Chapter 28 Daisy
TWENTY-EIGHT
DAISY
I stood in the shadowy tumult that filled Cash’s house. The energy was alive and volatile. Shimmering in the bare light that glowed from under the cabinets in the kitchen and the nightlight he’d installed in the hall in case one of the children needed to use the restroom in the middle of the night.
The man was so gruff and thoughtful it was disorienting.
But I wasn’t prepared for the storm that flooded the room when the alarm panel beeped and metal slid as he worked through the locks. Wasn’t prepared for the bedlam of intensity that spilled into the room.
The man was a towering, vibrating silhouette in the doorway, though I could feel the fire of his eyes as he froze to take me in. His stare hitting me like a thousand pounds of severity.
I shifted on my bare feet, uncertain of exactly what had pulled me from his room but one hundred percent sure it was him.
His spirit a call that clamored and shook and whipped as if he were wrapping me in chains.
But I’d always been that way when it came to him.
In chains.
Hooked and held.
Forever prisoner to everything I once felt.
I always believed the years would deteriorate and tarnish it, but I realized then it had only been twisted and reformed. It was raw and riddled with wounds, but the pulse that beat through the middle was just as strong.
“Cash,” I whispered into the lapping night.
He slowly stepped the rest of the way inside and locked the door behind him, pressing a button on his phone to reengage the alarm.
Then he carefully turned his focus back to me.
My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light. The corners creased as I struggled to make out what was smeared across his face.
My stomach dropped when I realized it was blood.
“Oh my goodness, Cash, what happened?” I rushed forward, and when I got close, I could see a gaping cut on the left side of his forehead that also oozed red. My attention raced, taking in the rest of him.
He was covered in leaves and dirt and his shirt was torn on the side.
It also became clear that he was guarding his left side.
“What happened?” I demanded again, my voice ragged and my knees going weak.
Fury blistered across his strong, obscenely handsome face. “Tripped out in the woods and rolled down a hill.”
Every word was gritted.
Surprise jetted from my lungs. Probably a little too close to a screech. “What in the world were you doing out in the woods?”
“Runnin’.”
Confusion bound, and he blew out a sigh when he realized his answer didn’t make any sense. “Thought I heard something, so I went to check it out.”
Fear lifted in a billow. One that felt like it would swallow me whole. I hugged myself across my middle.
“Did you find whatever it was?” The words were thin.
Rage boiled with the regret that swam through his expression. “No. Never actually saw anyone. Something just felt off.”
My attention skated to the darkened window. Heaviness thickened my throat.
I’d felt so safe here over the last two weeks. As if we’d been elevated. Removed. Like maybe I truly didn’t have to worry because Ethan couldn’t find us here.
A fool who’d sank into the security of Cash’s home.
“Do you…think someone is out there?” It came out timorous.
The set of his jaw was both staunch and grim. “No. If there was, I ran him off. Could have been an animal, for all I know.”
But with the ferocity that burned through his features, I knew he didn’t actually believe that. He was only trying to give me comfort. Assure me we were safe.
I wondered if he knew that even if someone was out there, as long as I was with him, that’s what I felt.
Safe.
I blinked, trying to put the churning emotions away so I could focus on him. “You’re hurt.”
His head barely shook. “It’s nothing.”
A scoff ripped free. “You have a really bad cut, and your side…”
I dropped my gaze to where I could see there was a tear in his shirt. The area was saturated with blood.
Tears blurred my eyes. I hated the idea of him being injured. That he was out there alone while I was behind the security of his doors. “How far did you fall?”
Hot air puffed from his nose. “I don’t know. Maybe twenty feet.”
A different sort of fear pelted me, my brain spinning through a million different scenarios.
Him hitting his head and losing consciousness. His body broken and mangled at the bottom of a cliff. Me having no idea that he was lying out in the forest in pain and in need of help.
“Oh God.” Horror blazed through me, and I flung my hands out as if I could shake off the sensation.
You know, just generally freaking out since I was struck with the truth that the care I held for Cash was so extreme it caused me physical pain.
It didn’t matter the things he confessed or the intimidation that shrouded him or the grunts that continually fell from his mouth.
To me, he was still the same boy who had taken a broken girl and breathed faith back into her.
It didn’t help that I spent the entire evening he was away staring at the ring he put on my finger. My mind getting away from me. Fantasies invading that were only going to ruin me in the end.
“I’m fine, Daisy.”
I looked up to find his expression twisted in emphasis, as if he’d witnessed every worry play out in my mind.
“I—”
He reached out and set his hand on my cheek. Warmth spread through me like the rushing of water.
He dipped down to make sure we were eye to eye. “I’m fine,” he reiterated.
“I don’t want to bring you harm,” I whispered.
He released an incredulous sound. “It’s not you who brings harm, Daisy. It’s always, always been me. You need to remember that. It’s me who’s the calamity. Me who’s dangerous.”
Shadows crawled over the defined angles of his face. Ghosts that played and had their way.
“I’m not afraid.” I took his hand and started to tug him deeper into the house.
“You should be.” It was a warning.
A warning to step away from the current that threatened to sweep us both from our feet.
“I’m not,” I said as I walked backward, guiding him in the direction of his room.
“What are you doin’?” he gruffed.
“We need to clean you up and get a bandage on that wound. That is unless you want me to call an ambulance?”
It was more a teasing warning than a true question.
I’d figured out enough about him by then to know there was no chance he would agree to that, even though it looked like he might need one.
He grunted. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Shocker.”
“It’s completely unnecessary, Daisy.”
“Then you should know I’m going to take care of you in place of it.”
Pain lanced through his features, and it didn’t have anything to do with the injuries he sustained tonight.
It was old and aged.
This man who believed he committed a sin that sentenced him to torment and Hell when I knew he would have given everything.
“Can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can, but that caring goes both ways, remember? You’re caring for me and my family, and I promise you that I will do my best to take care of you.”
A muted groan rolled out of him as I continued to slowly walk backward toward his room.
In the quiet of the night, the energy was louder than it’d ever been. A whir that stoked and inflamed and incited.
I pulled him inside.
A lamp glowed from the nightstand next to his bed, casting the room in a yellowed warmth.
I kept moving toward the bathroom, and I flipped on the light as soon as we stepped inside.
We both blinked against the bright intrusiveness, and I slowly turned back to him.
A horrified gasp raked free when I got a good look at the damage that had been done to his face.
A deep cut was on his temple, and dried blood was smeared across that entire side since he clearly had tried to wipe it away.
Red, inflamed scratches crisscrossed down his arms, and his white tee was tattered and shredded.
“You’re a mess.” I tried to keep the terror out of it.
The chuckle he released was ironic. “You can say that.”
I blew out a breath, trying to keep my crap together when I felt like freaking out again. “You’re lucky you didn’t break something.”
He sent me a wry grin. “Oh, I feel plenty broken.”
My stomach twisted, my gaze hooked on his injuries. I peeked back at the intensity that blazed from his hazel eyes. Eyes that tonight were nothing but yellow flames and fire.
“Are you sure you don’t need an ambulance?”
“I’m sure. You can do it.” There was a message written in the simple words.
A giving.
My nod was quick, and I looked around his bathroom.
It was rustic like the rest of the house. A shower and a freestanding bathtub along the right wall, and the toilet was on the very far side in a little doored alcove.
A long vanity ran the left side of the wall, though it only had one sink and a small mirror in front of it.
Every time I saw it, a blip of sadness rolled through me, though now all my toiletries were scattered on top.
It was clear he had structured his entire life around his solitude. Honestly, I was surprised he even had the extra rooms.
A tangle of nostalgia whisked through me as I thought of what it might mean, the way we’d dreamed of him building us this cabin, then I shoved it off and forced myself to speak. “Is there a first aid kit?”
“Under the sink.”
I shifted away and knelt to retrieve the kit then grabbed a washcloth from the stack in another cabinet.
I set the kit on the counter then turned the faucet to high. I couldn’t tell if I wanted to avert my gaze as I kept peeking at him through the mirror or stare right back the way he was doing.
The man standing right behind me.
His presence profound.
His proximity overwhelming.
The energy coming off him was almost more than I could bear.
The water finally warmed, and I wet the cloth under the fall. I shut off the faucet and wrung out the cloth before I timidly turned back around.
Knowing I was going to get walloped by the severity he exuded.
I inhaled a staggered breath as I fully turned to him.
A battered giant in the confines of the small room.