AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She also knows about her father. She knows he was a boy I loved, and that things didn’t work out.
I promised I’d never lie to her, and now that Jay has popped back into my life, I’m scared to death that she’ll ask more questions. That she’ll be forced to deal with the fact that he chose not to be part of her life. That knowledge would devastate her.
Guilt gnaws at me for having smiled over Jay’s antics this morning.
He doesn’t deserve even one smile.
“She’s beautiful, Cat,” Cash says, sliding the phone back to me.
I don’t say thanks. That would be acknowledging that I had something to do with it. I wonder sometimes if my brother knows the truth but allows me to hide behind it. Or is it possible he really doesn’t know that Chloe is my daughter?
“So where do you think you’ll go?” I change the subject.
Frank chuckles beside me.
“What are you laughing at?” Cash asks with a tip of his chin.
Next to me, Frank shakes his head. “When Cat gets a thought in her head, you might as well just go with it. She’s like a dog with a bone.”
I nudge him in the ribs, and in response, he squeezes my shoulder with the hand he’s still got propped on the back of my chair.
Opposite us, Cash hisses. “What’s going on here?”
Frank and I both stiffen. “What?” I ask.
Cash narrows his eyes and then shakes his head. “Never mind. I’ll make ya a deal,” he says to Frank.
Pressing his lips together, Frank watches my brother silently.
“You agree to work for me, and I’ll take the damn trip.”
Scoffing, Frank shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest. “Not a chance.”
Cash sighs and stares him down, his expression surprisingly hurt. “Why won’t you work for me?”
“I don’t need a pity job,” he says gruffly.
“It’s not a pity job,” Cash argues.
“What are we talking about?” I turn from my brother to Frank and then back again.
“Your brother,” Franks says in an annoyed tone, “wants me to be his driver.”
Cocking my head, I regard Cash, taken aback by the ridiculousness of that request.
“That is not what I want,” Cash replies, sitting a little straighter. “I want you to be my second hand. Yes, I need someone to drive me, but not like that. I need protection, Frank. And I need someone I can trust. Someone on the inside of the company who can listen and watch and do all the things you know how to do. And the pay is really fucking good.” He glares at his best friend.
I take a deep breath, wanting nothing more than to stay out of this argument.
Frank drops his elbows to the table. “You should use who your grandfather used.”
“I don’t trust him,” he counters. “Not because he’s not good. But because he’s notmybest friend. I need you, Frank.” He runs his hands through his hair. “There is no one I trust more than you. And I have no one there right now.”
I rest my palm on Frank’s thigh and squeeze, willing him to hear my brother out. Cash never asks for anything. If he thinks he needs Frank, then it’s for good reason. And I hope he listens.
Frank tucks his chin and glares at my hand as if it’s on fire but says nothing. Then he blows out a breath and leans back. “Whatever you were going to offer me, take fifty thousand off it, and we’ve got a deal.”
Cash laughs. “You realize you’re negotiating in the wrong direction, right?”
