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When Cash said he was going to smoke, he meant about half a pack. When I finished the dishes, leaving them in a dry pile on the counter, he was still out there, staring out at the fence, a cloud of smoke around him. I walked off toward the bedroom, making the bed. Then went to the bathroom, organizing all the supplies so they weren't strewn all over.
By the time I went back out into the main room, I heard Reign's bike rumbling up. Cash heard it too, turning to look through the door and giving me a smile.
The front door opened and in walked Reign, his hair all windblown, his eyes squinting to adjust to the dimmer inside light.
“Tell me Cash cleaned,” he said in an odd tone. One I didn't know him well enough to decipher.
“I cleaned,” I supplied, shrugging.
“Babe, you don't work for me,” he said, piercing me with his hazel eyes.
My brows drew together. “It would be okay if Cash cleaned?”
“He works for me.”
Oh.
Well that explained it.
“I was just... trying to do something nice. You're doing a lot for me. I just thought...”
“Babe,” he said, cutting me off, his tone lighter than usual. “You don't owe me anything. You want to clean, you're bored... have at it. Don't do it for me 'cause you think you need to pay me back. Okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed.
“You guys all set?” Cash asked, coming in, smoke clinging to his skin. “I got your text,” he said, nodding at Reign. “I'll take care of it.” He paused. “The boys are gonna get suspicious if they don't see you in church tomorrow though, bro.”
Reign's eyes cut to me for a second. “I know. I'll figure it out,” he said and Cash just shrugged.
Cash walked past me, winking. “See you soon, Cherry. I'll bring shoes.”
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it.
He hit his brother on the shoulder, then was gone. The rumble of a bike pulled away and Reign and I were alone.
“Car is gone,” he told me, walking into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee despite having downed the huge coffee Cash had brought him earlier. “Tree still there, but the car is gone.”
“Is that weird?”
“Township would have dealt with the tree too.”
“But it's got to be a mess out there, maybe they're just swamped.”
“No, babe. V got his car towed.”
“You can't know that.”
“I know it,” he corrected. “V wouldn't want people finding his car smashed up on the road.”
“How far from the crash site are we?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. I had been so worked up the night before, I had no idea how long we drove. If it wasn't far from the site, then what were the chances that V wouldn't...
“I see those gears turning,” Reign broke into my inner freak out. “Relax. We're about half an hour from the spot. There are plenty of houses between us and there. No one is coming here,” he said, coming up closer. “I promise you're safe here. Okay?”
I looked up into his eyes, and I mean up, he was so much taller than me. And I saw nothing but certainty there. If he was half as capable as he thought he was, then he was definitely someone I could trust. “Okay,” I said, my voice oddly quiet. My air felt stuck in my chest with him so close, with his eyes on mine, watching me, and I swear he could see right inside.
“Okay,” he repeated and his hand slowly raised, paused for a second in the air, then moved to tuck my hair behind my ear.
I think I shivered.
Okay. I definitely shivered.
And he definitely noticed.
“Good shiver or a 'get your fucking hands off of me you dirtbag' shiver?”
Surprised, I choked on a laugh.
“I'll take that as a good one,” he said, giving me a small smile that I swear melted my new pretty cherry panties. His hand went away and he look a step back, running it through his own hair. “Shit,” he mumbled to himself.
“What's the matter?” I asked, watching him.
“Nothin',” he said, going over to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. “I'm going to the basement. Stay in the house.”
With that, he disappeared.
Yeah. Something was the matter. He just wasn't going to tell me.
And I had no right to feel indignant about that.
He was keeping something from me.
But I was keeping a lot from him too.EightReignShe was keeping something from me.
It had been something that had been rolling around in my head since I got up in the morning. Her story worked in an abstract kind of way. But it wasn't right. It didn't fit perfectly. V might have been a criminal, but kidnapping and extortion seemed beneath him. He had bigger business than that. It just didn't work.
So she was lying. Or at the very least lying by omission.
Though why she would do that was completely beyond me.
Unless she didn't trust me.
Which didn't sit right.
I didn't like that.
She trusted Cash. Right off. The second he greeted her, she trusted him. Rightfully so. He was trustworthy. But so was I. And I still hadn't won her over. She was protecting her full truth from me. Which was only putting her at risk. She needed to trust me fully.
Then I went and fucking tucked her hair behind her ear.
What the fuck was that about?
I wasn't a hair-behind-ear-tucker.
Then she shivered.
Shivered.
Fuck.
I threw myself down the stairs, going over to the bag- beat up, duct tape holding the guts inside it in more than a few places. I needed to hit something. To get some of the sexual frustration out.
I'd been fucking half hard since I laid eyes on her.
Which wasn't going to get me anywhere in getting her to trust me. I needed to keep my hands off of her. And it wasn't going to be easy.
The ride hadn't helped. Usually it helped ease some of the tension. I spent a lot of time on my bike trying to clear my head. Trying to sort through club shit. Sometimes the only thing that helped was taking off on the road, being alone. Nothing but the wind and the sound of my bike.
