Cash (Sexy Bastard #2) (25 page)

“He told you more than he told my
brother or the boys. Trust me, they know everything about each other.
If he trusted you with that I think—and I can’t believe
I’m going to say this today—you should hear him out. Cash
may be thick-headed, but he’s definitely not a dick.”

“Would you let Sebastian back
into your life?”

“That was below the belt,”
Cassie says. She holds her hand up, staying out of this one. “The
difference between Cash and Sebastian is that Cash is actually a good
person. He deserves to be heard.”

Going through my stuff at home, I
search high and low for the contracts for Misty Singh. I had them in
my brief case last night... Last night.

Shit. Fuck. Damn. This is not what I
signed up for. Those are sensitive documents, and as much as I want
to say I’ll just get Rob to make another copy, I can’t
leave it unattended any longer in Cash’s apartment.

I pick up my phone and dial Altitude.
My finger hovers over the red dot ready to hang up if a certain
bartender answers the phone. There will be no time to grovel, your
asshole-ness.

“Altitude, this Ryder.”

Small victory.

“Hey Ryder,
it’s Savannah. I’m calling in my favor.”

A few pointed and detailed questions
later, I learn that Cash is not at the bar and won’t be for at
least the next hour or so. I hang up the phone and grab my keys. It
will be just a quick in and out. Get the briefcase and leave as fast
as possible. Maybe I’ll stop off at the office on the way home,
grab the newest set of contracts, and lock myself away for a couple
of hours.

The whole drive to the club, I’m
making plans on how to get my life back on track. This won’t
kill me. I won’t let it. Because if I dwell on it too much, I
might just forget to get up again.

Ryder opens the door for me and says
he’ll keep watch while I go get my stuff. Climbing the stairs
one last time, I turn the knob and open the door to Cash standing on
the other side. He’s still in the sweats he threw on this
morning. His blond hair hangs limply in his face, making his blue
eyes look even more pathetic. I am not going to fall for his big-sad
eye look. I refuse.

Can I not catch a fucking break?

Nope. Not gonna fucking do this. I turn
around and head back for the exit. Ryder is going to get an earful
and maybe an eyeful of my fist. He said it was safe, that I wouldn’t
have to worry about this excellent specimen of man flesh in front of
me.

“Savy, wait. Please”

“No.” He’ll talk his
way back into my life, just like Tanner almost did.

“My dad hurt people. A lot of
people, and he never paid for any of it. But I saw everything. I ran
from it because I couldn’t stand to watch my parents just go on
like nothing had changed.”

“If a fucking lie comes out of
your mouth, I’m gone,” I say, walking past him into the
apartment. It’s still just like it was this morning.

“Deal.”

“Not even going to try and
negotiate?” I can’t help but fall back into our own
personal joke.

“I don’t
joke about this.”

He walks into the kitchen and opens a
cupboard door, showing me a list of names written inside. “This
is a list of everyone he screwed over. I know what I’m doing
will never be enough. That woman who was here this morning—her
parents, what my father did, destroyed her family.”

I sink to the floor under the weight of
his confession. I don’t want it to make sense, but the pain in
his eyes shows the scarring on his heart. So I just let him go on,
letting his words roll over me. When the words finally stop, I just
stare at him. Cash looks so fragile, he might break if I touch him.
Balling my hands into fists, I keep them to myself. If I touch him
I’ll forgive him, and I’m not sure I can do that yet.

“Say something,” he says
when the silence becomes unbearable.

I struggle to find the words. What I
want to tell him is I don’t care and that he’s just like
Tanner. Nothing he’s doing could possibly make up for this
betrayal of trust, but that would be to lay unfair blame on him. He’s
not like Tanner. Tanner willingly cheated on his wife with me. Cash
is just trying to make up for someone else’s sins. Tanner
wouldn’t be that selfless if a catfish jumped out of the river
and bit him on the balls.

“Savy—”

“You can’t
keep this up.” Cash opens his mouth and I hold up a hand to
silence him. This is my time. “This thing you’re
doing, it’s not your peace to make.”

“If I don’t, no one will.
Besides, I can’t touch that money. It makes me sick.” He
runs his hands through his hair. We are feet apart, but it feels like
miles. Each of us lost in our own worlds of despair. I get up and
move to sit by him, letting his warmth soothe the aches in my heart.

“Hey, look at me.” I take
his head in my hands. “This is not your responsibility.”

“I can’t let them go on
like this.”

I purse my lips. Cash can’t
continue to do this. It will kill him, and he will never be able to
save all of the people his father hurt.

“Do you remember that night when
you told me I was punishing myself for Tanner by dating horrible
guys?”

“You here to tell me about some
unfortunate date of yours? Just to rub it in.”

“You’re doing the same
thing. There are a million ways you could have handled this. If you
really wanted to repay people and move on, the trust could have done
this for you. Any third party could set up a payment plan. But you
continue to receive the checks yourself and then dole out the payment
to punish yourself. This isn’t your battle to fight.”

“Someone has to take the blame.”

“Yes, but guess what, that person
can’t be you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“My father won’t do
anything.”

“Have you tried talking to him?
Explain it just like this. Force him to see the problems he’s
created for his son.”

“My dad
doesn’t care, he’s lived like this for years. It’s
all too important to him. The yachts, the houses, the vacations…he’ll
never give it up.”

“So make him see. But either way,
you can’t keep paying for his sins. The sins of the father and
all that.”

“You got really philosophical
there,” he says, the cockiness dropping back into his voice.
Finally, we’re on the right path.

I get up from the floor and rummage in
his cabinets for the vodka I saw earlier. I find it tucked above the
fridge and snag two glasses out of the sink. Coming back to him, I
sit cross-legged in front of him and pour two generous shots.

“To the future you deserve.”
I hold up a glass to him.

“This is, like, two and half
shots.”

“Good thing I have a day job.”

“Don’t leave it, because
you will never get behind my bar.”

“No nepotism for your
girlfriend?” I hold my breath hoping that he’ll accept it
without worry.

“None.”

“Well, maybe I can get under your
bar,” I say, tipping my glass back. “You deserve a
future, Cash, and you can’t have that until you talk to your
father about this.”

“Would you come with me?”

The question nearly knocks me back as
much as the shot. I’m ready to say no, until I remember
something Cassie said earlier at the spa.
Sometimes
you have to go out on a limb for the good ones.

I’d been mistaken when I thought
Tanner was the one, but with Cash, I’m willing to walk ten
miles in four-inch heels and still come out kicking.

“Of course,” I say taking
his hand. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday or even the
day before, because today in this moment we’re going to be
stronger and make it through whatever life throws our way.

He pulls me to my feet, and we fit
together. This can be it. That improbable ‘it’ that
people always reference when they talk about love. I don’t
think it can get better, and then he kisses me.

With Cash, I’m learning never be
sure of the ground you stand on. Just know he’s there to catch
you when you fall.

Cash

Taking Savannah home is a bad mixed
cocktail waiting to happen, but she’s right. I need to give my
father one last chance. The drive is easy at first. I’ve never
let someone this far into my life. Savannah looks at me, a smile
playing along her lips. She fits into this world better than I do.
With her flowy dress and designer bag, she looks like the sort of
girl my mother might throw at me. Her blond curls are held at bay by
a ribbon—my mother will fucking love her. Well, at least a
third of my family will.

She rests her hand on mine where I
clutch the gear shift for dear life. It’s a silent reminder
that she’s willing to trust me on this.

No one knows we’re coming, not
even Tasha, and I expect she’ll be pissed that I didn’t
include her in the grand plan. But hell, I didn’t even want
this. It was Savannah’s idea. If we were going to move forward,
I had to deal with my past. No more running, she said, and I don’t
plan on running from anything ever again. I worked through it last
night, and then this morning we got in the car. I’m following
the familiar path that leads to 2323 Bluebird Lane.

I pull up the drive and turn off the
car. We just sit there for a few moments, looking up at the house I
grew up in. Savannah’s the first to open her door and she looks
back at me. She looks perfect in her polka-dot sun dress and heels.
Her curls corkscrew all over the place. This could ruin her.

Ruin us.

I’ve almost accomplished that by
keeping this from her, I remind myself with a twinge. Letting her
judge for herself seems like the only fair way to let her decide.

Savannah reaches back into the car.
Looking me dead in the eye, she says, “Cash get out of the car
or you’re not having sex for a month.”

Laughter bursts out of me before I even
fully comprehend what she’s said.

“You think I’m lying?”
It’s her serious face, the one where she’s definitely
been thinking about this too much. I get out of the car. She waits
for me on the other side of the car. Silly move, Savy. Trapping her
between the car and my body, I lean in and steal a kiss. It burns
through me. She’s soft, with a backbone of steel—not the
sort to be won over by a simple kiss.

I pull back and look her in the eye.
She’s short of breath, but there’s no hesitation in her.
I’m losing my touch.

“Come on,” Savannah says,
lacing her fingers through mine. The door looms big and brassy in
front of us. This is it my
quaint
childhood home.

Just ring the bell.

Savannah squeezes my hand, and I do it.

The startled maid walks us through the
house. My mother’s in the garden. I keep my head down, not
wanting to see Savannah’s reaction to this place. The gardens
spread out across the lawn, and my mother is bent over a bed, doing
the closest thing to work that she ever does.

“Just put lunch on the terrace,
Suzette,” she says casually, not even looking up from her
flowers.

“Afraid I don’t have lunch,
Mom.”

Her back goes beanpole stiff. She turns
to face me, and I think she about has a heart attack of her own when
she sees Savannah. Her hand flies first to her hair, and then she
remembers she’s wearing gardening gloves.

“Mrs. Gardner,
it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Savannah says. She
doesn’t seem fazed by whatever my mother has to throw at her.
Hopefully, Mom keeps her want of grandkids to herself. I don’t
need anything else scaring off Savannah.

“I wish I could say—I’m
sorry…Cassius…”

Savannah raises an eyebrow. So I didn’t
tell her everything about my upbringing. Someday, I’ll get
around to legally changing my name.

“Mother, this is my girlfriend,
Savannah Sunday.” Saying the word is a big step. There were
lots of conversations after I confessed my past, and one of them was
the ‘what are we’ one. I haven’t had that
conversation since I walked out on my parents. Having it with
Savannah, however, just felt right.

“I see.” Mom runs a
critical eye over Savy, taking in every detail from her designer bag
to her heels. If Mom doesn’t approve, it’s going to be
hard to get Savannah out the door with her claws coming out.

“I’ve heard much about you
from Cash. I’m so glad we finally get to meet.” Savannah
sashays forward, completely at ease in the surrounding. She gives my
startled mother a hug, and then turns back toward me, motioning me
forward.

The faster I get this done, the faster
we can leave.

“I’m afraid my son has put
me at a disadvantage here. Would you like some tea?” Mother
motions toward the terrace, where her lunch has already materialized.
Crossing the small space, I meet up with them. Mother looks me up and
down--there is hope for your grandbabies yet. If not, I’m happy
to practice. I hear lots of practice makes perfect, and if there’s
one thing Savannah deserves it’s perfection.

“That’d be lovely,”
Savannah says, pulling me after my mother, who moves at warp speed.
Probably too afraid that she’ll blink and it will all be a
dream. She holds onto Savannah like the last rays of the sun,
refusing to give into the night.

“Cassius, would you go talk to
your father?” Mother calls over her shoulder, before turning
her full attention back to Savannah. “Savannah and I here need
a little girl time.” She threads her arm through Savannah’s
and pulls her the rest of the way to the terrace.

My stomach tightens. This is the moment
I was worried about. Savannah gives me a small wave and calls over
her shoulder, “Go get ‘em,
Cassius
.”

“Savannah, how do you take your
tea?” Mom asks, with a determined look at me. That would be my
cue to leave. I’m not needed here.

“Straight up,” Savannah
says, giving me a wink. “And maybe with a twist…of
lemon.” If my mother isn’t eating out of Savannah’s
palm by the time we leave, there is no love in the world.