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Cash grits out, “Fuck.”
Officer Troy doesn’t miss a beat. “You’ll need to cancel everything, obviously. We can put a car on your house tonight. Unless there’s someone else you can stay with?”
“I… I guess I could stay with Thea.” She’s going to be so upset when she hears about this.
“No.” Cash turns to look at me, his jaw clenching, but his eyes gentle. “You’ll come home with me, Ari. I can check on your injuries, make sure you’re okay. And I have security, plenty of it. You’ll be safe with me.”
“Itstilllooksthesame.”
As we walk into Cash’s expansive living room, it’s like stepping back in time.
It’s exactly as I remember it. The same elegant fabric wallpaper, the arching ceilings, soft leather couches arranged around the giant stone fireplace. Even the sculptures are the same—the sleek dog in one corner, and the hand-carved Headless Horseman by the large picture window.
When Cash told me he’d be staying in his grandparents’ house after they passed—choosing not to sell it and move to one of the luxury penthouses by the water—I imagined an interior decorator coming in and modernizing everything.
All the times I FaceTimed with Cash, he was always in his office or his bedroom, so I never got a good look at his surroundings. But when I thought about how this old 1800s mansion would look, I pictured modern furniture and bold colors and abstract art. Or it would have an industrial feel, all decorated in a range of gleaming metals and grays.
“I know,” Cash says softly. “I couldn’t bring myself to change it. I thought about it—” He pauses, two ruddy spots of color appearing on his cheekbones. “But it felt like I would have been erasing them. All the memories.”
Cash’s pain pierces through my own, and I grab his hand. “I think it’s perfect like this. I have so many great memories here, with you, and with your grandparents.”
He looks at me, his gaze softening, a tiny smile pulling at his lips. “We had some good times here, didn’t we?”
“Yeah. We did.”
I’m exhausted and aching, but I still take time to run my hand down the back of the steel greyhound, to trace my fingers over the rough edges of the horseman. “This always creeped me out a little,” I admit. “When I’d be leaving and all the lights were dimmed. Even though I was too old to be freaked out like that.”
Cash’s mouth twitches. “Do you want me to put it away while you’re staying here?”
“No. That’s okay.” I turn to him. “Sculptures don’t scare me anymore. And maybe he’ll scare away the bad guys.”
“No bad guys in here.” His gaze is fierce. “I promise.”
“I know.” I dofeel safe here. Not just because of the state-of-the-art security system, but I know Cash won’t let anyone near me.
We make our way through the unchanged first floor and Cash points out all the security features—panic buttons and biometric access points and even the doorway to a small panic room. “I don’t think I need all this,” he says sheepishly. “But I had it installed when it was just my grandmother here, and I wanted to make sure she felt safe.”
Cash’s grandparents passed away almost ten years ago, only months apart, and I know he still misses them a lot. But being here, seeing this giant house still kept just as they left it, imagining Cash rattling around here alone…
The reality of it makes my heart hurt.
I don’t know about Cash’s casual hookups—I don’t wantto know, and he’s definitely never mentioned them—but I doknow he hasn’t had a girlfriend since one failed attempt in college. Unless he’s been bringing women here nightly, which I seriously doubt, he’s spent a lot of nights here alone.
And it’s a lotof house for only one person.
He’s never hinted at it, but now I have to wonder if Cash is lonely.
Or maybe he likes it this way, so he can focus on his company and his shifts at the fire station without the complications of a relationship.
“I thought you could stay in here.” Cash stops in front of a closed door, and I recognize it as the one next to his old bedroom. He turns the knob and pushes the door open, revealing a sumptuous-looking king-sized bed topped with a thick comforter and mounds of pillows.
Once I see the bed, my mind refuses to notice anything else in the room. All the stress and adrenaline and the painkiller I finally took when we left the hospital are all catching up with me, my body feeling unbearably heavy.
I sway a little, and Cash quickly wraps his arm around my waist. He puts pressure on one of the abrasions on my back, but fortunately whatever I took dulls the pain to a low ache.
“Sit down, hun.” Cash leads me to the bed and I manage to sit before my legs collapse under me. Fatigue is pulling at me—each time I blink, it’s harder to keep my eyes open. “I’m sorry, Ari.” He’s frowning as he examines my face. “I should have gotten you up here sooner.”
“It’s okay.” I pat his arm, my hand moving through a thick fog. “I think the medicine is finally hitting me.”
