Cassie's Choice Read online

  Thinking back on the night—and Cassie had done that, fixatedly—she had come to the conclusion that if she’d only said no, then maybe things might have been different. At least she would not have had to deal with the sick feeling in her stomach or the crawl of her skin when she remembered the events of that night. She had been so infatuated with the few years younger Riley that Cassie had been terrified he would find her lack of sexual exploits or experience boring. She was, after all, the older woman, or so everyone had pointed out repeatedly. Riley’s friends winking at her all the time, stupid grins on their faces with some kind of amusing agenda in their implication. Like Cassie was some sort of Mrs Robinson or something. When the truth was, Cassie had spent so much time studying to become a high school teacher she really hadn’t had much time to explore her sensual side at all.

  A few quick flings during university had been the extent of her experience, but from the moment she had met Riley, her body had gone wild for him. Cassie had never been able to get enough of him and he had taught her so much about her own desires, her cravings and what made her scream with pleasure. And she had screamed, moaned, pleaded and begged at times. Riley had been like a master magician casting a spell over her, knowing exactly how to satisfy her sexually. She would have tried anything, done anything not to lose him.

  Cassie had not only worried over their age difference, but also the fact that someone with as much skill in the bedroom as Riley must have had a long list of sexual conquests to his name. How else could he have understood what she needed and achieved that goal so completely, so effortlessly? He seemed to have known exactly where and when to touch her to bring her undone.

  Riley had never made her any promises, never discussed being exclusive, and Cassie had been too nervous to ever mention it, for fear of looking too needy. But it had not softened the blow when he’d upped and left.

  These were all the reasons, Cassie reminded herself, why being with Riley was not in her best interests. The fact that he still had the ability to make her hurt years later and her body lust for his attention after all he had put her through made Cassie feel hopeless.

  Even sitting in a classroom full of sixteen-year-olds could not stop Cassie from reminiscing about how Riley had made love to her. Her nipples poked hard against her blouse and moisture began to pool between her legs, wetting her underwear at the memory of how good they used to be together.

  “Miss… Umm…hello! Earth to Miss Davies… Wakey, wakey! What’s wrong, Miss? The boyfriend have you up all night doin’ it? Although you don’t look too happy—didn’t he give you an—”

  The voice of one of her more unruly students snapped Cassie from her thoughts.

  “I beg your pardon, Ben,” Cassie’s stern retort was voiced quickly as she attempted to cut him off before he managed to embarrass her further or get himself into any more trouble. Then realising that she really did not want the boy to repeat himself, Cassie shouted, “No! Wait, I heard you the first time… Do not open your mouth… In fact, one more word and we will be discussing this further in detention. Do you understand me, Ben Somers? Not one word.”

  Looking at the classroom wall clock, Cassie realised that she had been caught up in her own thoughts for most of the lesson, and with only minutes to go she still had to collect the answer sheets.

  “Pens down, please,” she instructed her class, hearing the usual mumblings of displeasure from the students who had not finished the exam or were unhappy with how they feared they had performed.

  “Quietly pass your papers forward, then you can all pack up and have an early mark.” Of course her twenty-six students had no concept of the word ‘quietly’, especially with the temptation of the weekend looming so close. The sounds of chairs scraping the floor and the excited chatter of the teenagers making plans filled the room to a near deafening level. “Ben, did you need something before or were you just trying to be annoying?”

  The boy was one of the brightest in this class of gifted and talented students. It was probably the reason he was such a handful. Ben already knew most of what she taught in the personal development class, would probably go on to study medicine or something. He was also a very talented sportsman with a confident personality that was both humorous and entertaining. Unfortunately, teachers were often the brunt of his quick wit, much to the amusement of students.

  “Nah! It’s all good, Miss Davies, just checking that you were okay. Have a good weekend.” Ben waved to Cassie as he raced out of the classroom door.

  With the classroom empty, Cassie collected her belongings, wondering whether she could skip the usual staff meeting, just go straight home and make a pillow fortress to hide in. Luck was not on her side, though, she soon discovered when the deputy principal walked in.

  “Cassie, could we have a few words before the staff meeting? I wanted to run something by you before I broached the subject later.”

  Crap! Cassie thought as she waited to hear what new project she was going to be expected to volunteer for. “Sure, what’s up?”

  “Well, there has been a lot of talk about the local rugby league team doing so well and I remembered that you had a contact at the Jets. I was hoping that you could use some of your influence to get a few of the players to attend next month’s school fundraiser. I know it’s short notice, but I think if we could guarantee a few sports stars attending the fête, it would garner more interest. The money we raise is important, Cassie—as you know the school needs more than the government can give us. It’s so important to have someone with a public profile attend that I will even sweeten the pot. I will give the sports department a quarter of all money raised to spend on new equipment, if you can help out.”

  If the request had been made last month, Cassie would have had no problem trying to get a couple of the Jets players to turn up. She did have a contact at the Jets—her best friend was the physio there and married to the Jets halfback and captain. A week ago she would have just picked up her phone and given Pippa a call right on the spot, in front of her boss. That was last month, last week. This week, Riley Walters had taken over the role as promotion and marketing manager at the Jets. And just two nights ago, Pippa had thrown Cassie’s world into a spin by inviting her out to dinner, forgetting to mention that Riley would be sitting right there beside her, the only other single in the group of married couples that were dining together.

  As usual the timing in Cassie Davies’ life sucked.

  Chapter Two

  Riley understood that life was made up of many moments that could impact, change or redefine your life and where you were headed. He had been exposed to many of these moments throughout his nearly twenty-two years, the most significant when his parents had been killed in a car accident. Riley had been ten years old, yet he still remembered with clarity the moment Caitlin, his sister, had told him what had happened. She had promised to look after him, that they would survive together through the awfulness of losing both parents in one single, cruel blow.

  Caitlin had kept her promise, but it had been tough for them both financially and emotionally. Riley had tried to help, be responsible and cause his sister no trouble, but he had been ten—just growing had put pressure on their little family every time Caitlin had needed to find the money to pay for new clothes or shoes. She had also found the funds to pay for all the swimming, coaching and school excursions, but Riley had been able to see the strain. Caitlin at twenty had put her own life on hold for him, she had been the reason Riley had not become a ward of the state and she had never questioned or bemoaned that extra responsibility thrust upon her.

  While that moment was a harsh one, the next to impact Riley had been the extreme opposite. When Caitlin had met and introduced Brodie James to their family, Riley’s life had flourished. Not only was Brodie James one of Riley’s sporting heroes, but he was also a wonderful, caring man who had taken Riley under his wing. Brodie was not only an inspiring role model but also a father figure, bringing with him a set of loving parents that immediatel
y became pseudo grandparents for Riley. Brodie James was wealthy. Not just because he was a top level, former rugby league star turned coach—he was also an astute businessman. He’d happily lavished that wealth on Riley and his sister. Slowly at first, but after Caitlin had married Brodie and she and Riley had moved into his waterfront home, they’d never had to struggle to pay for anything again. It had taken a great load from Riley’s shoulders at the time, finally able to put aside the nagging guilt that he was a burden on his sister financially.

  The next significant event for Riley, and the only time in his life for which he despised himself or was ashamed by his actions, had occurred just over two years ago.

  Riley was haunted by it. Shocked and appalled by his reaction—the amount of anger that had risen in him, the need to do physical harm to another so overwhelming that he had fled before he had been able to act on this new and alarming emotion. Apart from witnessing the assault on Mandy Thomson back when he was eleven, violence had never been a part of Riley’s life. Even spending his youth surrounded by rugby league players, it had never existed. He had always been shown, through example from these men, that it solved nothing to get angry. That it was better to put that emotion into something more positive, use it to strengthen the resolve to work harder and be a better person.

  But on that night, all reasoning had flown out of the window. Riley had wanted to rip the guy’s head off for going anywhere near Cassie. What had made that reaction all the more alarming was that Riley had agreed to the ménage in the first place. He had thought he could handle it. Huh, just thinking about it caused that anger and resentment to rear its ugly head again.

  Meeting the blonde bombshell Cassandra Davies, best friend of his long-term buddy Phillipa ‘Pippa’ Rogers, had been one of the best moments in his life. Riley had felt an immediate and explosive attraction to the older woman. Four years may not have been a huge age difference, but for the eighteen-year-old Riley the twenty-two-year-old had been way out of his league. Owing to some unexplained phenomenon, Cassie had shown an interest in him—surrounded by her pick of muscled, famous footy players, Cassie had chosen him.

  For the next eleven months they had been inseparable, Cassie and him. They had hung out with Pippa and Mitchell ‘Rook’ Harris or with the rest of the Jets rugby league team after a game. Often, they had just spent time alone, watching television snuggled under a blanket on the sofa in Cassie’s house or making love. The sex between them had been both emotionally and physically satisfying, off the charts fantastic, but Riley had worried that his experience in that department might have been lacking.

  He had tried hard to be everything Cassie had needed in a man, not that it had been a chore—no, making love to Cassie, hearing her scream his name in the throes of passion as he had made her body climax, had been one of the most satisfying times in Riley’s life. He had read every sex book he’d been able to get his hands on. It had been the most enjoyable study regime he had ever undertaken. Some of the sexual positions and description he’d read about had left him shaking his head, sure that he would never be able to manage them. But he had tried—the rewards worth every effort.

  Riley had adored Cassie’s body, the shape of her breasts that filled his hand to perfection, her lithe sporty figure and toned legs. The way her hips flared out and fitted beneath his own, as if she had been made for him, and the taste of her arousal on his lips, the sweetest nectar in the world. He had always made sure that he’d pleasured her first, using every new technique he had been able to learn, before he took his own.

  Riley had believed it was love, that emotion that drove him to distraction with need to be at her side every minute of the day. Counting down the minutes until they were both through with their daily responsibilities and able to cling to each other again. It was close to obsession what Riley had felt for Cassie, but he had never voiced those emotions to her—afraid that she would rebuff his declaration for that of a foolish eighteen-year-old. Cassie had never spoken of her plans for the future in regards to their relationship, or what she might want for them going forward, so Riley had just taken it day by day. Until that stupid life-changing moment.

  Thinking about that night always brought with it a dose of pain for Riley, as well as anger and frustration, but mostly it reminded him of what he could never have. It was not right to want to own someone, possess them so that no other would even look their way, let alone dare to touch them. That was what Riley had felt that night—he had wanted to hide Cassie away from the world, drag her to some isolated place where she would only have him for company, to love and need.

  And he had wanted to seriously hurt Mike.

  People shouldn’t think that way, and Riley knew he shouldn’t think that way.

  But he had been unable to stop the possessive demon that had taken control of his mind that night and encouraged that desire to do harm to one of his friends.

  Shaking from the anger that had consumed him, he had walked the few miles back to Caitlin and Brodie’s home—his home. But it had not helped ease his rage. The images of what Cassie had done burned into his soul, ripping him apart. The overwhelming need to smash Mike to pieces had torn at him. How could she have done that to him? Had he meant so little to her that she had been able to hunger for another so quickly? It had all been too much for Riley to handle. He’d taken a bottle of bourbon from Brodie’s liquor cabinet and had drained the bottle dry before falling into a drunken stupor.

  The next day, when he’d finally awoken, head pounding from the amount of alcohol he’d consumed, Riley had made the decision that he could not see Cassie again. The anger she had brought out in him was too dangerous, he had been too young to handle all the rage he’d felt. The possessive streak that had arisen in him had been unhealthy, not a normal reaction and one left well alone, he had decided.

  Riley had seen first-hand what an unhealthy obsession could become. How Mandy’s ex had not been willing to let her go—had gone to violent ends to stop her from moving on with her life.

  The smell of turpentine always reminded Riley of the day when Mandy had been assaulted. He’d been so young and so frightened when she had gone off alone to face the intruder in her apartment. Riley had been beside himself, not knowing what he should do. Luckily Jon Thomson Senior had been just next door, the ex-policeman who had raced up the stairs to Mandy’s aid. But the sight of Mandy lying there with her arm at such an ugly angle, the red smeared on the floor all around her, coupled with the overpowering scent of the mineral paint wash had scared the shit out of him.

  For a moment Riley had thought Mandy was dead, like his mother and father, but then she’d moaned and the sense of relief he had felt at that moment had been enough to make him sink to his knees.

  Most of the red-coloured fluid had turned out to be paint from Mandy’s art supplies, mixed and thinned by the turpentine that had spilled when Mandy had used the bottle against her attacker, but the sight had left a nightmarish image in young Riley’s mind. Still caused him many a sleepless night when a dream he had suddenly turned bad, rivers of red trying to drown him as Mandy’s screams grew louder and louder. Sometimes images of his mother and father drifted into these moments as they reached out for him, their hands never quite close enough for Riley to grip.

  The fear that he had been becoming no better than Mandy’s ex-boyfriend, her stalker, her attacker, where Cassie was involved had turned Riley’s stomach. He did not want to be like that insane man, but he’d been afraid he was already headed down that path.

  Staying away from Cassie had been easier said than done, though, when the woman he had been trying to distance himself from—protect—had such close links to everyone in his life. So Riley had done the only thing he had been able to. He had transferred for the second year of his university degree to another state and moved away.

  Leaving his sister and the protective embrace of his home had been hard, but leaving Cassie had left him shattered.

  And confused.

  Now, once
again another moment was altering Riley’s life.

  When Brodie had called and offered him a job at the Jets, he hadn’t been able to refuse. Not only had the Jets been such a huge part of Riley’s life for so long, bringing him comfort through those tough childhood years after the death of his parents, but it was also the chance to work side by side with the man who had been his mentor. Brodie was such an inspiration to Riley and so supportive that Riley hadn’t wanted to refuse—Brodie being proud of him had always been his dream.

  Riley had completed his three-year course in sports management even with the interruption of changing universities. He’d started the extra year to gain his business degree but was happy to put that on hold for some real hands-on experience working in the office at the professional rugby league club.

  Having to sit right there next to Cassie Davies the first night he had gone out socially with the Jets family had been a shock, that was for sure, but what Riley found more disturbing was that the feelings he had tried to bury away over the last two years were still right there inside him. He wanted Cassie with a ferocity that scared him. Keeping his hands to himself through the dinner had been a continual battle of self-control. It was as if not a moment had passed, nothing had changed. Time had not weakened his response to her at all. That same possessive urge to have her with him forever rode him—stronger than ever.

  He was very relieved that the focus of his return and new appointment had been overshadowed by the Jets social media manager Sarah’s relationship with what turned out to be Gareth Andrews’ brother-in-law. Not that Riley wished heartbreak on anyone, but he was thankful that whatever was going on with that relationship had been enough to keep the conversation at the table flowing without the need of his input. There had been no chance of making small talk when his emotions had been hurtling around like he’d been on some sort of rollercoaster.