Page 14 of Cash

Controlling.

He was right about that, and to hide how I felt about him dominating that scene, I opened the door, swung my pack off my shoulder, and got into the car. As I was slamming the door, I heard his stupid laugh.

Being the junkie I was, I strained to listen.

By the time Cash was in the driver’s seat I had my pack by my feet and phone out, checking for messages. The phone that only Cara’s nanny had the number to.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn’t have any missed calls or texts. I still had a few hours before my daily check-in. The drive to the ranch would take just under two hours. When we got there, I’d find a place to make my call in private.

Twenty minutes later, I learned Cash did indeed drive fast. Unfortunately, he did this safely which meant I didn’t have anything to bitch about. And since I didn’t, I made something up.

“Your music selection is shit,” I faux griped, using it purely as a reason to complain about something with the added benefit of taking over the radio and turning up the volume to a level that wouldn’t broker conversation.

“Don’t much give a shit what we listen to, but no…” he trailed off.

I waited.

When he didn’t finish, I prompted, “No, what?”

Cash took his eyes off the road to glance at me. When he did, he gave me a panty-melting smile. Sadly, I didn’t have his eyes or smile for long before his attention went back to the highway.

“I had a momentary lapse in recall and forgot who I was with,” he started. “Listen to whatever you want, Stella.”

Stella.

I loved the way he said my name. I loved it too much. So, it was a good thing I was ditching the name soon.

Maybe I’d be Agnes next.

Not that it would matter if anyone could make Agnes sound like a sexy purr, it was Cash.

I found a smooth jazz station and cranked up the volume.

Unfortunately, not even the melodic cords of the electric guitar drowned out the sound of his laughter.

CHAPTER FOUR

“If I would’ve known this was an option, I would’ve bagged off Maryland,” I muttered, looking out Dutch’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

Nothing but undisturbed beauty of the Bear River Valley as far as the eye could see.

“Land down the way’s for sale,” Badger’s deep voice rumbled from the couch behind me.

I’d glanced over my shoulder at the man. To the untrained eye he looked relaxed—just a guy chillin’ in his friend’s living room greeting guests. Legs stretched out in front of him, not crossed at the ankle but instead the heel of one boot rested on top of the toe of the other. His fingers of his left hand wrapped around the neck of a bottle of beer. His other hand rested on his thigh.

However, the man was coiled to strike.

A predator who knew better than to let his guard down around an unknown equal.

“Not sure what your pay packet looks like, brother. But clearly, I need to renegotiate if you think I can afford all of this.”

To make my point I lifted my hand and circled my finger around the room. One that was so large there were three tan leather couches that formed a U—one faced the wall of windows, one faced the stone fireplace, and the third looked into the huge kitchen. Between the long rectangle table that sat ten and the granite-topped island, Dutch could host a dinner party for twenty with room to spare. Not that a man like Dutch would have something as uppity as a dinner party at his house, but he could throw one hell of a cookout with his team, mine—hell all of Z Corps—and we wouldn’t be lacking for places to sit.

I heard a door close, then two sets of footsteps. Dutch slowly rose from his perch on the arm of one of his couches, seemingly uncaring someone or two someones had entered his home. Badger didn’t so much as twitch. Lore shifted on the couch she was occupying. Her hand went to her hip—muscle memory. I had the same reflex but we were both unarmed.

When the two men came into the room, Dutch immediately greeted them. “Shades, good to see you.” The shorter of the two men jerked his chin but his gaze zeroed in on me.

I wasn’t a fan of being examined, and the longer the man called Shades took looking me over the harder it was to remember he was a friend of Zane’s. When he was done, his mask of indifference fell away and he smiled.