Grave Insight (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 2) by Lily Harper Hart

driveway, the small ranch was dark.
    Nick considered his options: He could wait here until she returned, or he could leave and gather his strength to fight another day. He opted to wait. He was sick of playing games.
    Cassidy didn’t have a lot of options. She had friends in town, but she was still an outsider. Blackstone Bay was an insulated community. People were friendly to newcomers, but you didn’t really belong unless you were born here.
    Where would she go? For all Nick knew, she was already home and hiding in the dark. That was a disheartening thought. Would she really go that far? Nick wanted to end things, and he wanted to end them now.
    He was emotionally overwrought, and it wasn’t just because Cassidy was about to get her heart broken. He was tired of putting his own happiness on the backburner. When Maddie had first returned to town, he’d realized immediately he was still in love with her. The mere sight of her heart-shaped face had nearly undid him. They had things to work out, though, and when Maddie finally admitted the big secret to him, he’d been relieved. He could deal with psychic visions and ghosts. He could not deal with losing her. Not again.
    At first he’d held off on breaking up with Cassidy because he knew the town harpies would blame Maddie. He was hoping, with a little time, the onus of his decision would shift from her slight shoulders and land where it belonged – on him. The longer he waited, though, the harder things got.
    He’d already been disassociating himself from Cassidy when Maddie returned to town. Cassidy may have convinced herself otherwise, but it was the truth. He’d been laying the groundwork for the big goodbye when Maddie’s timid hello had practically knocked him on his ass. At first, he kept Cassidy in play because he didn’t want an open door to Maddie. Now, all he wanted was to close the door and lock himself in a room with Maddie.
    He was ready to claim the woman he loved. He just had to crush another woman to do it. It wasn’t lost on Nick that he was treating Cassidy abysmally. He felt shame for it. He also felt anger that she purposely kept trying to wedge herself between him and the one thing in this world he’d always loved without reserve, or question. That anger was quickly turning into resentment. Part of Nick blamed Cassidy because he wasn’t back in Maddie’s room with her right now.
    In his head, he knew Cassidy wasn’t to blame for any of this. In his heart, he knew he needed Maddie. That’s all he needed. Everything else would come in time. He needed to tell Maddie how he felt and listen when she told him how she felt. He could be getting ahead of himself, he internally cautioned his excited heart. There was every possibility that Maddie didn’t feel the same way about him.
    He didn’t believe that, though. Some things are destiny, and Maddie Graves was Nick’s destiny. He had always believed that, and he still did.
    After two hours had passed, Nick fired up the engine of his truck and pulled out of Cassidy’s driveway. As long as he was sitting there, Cassidy wasn’t going to come home. He didn’t know how he knew that. He just did.
    Tomorrow was a new day. He would figure out what to do then. Had Nick been paying closer attention when his headlights flashed on the front of Cassidy’s house, he would have noticed a shaking figure as it stood in front of the glass and peered outside. He didn’t, though, and Cassidy had earned another reprieve.
    For now.
     
    MADDIE’S dreams were sweaty that night, just not in the way Nick had insinuated earlier in the evening. After an hour of letting the air conditioner work its magic, and a stern lecture to Maude about butting into other people’s business, Maddie passed out in a puddle of sheer exhaustion.
    Being around Nick was draining. Wanting to touch him, and constantly fighting those urges, made her mind as tired as her body. She was ready for Nick to be free, even if it meant they