The mere scraps of information I had was what Cash had offered. That he’d met them when he left West Virginia for LA. When he’d been changed somehow, hardened into this man that I now knew.
A man who claimed he had committed horrible acts without giving me any details as to why. No true view into who he was.
I imagined those he called his brothers to be every bit as menacing as him.
“You don’t need to be nervous,” Cash grumbled from the side. “These are the kindest, most welcoming people you’ll ever meet. They accept you for the good things that you are and nothing else.”
Cash stared over at me as he said it. As if he were wondering why that had been extended to him. The man believing he had no good thing left and no beautiful thing to bestow.
Even with all that brutality and savagery he wore like a brand, when I looked at him, that was all that I saw.
Goodness.
Beauty.
“You can’t expect me not to be.” I tried to force lightness into my voice. “I have to compete with all of them for the title of your best friend.”
Cash smiled. Smiled a smile I hadn’t seen in so long.
One that was playful and sweet.
Those hazel eyes glinted and danced beneath the light.
Only his voice darkened into something that could only be considered greed as he leaned over the console toward me. “You think anyone could compare to you, Little Wallflower?”
The air wheezed from my lungs, and he stayed there for a beat before he tossed open the door and climbed from his seat. “Come on, we’d better get inside.”
Cash swung open the rear door. Colin had already unbuckled and scrambled out. Addy was right behind him.
I blew out a strained breath, trying to prepare myself for whatever was ahead of me, before I forced myself to get out and go to Eva’s door.
She reached for me with her arms outstretched but her shoulders still pinned to the seat. “I get to gopway, Mommy! Hurry!”
Softness washed through my spirit, and I quickly worked through her buckles and pulled my baby into my arms.
Then confusion was slamming me all over again when Cash suddenly rounded the back of the SUV and stepped up to my side.
His presence swarmed.
His big body a fortress.
A shield.
A sanctuary.
He set a gentle hand on the small of my back.
Chills raced up my spine.
What was he doing?
I could almost feel him trembling. His own nerves vibrating through his body. “Don’t normally come here like this, Daisy.”
Uncertainty pinched my brow. “I thought you said they get together every Sunday?”
“They do, but I don’t normally attend. I keep my distance the best I can.”
It hit me then.
