AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I do, my breathing evening out as Cash's blue eyes glow with an emotion I'm not sure I'll ever return again.
"Cash," Fanny interrupts our weird moment.
His eyes slide to his mother. "What?"
"You didn't tell me you invited Ingrid."
"I told you I had a plus one."
"I assumed," she gives me a forced smile, "you meant someone else."
His arms slip around my waist. "We're working things out."
"Wonderful," she says before walking toward the dining room. "You two coming?"
Cash licks his lips. "Uh, we'll be there in a minute."
It's go time. That was a sign to let me know Cash is ready to steal proof that Fanny Allred is an embezzling blackmailer.
He tugs me in the direction of the stairs as Fanny stomps an agitated heel against the marble flooring.
Cash leads the way, one step ahead of me. It feels strange to be rushing up the stairs the same way we used to when we were younger. Except stripping our clothes off and falling into his bed with our limbs tangled isn't what we're about to do. It's just a cover. One Cash brilliantly came up with.
"Guard the door," Cash warns as we sneak into his father's office. The one Fanny uses because Archibald prefers his spacious setup over at Clementine's.
I peek out the sliver in the doorframe as Cash sits down at the computer. I hear him typing away as my heart pounds restlessly against my ribcage, the darkness eerie and excruciating.
"I found it!" Cash whisper-yells across the room to me.
A wave of relief washes over me as I glance over my shoulder. The glow from the computer screen lights up Cash's determined face.
"Just gotta save it all to a flash drive and we can get out of here," he continues.
But I hear footsteps and my heart freezes in my chest. I can't make out who is walking down the dark hallway, so I hurry over to Cash. Someone's coming I mouth at him as his eyes widen.
In a split second, he turns off the monitor and pushes me up against the desk, his fingers tangling with my hair.
"Sell it, Ingrid," he says in my ear before his lips crash against mine and I instinctively snake my arms around his neck.
Cash's heart pounds against my chest as we kiss, and his hand inches up my thigh. Not far enough to be considered inappropriate but sordid enough to sell our fake cover.
I ignore my heart as it screams at me, telling me to stop this madness. I can't stop. I can't stop kissing Cash if it means freedom. Freedom for all of us.
If Archibald or Fanny finds us up here stealing information, the truth will never see the light of day.
So, I keep kissing Cash until the door creaks open and someone flicks on the light. As my eyes adjust to the brightness, the one person I never expected to see at the Allred Mansion stares back at me.
Wilder.
Chapter 33
The Compromised Cover
I can't tell if he's hiding how he feels or if he's not all that surprised to see Cash and I entangled on the office desk. Wilder has always been hard to read. Even harder now that he's standing in front of us, his face stoic and bored.
"Hey," Cash lets go of me. "What are you doing here?"
I wipe Cash's slobber off my mouth as my face turns red. I'm embarrassed and frustrated. Why is Wilder here? Why did he have to be the one to walk in on us? Out of all the people in the world, why did the one boy I'm in love with have to catch me in a compromising position with my ex-boyfriend and his former best friend?
