#ashes 3

Cassian chuckled. “It’s hard to tell with her, still. Half the time I feel like she gets annoyed by me, the other half of the time I think she’s in love with me.”

Elain glanced at him through her side-eye. “Are you in love with her?”

Cassian didn’t say anything for a moment. “Can I tell you something? And you promise that it won’t leave this couch?”

“Of course,” she said, resting her cheek against the cushion.

“I think that even if I was in love with Nesta, I couldn’t love her the way she deserves to be loved.” His voice was quiet, but she’d heard every word.

Elain’s voice was gentle when she said, “We don’t know what you’ve been through, but we know that you’ve been through a lot. I’m not going to ask you to talk about it, but if you ever want to, I’ve been told I’m a great listener.” Cassian smiled as she continued, “You are the only person that Nesta has ever relied on, wholeheartedly. She trusts you, and for Nesta, that’s saying a lot. You’re her best friend, Cass. I don’t know if she’s in love with you, but I know that she loves you, and she loves that you love her.”

“That was a lot of love,” Cassian said, earning a jab in the ribs.

“Come for a run with me,” she said.

Cassian blinked. “Wait-what? It’s the middle of the night.”

“Yes, and the starlight is beautiful,” she smiled, patting his leg. “Come on, put a shirt on. Pants wouldn’t hurt, either.”

Cassian glanced down, suddenly realizing he was sitting in his boxers.

Ten minutes later, Elain was two strides in front of him, jogging down the sidewalk.

She was right. There was nothing like the Velaris starlight.

Even at four a.m.

“So,” Cassian said, joining her at her side. “You and Az?”

She shrugged, not making eye contact. “I think we’ll get married. I hope so, anyway.”

Cassian smiled, happy for one of his oldest friends. If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was Azriel. He’d been through hell and back before his tenth birthday.

“I’m happy for you,” he said. “Both of you.”

They ran.

They jogged down the street where Azriel’s apartment was located, into the city where bars were still alive with music, and down across the bridge of the Sidra.

Cassian loved it. He loved the cool night air, the freshness of the city of Velaris. Loved that Elain was keeping him company without asking him any questions.

By the time they’d made it back to Azriel’s apartment, the sun was breaking across the sky, turning it a canvas of lovely colors.

Azriel was sitting at the breakfast table eating a pop tart.

When Elain laughed at him, he claimed that the stove wouldn’t turn on so he couldn’t cook them breakfast. That lie quickly came to light when Elain turned on the stovetop without fault.

While they bickered, which Cassian had no doubt led to a kitchen make out session, he locked himself in the bathroom and turned on the shower.

There were few things in life he appreciated more than a nice, hot shower. He hadn’t had many in the last decade, unless he was on leave.

He stripped out of his sweatpants and hoodie and untied his hair, letting the hot water rinse the sweat off his skin.

He could get used to this, could get used to the way things were before. There was a time when he longed for hot water and a bar of soap, and now that he had it, he couldn’t believe such daily tasks were luxuries, but they were. And he’d never take them for granted again.

Which is probably why he spent nearly an hour in the shower, only getting out when the water turned lukewarm.

To find there were no towels in the basket by the tub.

Trailing water behind him, he hurried to the door and cracked it open. “Az? Elain?”

No answer.

He called their names louder to no avail.

Sighing, he took a hand towel and dried himself off, slowly, before drying off the floor and the mess he had made.

After he felt he was dry enough, he stepped into the hallway and meandered to the living room where Nesta Archeron was sitting on the couch, arching a brow.

Cassian didn’t bother hiding any part of his naked body. He simply grinned, leaning against the doorway. “I called for someone to bring me a towel. Didn’t bother to come to my aid on purpose?”

She rolled her eyes, digging through his duffle bag and tossing him some boxers, which he slipped on while she said, “You called for Azriel and Elain. Not me. They went out for breakfast.”

“And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning?”

She was still digging through his bag, only stopping when she found a nice pair of jeans and a wrinkled, button-down shirt. “Put these on.”

Cassian blinked, catching them both when she tossed them through the air. “May I ask why?”

“No,” she said, rising to her feet.

She was wearing a knee length, short-sleeved black dress and black pumps. The only color she had on was her lilac necklace and the bracelet that matched. Her hair was in a low ponytail. Business casual.

“Back to work today, I see. No more playing sick?”

“No,” she said. “And you’re going to join me, so hurry up, because we’re leaving in five minutes. We’ll ride with the windows down so you’re abnormally long man-bun hair can dry. I’ll be waiting in the car.”

With that, she opened the front door and left.

~~~

“You look like you’re going to get sick.”

Cassian felt like he was going to. He hadn’t been on a job interview since high school, and now he was being taken to one without knowing what it’s for or who he’d be meeting with.

Nesta looked smug.

She was enjoying every minute of his misery.

“They already think you’re perfectly qualified,” she said, shrugging behind the wheel.

“And why would they think that?”

“Because I told them, obviously.”

“But, I’m not qualified for anything!” he said, panic rising in his voice. “I worked at a fast food burger joint before I joined the army at eighteen, Nes. And do you know what I’ve done since then? Nothing that qualifies me to teach, or whatever the hell it is they think I can do.”

Nesta taught literature at Velaris High, their alma mater. She had done so since graduating five years prior.

She chuckled. “You’re not interviewing for a teaching position. That requires a degree, idiot. Which, although I totally sold you, I didn’t lie about you going to college. No, you’re going to be Velaris High’s new head football coach.”

Cassian blinked. “Football? I haven’t played football in ten years.”

She shrugged. “Who cares? You had college scholarships, Cass. Just because you chose to join the Army instead doesn’t mean you weren’t amazing. VHS has been looking for a head coach after the last one quit two weeks ago. They haven’t found anyone they liked, and now they’re desperate.”

“Oh, good,” he said, sarcastically. “I love being the desperate choice.”

Nesta pulled into the school’s parking lot. It was still early enough that it was mostly empty. “Well, Nazari, as you said - you are qualified for absolutely nothing. So, you can take this job and have fun with it, while making plenty to get you by for a while, or you can bust your ass off looking for a dull, entry-level job that will take you without a college degree.”

He said nothing, but his jaw locked up.

She was right.

He hated when she was right, because she typically held it over him for a long, long while.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

“Oh, I know,” she said, shaking her head as she pulled into a reserved parking space. “I was going to make you if you protested.”

She got out of the car before he could come up with a solid retort.

He followed her lead, trying his best to smooth down his wrinkled shirt. It wasn’t like Azriel owned an iron.

Nesta’s face softened as she stopped in front of the building and looked back at him. “You’re going to be fine.”

He nodded. “No, I know. It’s just...different.”

She met him where he stood on the edge of the sidewalk and took his hand. “Be yourself. Maybe without the crude humor and sadistic comments….but, you know, other than that, be yourself.”

Cassian chuckled. “Fine. But if I embarrass myself, I’m glad they know that you’re the one that recommended me. Your legacy will forever be changed.”

She rolled her eyes, repeating herself when she said, “You’re going to be fine.”

He would. Being a football coach sounded like a dream job, but he had spent ten years off and on battlefields. Coaching high school kids a game? It seemed...minuscule, in comparison. Maybe that’s what he needed, though. Something minuscule. Something that he never thought he’d be able to do, if only because there were times when he wasn’t sure if he’d even make it back home to Velaris.

Football.

He used to love football, used to live and breathe it. Nesta knew that. The boy that loved a game...that was the boy she had known. She had gotten him this chance, probably fought for it after they brushed her off for suggesting him, if Cassian knew any better. He’d do it. For himself, for her. And he may even enjoy himself.

It had been ten years since he stepped into Velaris High.

But, after not even being back home for a week, Cassian followed Nesta into the halls of their old high school, hoping for some small chance at a normal life.

~~~

Cassian felt like he was being interrogated as he watched the athletic coordinator of Velaris High jot something down on Cassian’s information sheet. He didn’t have a resume, didn’t have anything impressive to offer.

“You were in the army?”

Cassian nodded, clearing his throat. “Yeah. Ten years.”

“And you’re already retired?” Drakon asked, not unkindly. “How come? If you don’t mind my asking.”

The memory of the explosion flashed through Cassian’s mind. He tried not to show that he was thinking about his fallen brothers, the blood, the pain. “I got hurt. It’s going to take a few years for me to heal completely, if I ever heal completely, so I decided to retire when my ten years were up instead of continuing another ten years, like I planned.”

He nodded, thoughtfully. “And football? I looked you up. You were a hell of a player.”

Cassian chuckled. It had been so long since he’d thought about his football days. “So they say.”

Drakon grinned. He wasn’t much older than Cassian, maybe by only a few years. “Well, I’ve been through a lot of these interviews in the last few weeks and, although most of them had coached before, none of them played like you did. And, considering Nesta speaks so highly of you, I’d like to offer you the job.”

Cassian hesitated, caught completely off guard. “Seriously?”

Drakon laughed. “Yes. If you’d like it, of course.”

“No, yeah, of course,” Cassian said, still in shock that it had been so easy. He hadn’t expected to land a job so easily, and it was all because of Nesta. “Thank you.”

“You have practice right after school on the football field,” Drakon winked, tossing him a team roster and a whistle. “Your assistant coaches will be there to answer any questions you may have. My number is on the top of the sheet, too.”

Cassian stood up and shook Drakon’s hand, grabbing his sheet and whistle off the desk as he said, “Thank you.”

He stepped out of Drakon’s office and let out a long breath. He didn’t know what he had gotten so worked up about, didn’t know why he had been so nervous. It had been a breeze.

He looked at his watch, looking both ways down the hall, trying to remember his way around the big school building.

He’d loved high school. He was a king and those halls were his kingdom.

He walked by the gym, where students were jogging around the indoor track for P.E. Then he passed the art studio, where he remembered Feyre spending most of her time in the four years they had all spent there, which means Rhysand had become comfortable with the art room, too. He passed locker after locker, smiling at one in particular as he passed. Cassian would wait at her locker every morning before homeroom with a bagel and a coffee. It was one of the only ways to make Nesta Archeron smile.

After taking another right down an adjacent hallway, he stopped and stood in the doorway of an open classroom.

She was beautiful, passionate. He’d never seen her so happy.

He hadn’t even realized that he was smiling until he was called out.

“Ms. Archeron?” a girl raised her hand, gesturing to Cassian standing in the door.

Nesta turned and met his stare with an arched brow. “May I help you?”

He shook his head. “Just observing.”

She rolled her eyes just as the bell rang. Every student quickly gathered their belongings as Cassian moved inside so they could all leave.

“Every girl in here is staring you down,” Nesta mumbled, when he reached her behind her desk. “You’re already popular.”

Cassian grinned. “Well, they’ll be seeing a lot more of me because I’m about to have my own office right down the hall.”

Nesta smiled. “Congrats. I knew you’d get it.”

“Yeah, thanks to you,” he said. “I’ve got to make it up to you. Saturday. We’re going out.”

Nesta stopped. “We are? Just you and me?”

“Wherever you want.”

A twinkle ignited her gray-blue eyes. “Be careful. I like expensive places.”

Cassian chuckled, taking a step closer. “Good thing I’m a working man now.”

“It was my plan all along,” she said, shrugging. “To get you a job so you could take me out to expensive places.”

Cassian sighed, dramatically. “I knew it.”

A soft laugh shook her body. “Maybe I’ll come by the field after I leave here?”

“That’d be nice,” he said, quietly.

They stared at each other for a minute, before realizing a new set of students were sitting down behind the desks in front of them.

“Get out before rumors of us start regulating around this place,” Nesta said.

“I think it’s already too late for that,” he winked, and kissed her cheek. “There. Now they really have.”