“Anything that’s worth it is hard, Harper. That doesn’t scare me.”
“It doesn’t scare me either.” She shrugged. “I know for at least the first few years it’s going to be nothing but hard work, but I figure we’ve made it this far, we can make it through anything.”
“I may not know how to make a brownie, cookie, or a cake, but baby, I can get out there and shake my ass for you. If that’s what it takes to get people into your bakery, that is what I’ll do.”
She giggled, throwing her paper at him. “You just want me to objectify your body?”
“You can objectify me anytime you want to; I have no issue with that.” He got up and came around then grabbed her out of the seat.
She squealed as he lifted her up onto the table and locked her legs around his waist. He bent so that their noses were together, their foreheads touched.
“We’re gonna make it, aren’t we, Cash?” she whispered, hooking her arms around his neck.
“I hope so, babe. The only thing that’s going to stand in our way is us. We’ve got all the hard shit out of the way, we’ve shown what we can do in the face of adversity, and we can excel. It’s what we do when things are easy—do we still fight for it, or do we let it slip away? That’s going to be the big test.”
She was quiet as she thought of what he said. Easy wasn’t always better, and she hoped they never forgot how hard they’d fought.
‡
Chapter Sixteen
“We’re gonna make it, aren’t we, Cash?”
Those words played over and over in his head. They were the reason he was here tonight, against his better judgment, at the Trail. He’d pulled his emergency money out of its hiding place at his house in Richardsville and saw only a couple hundred dollars there. That was his true emergency fund; he hated to touch it, but he had to, just like he had to be at the Trail tonight. The Trail was the easiest way to get enough money to take care of the bills they had coming in and also take care of the upcoming holiday. He’d never been big on Christmas, but he wanted to make this one good for his little family.
“You ready?” Slim asked, coming to stand next to his friend.
“As I’ll ever be, but fuck it’s cold out there.” He breathed into his hands, trying to warm them up. His mind drifted, and he thought about Remy and Harper, alone at home, warm and waiting for him. For the first time, he was having thoughts about the future and realizing that maybe this wasn’t the only thing he could do to make money. It was dangerous, and even though he hadn’t been caught before, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t ever be caught. Now he had other people to worry about; other people counted on him.
“Let’s get this over with,” Rodrigo said from where he stood. “This close to the holidays is not the best idea we’ve ever had.”
Cash knew that meant that the police patrols were up, and that he was worried they would get busted. If Rodrigo was worried, then he was definitely worried. Rodrigo had been doing this a long time.
He watched as final bets were placed, ignoring the shouts of some of the girls he’d messed with at one time or another. He no longer saw them. No one mattered anymore but Harper, and he couldn’t wait to get this done and go home to her.
*
Cash breathed deeply as he switched lanes, letting a smile spread across his face. He had this race, he had the money he needed, less than five seconds to go. As soon as he crossed the finish line, he let off the gas, letting his car coast. As he turned it around to go back to where Rodrigo was, he saw blue lights flashing in his rearview mirror.
“Motherfucker,” he cursed, trying to decide what would be his best course of action. If he ran and didn’t get away, there would be more than one charge. If he ran and did get away, they’d get him the first time they saw him. “Fuck.” He punched the steering wheel, pulling over to the side of the road and putting his blinkers on.
He didn’t have a record, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been stopped by cops before. He knew the drill. They wanted him out with his hands on the back of his head. He heard them tell him to walk backwards towards their voices and then to lie down flat on the asphalt.
There was nothing more embarrassing than this. He realized that as he lay against the road, his cheek against the coldness of the ground. This was humiliating, and he was going to have to call Harper and tell her to bail him out of jail. Never in his life had he dreaded a phone call more than the one he knew he had to make.
*
Harper stood outside the local jail, Liam and Tyler with her, waiting on them to release Cash. She hadn’t been able to stay inside; it had caused her too much anxiety—something she’d have to talk to Doc Jones about on her next session.
“He’ll be here soon.” Liam pulled a cigarette out of the pack he had in his jeans and took one out, lighting it quickly. “They won’t keep him long. We have friends in there, and if they know he’s with us, he’ll be processed quickly.”
“I don’t want him to get hurt,” she admitted, wiping at her eyes, trying to make the tears disappear.
Since she’d gotten the phone call and the reassurance that Heaven Hill would be there, she’d been crying off and on. Probably the culmination of a million different things going on in the past six months. They had only known each other for roughly six months. She couldn’t believe it had been so short a time. Her life had changed in so many ways since she’d met him. Harper wasn’t sure she’d trade any of it, even the bad and hard stuff. It’d made her want to fight for their relationship that much harder.
“Oh trust me, he’s not going to get hurt.” Tyler laughed. “He’s gonna be pissed. When our friend called us, you could hear him in the background. He’s straight up pissed at the whole situation.”
“I don’t know why, out of all the times the police knew they were racing on that road, they decided to bust him now. It’s not like he was the only one.” Harper crossed her arms over her chest, trying to warm up against the cold.
“But from what I hear, he’s the one who didn’t run.” Tyler reached over and put his arm around her.
“Probably scared of getting more charges,” Liam told her. “If he had more charges, bail would be more, they might have held him. He was smart in what he did.”
It was good to hear that from people who had experience in this, but Harper wanted so badly for him to walk out of the door so she could hug him. She wanted desperately to wrap her arms around him and never let go.
Liam’s phone rang just as the doors opened and she saw Cash coming out of the building.
“Cash!” she screamed, running to him and jumping in his arms. For a few minutes she hugged him tightly to her, afraid that someone would take him away from her. “Are you okay?” She ran her hands over his chest and down his arms, clasping their hands together.
“I’m fine. Just fucking pissed and really fucking interested in how they knew we were running tonight.”
Liam came up behind the two of them, putting his hand on Cash’s shoulder and squeezing. “Travis says they were tipped off. He traced the tip, and it’s from your old house.”
“George and Janet? Fucking figures. Take me over there right now,” he told Harper.
“No.” She put her hands up, trying to get him to calm down. “We just got you out of jail; you don’t need to get thrown back in.”
“Take me over there, or I’ll find a way to get there myself,” he threatened.
His voice was deep, rough, and hard. She’d never heard him talk like that, and she was worried. Not for him or her, but for George and Janet. He looked as if he could physically harm someone and not even think twice about it.
‡
Chapter Seventeen
Harper gripped her steering wheel in her hands, knuckles white. Glancing at the clock, she was glad that she’d taken Remy to the clubhouse. At least one of the three of them would get a good night’s sleep and be fresh for school in the morning. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked Cash, risking a glance at hi
s profile. She could see that he was still pissed. The illumination from the dashboard showed the hard edge on his face, and to put it mildly, she was scared.
“Good idea? That’s relative to the situation, and to be honest with you, I’m pretty fucking sure they didn’t give a shit that they were taking food from our table when they called the cops on me. Right now, I don’t care.”
She could understand where he was coming from, she was also worried, but she knew there were other ways they could make money. She could dance at Wet Wanda’s for a couple of nights, just enough to get them through. That thought didn’t make it out of her mouth though; she thought it would be better if she kept that to herself.
“Promise me you aren’t going to do anything stupid.”
He glanced at her. “I promise.”
Her voice was exasperated as she answered. “Mean it when you promise me, Cash. I’m serious. Money is one thing, not having you around is another thing entirely.”
“I know,” he answered, his eyes moving to the mirror, watching the Heaven Hill boys who were following them. “When we get there, you just keep your cute ass in the car.”
“I’m not sure I like you telling me what to do.”
“I’m serious.” He reached over and gripped the back of her neck. “I don’t want to have to worry about you.”
She pulled into the driveway, and he was out before she’d even stopped the car.
*
He spotted George immediately. He was standing just inside the door, watching. “Get your fuckin’ ass out here right now,” Cash yelled. “I want a piece of you.”
“You sure that’s smart? For someone who didn’t have a record, you already been arrested once tonight.”
Cash felt the anger flow through him; he hadn’t been this angry in a long time. He wanted to pick this man apart limb from limb. He wanted to hurt him so he could never hurt another person again.
“Get your ass out here, or I’m coming in,” he threatened, leaning down to pick up a rock. He threw it, almost hitting the glass storm door.
“Dammit, don’t break my door,” George yelled back at him.
“That’s my fucking door. I paid for it,” Cash taunted. “And I missed on purpose. Next time I won’t miss.”
Something George saw in him must have made him open the door and come out onto the porch. “How was jail?”
“How’s your dick?” Cash asked. “’Cause I’m about to rip it off and shove it down your throat.”
He ran towards the older man, taking them both down. Cash was quicker, younger, and tougher; he straddled George and began beating him on the face.
“Why would you do this?” He breathed heavily, the words coming out as he landed the punches. “All I’m trying to do is do better for my family; I’m not fucking bothering you, I’m not doing anything that concerns you, yet you keep concerning yourself with me. Stay away from me, stay away from Remy, and stay the fuck away from Harper.”
Liam came up behind him and grabbed his arms. “Alright, my man, he’s had enough.” He pulled the younger man off the older one. “He gets it.”
“No.” Cash shook his head. “He never gets it, it’s all a game to him. He doesn’t do shit by the rules. That’s why he’s never worried about how he’s going to eat tomorrow; he’s not worried whether he’ll have rent or not. He just doesn’t give a fucking shit about anyone but himself.”
Liam pushed Cash back. “But you do, and you’re a good man. Now you’ve gotten your point across. Let’s go.”
Liam turned them around, Tyler walking at their back, as Janet rushed out onto the porch, checking George out. “Get in your car and leave. Don’t look back.”
Cash did just that, laying the seat back. “Harper, I don’t know what the fuck we’re gonna do.” His voice was defeated and quiet. Almost like he’d given up. She reached over and grabbed his hand, clasping their fingers together.
“We’ll make it, I know we will.”
He could tell by the way she said it she believed it, and if she believed it, then he knew he had to believe it too.
‡
Chapter Eighteen
“How’s it going with the two of you?” Doc Jones asked Harper and Cash as they sat for another session with her. “I take it things are going well?” She nodded towards where they held hands.
“Better than I expected.” Harper laughed. “I have to say, I was skeptical about coming to you at first; I wasn’t sure you could help me when I couldn’t help myself for so many years. However, I’m here to say I’m so glad I came. I talked to my dad,” she threw out there.
“And how did that go?”
“I had built him up so far in my mind to be the most awful man in the world, which made sense to me, because as a young child, monsters are the scariest, biggest things in your life.” She smiled over at Cash as she used his analogy. “In the end, he was a man with a secret drug addiction, who had needed money and took matters into his own hands.”
“Did that make you feel better?” Doc Jones questioned gently.
Harper thought on her answer for a few minutes before answering honestly. “In a way, yes. There wasn’t ever a part of me that wanted to believe he was evil, because if he was evil, then there was a part of me that could be evil. I had that blood inside me, and what would happen if the flip switched and I turned? I worried about that a lot. Seeing him again and figuring out that what he did was bad decision on top of bad decision put me at ease. He’s in a decent place in his life right now.”
She continued after a moment. “Do I ever think we’ll be close? Do I even think I may speak to him again? I don’t know on both accounts, but I’m glad I talked to him, and I’m very glad I was able to put that part of my life behind me.”
“Cash,” Doc Jones turned to him. “How do you feel?” She noted he had his arm behind Harper and was playing with the tips of her hair between his fingers. It was obvious that these two had turned a corner and it hadn’t taken much—just a push in the right direction.
“Better and more secure in this relationship than I have in a long time.” He cleared his throat and adjusted his seat. “There was always a part of me that wondered if Harper would run, and there was a part of me that knew she would. I felt like she’d proven that part right when she left before, but things are different now. I’ve seen a part of her life and a part of her fear that I hadn’t known before.”
“What was that?” Harper asked, genuinely curious. They’d never talked about this before.
“That day when you came to the shop and brought me food. I saw you hit the ground when that car backfired. It wasn’t until that moment—looking at you and then looking at Layne—that I realized how upset you were about things. We give him a pass because he was in Iraq and he saw and did awful things, but it never occurred to me to put you in the same category as him because you hadn’t served in a war-torn country. There are scars and wounds that can’t be seen, and it’s not just people who have been in the military who have them. That day was the first day I got it.”
She breathed easier, realizing for the first time he understood. “I’m glad you get it.”
“I do,” he reiterated. “I really do.”
Doc Jones clapped her hands together, a smile on her face. “I know that we haven’t had many sessions, and truthfully some people only need a handful of them. I knew almost as soon as the two of you walked through the door that you loved each other, and all you needed was a push in the right direction. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have given you that push.”
“So we’re fixed?” Cash asked, because truthfully he didn’t know.
“I don’t think anyone is ever ‘fixed’.” She made air quotes with her fingers. “I think things are made better, and you learn how to live with life on a level you can understand. Do I think you’ll never have to see me again? No, I think the two of you should definitely keep my card. There are things that are going to come up that neither one of you are going to know how to deal
with. Remy, from what you’ve told me, will more than likely have problems as he gets older. Same with you, Cash.” She pointed to him. “At some juncture of your life, you may want to expand on what took place during your childhood.”
“I’m not there yet,” he stopped her from speaking.
“And that’s okay,” she continued. “Not everyone is on the same life plan, and it’s not bad that you aren’t there yet. There’s not been an incident that’s forced you to look at where you came from yet and dissect it. I have a feeling you’re the kind of man who compartmentalizes everything and deals with it when he has to.”
Harper snorted from where she sat beside him. “You have just described Cash Montgomery to the T.”
Cash frowned at both of them. “You can stop talking about me like I’m not here.”
Doc Jones gave him a patient smile. “You’ll get there one day, and when you’re there, I’ll be here to help you work through, just like I’ve helped you and Harper work through the issue with her dad, which I believe in turn helped you work through your relationship—if the vibe I’m getting from you two is a correct and true one.”
“Yeah.” Cash grinned over at Harper, giving her a wink. “I think we’re good.”
“Then I think we’re done here for now. Good is a million times better than I had imagined the two of you would be when you showed up on my doorstep. As long as t you continue to talk through things and not let the magnitude of the situation get the better of you—no matter what kind of situation it is—I think you will be alright.”
Harper looked over at Cash and smiled, letting all the love she had for him shine through. She thought that they would be just fine too.
In Tune (Red Bird Trail Trilogy Book 3) Page 6
