AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jesus.
It was a good thing Jasmin wasn’t in the room to hear Nebraska say that.
Linc shot her a smile and wink.
I shot him a filthy look that in no way he could misinterpret.
“Easy, brother…” he let that hang.
“Are we going to have a dick-measuring contest or are we getting to work?” Layla asked in an attempt to get the meeting back on track.
Though it was a faulty play with Cash in the room.
“I’m all for—”
“No you’re not,” I cut him off and dropped my arm around Nebraska to pull out a chair for her. “Sit, baby, or this will go on all afternoon.”
“I thought you said they’d burn themselves out,” she murmured while taking her seat.
“I was wrong. I forgot, with Cash here this can go on all day.”
“I’d take offence to that if I didn’t know that was your way of saying I’m witty as fuck.”
He wasn’t wrong, he was witty as fuck and normally I’d participate and give him more ammunition to keep going, but he could get raunchy—or raunchier. It was best to keep Cash leashed in mixed company.
Thankfully Kira followed Layla’s suggestion and got down to business.
“To answer your first question,” she started, looking up from her laptop. Her gaze went to Nebraska. “Dutch spoke to Charlie before he sent Badger out after Pigeon. He urged Charlie to make use of a safehouse. Charlie refused but did agree to report in to me. The last message I received from him was this morning expressing his intense dislike of having a cyber babysitter, as he calls it, and demanded a status update on you.”
I glanced over at Nebraska struggling to find her emotional cloak to shield herself from exposing the relief she felt that her father was doing okay.
“Thanks,” she pushed out.
“Not to be a dick,” Cash started and I braced.
“Cash—”
He ignored my warning and spoke over me. “People love who they love. I know there’s a saying—love’s only a light switch away, but that only pertains to men who take ugly chicks to their bed. Other than that you can’t just flip it on and off.”
Jesus.
Fuck me.
“Dude,” Smith grumbled and shook his head.
“What? I’m not lying. She’s sitting there like we’re going to judge her for worrying about her father. What the fuck is that about?”
One thing that could be said about Cash Phillips—he said shit straight. The good, the bad, the inappropriate. He’d give the shirt off his back to a stranger and take a bullet for any one of us. His loyalty and love went to the extreme. He made an artform out of shit talk. He used humor to mask his pain. He had more demons than anyone I knew and that might include Zane. But when it came down to it, Cash was always the one to give it outright and he was rarely wrong with what he was saying whether you wanted to hear it or not.
So, he wasn’t wrong about turning love on and off, something I’d already conveyed to Nebraska, something she needed to hear again and again until that shit settled deep and sunk in.
“You’re right,” Nebraska croaked.
As soon as she uttered the phrase I shifted closer to catch her in case this was one of those times when ‘you’re right’ meant Cash was going to get a kick to his balls. Not that I was worried she’d damage his ability to reproduce, seeing as he’d cured himself of that.
She paused to clear her throat and began again. “You’re right. I am sitting here thinking you’ll judge me even though Easton told me you wouldn’t. But it’s not because I don’t believe Easton. It’s because my whole life I was programmed to think a certain way.”
“What way is that?” Smith asked.
