“I have to go. Please.” She grabbed her wrap and bag and ran out the door.

Shane looked at his brothers and tossed down money for the drinks and moved to follow her but Maggie, Liv and Penny stood up.

“Shane, let us. I don’t know if a man is what she can deal with right now. I promise you, we’re going to her house right now. She’s just a few blocks away. I’ll call you and let you know she got home all right. Let us help her.” Maggie begged him with her eyes and Kyle looked worriedly between them.

“She’s right, Shane. Let them go so she won’t be alone very long.” Kyle squeezed his brother’s arm.

He sighed. “Fine. But call me. Promise. Tell her I’ll see her soon. I’m not walking away from her.”

Maggie tip-toed up and kissed his cheek quickly. “I promise.” She gave Kyle a brief kiss and the three women rushed out to follow Cassie.

Cassie had finished throwing up when the knocking on the door started. Shakily, she rinsed her mouth out and wobbled back into the living room.

She tried to ignore the knocking, it wasn’t pounding but it was insistent. “Cassie, it’s us. Please, let us in. We’re worried about you.”

Penny. She’d expected Shane and she so wasn’t ready to deal with him.

“I’m all right. I swear. I’ll see you all later.” Cassie leaned her head against the door she spoke through.

“No way. We aren’t leaving until we’ve seen for ourselves,” Maggie called out.

Sighing, Cassie opened the door, ready to shut it after they saw her in the flesh but they pushed their way into the room.

“Now, do you have any tequila? Because I think this calls for some margaritas.” Penny went into the kitchen and began to look around.

“I’m fine. You see? Now you can go. I’m not up for company right now. I don’t feel well.” Cassie followed them into the kitchen where they had her blender out and were assembling ice, tequila, limes and salt.

“You even have mix.”

“I don’t want to have drinks. I want to go to bed.”

“Too bad. You’re going to talk to us and if some margaritas make that easier, great. If not, we’re still drinking them and you can tell us all about whatever the hell has you so spooked.” Penny began to assemble everything in the blender.

“Oh, Penny said hell, I’m telling,” Liv teased.

Smiling and shaking her head, Maggie pulled out her cell phone. “I’m going to call Shane to let him know you’re all right. He’s worried about you. He didn’t come here himself because we were concerned about how you’d react to a man right now.”

“I…”

Maggie held a hand up to silence Cassie while she made the call and Cassie sighed heavily and went to sit on the couch. Liv laughed and plopped down next to her.

“We’re your friends, sugar. You need this. You may not even know how much but you do. Friends will sit your ass down and give you the ‘Come To Jesus’ talk when you need it most. And girl, you need it.”

Penny brought a tray with the pitcher of margaritas and glasses and even a bowl of snacks.

“You’re a pretty good hostess with my stuff.” Cassie snorted.

Penny laughed. “Why thank you, I do try. Now stop being so damned difficult. Drink up and tell us what the hell brought you here today. And see, you made me curse. Three times in twenty minutes and Liv is going to call my mother and tell on me. So you’d better make this worth it.”

Cassie blinked a few times and couldn’t help but smile. Penny didn’t swear much and it was sort of funny and hell, why not? Why not just let part of it go?

Maggie and Penny moved the small coffee table out of the way and they all moved to the floor on pillows.

“I don’t suppose I could just say I had a bad ex-husband and it makes me wary of all men, can I?”

Penny arched a brow at her and Cassie sighed.

“Okay, the truth is that I did…do have a bad ex-husband. Really bad. He didn’t start out that way. I met him when I was nearly done with school. He was so sweet. Funny. Concerned about my well being. He went out of his way to be sure I slept enough and ate well.” She didn’t want to talk about being a doctor, she wasn’t ready to reveal that much just yet.

“At first, I thought it was wonderful. He brought me roses and took me to lovely places. He bought me clothes. Lots of clothes. I didn’t think anything about it. But really, that’s where it all started. They were not the kind of thing I’d normally wear. But slowly, he made me into another person. The person he wanted to marry.”

Cassie shrugged and drank several gulps of the margarita. Of course she’d thrown up everything in her stomach so it hit pretty fast and she felt the alcohol began to work on her inhibitions.

“And we did of course. My father liked him well enough and I wanted him so that satisfied him. But my brother always disliked him. God, I should have listened to that.

“Over time, he took over every aspect of my life. Little by little. I didn’t even notice it until it was too late. He controlled everything. Where I worked, what we ate—he even hired a cook to make things the way he wanted—we lived in a house he chose. My hair color was his choice, along with my hairstyle. I lost most of my friends because he thought they were unsuitable and many of them thought he was an arrogant ass and didn’t want to be around him.”

She closed her eyes and a tremor worked through her. While she’d been able to relate this to the therapist and even in court, it was not easy to talk about. Shame burned hot on her cheeks.