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“Phillip.”

“Phillip.” Cassian relaxed a little, reaching over and taking my hand in his.

I was torn up. A part of me blamed myself for Lee being detained, but I was mostly angry with Noah. This was his fault. The other fires too. Cassian tried to get me to talk about it, but I didn’t want to. I just held his hand all the way until we walked into the police station.

An older man in casual dress clothes was at the front desk. He was holding a briefcase and gave Cassian a little nod in greeting. He studied me a bit longer before he was taken to the back.

Cassian touched the small of my back, going to one of the chairs and plopping down on it. “That’s his lawyer. He’ll get him out. Phillip is good people. A lot better people than Lee’s parents. At this point, good riddance to them. Me and Nimrod started to put our heads together to pitch an idea to Lee that maybe he should live with one of us. Both of us have good parents. You know, the loving kind.” He shot me a half grin, his head tipped back a bit. “That won’t be an issue anymore.”

I bristled. “Why? Because he was arrested and he’s going to go to prison for a freak fire that started when he wasn’t even in the building?”

“No.” He reached for my hand, touching my finger and curling two of his around it. He tugged me gently onto his lap.

I stiffened, unsure if this was a good idea, until he buried his head in my neck and took a good whiff of me. It seemed to settle him. His thumb began rubbing in circles on my arm and he said quietly, against my neck, “No. Because you’ll be there now.”

I was so stiff until the dam broke. His words let it loose. Everything left me. The tension. The anger. The resentment. Some of it was at my grandparents. Most of it was with my mom. Another slice was directed toward the ghosts. And yet, in the simple and matter-of-fact way Cassian said that, a wave of sadness rose up in me too.

“He wasn’t even in the house.” I picked at the helm of Lee’s sweatshirt. “I hate that this is happening to him.”

Cassian’s arms tightened around me. “Just wait. Have faith in the wonders of rich lawyers.” He relaxed back against his seat and after some urging got me to relax on him. We were getting looks, all sorts of attention, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Cassian really didn’t care except he was happy, judging by his boner sticking up against my ass. He seemed in no hurry to have me move, though. It was maybe an hour later, maybe longer. I stopped trying to keep track of the time, but it was late when Phillip came back out with his briefcase. No Lee.

He approached, lingering on us before giving us a gentle smile. “Lee will be out shortly.”

“He’s okay? They’re not charging him or anything?”

“Hard to charge him when the neighbor’s security footage shows Lee outside the house when the fire began. Since you are both here, I’m assuming I don’t need to give him a ride to his house?”

“Nah.” Cassian nudged me gently to get up. As he stood as well, he held his hand out for a bro-slap. “Thanks, Mr. Mckenna. Lee doesn’t say it, but I know it means a lot that you show up.”

Phillip gave him a resigned smile, shaking Cassian’s hand instead of doing the bro-slap he was trying. “You’re a good friend. He’s had a lot of loss in the last few years. Young lady.” He held his hand to me. “It was a brief introduction, but it was a pleasure to have met you as well. Good luck with your future endeavors. Lee explained more of the situation with your grandparents.”

My heart sank a little. “Yeah. Thanks.”

He gave us both another nod before leaving.

It wasn’t long after that before Lee was brought out. He raked both of us with a hard and impenetrable expression, his jaw clenching, before he had to stop at the front desk for something. He was pocketing his keys as he came over.

Cassian and I shared a look. I wasn’t sure what to say in this situation.

Lee’s eyes were glittering. They were so mad. He strode past us, going outside. He stopped once he was out there, glaring at the parking lot. “My car is at those assholes’ house.”

“We’ll give you a ride.”

The drive over was tense. Silent.

My heart was pounding so loud.

He blamed me.

He must’ve.

That was the reason for the silent treatment, not that I tried to talk to him. I was in the front seat and I looked back at him. Maybe I should say something? Lee was looking out the window, fury radiating off his shoulders.

Maybe he guessed what I was thinking, but Cassian touched my hand and shook his head.

When we got to my place, everyone was gone. The fire was out. The house was taped off, but Cassian pulled up next to Lee’s car. That’s when Cassian said, “Are you sure⁠—”