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The heat of his body stretched from her shoulder to knee, sizzling her nerves and fizzing in her veins. She shouldn’t enjoy his embrace so much, but it had been a long time since a man had held her in any way.
She’d let herself revel in it. Just for a few minutes.
GIDDY WITH THE SUCCESS of his gift, Cash almost enjoyed the next hour of the party. He sang “Happy Birthday” unashamedly off key and clapped when Elle blew out the candles.
Penta’s presence enhanced his unfamiliar sense of well-being. She never left his side, touching him often and watching the crowd with suspicion, as if guarding him from attack. He felt like an elephant being protected by a mouse. The thought made him grin. His cheeks ached, muscles unaccustomed to smiling weary from overuse.
The day would have ended on a high note if only they’d left right after the cake had been served. But he was greedy, not wanting to miss a moment. After all, he had sixteen years of birthday parties to make up for.
He barely took his eyes off Elle, drinking in every tilt of her head, every glittering smile, every carefree laugh. Which was why he saw her check her phone, cast a wary look at her mother who was busy in the kitchen, and then sidle out of the living room.
“Do you know where the bathroom is?”
Puzzling over Elle’s furtive behaviour, he answered Penta absently. “Down the hall on the left, I think.”
She nodded and bustled away, leaving him alone for the first time all afternoon.
A couple minutes later, when Elle still hadn’t returned, he left the living room the same way she had and found himself in a hall leading to the back door. He headed to the exit and opened it.
Linda and Elle lived in a neighbourhood on the opposite side of town from Penta. It was older with smaller homes and larger yards, but neat and tidy and a far cry from the tumbledown, decrepit buildings where Cash had grown up. He couldn’t fault Linda for how she’d raised their daughter. It was clear she worked hard to give her a good life. Probably a better life than if he’d been in it.
The thought made him grateful and angry in equal proportions.
Elle was nowhere in sight. As he turned to go back inside, he spotted movement in the shadows darkening the narrow strip of beaten earth between the house and the fence that separated it from the neighbour’s.
Elle, squirming in the arms of a youth wearing baggy jeans, a ratty sweatshirt, and a backward ball cap.
Cash reached them in three long rapid strides. Gripping the boy by the back of the neck, he yanked him off Elle. She let out a shriek. With a wordless growl, he threw the youth against the fence. It creaked and shuddered. The boy slumped in a sprawled heap at its base.
“What are you doing?” Elle’s high-pitched cry reached Cash through the red thunder roaring in his ears. Her fists pounded his back as he loomed over the fallen boy. “What are you doing?”
“He was...” He struggled to find words, any words. Fury rampaged through him and he trembled with the compulsion to lift the youth and throw him again. “He was attacking you. You were trying to get away.”
“He wasn’t. I wasn’t! He was kissing me.” Elle’s cheeks were scarlet, tears glistening on the rosy skin. She pushed Cash aside. He let her. Dropping to her knees beside the boy, now groaning and struggling to a sitting position, she glared up. “He’s my boyfriend and he was kissing me. And you threw him! I hate you! I hate you!”
Chapter Ten
Penta was washing up in the bathroom when she heard a roaring shout, followed by high-pitched screeches and feet stomping down the hall. Hands still slippery with soap, she struggled to unlock and open the door and then joined the stream of people racing to the back yard.
Popping up and down on her toes in order to see over the assorted guests and family, she caught glimpses of Cash, fists clenched and shoulders braced, standing near two much smaller figures. Elle crouched beside a boy about Cyril’s age sitting on the ground, rubbing his head.
“You’ve ruined everything!” Elle rose to her feet and shoved Cash in the chest. He took a step back, his face bleak and cold.
“What the hell is going on?” Linda joined the fray, ranging herself beside Elle and regarding Cash with an expression on which smug satisfaction and honest concern battled. “What did you do, Cash?”
“I’m sorry.” He spoke quietly. The crowd, expressions exhibiting both fascination and horror, barely breathed. “I thought she was in trouble.”
“He threw Aaron against the fence.” Elle knelt beside the boy again, her words stuttering out between sobs. “Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” The boy shrugged off the hand she placed on his shoulder, ears and cheeks cherry bright.
“He was kissing her. She was struggling.” Cash’s monotone sent fear trickling down Penta’s spine. He sounded so...lost. So broken.
“I wasn’t struggling. We were kissing.” Elle’s voice cracked. “I’m sorry, Aaron. Please don’t dump me because of him. Please.”
Linda lifted her chin at Cash. “I think you should go.”
Without a word, he twisted on his heels and vanished in the direction of the street.
