“And I have things I need to tell you about why I think it’s Beckett and how she’s connected to my past.”
"Holy snowballs. You have a connection with her from the past, and you didn't tell me." I don’t like the sound of Cash and Beckett being linked in any way.
"I shouldn't be telling anyone."
"She served with you?" I don't like this.
"No, but I killed her brother."
How is this man full of more surprises than me? I really have met my match.
.
Chapter Twenty-Five
CASH
Kindred sits on my desk, her brows furrowed together after I laid everything out for her. I can’t get a read on her, but I’m sure she is thinking everything through that I said.
"Babe." I run my hand up and down the side of her thigh. "Talk to me." At Kindred's core, she's all sweetness. I might not be mean and cruel like my father, but I’m also not innocent. I have killed before. I couldn't even tell you how many people. I didn't care to keep count, and often there wasn't time to. It was kill or be killed.
"I'm trying to pick which narrative I prefer." She taps her finger on her lips. "It's either she is obsessed and in love with you and wants me out of the picture—" Kindred does a slashing action with her finger across her throat.
"Don't do that." I grab her hand and take it into mine.
"Or she knows the truth, and to make you feel what she’s been feeling since her brother died, she'll take what means the most from you." I nod. "Which is obviously me." I love how she says it so confidently. If we weren’t in the middle of such a deep discussion, I’d show her just how much I appreciate it.
"Obviously." I shake my head because it's not funny and we shouldn't joke about it, but Kindred has a way of lighting up the darkest of moments. I have always been drawn to that light. She gives my hand a squeeze.
"Which one are you thinking?" Kindred asks. "Not that it really matters at the end of the day."
"As strange as it is, I think it's an infatuation with me." She thinks I tried to play hero, and in a way, I had. In my book, I killed the traitor. Not sure Beckett would see it that way if she knew the truth.
"See, this is what I'm saying. All these girls are always fawning all over you." She rolls her eyes. "Too bad for them, you're mine, and I popped your cherry last night." Kindred's cheeks flush. "See, I can be crude too." Her cheeks are getting redder by the second.
"You're not wrong, Cupcake." She pulls her shoulder in, leaning toward me like she has a secret to tell me.
"I kind of love that you're all mine."
"I more than love that I'm all yours."
"All right, cowboy, let's not get too mushy. I have a mission over at the inn."
"The one Beckett’s staying in?" Kindred hops down off my desk.
"Yep. I've got to get over there so I can listen in on all her plans." Kindred rubs her hands together. I'm not sure how to tell her I don't see Beckett in her room talking to herself about all her evil plans, but I'll go with it.
When we make it over to the inn, Hollis and Candy are already there, sitting in the parlor room that has been converted to a bar at the front of the house. “What took you so long?” Candy asks.
“I had to sneak in.” By sneak in, she means Betty left the back door cracked open for her. The inn has a handful ofbedrooms and sits on the edge of the main road in town. It’s a historical old-style mansion that has been converted into a bed and breakfast.
Kindred starts pulling shit out of her bag, setting up some kind of station on the bar with an iPad and headphones. I swear that purse of hers carries everything, which is confirmed when she pulls out a pink sparkly reindeer, setting it down on the bar too.
“What?” she asks me when she sees me staring at it.
“I didn’t say anything.” I brush her hair off her shoulder and help her out of her coat.
“Your face is saying it.”
