7. Tiger, I'm so sorry I forgot

A surge of anger rolled through me, but I managed to quash it.

Cassidy stood up, slipping two mixes into the basket she was carrying and turned to walk to the counter with me. As I glanced over at her I noticed that her crop top was showing off two obvious nipple bumps.

Now, usually, this would embarrass the hell out of her and she would want me to signal that it was happening. On any normal day I would, discreetly, and she'd either use me to block or she'd head out to the car.

But I was still pissed off, and resentful. And even though I knew it was petty, I didn't say anything.

As I approached the counter, the store clerk flicked his toothpick away behind the counter and stood up, obviously eyeing Cassidy. I set the two cases I was carrying on the counter and turned, taking the basket of bottles from my fiance.

She smiled at me, her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses but I could still see the sadness in that smile. The guilt. The grief. The self-loathing.

Fuck, I was being a child.

I fished the truck keys out of my pocket and handed them to her. "I'll take care of this," I said. "Go get the gate unlocked and the cooler ready."

""Kay," she nodded, and I could tell she wanted to go up on her tiptoes and give me a peck on the lips, but she hesitated. She wasn't sure if that would be OK, and that killed me. It fucked with my head. Made me feel like the bad guy. But I wasn't.

I turned back to the counter, and she sauntered out of the store.

"Nice piece of ass," the store clerk said, watching her go through the front windows. "Looks like you had to teach her who's boss a bit, eh?"

I drilled holes into the guy with my glare. "Hey," I said, making him look away from Cassidy and back to me. He took a step back when he saw my eyes.

"If any more than 'thank you' comes out of your mouth before I leave this store, I am inches from starting to break shit. Glass, bones, whatever. I'm thatfucking on edge. So ring up the drinks."

He looked like he wanted to say something, but I started unloading the basket, not quite slamming the bottles onto the countertop, and he swallowed and looked down, starting to do his job. He rang me through and bagged the bottles, and I paid.

"Thank you," he said, as I put the paper bag of bottles on top of the two cases of beer and hefted the entire thing.

"Get a fucking life," I grunted and backed my way out of the store.

Cassidy could see the look on my face as I crossed the parking lot to her. She was standing near the open tailgate of my truck, and she got concerned quickly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fucked in the head," I said. "He was staring at your ass, and you were poking out, and then he said some dumb shit when you left. I'm jealous and pissed and feel like an ass for not warning you about your nipples."

"Fuck, I forgot to put my bra on," Cassidy said. "Tiger, I'm so sorry I forgot. That's my fault."

She hadn't called me by her nickname for me since the conversation. I'd dressed up as Spider-Man at school for Halloween our senior year, and she'd dressed up as Mary Jane Watson. She played it up, calling me Tiger, and hadn't ever stopped.

"No, I'm the one who didn't tell you," I said. "And I almost threw a punch at that guy when he opened his idiot mouth. That's on me."

"No, that's on me too," she said. "You've never been the jealous type. Now you know, and things are different."

I swallowed and took a breath. Was I really jealous? I knew there wouldn't be any shot in hell of something happening between Cassidy and that dude. I knew that. "I think... I think I'm not jealous,"

I said. "I think I'm feeling... this is going to sound kind of fucked up, but I'm possessive? I don't feel like you're mine the way you were before, and that guy just looking at you..."

She hugged me, burying her face into my chest as she started crying again and grabbed my shirt, clinging to me.

I hugged her back, softly at first, but then harder until I was squeezing her.