Just One Night Together (Flatiron Five Fitness #3) - Deborah Cooke Page 0,56

your surfing?” Cassie asked as Damon entered the conference room.

“Northern California is why God made wetsuits, Cassie.”

“He’s just frisky because he went surfing today,” Theo said, also on the speakerphone. “Kyle here thinks he’s becoming a Navy SEAL.”

Damon snorted. “I don’t think so,” he muttered under his breath, but the guys in California obviously didn’t hear him. He pulled out a pad of paper and tapped his pen on it. “Are we having a meeting or what?”

What was his deal? Cassie knew that Damon’s expression was more inscrutable than usual and it wasn’t like him to be grumpy. When did she last see him crack a smile? It had been too long. Was he that annoyed that Ty had made him work the previous Friday night? He’d certainly been in a mood since the weekend. Cassie had been relieved to have a Friday night to herself but was torn between feeling that Damon should have taken his turn sooner and her sense that something was wrong.

“Hey, has that tattoo done its magic yet?” Kyle demanded.

“Not so much as a nibble,” Cassie had to admit.

“Early days yet,” Kyle said, his tone encouraging. “It’ll happen.”

Cassie wasn’t so sure.

Ty came striding into the meeting, looking as delicious as ever. Cassie did love a man in a suit. She’d been crazy for this one for a long, long time, but Ty was off-limits now. Was that the problem? She’d already found the love of her life but he’d married someone else?

“Sorry to be late,” Ty said, taking his place and opening his briefcase. “Do we have an agenda?”

“Not officially,” Cassie said and he smiled at her. Her stupid heart went thump but she kept her expression bland.

“No problem. I’d like to talk about adding to the team,” Ty said. “We’re really stretched thin and Cassie’s done too many night shifts. I’m going to suggest that we hire one or maybe two people to manage the dance club.”

“You’re delegating my baby!” Kyle complained.

“Only after you abandoned it,” Cassie countered.

“And of course, Damon isn’t going to give up his Friday nights with Natasha,” Kyle said.

Damon frowned but didn’t reply.

“He did last Friday,” Cassie contributed.

“Only with encouragement,” Ty added.

“And what did Natasha think of that?” Kyle asked brightly. “Has she pined away from neglect after surviving one Friday night without your loving touch?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Damon growled, biting off each word.

Cassie exchanged a glance with Ty. That was the closest she’d ever heard Damon come to losing his temper.

“Excuse me?” Kyle said. “Are you getting hostile with me, bro?”

“I’m telling you to mind your own business,” Damon snapped. He stood up and marched out of the room. “Decide whatever you want,” he said from the doorway. “I’m gone.”

“Whoa!” Ty said, lifting his hands.

“What was that?” Kyle and Theo demanded in unison.

“The sound of you pushing your luck a little too far,” Ty said and started to stand up.

“Me?” Kyle protested. “I was just razzing him a bit...”

“Let me,” Cassie said, touching Ty’s shoulder so he stayed put while she went after Damon.

“Good idea,” Ty murmured with a nod. “He wouldn’t talk to me.”

So, she wasn’t alone in thinking that there was something wrong. Cassie wasn’t going to make any conclusions about her and Ty thinking the same way. He was married.

She found Damon at his locker, jamming things into his messenger bag—all of his things, as if he had no intention of coming back.

“See you tomorrow?” she asked, leaning in the doorway to block it.

“No.”

“You want to tell me about it?”

“No.”

“You don’t think that after ten years of partnership, we maybe deserve an explanation?”

Damon bowed his head for a moment. Cassie could almost feel the war within him and she wondered what it was about.

Then he closed his locker with his usual care and turned to face her, his features composed again. His eyes, though, his eyes were haunted. “Natasha is not my girlfriend. She’s my mother and she was diagnosed with cancer. I spent every Friday night with her.”

“Oh, Damon, I’m so sorry. You should have told us...”

He lifted a hand to silence her. “It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s dead.”

Cassie was so shocked that it took her a few moments to find the words. How could he have been going through this without telling them? Without even mentioning it? She didn’t think the others knew either. She cringed inside as she recalled Kyle teasing him. “What can we do to help?”

“Nothing. It’s over.” Damon took a deep breath and she watched him stand a little