“When it comes down to it,” I murmur against her lips, “there is no me without you.”
“But what if you die?” she whispers.
“I’m not dying,” I say, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “And neither are you. We’re going to live a very long, happy life together.” I tell her as Cash’s voice echoes down the stairs.
“Wild! Ingrid! I got video!” he yells.
“And apparently Cash is going to haunt that long happy life forever,” I groan.
Ingrid chuckles as she lays her head against my chest.
“I don’t want to be the third wheel in your stupid bromance,” she mutters with a quiet laugh.
“He’s the third wheel,” I reassure her, but I know she doesn’t believe me.
“I’ll send the video right now,” Cash says, a little too loud.
Ingrid starts looking at a table of clay pottery while Cash fumbles with his phone.
“What’s going on?” I quietly ask him as his face turns bright red.
“Uh… n-nothing,” he stutters.
I know him well enough to know he’s lying.
“You send a nude to someone?” I jokingly ask him.
“No,” he groans as he looks at me. “But I think I got sent one.”
“By who?” I ask, shocked.
His eyes widen. “Britta.”
“No way,” I whisper-yell. “Did you get your first nude?”
“Shhh!” he chastises me as Ingrid shops a few feet away.
“I’m proud of you, Cash,” I tell him as I slap his back. “This is a rite of passage.”
“I just don’t think it’s… appropriate since we’ve never met in person.”
I chuckle. “Even after everything you’ve been through, you’re still stick-in-the-mud Cash Allred.”
“I resent that statement,” he snaps. “Take it back.”
“No.” I scrunch my nose as his nostrils flare.
“You better.”
“Or what, Cash?”
He shoves his phone back into his pocket. “Or I’ll kick your ass, Wild.”
I laugh. “Yeah, okay.”
Without warning, he lunges straight for me.
Somehow, I manage to dodge him.
