Page 153 of Devil’s Disciples

He chuckled. “Unless she’s got overwhelming evidence, I’ll deny it.”

“She’s got nothing.”

“I heard that. The proof’s between my legs,” she hissed.

He stepped into the house and looked at her. She remained half sitting, half laying, and her left boob was hanging out of the armhole of her dress.

Embarrassed, and embarrassed for her, I tried to decide how to handle the situation.

Cash sat down in the loveseat across from her and acted like he didn’t even notice. “What proof?”

“My unappreciated twat,” Jennifer spat. “If you wouldn’t have punched Tito, I’d be riding his dick right now. You stole my dick.”

He chuckled a dry laugh. “If anyone stole your dick, it was Tito.”

Jennifer sat up. After resituating what portions of her were exposed, she looked at Cash. Her face was smeared with confusion. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“He got what he had coming,” Cash said.

Jennifer tried to stand, but barely lifted her butt off the cushion before giving up. “We want to know why you hit him.”

“I’m a problem solver,” Cash said matter-of-factly. “I hit him because he needed hit.”

“Why?” Jennifer asked. “Why’d he need to be hit?”

I sat across from him on the loveseat, hoping that he would respond truthfully, but doubted my wish would be granted.

Cash glanced at me and then at Jennifer. He crossed his arms. Then, he crossed his ankles. He raked his fingers through his hair.

“You know that feeling you get when you like someone and you’re not quite sure if they like you back?” he asked. “You want to know, but you’re afraid to ask. You know what I’m talking about?”

Jennifer responded “yes” audibly, at the same time I responded “yes” silently.

“Well, I was a sophomore in high school, and that’s how I felt. I’d been crushing on this girl for a long time. She’d come over to my house at night and sneak in my bedroom window. We’d stay up all night talking about things that we didn’t share with anyone else – or so I thought, anyway. At the time I was young and stupid, but I’d lay in bed after she left and think all of that ‘what if’ shit. You know, ‘what if she liked me?’ ‘What if she let me kiss her?’ ‘What if this, what if that.’ Everyone knew how I felt about her. Hell, I talked about this girl day and night. Then, one night, she snuck in my window and started telling me a story about this guy she started fucking and how she was feeling guilty about it. I felt like someone smashed my heart with a fuckin’ sledgehammer. Hell, I couldn’t even breathe. But, I faked it, and acted like it didn’t hurt. I told her not to feel guilty. Of course, I was feeling a little jealous. So, I asked her who it was. After a I gave my word that I wouldn’t react harshly, she told me. Once I found out who it was, it was pretty clear why she was feeling so guilty.”

“Did you and Tito grow up together?” Jennifer asked.

Cash nodded. “We sure did.”

“It was him, wasn’t it?” Jennifer asked.

“Yeah,” Cash said without much emotion. “It sure was.”

My heart sank. His reluctance to commit to be in a relationship made sense. Not perfect sense, but I understood his fear of commitment a little better.

Jennifer’s eyes shot wide. She stood, steadied herself on the arm of the couch and shook her head in disbelief. “She fucked him?”

“He fucked her,” Cash said in a bitter tone. “More than once.”

“It takes two willing parties to do the dick dance,” Jennifer said with a thick tongue.

Cash shrugged. “I gave my word to her, so I let it slide. And, once I decide to let something go, it’s gone. So, from then until now, I tried to forget it ever happened. Then, when I saw him over here, I got pissed off. After I found out that he had no idea which one of you lived here, I realized he felt no remorse for doing what he’d done in the past. That’s why I hit him.”

While Jennifer appeared to be absorbing what had been said, Cash rested his forearms against his thighs and gazed blankly toward the kitchen.

I cleared my throat. “I understood all of that except for the last part. Why would it matter which one of us lives here?”

“He knew the woman who lived in this house was off limits,” Cash said.