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“Please,” Braydon whimpers. “Just—”
“Cash, stop,” June says. “Just stop. He’s not worth this.” Her hand comes to my arm. “I don’t need you to do this.”
I hear what she’s saying, but it’s difficult to think of anything other than ruining this idiot.
“What did I tell you I would do?” I shake him.
Braydon is a mute. Lost all that hot air he was releasing not a couple of minutes ago.
“Let me remind you.” I crack my head against the bridge of his nose and then throw him onto the sand.
“Stop!” June shrieks. “That’s enough. That is enough.”
Braydon rolls around in the sand.
The music in the bar has cut off, and everyone is staring. The bartender is already on the phone to the cops, and I swear under my breath.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” June says. “I had it under control.”
I turn to her, but the asshole ex speaks first. “I’ll sue you for this! I’ll—”
The whoop of sirens cut across his words, and I know that I am in the deepest shit possible. Jesse marches into the bar.
“June,” I start.
But June is pale, trembling, her gaze staring through me rather than at me, like she’s seeing me for the first time. The real me.
I can’t lose her now that we’ve finally found each other.
Forty-Seven
JUNE
I thinkthere’s something wrong with me, because while I’m pissed at Cash for breaking Braydon’s nose, a small, sick part of me was turned on by that.
It’s been a couple of days since Cash was nearly arrested at Longhorn’s. Braydon decided not to press charges because I told the cops that Cash was acting in my defense. I still have the bruise on my arm to prove it.
The look on Braydon’s face as he left Longhorn’s will forever be ingrained in my brain. Fear.
He won’t be coming back.
But that’s not the problem here. Cash wants to protect me, but I need him to realize that I have to fight my own battles, pave my own way, otherwise this isn’t going to work.
I spent too long with a man who wanted to keep me like a trinket, rather than love me like a woman. And if I’m going to be with Cash, in whatever capacity, I need him to realize that.
I sit in Marci’s living room on the sofa, blanket bundled around my waist, and my phone in hand. I have two missed calls from Cash, and I stare at them, my heart pounding.
He’s sent me a text message as well.
CASH
When you’re ready to talk, I’m here.
I don’t feel pressured to answer him, and I’m not sure what I want to say yet. I miss him so much, it hurts, even though it’s only been a couple of days. And I’ve got other things to deal with. I need to check my college applications. I need to find a job—I’m still waiting to hear back from Sara about being a nanny for Daisy. Just because I’ve basically fallen head over heels for Cash again doesn’t make any of those problems go away.
Marci taps on the living room wall. “You okay in here, bestie?”
I smile. “Yeah. Thanks again for letting me stay here.”
