Chapter 17
H is house came into view. The yard light cast a soft glow over all the buildings on his property. Cash had taken her to the lake, but with the cool temps, they’d had to scurry back into the cab of his truck. Quick sex in the backseat of his truck had only been an appetizer.
He’d gone out dancing with her and now he got to take her home. A guy could get used to this.
No, he’d never get used to it. Not when it was what he’d wanted for so long but had told himself he wasn’t good enough to have.
He’d been the plus-one several times as his cousins had dated.
Then witnessed Dillon find true love. And Brock—the least likely of them to find a woman who understood him—as he fell hard for Josie.
Each time, it’d bothered Cash more and more that he wasn’t allowed to have that.
But he was. And she was next to him. She wanted him to be honest with her. And he would, but not about her brother. It’d devastate her; she’d blame herself for ever making her brother worry.
He shot her a grin full of promise as he turned into his drive.
She smiled back and when her gaze angled away, she frowned. “What the hell?”
He looked in the same direction and an ominous cloud floated over the whole night. A dark sedan sat in front of his garage, parked next to Abbi’s car.
“Is that Ellis’s car?”
She nodded, but she was squinting to look inside the vehicle. All at once, three doors opened.
He recognized Ellis as he stepped out of the car, but there was another man and a woman with him.
“Who are they?” he asked.
“My parents.”
Ice washed through his veins. The air around them grew heavy. Abbi must be thinking the same thing he was. This couldn’t be good.
“Haven’t you talked to them since you told your ex off?”
She shook her head, her gaze stuck on the people congregated behind the car, waiting for Cash to park. “I thought he’d go home, and I just didn’t want to deal with them. I texted them and said I was staying in Moore until the end of the week and then I’d love their help moving my stuff.”
Since Ellis the Ex was in Cash’s normal parking spot, he swung around in front of his separate garage.
Abbi gave him one final look, as if she was siphoning strength from him to face her family.
As soon as she got out, her mom’s voice carried across the yard. “Abigail, thank god!”
Cash’s boots hit the ground in time to see Abbi’s mom scurry across the gravel, her arms out to hug her daughter.
Abbi let her mom soothe herself for a moment. “What are you guys doing here?”
Abbi’s dad strode to his ladies, his suspicious glare landing on Cash. Cash looked at Ellis. The man’s grim stare was stuck on Abbi, like if he didn’t look at Cash, Cash didn’t exist.
“When Ellis called and told us you broke up with him because of…” Mrs. Daniels peered at Cash.
He stopped by his tailgate and waited, letting Abbi take the reins in this situation.
“Mom, Dad, this is Cash Walker. Perry called him Reno.”
Mr. Daniels’s jaw clenched and he assessed Abbi’s ruffled hair and rumpled appearance. Cash’s own shirt was untucked and his coat was in the cab. They didn’t look like a couple who’d been out dancing. They looked like they’d been doing what they’d just done.
“Nice to meet you.” Cash put out his hand.
Mr. Daniels glowered at it, but eventually grasped it in a firm handshake.
Mr. Daniels was an older, more mature version of Perry Daniels.
Cash could hardly look at him without being assaulted by memories of joking with Daniels—or of finding him staring at his weapon while deep in thought, huge lines of sadness etched into his face.
He tried to look up again, but seeing Mrs. Daniels sent a wave of grief over him.
These people had lost a son, and no matter how much Cash told himself he wasn’t responsible, he’d always feel like a failure for not having prevented Daniels’s decision.
What had Abbi said? Her parents had been hurt and disappointed that none of Daniels’s squad had come to visit after they’d gotten home.
Cash had known why he hadn’t made the trip, but now he knew .
He hadn’t felt worthy enough to face them.
Their fear and grief over Abbi’s actions likely couldn’t compare to what their son’s death had done to them.
He wouldn’t have been able to stammer out an apology and lurch away. And how would that have sat with them?
“What’s going on here?” Mr. Daniels asked gruffly.
The man must’ve taken Cash’s avoidance as guilt that he had ill intentions toward Abbi.
Abbi broke away from her mom and crossed to Cash’s side. He hooked an arm around her and forced himself to face Daniels’s parents—Abbi’s parents.
“I met Cash and we’ve formed a relationship. I don’t know what Ellis told you, how he told you, but there’s nothing nefarious. Being with Cash helped me see how miserable I was at home.”
Mr. Daniels scowled. “You ended a four-year relationship and started another one within a week?”
“Abigail,” Mrs. Daniels breathed, “what were you thinking? Do you know how worried we’ve been?”
Remorse touched Abbi’s eyes. “I kept telling you I was fine. I really am.”
“Why would you—” Abbi’s mom drew herself up. “I think we should talk in private.”
Abbi shook her head and pressed close to Cash. “We will all discuss this together, not that I need to justify anything I’ve done. I’m an adult.”
Her dad’s forehead creased in concern. “Fine. Then why would you leave a man who treats you like a queen, provides for you, and came running after you for a coward who can’t face his friends’ parents?”
Cash recoiled. Whoa. Direct attack. But no anger flurried within him. Daniels’s parents were right to think he was a coward.
“Dad!”
“No, it’s all right.” Cash rubbed her shoulder.
Abbi’s mom went to stand by her husband, her expression strained. “Ellis told us he asked around town about Cash.”
Cash wanted to groan. With his own history fueled by his dad’s actions, he could imagine what had been said about him.
“And what, Mom? You’re going to believe Ellis and a bunch of strangers over what I say?”
“You haven’t made the best decisions in the past,” her mom said.
“He has quite a reputation.” Mr. Daniels’s hard stare burned into Cash. “He’s not someone I want my daughter with.”
Cash chewed on his cheek. He couldn’t exactly argue with the man. He’d worked hard to dissuade anyone from thinking he was boyfriend material. Abbi squeezed his side in reassurance.
“He’s a hard-working man,” Abbi defended. “He works from sunup to sundown.” She shot Ellis a hard look as if to stress that Cash worked longer hours than him. “Hard, honest work. I’m sure there’s plenty of places in Moore I could find a job.”
Her mom’s eyes bugged out. “You’re moving here?”
“Eventually.”
Ellis drifted toward them, hesitancy in his step. “I accept that you and I are done, Abigail. But it doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Before you give up your entire life, think about what kind of living he makes from ranching, how unreliable it can be.”
He had a feeling about where Ellis was going with this. “My cousins and I run a successful farming and ranching operation, which I’m sure you discovered when you asked around town.”
“And when grain prices fall?” Ellis countered. “Or cattle prices? What if a hail storm wipes out your crops? Do you have any education to fall back on, or will the whole operation crash?”
Abbi stiffened next to him and it was his turn to give her a reassuring squeeze.
“Do I have a college degree? That’s what you’re asking, right?
No. I don’t.” He directed his next words to the worried mom and dad hovering in his yard.
“Rest assured, this business is one of the longest running in the county. I’m a fifth-generation farmer and rancher, and this place has weathered many storms, both climate related and financial. ”
“Doesn’t mean you’re the man for my daughter,” her dad said calmly. “Abigail, why would you want to be one of many?”
Cash sucked in a breath. It was hard not to get pissed, but more at himself because what the man said about his past was true. A previous lack of commitment didn’t make him a bad guy. He hadn’t lied to the women he’d been with, or made false promises.
“Cash’s past is none of my business, and what goes on between us is none of your business—” she stabbed a finger at them, then pointed at Ellis, “—and none of yours.”
Her mom spoke and her voice was low, serious.
“Perry told me plenty about Reno—Cash—whatever the hell you call yourself. Despite the stories, like my daughter, my son seemed to treasure your friendship. Yet you let him down. You let us down. You let him get killed, and you let the army lie to us and blame my son—” her voice cracked, “—who’s no longer here to defend himself.
I won’t tolerate my daughter associating with a man like you. ”
Cash worked to steady his breathing. Fucking Daniels wasn’t here to defend himself and his parents blamed Cash for the man taking his own life. Actions that would lead to Cash losing the love of his life. Or worse, having her lose her parents because he didn’t tell them what had really happened.
Abbi would walk. He could feel her resolve in the hard lines of her body. She was prepared to leave everything in Green Bay and set up life with him. She’d lost her brother. They’d lost a son. Cash couldn’t be responsible for them losing a daughter, too.
“The army didn’t lie.”
Abbi nodded next to him, and his heart cracked. Would she hate him when this was over?
Her mom cut a hand through the air. “No. I know they did. Why was my son taken and no one else was even injured?”
There were injuries, but nothing severe, and definitely not a loss of life. “Because he disobeyed orders to fall back. Dil—my cousin relayed the order and we were working our way back out when I noticed Daniels wasn’t with me.”
Mrs. Daniels shook her head. “You’re lying. Protecting yourself. I knew you were hiding something. Perry wouldn’t have put himself in danger like that.”