Wrong Place Wrong Time
CASH
AUGUST
The tension in the truck was so thick I nearly choked on it. I glanced at my phone once more, noticing a text from Jacie. The minute I’d walked away from Ollie, I’d texted her, asking her to come over tonight and talk.
Jacie: Is everything okay??
I blew out a breath, tipping my head skyward for a moment before typing back:
Me: Yeah. See ya tonight.
I had to do this. Had to end it. Before I went and did something I couldn’t take back.
You see, I might be a flirt, I might toe the line a little too daringly, but I didn’t cheat.
Honestly, in the last ten years, this was the first actual relationship I’d been in.
Everything else had been hook ups or casual flings.
Nothing serious. I was a man of loose morals, but I wouldn’t cheat on her.
And now that I felt this…temptation thrumming through me just at the mere thought of Ollie, it was far past time I ended things.
“You break up with her?” Dad’s tone wasn’t scolding or even angry, merely curious.
“Nah. Tonight though,” I said, sighing once more.
He nodded. “I get why you tried, and you lasted a helluva lot longer than I expected, but I’m glad you’re endin’ it.”
I glanced at him, my gaze questioning as my defenses built up in preparation of an argument. “What’dya mean?” I asked slowly.
“Datin’ someone for all the wrong reasons ain’t ever gonna last.”
I continued to stare at my dad expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate.
“Look, I know why you went after Jacie Lynn. Why you wanted to make it work. She’s a sweet, pretty girl, one any mama would approve of. She’s the kinda girl it’s easy to picture happily ever with… But she wasn’t ever yours and I think you’ve known that from the very start.”
I met my dad’s knowing stare, cursing him for being so much more damn astute than he ever let on.
“Just because the boys settled down don’t mean you have to.”
“I know—”
“But do you, really?” He huffed. “You can’t go lookin’ for love. It’s gotta find you. Usually when you least expect it, from someone you never thought would be possible.”
I nodded, but my walls were already so far up that basically anything he said went in one ear and out the other. I was my father’s son after all, and he was as stubborn and thick-headed as they came.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to listen to him drone on in one of his rare fatherly lessons as the phone rang through the speaker on the truck. “Looks like the warden’s callin’,” I muttered.
Dad chuckled. “You better not let her hear you call her that. She’ll beat your ass.”
I laughed as my dad answered, “Hi, darlin’.”
“Hi, Mama!” I shouted over him.
“Oh good, y’all are together.” My mom’s voice echoed through the car’s speakers. Mama never had been one for pleasantries and small talk. She always was straight and to the point, rarely one for sugar-coating things. “We’re havin’ family dinner tonight.”
I frowned. Fuck, what about breaking things off with Jacie? I couldn’t do that if I had to go to my parents. Maybe I could see if she could come over after? But then I ran the risk of her pulling the same thing as the other night and her winding up staying over. “I can’t tonight, Mama.”
Dad flashed me a questioning look, silently asking why the hell I wouldn't be there. I mouthed Jacie’s name to him. He gave a slow nod, realization dawning.
But Mama wasn’t having any of it. “I already talked to Cheyenne and Charlie. They’ll be here tonight with the boys and kids. Goodie’s already here.”
Damn it. Why the hell was breaking up with Jacie turning out to be so hard? If I didn’t know better, I would say it was fate telling me it was meant to be, but I—along with everyone else, apparently—knew that was dead wrong. “Mama, I—”
“Cash Ulysses,” Mama said, her voice uncharacteristically hard.
I blew out a breath. She wasn’t messing around. She didn’t pull out my middle name unless it was something big. “Yes, Mama.”
She ended the call before either of us could say another word. What the hell was the reasoning for a family dinner about anyway? She didn’t sound excited, and the one thing that Mama loved more than book club and her church group was family dinners. Worry tangled into knots in my stomach.
“Was she weird to you?” I asked, glancing at my dad.
He nodded. “She’s been…different lately,” he admitted. “More irritable. Shorter temper.”
“Shorter? So you mean non-existent?”
Dad chuckled. “You said it, not me.” He sighed, as if he was already anticipating tonight to be a shitshow.
Well, damn. There went my night.
Jacie Lynn’s sky blue Mustang sat in the driveway of my parents’ house, looking out of place amongst Ryder, Maverick, and Goodie’s trucks. I’d told her to come over after dinner to my place. Why was she here?
“Fuck,” I groaned out. “Mama just had to go and invite her, didn’t she?”
It was the only thing that made sense. Charlie, and especially Chey, wouldn’t have invited her over without at least giving me a heads up first.
I glanced at Dad, whose brows were scrunched up, his gaze narrowed and closed off. His mouth was drawn up into the usual frown he wore so well. To most he came off as angry, but I saw the worry written in the corners of his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as we parked.
He undid his seatbelt, his hard stare locked on the house. “I don’t know. Just got a bad feelin’.”
I swallowed back the dread pooling within me as I opened the passenger door and got out.
My boots crunched over the gravel as I headed for the porch steps and the front door beyond.
Mustering up a fake cheerfulness I sure as hell didn’t feel, I pushed the door in, not bothering with knocking. They’d know who it was soon enough.
“Big Daddy’s in the house,” I crowed, but the sound rang hollow even to my own ears.
My parents' living room was a flurry of activity.
Chey and Mav both sat on the floor, trying to get Stormie to crawl between the two of them.
Ryder was carrying Railon in from the front guestroom that my parents converted into a nursery.
It was crazy to think the two of them were a little over six months old now.
Charlie and Jacie helped Mama in the kitchen, while Goodie sat in one of the recliners watching whatever baseball game was on, but all eyes shot to Dad and I as we walked in.
“Funcle Cash!” I heard Cason’s voice before I saw him. He came barreling in from the backyard, Brandy and Dutch hot on his heels. I swear, kid never was far from those two dogs. He launched into my arms, knocking the breath out of me.
I grinned down at him and ruffled his hair. “Hey ya, kiddo.”
Jacie’s blue jean gaze bore into me as she hurried over to my side, her pretty face filled with worry. It sucked. She was so pretty, so sweet and kind. She was everything I should want. She sure as hell was what I thought I needed.
The night I’d met her came to mind. I’d been drawn to her like a kid to a candy store. She’d fit the bill for someone I thought I could settle down with, but in the end, I’d been wrong. Really damn wrong.
“Hey,” she said, pressing a delicate hand to my chest as she rose up on tiptoe and kissed me. “What’s goin’ on? You sounded short in your texts.”
Nothing. I felt nothing as her pillow soft lips brushed mine.
No spark. Not even a simmer. My mind—as traitorous and fucked up as it was—went to Ollie.
I’d felt like I’d touched a livewire just from talking to her earlier.
A prickle of guilt stabbed into me. Fuck, I shouldn’t be thinking about her right now.
It was probably just because she was something new and shiny. And off limits.
I fought off the image of her in my mind, a sense of sadness welling in my chest as I looked down at Jacie. Her light brows were drawn together, that bowtie mouth of hers pursed while her eyes swam with concern. I was gonna break her heart.
“Sorry, I was drivin’,” I lied. She’d know that if she’d seen me get out of the truck.
Completely oblivious, she rested her chin against my chest and offered up a reassuring smile. I gave her hand a squeeze and pulled away from her, a ruse to create some distance between us, before turning to look around the room.
“Alright,” I finally said, “So what’s goin’ on, Mama? Why did we all need to change our plans for dinner tonight?”
Mama hovered by the door to the kitchen, drying her hands on a dish towel. “We can’t start yet.”
I frowned. “Why not. Everyone’s here.”
Her light gaze settled on me, and my chest constricted at the words that fell from her lips. “Not everyone.”
As if on fucking cue, I heard a motorcycle rev before dying altogether. I bit back a curse as I pulled my hat off and ran a hand through my hair. Well, this was gonna be fun.
It’d been months since I’d talked with True. The last time being when Dad and I had asked him to help us with Cheyenne’s ex when he’d threatened her after Maverick bashed his face in at Cowboy’s last January.
Aside from the uneasy truce we’d called that day, I hadn’t heard from him since.
It was hard having a relationship when your little brother hated just about every damn thing that made you, well, you.
Mama’s voice in my ear nearly made me jump. “Be nice,” she warned.
“Yes, ma’am,” I gritted out under my breath. I wasn’t the one who needed the reminder. True’s the one who always pushed himself away.
The sound of boots scraping against the wooden porch resounded seconds before a knock came on the door.
It was wild to me that he acted like such a stranger.
He’d lived here. Grown up here. He’d crawled on these floors, played in these rooms, ran down these halls.
This was his home, and yet he knocked on the door.
Dad let him in, holding a hand out as he murmured, “How’re you doin, kid?”
True returned his handshake and dipped his head to my dad before moving further into the house.