don’t know what you and that guy were doing in the study.”

“We weren’t doing anything,” she lied. “I swear.”

“How long, Cassidy? How long has this been going on?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Robert,” she said slowly, backing away back to the bathroom door.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Cassidy!” he roared and stood up.

“Please, Robert—”

“You’re a fucking whore!” he yelled and closed the distance between them in a few strides before she had a chance to get into the bathroom.

“I’m not a whore! I love him, Robert! I don’t love you, I never did. I don’t know where you got the idea that I did.”

“Shut up! You’re a lying bitch!” he said, hitting her across the cheek.

She yelped at the contact and tears welled up in her eyes. “Don’t you fucking touch me,” she said seriously. “I will scream as loud as I can if you do. The staff will call the fucking police.”

“Aw, sweetie, I gave them the night off. I told them I wanted to celebrate with my fiancée, and they thought that it was a good idea.”

Tears fell down her cheek when she realized everyone in the house was gone. Maybe she should have asked Andrew to stay. Robert was scaring the shit out of her.

“I thought we had a good thing going, I thought you and me were something special,” he muttered, angling his body so that it blocked her way into the bathroom.

What was she supposed to say? Should she lie to him? Maybe he wouldn’t do anything stupid if she could calm him down. “We did, I just—”

“You cheating lying bitch!” he said, grabbing hold of her throat and squeezing hard.

“Let go of me,” she struggled to say.

“He’s the reason you never wanted me. You betrayed me for him!” he yelled, throwing her across the room, away from the bathroom.

She put her hands out in front of her, trying to break her fall but cried out from the pain when she landed hard on her left wrist.

Robert walked over to her and picked her up by her hair, and she screamed from the pain. “Does that hurt? Well, it’s what dirty whores deserve.”

Cassidy pulled back her right arm and punched him with all her might.

He yelled, and she was satisfied to see his nose bleeding. “You fucking bitch! You broke my nose!” he yelled and hit her across the face. He grabbed her by the forearm and threw her against the wall. She fell down to the ground. He pulled back his leg and kicked her a few times in the stomach. She cried out, wishing the pain would stop. He kicked her more before pulling her up.

“I’ll teach you what happens to dirty, lying whores like you,” he said, his hand on her throat. He bent down and kissed her forcefully on the lips, and she tried to wrestle her head away but he had her pinned up against the wall. Her left wrist was throbbing, and she was pretty sure he had broken one of her ribs or at least bruised it badly. He broke away and pushed her harder into the wall.

“Please, please, Robert,” she begged as tears fell down her face.

“That’s right, beg. I couldn’t have you while we were dating, I guess this is better than nothing,” he said and kissed her again, biting her bottom lip hard.

She cried out but he pressed harder on her throat. He kissed her roughly down her jaw and down her neck then bit her viciously on the shoulder. She tried to scream, but he had a tight hold on her. She tried to push him away, but he held on tightly to her right arm. He forced her to the ground and straddled her so she couldn’t hurt him and kissed her forcefully again.

He pulled down the straps of her camisole and forced it down to her waist. He bent down and took one of her breasts in his mouth, sucking on it then biting it. She tried to scream but he muffled her mouth with his hand. He took the other breast in his mouth and did the same thing.

She had to get out, had to get him off of her. He slid down her and pulled off her camisole along with her pajama pants. As he reached for her underwear, she brought up her leg and kneed him. He grunted and loosened his grip. She pulled back her arm and punched him as hard as she could. He fell off of her, and she kicked him again for good measure.

She ran for the bathroom, but before she could get inside he grabbed her foot and pulled her down. She stifled a scream as she hit the ground hard. As he pulled her toward him, she kicked with all her might and hit him in the chest. He fell backward and she crawled into the bathroom. She shut the door just as he stood up and charged it. She locked the door and sat against it, hoping he wouldn’t be strong enough to break through the solid oak panel.

“You fucking bitch! Open this door! I’m going to kill you!”

Cassidy sat on the cold tile, crying as he yelled at her. She could do nothing but wait for someone to find her. No way was she venturing out of the bathroom until then. Cassidy shut her eyes and willed him to stop kicking and pounding the door. She was shaking and looked around the bathroom for a shirt or anything she could wear. He had taken her camisole and pants, leaving her sitting on the floor in just her underwear. She spotted a white shirt hanging on the towel rack and reached up for it, immediately regretting the movement. She cried out in pain just as she wrapped her fingers around the material. She pulled it toward her and rested against the door again, trying to catch her breath.

The pounding stopped, but she still wasn’t calling it safe. She would stay in the bathroom. She slowly stuck her arms through the white shirt and pulled it over her head, a fresh set of tears springing to her eyes at the pain. It wasn’t until the shirt was on that she noticed that she was bleeding. She brought her hand up to her face and looked down at her hands and saw the fresh blood. Cassidy gasped at the sight. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was blood.

Hyperventilating, she reached out for the sink, trying to pull herself up, but slipped and fell back to the ground. She was lying on the floor, facing the door, crying, too drained and in too much pain to get up. Slowly the room went black and the pain left her.

* * *

“Stop pacing and sit down and watch some Disney Channel,” Rachel told Andrew the next morning. It was a little after one in the afternoon, and both she and Andrew had just gotten up.

“I can’t, Cassidy still hasn’t called me yet,” Andrew said.

“She probably hasn’t woken up yet, we just did,” Rachel said, trying to calm him down.

“I’m going to call her.” He sat down next to Rachel and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed her number and got her voicemail.

“She’s probably in the shower, something maybe you should consider,” Rachel joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Not until she calls,” he said.

“Tell you what, you go take a shower, and I’ll wait by your phone. If she calls, I’ll answer. If it makes you feel better, I’ll keep calling her every ten minutes until you're back.”

Andrew looked at his sister then handed her his phone. He stood up and walked out of the entertainment room and up the stairs. He couldn’t help but worry about Cassidy. Maybe she was in the shower, maybe her phone was on silent. She was a heavy sleeper and nothing could wake her up. She had also gone to bed later than him, because she’d had to break up with the bastard.

Thinking about Robert brought on a fresh set of fears. What if she wasn’t sleeping, but hurt? What if she had tried to tell Robert and he lashed out? He pushed the thoughts aside as he climbed into his shower. The hot water washed away his mad thoughts, and he concluded he was probably overreacting. He stepped out and dried off, putting on the fresh set of clothes he had set out on his bed. Andrew hung up his towel and went downstairs. He stopped in front of the entertainment room and looked at his sister.

Rachel shook her head, and he sunk down in the couch next to her. He took his phone from her.

“She could still be sleeping. She’s a heavy sleeper,” Rachel said but the obvious worry in her voice nullified her words. “Why are you so freaked out? It’s making me freak out.”

“Rach, she told me last night that Robert could be somewhat possessive. I’m just afraid of how he reacted when she broke it off with him.”

“And you let her stay there alone!” Rachel practically screamed.

“We weren’t even sure he was there, you said yourself.”

“That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have stayed there, she needed you.”

“She wanted to do it on her own, she thought it would be easier for him to accept.”

“But you left her alone with that crazy lunatic!” Rachel ranted.

Andrew dialed Cassidy’s home number and waited for someone to answer. After a brief conversation with Rose, he hung up the phone, his pulse racing frantically. Apparently, Robert had dismissed the staff last night. Rose had just gotten in, but Cassidy hadn’t come down yet. Andrew stuffed his phone in his pocket and leapt up from the couch, running for the front door and slipping on his running shoes.

“What’s wrong? You look like a mad man, is it Cass? What happened?” Rachel called.

“No time to explain,” Andrew said. He opened the front door and sprinted down the street toward Cassidy’s house. He heard Rachel calling his name and running behind him, but he didn’t stop to wait for her. He had a very bad feeling.

Andrew rang the doorbell a couple of times before Rose answered. He was huffing and puffing when she opened the door and he didn’t bother explaining anything. He sprinted up the front stairs and up to Cassidy’s bedroom.

“Rachel, what’s going on, honey?” he heard Rose ask as he hit the landing.

“I’m not entirely sure, my brother thinks Robert might have hurt Cass.”

“Oh my God, and he convinced us to leave last night,” Rose replied.

Andrew stopped in front of Cassidy’s bedroom door and turned the knob. He didn’t know what to expect and was afraid of what he would find. He flung open her door and looked around. Her dress lay neatly on her made bed. She hadn’t slept in her bed, so where was she? His heart began to race. Her camisole and pajama pants, the ones she normally wore when she spent the night, were strewn about and there was blood on her carpet. What had happened last night? The anger rose inside of him. He wanted to kill Robert. He had to find her.

“Cassie!” he called out, and his words came out choked. He turned around and saw her closed bathroom door.

“I’ll lock myself in the bathroom and call you, okay?”

Her cell phone was lying on her bed, flashing from all the missed calls. He put his hand on the handle to the bathroom and tried it. Locked.

“Cassie?” He knocked softly. He didn’t hear anything, so he knocked again. His nerves were getting the better of him. He had to get inside. He looked around and found a hair pin on her night table. He knelt down and began to pick at the lock. It wasn’t hard, he had years of practice with the girls. It took him only seconds before he heard the soft click of the door. He set the pin down and stood, slowly turning the knob and opening the door.

He gasped as he looked down at Cassidy’s bruised and battered body. “Oh God…Cassidy…Cassie, baby?” he said softly, kneeling beside her.

She moaned softly. Dried blood crusted the front of her white shirt and bruises marred her face and neck. He felt sick.

“Cassie, can you hear me?” he asked as he tried to scoop her up in his arms.

She cried out in pain and opened her eyes.

“God, Cassie, I’m so sorry,” he said, leaving her on the cold tile. “I should have been here,” he said, almost in tears.

“Oh my god,” Rachel said softly behind them.

Rose burst into tears as she entered the room. “I’m calling an ambulance, she needs to get to a hospital.”

Andrew only nodded as he pushed Cassidy’s hair away from her face. “God, this is all my fault, I never should have left you.”

“Shh, it’s not your fault, Andy,” Cassidy said and winced.

“Don’t talk, baby, you’ll be fine. You’ll be okay,” he said, not only to reassure her but himself too.

It seemed an eternity before the ambulance got there, but finally one of the paramedics nudged him out of the way. In moments, they had her on a stretcher and were carting her toward the stairs.