That caused me to pause.My hackles rose, and I took a step back.She didn’t belong here.She was asking questions aboutme.Had my father sent her?Or worse … had Arthur?I swallowed nervously.I was an adult.I hadn’t thought they would find me here, but if so, they couldn’t force me to come back.Besides, my stepmother had to be thrilled I’d left.She wouldn’t want me to return.I would quit and find another job.
“Why are you asking me that?”The defensive edge in my tone was sharp, but she didn’t wince.
“Because you seem out of place here.”
Iseemed out of place?Had she looked in a mirror?
A short laugh escaped me.“I was thinking the same about you.”
She smiled then, a full one, as amusement danced in her eyes.“It’s a first for me.But it seems I might have found more than bad coffee.You see, I’m in need of a sitter for my elderly aunt.She needs help around the house and someone to drive her places.”Her gaze flickered across the restaurant with disdain before coming back to me.“I don’t need to know why you’re here, but I like your honesty and willingness to help.Your concern over my coffee and desire to make it better when you didn’t have to try.It says a lot about your character.The job would pay better, and, well”—she paused—“Aunt Glenda is delightful company.You’d have to live there though.In one of the guest rooms.We don’t want her to be alone at night.”
I blinked.Processed what I had heard and tried not to stand there, gaping at her.She didn’t know me, and she was offering me a job and to live for free with her elderly aunt?
I was sleeping on a blanket on the floor in a studio apartment in a very bad part of town.It didn’t have hot water, and I’d been able to get it for two hundred fifty dollars a month versus three hundred seventy-five because of theno hot waterthing.However, once the new water heater was installed, my rent was going up to three hundred seventy-five dollars.I also only had two more days before I was to show them my proof of renters insurance, which I did not have yet.
“If you’d like to take a day to think it over or perhaps meet my aunt first …” the woman continued when I stayed silent.
“No—yes—I mean, yes, I’d like the job,” I blurted out without even hearing what the pay was.
I’d just heard about the bedroom and agreed blindly.She had said it would pay better though.But honestly, even if it didn’t, without the cost of rent and insurance to worry about, it didn’t have to pay better.I would also be safe at night and could possibly sleep.Right now, I was too on edge to rest completely.
The woman smiled then, appearing to relax somewhat.Almost as if she’d been sent to find me, but that was silly.My father wouldn’t do this.He wouldn’t care enough.And Arthur, well, he’d manipulate things until I had to return.
“Seems my flat tire has turned out not to be bad luck after all,” the woman said, then held out her hand to me.“I haven’t even introduced myself.I’m Grissele Cash.”
Cash?That name sent a surge of emotions through me.Even when used as a surname.Kash Savelle immediately rushed to the front of my thoughts triggering so many suppressed things.Memories of a time when life had been safe, when I’d felt alive, when all it had taken was one look fromhimand all was right in the world.
Wait … I knew that surname.Was she one of those Cashes?No, she wouldn’t be related.I knew from my past that one of their women would never be left to wait on someone to change her tire if she had a flat.She’d have a driver slash bodyguard.And she would never have hired me to live with her aunt without a background check.
I wiped my hand on the apron I was wearing, afraid I’d get grease on her, then took hers to shake it.“Cressida Beck,” I told her, impressed by the firm grip she had.I’d not expected that.
“It’s nice to meet you, Cressida.”
Two
Kash Savelle
Twenty-Five Years Old
It wasn’t like I was in college.Getting to go home for the holidays wasn’t a thing.My life was in Alabama.I hadn’t wanted it to be.But that wasn’t my decision.I’d made the mistake, and now I had to pay the price.I was just so fucking tired of it.
Tossing my duffel onto the bed in my childhood bedroom, I sighed.I should be happy that my dad had called and asked me if I’d like to spend the holidays here.And I was.But leaving was going to be hard after being back.
Slowly, my gaze took in the room.Everything was the same—well, almost.There were a few changes.Mostly the photos.There was only one left of the ones I’d had in here.I walked over to pick it up.Crosby Cash’s cocky grin made my chest tighten with sorrow.He had one arm thrown over my shoulders and another over my brother Forge’s.Than Carver had taken the photo.We looked like normal teenage boys; we were anything but.Death wasn’t something we feared until it was one of us that had been killed.
Since Crosby’s death, it had been harder for me to take a life.Even when they fucking deserved it.
“Thought you were coming next week.”My oldest brother’s voice interrupted my memories, and I set the frame back down before turning to look at Oz.
He was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest and his brows drawn together.Damn, he was looking more like Dad, the older he got.
“Mom wanted me home earlier once she found out I was allowed to come,” I replied.
Dad had told her on Thanksgiving because she had been down about my not being there.He had wanted to lift her spirits, but I doubted he had expected she’d demand that I come home immediately.
The corner of his lips quirked.“Her baby, back in his room.”
“Don’t be jealous that I’m the favorite,” I drawled.
