Redness pinked my cheeks at just how wretchedlybadI had it for Cash.
“I barely even like him,” I deadpanned, trying to keep a straight face.
“Says the girl who looked like she had a mini orgasm every time she met his eye from across the room yesterday.” Emery grinned at me through the mirror.
“Those were just aftershocks.” My lips slammed shut. Did that actually come out of my mouth?
A gasp ripped out of Charleigh and Emery squealed, all while Raven sent both of them anI told you solook.
“Tell me you two actually got naked last night?” Raven demanded.
More of that redness blazed. The blush Raven was using would no longer be required with the flush that kept hitting my cheeks.
“Come on, dish it. There are no secrets between besties, remember?” Raven lifted her flute and took a sip.
“Not exactly naked.” The words were suddenly blubbering out without permission. “Okay, Cash was the first night, like really naked, but I was basically fully dressed both times.”
“Both times?” Emery shrieked like that was all the evidence she needed.
I blew out a sigh. “Don’t worry, Cash made it completely clear last night that it was a mistake and it wasn’t ever happening again.”
“What do you mean?” Worry slipped into Charleigh’s voice.
“Just…I don’t think Cash has ever been able to move on since the tragedy happened when we were teenagers.”
Uncertainty spun around me. A dark cloud.
It was an accident.
No blame given.
At least that was what the newspaper had reported.
But after what Cash implied last night…
Sympathy gushed out of Raven. “He’s always been the saddest person I know,” she whispered beneath her breath.
“Ever since you met him?”
I knew she had met him soon after he left West Virginia.
“Angry and so freaking sad. It breaks my heart a little more every time I look at him.”
Sorrow clutched my spirit. I hated it. Hated knowing that he’d lived in so much pain. Leaving me behind to deal with my own grief to wander in his alone.
Raven’s expression deepened in emphasis. “But there’s something different about him now, Daisy. A piece of him that came alive when you came to Moonlit Ridge, even though he’s terrified of it. I think he needs you just as badly as you need him.”
I didn’t want to fall into the hope, yet my wayward gaze drifted to the ring that glinted on my left ring finger.
His mother’s ring.
I couldn’t imagine the amount of pain it likely caused him, taking it out from wherever he had it stored and putting it on my finger.
“Just love him, Daisy,” Charleigh whispered. “Just love him from right where you are. I think you might be the only one who can reach him.”
I blew out a shaky sigh, and Raven touched my hand. “Well, I for one think the only thing any of us are going to be experiencing today is love. Can’t you just feel it?”
“Yeah.” Emery nodded as she added a bunch of dainty cream-colored flowers into the twist she’d put into my hair. “Something about all of this…about all of us…” She glanced around at each of them before her gaze settled on me through the mirror. “It just feels complete.”
