Addie walked over to her sisters and straightened her shoulders. “Yep, that’s right.”
Cash pointed at her. “You’ll do as you’re told, Stowaway.”
She drew herself up. “No.”
“Have you got anyone who can come watch them?” Ralen asked Butch.
The other man ground his teeth together. “No one I’d fully trust with them. Fuck! Fuck. I should be there.”
“Right, because that’s what the situation needs,” Dotty said. “Another bossy male trying to tell us what to do.”
“Seems you do need that,” Ralen shot back at her. Then he sighed. “So, we’ll take the girls with us. Where do we need to go?”
Addie was so nervous.She was trying to keep herself calm, but her stomach was a bundle of nerves. She wasn’t quite sure what they were going to do with the guy that was stuffed in the trunk of Cash’s rental car.
And she had to admit, there was a strong part of her that didn’t want to know.
However, she also wanted to show Cash that she could be a part of his life, that he didn’t have to put her up on a shelf and wrap her in bubble wrap in order to keep her safe. Because she knew that he’d get tired of doing that, and there was no way she ever wanted him to get tired of her.
They pulled up outside a storage place that was filled with old shipping containers. Ralen got out and went to talk to somebody inside the small building at the gate.
When he returned, he handed a key to Cash. “Storage unit eighteen. The guy inside said he owes Butch a favor and that he never saw us. I get the feeling he does this a lot anyway. I don’t think this is the type of place where people store Grandma’s unwanted antiques.”
Yikes. Was this a regular thing that people did? She turned to look at Dotty and then Monroe. She was sitting in the middle seat in the back. Cash had actually placed her in the seat and done up the seatbelt. That was slightly embarrassing and also made her feel completely cared for.
Plus, no one had looked twice at them.
They drove up to a shipping container at the back. Cash got out and unlocked it. Ralen turned to the three of them. “You will do exactly what we say. Anyone disobeys us and I’ll spank you myself.”
Monroe sucked in a breath. “You can’t do that.”
“Watch me.”
Cash came back out and stuck his head into the car. “There’s an internal room that looks soundproofed. The girls can wait in the front room while we take him out the back.”
Ralen nodded. “Wait in here. We’ll bring him in first.”
The three of them waited nervously in the backseat until Cash came out for them. He opened the back door and Dotty climbed out.
Then he leaned in and helped Addie get out. He led her to the door of the shipping container. They were all dressed in black and she felt a bit like Catwoman, moving around stealthily. Too bad she didn’t have Catwoman’s grace. Or fighting ability.
Too bad she didn’t have any fighting ability.
Cash stopped her outside the door. He stared down at her. Taking in a deep breath, he let it out slowly. “I don’t like having you here for this.”
“It’s safer here with you, though, than back at the house.”
“It’s not that,” he said. “It’s because I don’t really want you to see this part of me. I don’t want you to think differently of me. Or to be scared of me.”
“I’m not scared of you. And you’re only doing this to get answers for us. To make sure that we’re safe. How could that possibly upset me?”
“Well, I hope it doesn’t,” he said pensively. “I don’t want this shit rubbing off on you. It’s not what you deserve. I wanted to keep this away from you.”
“You can’t keep me safe from who you are. I’m not going to break. I’m strong. I can handle this.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “We’ll see. And just so you know, as soon as this is all over, you’re getting your butt spanked.”
She let out a big gasp. “What? Why?”
