Chapter 13

thirteen

Wrenlee

“Come on, Wren,” Tav leans back into the couch as he pulls on a beer. “Let loose.”

Grinning, I shake my head, but hear myself say, “Just one.”

Before I know it, Cash is sliding a glass into my hand. “Gin and tonic. S’what you like, yeah?”

I don’t know what I like. I don’t drink. “Sure.”

His eyes narrow, then he sets his drink on the side table next to me. He reaches down to tug me out of the chair by my hand, dropping into it before landing both hands on my hips and tugging me down into his lap. My heart begins to flutter in my chest, because I can feel his friends watching us.

“What do you like to drink?” An arm bands around my waist as he draws my back into the wall of his chest, mouth close to my ear.

I clutch my drink like my life depends on it. “This is good.”

“But is it what you’d ask for?”

I look over my shoulder at him. “I don’t know what I’d ask for. I don’t drink.” He just looks at me for a long moment. So long, I hear myself say, “But I’ve always thought those slushy drinks look yummy.”

“Slushy ones?” He quirks an amused brow.

“Yeah. Like the bellini’s and stuff like that. They’re pretty.”

“They’re a hangover.”

I shrug. “You asked what I’d order. That’s what I’d order.” I swirl my drink gently. “But this is good, too. A bit dry, but it’s good.”

“Candace drinks them plain. Yours has lime tonight.”

“Oh.” I take an exploratory sip, licking my lips to chase the pleasure. “I like this.”

“Do it again,” his command is rough.

“What?”

“Take another drink.” I do as he commands, sipping again. Before I can lick my lips clean, he leans in and does it for me. I’m so shocked, a little moan spills from my lips into the room, deafening conversation.

“Shit, man,” Kane says. “Never seen you like this with a chick.”

“She’s not a chick,” Cash responds, never breaking eye-contact with me. “She’s my girl.”

Okay, so I might know this is fake. But it doesn’t feel fake right now. Right now, when he looks at me like this, it feels all too real.

After a long moment, I break eye-contact to turn my attention to the room. I feel flushed all over, forty percent excited and sixty percent nervous. I don’t know what I’ve done by agreeing to this fiasco, but I’m starting to think in the end, I’ll be the one who ends up with a broken heart. I should have known, really. Should have suspected. Everything about Cash Jagger screams heartbreak. I mean, look at his band name.

Still, even though my mind is screaming, I settle into the warmth of his big chest like I really do belong here. I sip my drink and feel a buzz coming on fast, because clearly when a girl doesn’t drink, it means she’s a lightweight.

I begin to lose myself to the night, letting the flow of conversation and laughter take me places as the guys laugh. Candace tells everyone about something funny hers and Ian’s cat did, surprising me.

“You have a cat?”

“Oh, yeah. We call him Bells, but his actual name is Beelzebub.”

“Isn’t that—like—a demon?”

Ian shoots me a grin. “It’s another name for Satan, actually.”

I frown. “You call your cat Satan?”

“You’d understand if you met him.” Tav takes another pull. “Cat’s a menace.”

“He just don’t like you,” Kane interjects.

Tav shoots Kane a hurt look. “He don’t like you, either.”

“Likes me just fine.”

Tav’s brows shoot high. “It bit you last time we were over there.”

Kane snaps his teeth seductively at Tav, who grimaces. “Love bite.”

Candace snorts. “Bells really is a menace. Ian found him in the trash bin outside our apartment. He was with his whole litter but…”

“No.” Horror-struck, my hands cover my mouth.

“Ian couldn’t leave him there alone like that. He came into our apartment with this tiny black head poking out from his leather jacket, big Halloween-yellow eyes—s’why he got his name—anyway, it was a done deal. Bells was ours from that moment on.”

“People are…”

“Bad. Evil. Mean and cold-hearted?” Candace finishes for me. “Yeah, a lot are.”

“Whoa, guys,” Kane stands. “We’re not killing my buzz with sappy shit like this.” His finger swings between me and Candace. “You two can wander your bleeding hearts to a shelter first thing in the morning to mend some of humanities great sins. As for tonight, we’re getting loaded.”

“You’re an asshole, Kane.” Candace rolls her eyes, taking a healthy sip of her drink.

Kane blows her a kiss. “Talk dirty to me baby, I like it.”

Ian smirks when Candace huffs something under her breath. But it’s Tav who stands to pull his t-shirt over his head. “I’m going for a swim. Who’s in?”

“Fuck, yeah!” Kane hoots as Ian and Candace stand.

I feel Cash’s fingertips dig into my skin as he murmurs, “How’s your bleeding heart, Kitten?”

I twist in his lap. “Hurting a little. Sometimes I really hate people.”

“You like cats?”

“Love all animals,” I answer honestly. “But cats especially, yeah.”

“Ever had one?”

“Three, actually.”

His brows lift. “Three?”

“Dad has a big heart, too,” I say by way of explanation, then amend, “Okay, maybe we have five. He has two shop cats, as well. They hang around the shop and yard. Strays Dad started feeding and they never left.”

“You’re close to your dad?”

I nod. “He’s my favorite person.”

Cash nods. “He know you’re living with me?”

I wince. “Not yet.”

“Have you told him you moved?”

“Not yet.”

He watches me for a solid thirty seconds. It takes everything I have in me not to shimmy in discomfort under his scrutiny. “Have you talked to him since you moved?”

His eyes drop to my mouth as I roll my lips to the side. Shamefully, I admit, “Yes.”

His expression doesn’t change. “Will he be pissed?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “It’s partly why I haven’t said anything.”

Cash thinks. “How’d he react to you bringing guys home? Boyfriends?”

My face flushes warmly and I shift in his lap. I’m saved from answering when Tav hollers from outside. “You lovebirds coming?”

“In a minute,” Cash yells back, focus never leaving me. So…maybe I haven’t been saved, I think, as he reminds, “Kitten?”

“I never brought guys home.”

“Never?” His voice is thick with something I’m not sure I understand.

I shake my head, confirming, “Never.”

“But you had boyfriends, yeah?”

“I guess. A few.” I shrug once. “There was one boy I really liked a lot in high school. He asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes. He stole a kiss the same night he went to a party and slept with another girl.”

“And then?”

“And then I dumped him.” I roll my eyes. “Duh.”

“I mean after him. Who came after him?”

I shake my head. “After that? No one serious.”

“Wrong.” Cash regards me with the intensity of a man capable of complete consumption. Entire destruction. Like at any moment he’ll devour me whole. “I came after.”

“Cash.” I’m about to tell him that’s not quite fact, because this isn’t real, but I close my mouth. He doesn’t like me reminding him of that in private. I don’t figure he’ll be too impressed I do it when his friends have the chance of overhearing.

“Tell your dad about us, yeah?”

I wet my lips. His eyes heat. “I’ll tell him I have a new roommate.”

Cash rolls his lips. He doesn’t look impressed. I think he’s going to say more, but instead, he just instructs, “Go put on a swimsuit.”