Loyalty Page 7

  My eyes went wide, my tone turned sarcastic as hell. “What the hell is my problem? My problem is you two.” I pointed back and forth between them. “I need you to help me convince Katie that I’m a good guy.”

  “Uh, shouldn’t that be your job?”

  “I don’t know, Crue, shouldn’t be hooking up with girls as you, be your fucking job?”

  “You’re in a shit mood.” He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “But point taken.”

  “Okay. Let me explain something to you. My day? Started at a fucking ten. I smoked some good weed, and I spent an hour laying outside laughing with the girl I’m into.”

  “Katie?” Avory cocked her head to the side. “You got Katie high?”

  I ignored her. “Just when I was about to have the perfect first kiss, Marley lit a bonfire. A giant bonfire. THEN, Jett outted me for pretending to be you, in front of said sweet girl. Fast forward ten minutes? She’s hopping out of my truck to walk home so she doesn’t have to be around me.” I nodded. “So yeah. I’m in a bit of a mood, man.”

  “Maybe you should go find some more of that good weed, yeah?”

  I lunged at Crue, grabbing him by the shirt. “I did you the ultimate favor for over twelve months, bruh. I’m asking for a five-minute conversation.”

  “Okay, fuck, calm down.” Crue held his hands up, and I let him go. “Babe, why don’t you go back to your house and make sure Katie made it home, okay?” He wrapped his arms around Avory, kissing her lips. “Think you can convince her that Cash is the best of the best?”

  She got to her feet, a playful smile on her face. “If I could convince you to stop buying all your shirts two sizes too small, I can convince Katie that C Money is a good guy.” She stood on her tiptoes, placing a kiss on my cheek. “Because you are, you know. You are a really good guy, Cash.” She threw a wink to Crue and then left the room.

  “Take a load off, man, you look like you’re either going to cry or break something.” Crue patted the seat next to him. If I broke something today, it’d be his nose. Maybe then pretending to be him would never even be an option. We wouldn’t look identical anymore.

  I collapsed, rubbing my hands down my face and tossing my ball cap to the ground. “I’m not you, Crue. The random hookups, the girls—none of that was fun for me.” I looked at my twin. “I hated every second of it.”

  “I know you did.” He chewed on his lip. “But I love her. I love her so damn much. And the thought of losing her? God, just the thought makes my heart ache.” His tone was contrite, for once. “I’m so sorry I asked that of you. We’ll never be able to repay you for what you did for us. Never.” He held his hand out. “‘Til the end?”

  “‘Til the end.”

  Crue wasn’t a man of many words, and he was definitely not one for apologies. To get both out of him in one encounter was staggering. Yet, I was still ready to strangle him.

  If my past ruined my future with Katie, I’d never forgive him.

  ***

  Crue and I stayed in the media room, firing up the old Xbox and playing our favorite games from when we were kids. It was the first time in a long time that I had any kind of fun with my twin. I was no longer pretending to be him; that wasn’t wedge between us, and it felt real fucking good.

  “Okay. It’s done.” Avory strolled back in the room, immediately sitting in Crue’s lap and pausing the game from his controller.

  “You talked to her? She made it home?” I sounded eager AF, and I didn’t even care.

  Avory winced, shaking her head. “No. I had to go find her. She has a terrible sense of direction. But the long walk home gave us some time to chat. I’m pretty sure she thinks we are all certifiable, but she understands why you did what you did. I told her that you were the best of us and that we’d all fall apart without you.” She waved her hand in the air. “And blah blah blah.”

  “You think I’ve still got a chance?”

  Avory pursed her lips, shaking her head slightly. “I’m not sure, C. She said she understands that you were doing it to help Crue and me. But the fact that you’d been with more girls than Wilt Chamberlin was a little hard to handle.”

  “Who the hell is Wilt Chamberlin?” I frowned, confused but not surprised. Katie said odd things all the time.

  “I googled him.” Avory turned her phone around, showing me the screen. “He’s some dude from a long time ago that banged, like, thousands of women.”

  “Damn. That’s gross.” I got up, dropping my controller down on the couch. “What’s she doing right now?”

  “I dunno.” Avory shrugged. “She mentioned she wanted to shower and call her uncle before dinner.” Avory ran her hands through Crue’s hair. “Y’all’s dad is BBQing ribs. I invited her to come eat dinner over here.”

  “And she said yes?”

  “Well it wasn’t that hard to convince her. She tasted one of my mom’s muffins this morning.” Avory giggled when Crue started to growl and nuzzle her neck.

  “All right, bro. We got you back on track with your girl, we got you an excuse to see her again tonight.” Crue pointed toward the door. “Now do you mind getting the hell out?”

  I flipped him off and then purposefully left the light on when I walked out.

  Chapter Twelve

  Katie

  I’d showered, working hard to scrub the weed and sweat smell from my body. After, I blew my hair dry, and now I was walking around Halen’s old room, looking at all the pictures that were on her walls. There were photographs everywhere. Shots of her with all her cousins, artful selfies of her and Beau, and quite a few of her and Cash. I was stuck on one of the two of them laughing in the bed of an old pickup when my phone chimed on the bed.

  Uncle Pax: Heard about your banishment, how are you doing, Bug?

  Of course he’d heard. I was sure that my dad had immediately called my mom, and then she’d immediately called my grandma. Then, through the grapevine it went, until it reached my uncles.

  Me: I’m actually doing okay.

  Other than the fact that the cute boy who had been giving me butterflies was a liar and sexual savant. I sighed and lay back on Halen’s bed, holding my phone up above my face.

  Uncle Pax: Are you having fun at least? There are a bunch of kids there your age right?

  Me: Yeah, Dash Conner’s daughter Avory is around my age. And then Luke Smith’s twin sons are my age. They’ve all been really nice.

  And they were all weird as all get out. They were so close, like a really rich motorcycle club or something. I gave myself a pat on the back, because an MC was pretty damn accurate. They took care of their own, heaven help anyone who tried to cross them. They had hella problems with authority, and they did illegal things. They should make those leather vests with Devil’s Spawn on the back.

  Uncle Pax: I guess you aren’t going to get much of a chance to live it up after all.

  I snorted.

  Me: I wouldn’t say that…I went to a party, I drank keg beer. I danced with some people I’d never met, and I lied to an adult. Twice.

  Twice if you included the fact that I never told my dad about the champagne. And I did include it. I’d take all the rebel yell points I could get.

  Uncle Pax: I can honestly say, I’ve never been more proud of you than I am right now.

  I wondered if the weed would make him more or less proud. Probably more, but it was safer to leave it out either way.

  “Hey.”

  “Ah!” I jumped about a foot off the bed when Cash spoke beside me. Which made me drop my phone right on my face. “Ow. Shit.” I rubbed my nose, my eyes welling up with involuntary tears. “I know it’s a window, but you could still knock, you know.”

  Me: Gotta go, a boy just climbed into my room.

  Uncle Pax: Yeah, sure.

  Me: You can’t see it, but I just gasped indignantly. And there really is a boy in my room.

  I attached the selfie I’d taken with Cash earlier in the truck and sent it to my uncle, then clicked my phone off an
d set it on the nightstand. “What are you doing here? Besides making me break my own nose?” I jumped up and crossed the room to look in the mirror. I was definitely going to have a slight bruise tomorrow.

  “Sorry.” His smile was apologetic. “I didn’t like how we left things, and I wanted to come check on you.”

  Cash was really freaking cute, which was slightly irritating. I wanted to push him away. I wanted to write him off as some playboy. But I couldn’t do it. He was standing in my temporary bedroom, with his hat in his hand, literally. He was wringing his worn ball cap in his fists. I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that why Avory came to find me?” I was silently praying that he wouldn’t lie to me. Hearing him lie to me would be like a knife in the back at this point. I’d be yet another girl he manipulated.

  He nodded. “I am the reason she came looking for you.” He took a step toward me. “But you and I have a connection, and that’s something that hasn’t really ever happened to me before.” He took another step. “I’ve spent the last year living a life that I hated in order for two people I care about to live a life that they love. I know I’ve made mistakes, and I know what I did was wrong. But I did it for the right reasons.”

  Well, geez. When he put it like that…it almost made me feel like the asshole for giving him a hard time.

  He licked his lips, continuing, “I didn’t plan for you, Katie. I didn’t go looking for you. I didn’t set out to win you over to get you in my bed.” He took one more step, reaching for my hands. “That’s not who I am, and that’s not what I’m trying to do here. I want to spend time with you. I want to make you laugh and help you have fun.”

  I let him hold my hands, both of them. “I have had fun.” He used his grip to pull me a little closer.

  “Can we keep having fun? Can we keep marking things off your list?” He grinned and my heart fluttered a little.

  Sheltered and timid me would say no. She’d let fear and uncertainty be her guide. But wasn’t that the point of the list? To leave the old me in the dust? I wanted to thrive outside of my bubble. I wanted to prove to myself, and my parents that I was capable of living alone. That I was capable of acting like the adult I was trying to become.

  I pursed my lips. “Under one condition.”

  Cash brought my hands to his lips, kissing them sweetly. “Anything.”

  “We get to tip a cow.”

  ***

  We’d had dinner with Cash’s parents. They were both really nice people, and his mom was super funny. Avory and Marley had been there too. Apparently Mrs. Conner was a terrible cook and the whole compound knew it. We stayed outside, talking and laughing for a couple of hours after dinner was over. It was nearing midnight now and Cash and I were walking in the middle of a field.

  The Devil’s Share compound didn’t actually have any cows for us to tip, so we got in the truck and drove the short distance to Cash’s friend Benson’s ranch. We pulled off in the ditch and scaled a barbed-wire fence. “I feel like I’m breaking the law or something.”

  Cash held his hand out, smiling when I automatically took it. “You are.”

  I gasped. “Really? Tipping cows is against the law?”

  “No.” He chuckled under his breath. “But trespassing is.”

  “Wasn’t trespass on the list?” Maybe since he knew the guy, it was slightly less illegal than if we’d strolled onto a complete stranger’s ranch. “Would Benson be mad if he caught you pushing over his livestock?” How embarrassing would it be to land in jail for doing something like this? I bet alllll the inmates would make fun of him.

  “Well, I don’t think he’d be thrilled that we came out here to shove one of his cows to the ground.”

  I giggled. “I kind of like that you’re so worried about the cow’s feelings.”

  “And I’m kind of concerned that you aren’t.” He glanced back at me, winking in the light of the full moon.

  “Look.” I whisper-yelled. “There’s a cow.” It was pretty big, but it was standing off by itself and I assumed it was sleeping. Or, at least, it didn’t seem to see us. “Can you do that one?”

  He stopped, pulling me up next to him and slinging his arm casually around my shoulders. He was quiet for a few seconds, his head cocked like he was studying the cow for its tip-ability. “I guess so.”

  I clapped my hands and did a little happy dance. “I’m so excited right now.”

  He gave me a strong side eye. “There is something wrong with you, you know that?” When I only shrugged and shooed him toward the large brown and white cow, he started walking. He slowed down, approaching the cow as quietly as he could. The cow didn’t move at all. It had to be asleep. He held both hands up, moving them gently toward the animal’s middle. He gave it a good shove.

  Nothing happened. And I bit my lips together to keep from snickering out loud.

  He shoved again, and nothing. Then he got lower, using his shoulder to push the cow. I snorted, covering my mouth and my nose to hold the sound in. The animal wasn’t budging. He turned to look at me, his hands on his hips. “It won’t tip.”

  “Yeah. That’s because you can’t actually tip a cow.” His bewildered expression made the damn burst. My laughter broke free and tears pooled in my eyes. “You’d have to weigh something like six hundred seventy-five pounds to have enough leverage to make that cow fall.”

  “What?” He was coming toward me now.

  “I looked it up after you told me it was mean. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t an awful cruel person.” I snorted again. “One person can’t tip a cow, it’s mostly an urban legend.”

  Cash ran the rest of the way to me, scooping me up and throwing me over his shoulder. “You are a cruel person, and don’t let anyone ever tell you any different.” He smacked my ass, which was actually something I could add to and cross off the list. “How long were you going to let me work on that cow?” He spun in a few circles, making me dizzy and then setting me on my feet.

  “Honestly? Until either you gave up or it tried to kick your ass.” I wiped at the tears in my eyes. “Man, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, giving him a hug and tilting my head back to look at his face. “Thanks for that.”

  “I’d pretty much do anything to hear you laugh.” I was being friendly, but Cash was being serious. All traces of humor left his face and his eyes kept darting to my lips. I took a deep breath. He had that look again, like in the truck. He was thinking of kissing me. Chills traveled down my spine, goosebumps breaking out on my skin. Apparently my body was so on board. He moved one hand to my jaw, and tightened the other on my hip. “Katie, please tell me if I’m out of line here. I want—”

  I rose up on my toes and put my lips on his, and then I pretty much froze because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Luckily Cash took over.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Cash

  Kissing Katie was everything I’d been imagining it to be, and more. There was definitely something to be said for anticipation. Sure, I’d only been waiting for like twenty-four hours, but it’d felt like a lifetime since I’d first saw her dancing in the firelight.

  I splayed my palm against her lower back, holding her even tighter. I couldn’t seem to get close enough. My tongue tangled with hers and the little moan she let escape about brought me to my knees. I dipped her backward, plastering the length of my body against hers. She tasted like the wine Avory had slipped her at dinner, and the strawberries she’d eaten after. I stood up straight, wrapping both arms around her waist and lifting her until her feet were off the ground. Her legs automatically went around my hips, but then she froze up. No doubt my hard-on had shocked her. I mean, this was her first kiss after all.

  “Cow.”

  When she pulled back, I could see her eyes darting behind us. “What?” I looked over my shoulder and started to nod. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I get cock blocked by a cow?” I slid her down my body until she was steady on her feet then took her hand and led her
away from the livestock standing less than a foot away from us, and steadily coming closer.

  “In all fairness, you did try to push the poor thing to the ground five minutes ago.”

  I put my hands on her ribs, pulling her against me and tickling her at the same time. “The poor thing?” Her laughter was infectious. “You’re the one who wanted to see a two-thousand-pound animal fall over.” She wiggled out of my grasp, but didn’t go far.

  She reached for my hand this time, threading our fingers together. “Yes, but out of the two of us, you’re the only one who actually attempted it.” She ducked down, climbing through the two pieces of barbed wire I was holding open for her.

  I climbed out next, hiking the short distance to the truck with my hand on the small of her back. I never wanted to stop touching her. When she hopped inside the dimly lit cab I moved closer, rubbing my palms on her jean-covered thighs. “I’d do anything you asked me to, don’t you know that?” I winked before stepping back and shutting the door. I’d known this girl for one damn day, how did she already have this hold on me?

  “So. What’s on the docket for tomorrow?”

  I started the truck, turning the radio down a little before answering her. “I don’t know. What would you like to cross off the list?”

  She pulled it out of her pocket, unfolding it and then holding it closer to the light of the dash. “Well we can mark off trespassing.” She grabbed a pen from my cup holder and drew a line through it. “And first kiss.” She marked through it without meeting my eyes. “Let’s see…get a tattoo?”

  “Really?” I glanced her way, not trying to hide the surprise on my face. “You’re ready for ‘get a tattoo’?”

  “I’ve always wanted one.” She leaned over, her arms on the center console. “And my Uncle Pax instructed me to get one during his Live It Up speech.”

  “Do you know what you want?”

  I didn’t have any tattoos, unlike most everyone else in my family. I figured I’d have one at some point in my life, but I could never figure out something that I’d want on my skin for the rest of time.