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Needing Cassidy Chapter 8

Writer's picture: Lacey St. SinLacey St. Sin

Happy Friday Readers! Here is chapter 8 of Needing Cassidy.



CHAPTER 8


Callaphria’s sun beat down on the compound, the heatwave they had been experiencing holding on yet another day. Sweat trickled along Cassidy’s neck and down her back as she knelt in the dry, caked soil. It wasn’t really ideal weather to be transplanting, but they had little choice.

Her mind wandered to the time she’d spent in the medical facility and the problem of the disease in the orchard. That was what kept distracting her attention, and definitely not the way Tor seemed to be warming up to her, feeding her tidbits of praise like tiny treats for a starving dog. God help her but she wanted to impress him. Maybe that was why she had spent two extra hours cleaning and sterilizing everything in sight before returning to the dorm the day before.

A row over Becky stumbled a little, pulling Cassidy out of her thoughts. She looked at the woman. The brunette bob had grown out long enough to be placed, mostly, into a ponytail, though chunks still came loose to fall against her face and neck. Becky wasn’t looking too good, and not just because she was a hot sweaty mess like everyone else in the field.

“You okay Becky?” Cassidy called when the woman collapsed to her knees in her plot with a little too much force. “Maybe we should break.”

It would mean yet another day of planting, but Becky’s green pallor was becoming quite alarming.

The woman in question shook her head and wiped at her face with her forearm.

“I’m fine, I won’t push it much longer, but we’re so close.”

Yeah, they were close, but it wasn’t worth anyone’s health.

“Heat stroke is serious Becks,” Cassidy dusted off her hands and stood. She moved to.

Becky’s plot and frowned. The woman looked even worse close up.

“Come on, let’s head in.”

Becky stared at the ground for a long moment before sighing. “Okay, I’ll head in now. But there’s no reason everyone has to quit if they’re feeling alright. Would you finish this tray for me?” she gestured to the wooden slab that contained small bowls with tiny blue-leafed plants waiting to be moved into the soil.

“Of course,” Cassidy agreed, holding out a hand and helping Becky up. Becky bent down to gather the tray, and had nearly straightened again when her hand twitched and the board twisted and then toppled to the ground, spilling soil and delicate seedlings everywhere.

“Shit,” she cursed curling her fingers into a fist and opening them several times.

Cassidy eyed the hand with suspicion.

“I think maybe we should go and visit Tor.”

“No!” Becky’s gaze flew to Cassidy’s, her adamant, raised voice drew the attention of the other nearby women and a few of the Livarian guards who were busy helping them.

“No,” she said more quietly, noting their audience. “I’m just dehydrated probably. I’ll go and get something to drink and lay down for a bit.”

“Becks…”

Becky held up a pale hand, breaking eye contact. “Listen, I promise I will go if it’s serious, but I’m not spending any more time than I have to with that man.”

Cassidy frowned again. “What do you have against him anyway?”

“Besides the fact that he doesn’t believe anyone could know as much as he does? Or the way everything he says is a veiled insult?”

Cassidy scratched at her scalp. “Uh...yeah, besides that.”

Becky shook her head. “I don’t know how you can stand to be around him so much. Every time he talks to me I end up wanting to punch something. Mostly his face.”

“He’s really not that bad.”

Becky gave her a disbelieving look.

“Okay, he’s got flaws, but he’s actually been pretty patient while teaching me.”

The disbelieving look turned to speculation. “And it doesn’t hurt that he’s nice to look at?”

“I thought you didn’t like him?”

“I like him fine, until he opens his mouth, and then…” she made crazy fingers. “I’m gonna go grab some water. See you later, Cass.”

“Yeah, see you,” Cassidy watched Becky walk away before kneeling to salvage what she could of the dropped seedlings. The woman was right. Tor was pretty attractive, and he seemed to have a thing for Becky, if his focus on her was anything to go by. Maybe he just needed a little guidance to get on her softer side.

Her plan was cemented later that afternoon. The wind had picked up, stirring little dust devils through the crops and along the paths, promising a storm to come.

Cassidy picked her way along the trail toward the medical building with an armload of supplies, a disgruntled Livarian several feet behind. She’d arranged each of the supply closets and storage rooms meticulously and took the liberty of putting in the order for any supplies that seemed low. Her first batch had come in that morning, courtesy of the scavenging team and she was almost excited to arrange them. Gran-gran had always said that the pleasure of a job well done was its own reward.

The side door of the building was left open, as Tor assured her it would be during any daylight hours if she needed to slip in to check on her samples, or tend to the duties she had promised. She slipped inside, gesturing for her guard to come out of the wind as well.

“I’ll wait out here,” he told her, on that side. He pointed to the front of the building where the wind would be blocked.

Cassidy shrugged, his choice she guessed. It wasn’t really cold, in fact the wind was rather nice after the searing heat of the day, but she suspected his reluctance had more to do with the medic than it did anything else.

Speaking of which, she hadn’t seen Tor at all that day, he’d missed both breakfast and the afternoon meal. She moved to the first of the storage rooms, struggling to press the panel for the door with her loaded arms. She managed, though, eventually and placed the swabs and wraps and several containers of some sort of sterile solution in their appropriate places before stepping back into the hallway and closing it.

She could have left then, there really was nothing keeping her there, in the medical building. Nothing but curiosity. She worked her way down the long hall toward the front room where the main entrance lay, and had almost made it through the archway when she spotted him.

He sat alone, on one of the chairs next to the window, methodically cutting and forking precise bits of food into his mouth. His dark hair was a little mussed, his green eyes vague and thoughtful.

Feeling a little perverse she watched for a moment longer, his long graceful fingers drawing her attention. He set his fork down and wiped them clean, a single fang poking out from beneath his top lip.

One would never call the Livarian medic lonely, but, to Cassidy after dining with the entirety of the female population and almost a hundred Livarians in the hall, he seemed very...alone.

She found herself unable to break his solitude. She slipped noiselessly back the way she had come, heading back to the dorm for the night, but even as she lay in her bed, waiting for sleep to come, her thoughts kept trailing back to the man sitting in the entrance of the medical building.


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