Chapter 34 #2
Sadness fills Cash’s face at my mention of those events.
“I know I hurt you, Callie; you hurt us too. I never wanted to bring you pain, but I can’t apologize for it.
I am sorry I dragged you in front of the camera, knowing afterward I was going to leave you alone.
If I had been with you, or you with me, that night, things would have been different,” Cash says, spilling his heartache and pain onto my soul.
I see the opening, the gap, where I can confess and tell them I’m sorry.
The time when I can smooth over the pain and heartache and explain myself.
But I don’t take it. It isn’t fair to either of them if I give them a blanket apology.
They each deserve the time to talk to me alone.
So, I carry on with my story. “He grabbed my hair and pushed me to the floor, straddling me. He hit me across the cheek.” I saw stars when he did it and I thought he was going to knock me unconscious.
“Then he pulled me up and yelled for a while about the apartment and me leaving, and you, Cash. He punched me in the jaw at one point, which made me fall to the floor. I think that’s when you got there because he hauled me up by my arm and dragged me to the closet.
You know what happened next.” I don’t tell them he kissed me, roughly, and threatened to make me his wife in all the ways that matter again since I had let another man inside me.
It would hurt them more and I’ve done enough.
“The doctor mentioned yesterday he thinks they will discharge you in a few days so we will need to head back to Inspiration in the next day or so,” Cash informs me.
My heart splits in half. I’m so grateful they came for me.
So thankful they sat by my bed. “Why are your eyes filling with tears, Callie?”
“I am just so happy you came for me and that you’ve been here. Thank you. Do you think I could hire a car to drive me, or maybe someone would be willing?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Duke asks me, harshly.
“So I can get home? Although I don’t know where home is. Do you think I still have a place to live?”
Cash and Duke make almost identical faces, furrowing their brows before rolling their eyes.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, not to be rude, but I killed a man for you a week ago. Killed. And you think I was just here for fun and intend to just…leave?” Duke is incredulous and the look on his face is so comically offended that both Cash and I snicker, earning a frown.
“Well, you said you had to leave?” I’m confused.
“Yeah, because we went on an unplanned impromptu rescue mission while we were sitting around the fire and are in Duke’s truck. We can’t even get you home unless you want to spend the drive squished between us with a shifter between your legs.”
“Do not respond the way your face says you want to. You’re injured, Caroline,” Duke scolds me before I can even put words to the thoughts that are clearly written on my face. I giggle, and both their faces soften.
“We discussed it last night, before bed,” Cash adds.
“Before bed…?”
“Yeah, at the hotel?” Cash seems confused by my confusion.
“Listen, I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about this whole situation but you saying ‘before bed’ conjured an interesting picture, okay?” I snicker at him, crinkling my nose.
“Simmer down, Callie. We have separate beds. And you called me shameless. I swear.” Cash rubs his hand down his face, his cheeks a little pink at my implication.
Duke looks at Cash, tilting his head just a little, then rubs the week of beard he’s grown. “Sorry, sweetheart, he’s just not my type.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Can we focus please?”
Duke exhales a laugh at Cash’s words. It’s a real live, deep, throaty laugh and it makes my heart sing. He’s so reserved but it seems he saves his joy for Cash which is such a cowboy bromance thing.
“Anyway,” Cash continues, “we talked. Before we went to our separate beds and hugged our own pillows. And one of us snored. It wasn’t me.
” Duke rolls his eyes. “We are going back to Inspiration and swapping Duke’s truck for mine.
It has a backseat. That way you can ride up front, and Duke can watch over us from his perch in back. ”
Duke lets out a beleaguered sigh, as though this is all too much for him.
“I can ride in the back,” I volunteer.
“No, you can’t. You need to be able to lean back.
I’ll be behind you to help you however you need, and Cash will drive the speed limit and get us home.
And, I have no idea the state of your apartment, but we think it will be best if you stay with Cash at the farmhouse for a bit. Just until you’re back on your feet.”
“You both think it will be best?” I’m sorry, these men are jointly making decisions for me now? “I actually think you two need to tell me what is happening here. The last time I saw you, before you busted in like white knights, you hated me. Rightfully so, but I am just confused.”
Looking between them, I wait to see who will break first. Surprisingly, it’s Duke.
“Look, Caroline, this isn’t the ideal place or time for a conversation as serious as this. We can’t do confession hour while you’re injured. We will have the conversation, but can we please just get you home, settled in at Cash’s, and then go from there?”
“Yeah, Hurricane.” Hearing his nickname for me warms me from my toes to the top of my head. “Big conversations are needed, and I would like to have them at home. Will you let us take you home?”
I nod. “But only if Duke is there too. It’s the three of us or it’s nothing.”
Duke looks at Cash and they do the silent communication thing I’ve noticed a lot these last few days before Duke nods.
“Okay, I’ll be there, Sunshine.”