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I swallow hard. His demeanor changes; he straightens his body and schools his expression.
“This is my place of business, and whether it’s Corporate America or not, there’s a power dynamic I’m not comfortable with,” he admits.
The fact that he thinks he’s protecting my virtue is endearing and infuriating at the same time. I want to tell him that morality and sexuality are not interchangeable. I would curse him out for implying that, but when I look at him, all I see is a man who thinks he’s doing the right thing by me.
I step forward, the record bin still a barrier between us. I notice that I am standing in front of the H section. I finger the tops of the albums,Halestorm, Hall and Oats, Heaven’s A Lie. Cash stands on the other side, watching me.
I didn’t mean to push him too far, but I couldn’t help myself. How could anyone be around this man and not want him any way they can get him? “Why are you so afraid of what is happening between us?” I finally ask. He reminds me so much of someone who is afraid to trust.
He fights for the right words, and I feel as though he’s on the verge of telling me something significant when my phone rings and I drop theHeaven’s A Liealbum back into its slot.
21
WILDFIRE
CASH
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode
“Shit, I gotta go.” Her hand shakes as she pulls her keys out of her bag and drops them to the ground.
“What’s wrong?”
I round the record bins and grab her keys from the floor and hand them to her.
“They closed Temescal Canyon to residents only.” She shakes her head. “The fire is getting close.”
I move to stop her from leaving. “You can’t go there alone.”
“My grandparents are there.” Her voice shakes. “And the horses.” Her eyes go wide. “I need to help move them.”
She tries to step around me, but I block her again because I’m not about to let her run into a fire.
“The fire is getting close, and we can’t wait until the last minute to move the horses. My grandpa can’t load all of them by himself.” Tears threaten to spill onto her cheeks. “I need to go help him whether he likes it or not.”
The conviction in her voice moves me to action. “Do you have a place to move them to?” I ask.
“Yes, the Beckette’s. They run a sanctuary in the lower canyon.”
“Do you have trailers to haul the horses?”
“My grandpa has a pick-up truck but there’s only one trailer, and it’s not big enough to fit all the horses at once. He’ll have to make two trips.”
I move around her, reaching to flick off the lights and then make my way to the far wall to pull the shades down on the windows.
“What are you doing?” She follows me out the door as I lock up, pulling the gate down with a loud click.
“What does it look like?”
She walks towards her car. “Uh uh.” I shake my head and veer her towards my bike. “We’ll be able to get there faster on my bike, and I can load it in the back of your grandpa’s pick-up truck so we can go back and get the rest of the horses if needed,” I tell her, swinging a leg over the seat and stomping on the kick-start. The bike roars to life and rattles beneath me with an ominous tone.
Sasha hesitates as if she doesn’t know what to do. I give her a small comforting smile and tip my chin for her to get on. She places her hands on my shoulders and swings her leg over the seat, placing the helmet on and securing it. As soon as she settles behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist, I hit the clutch and we take off out of the parking lot.
I weave in and out of traffic, glad that I have my bike because it means we’ll get there much quicker. On the way up the canyon I can see smoke darkening the sky, like an omen threatening to overtake this beautiful hillside community. I know the fire is getting way too close for comfort, even though the neighborhood hasn’t been evacuated yet. As we ride up the winding road, we pass trucks with trailers, residents who are already moving horses and other animals. The fire department has blockades ready to go, and Sasha shows them her license to prove she’s a resident. Once they let us pass, it doesn’t take long to get to her driveway.
I follow Sasha’s direction to the back of the house where her grandpa has already started loading horses in the trailer. She wastes no time hopping off the bike and running over to him. My waist feels empty and cold from the sudden loss of her body heat.
“Where’s Grandma Jo?” Sasha asks after releasing her grandpa from a hug.
