Chapter 4
Adrenaline pumped inside Cash as he raced toward his truck with Ralen.
“Fuck. I didn’t realize how much I needed that,” Ralen said as he got into the passenger seat.
Cash headed out of the parking area and onto the street. Sirens wailed, getting closer.
“Those assholes really kicked off, didn’t they?”
“Yep. You okay?” Cash asked.
“Yeah, I’ll probably have a few bruises tomorrow, but I’m good.” Ralen glanced over at him curiously. “What’s up with you? I thought you’d feel better after getting rid of some tension.”
“I thought so too, but I just keep thinking about those women. Did you see them after the fight broke out?”
“No. Surely they took cover and got out of there?”
Cash hoped so. There was just one problem.
“I saw one of them. The smallest one, the one who was wearing a backpack. She was just standing there, staring at the brawl with a look of shock on her face. I told her to get out of there.”
“I’m sure she did then,” Ralen said. “Where were her friends, though?”
Cash shook his head. “Didn’t see them. But I did see some fucking asshole run after her.”
“You took care of him though, right?” Ralen asked.
“Of course I did. I’m just worried about what happened to her afterward. And where her friends went.”
“Hmm. If we go back we’re just going to get into trouble with the cops.”
“Yeah, can’t do that.” Dante wouldn’t be happy and neither would Aidan.
And of the two of them, it was his brother he didn’t want to disappoint.
Cash tightened his hands around the steering wheel. He hated that he hadn’t been there for Aidan and Greer after Aidan went to prison.
They were good now, though. Aidan had a small family. A girl he was going to marry soon and her three nephews that they were in the process of adopting. It wasn’t where Cash saw him ending up, living the domestic life. But after all the hell he’d been through, Aidan deserved happiness.
And Greer? She deserved it most of all. That bastard ex of hers had been abusive, to put it mildly. But now she had Hack.
They were all happy. Settled. And Cash was . . . lost. He felt like his life wasn’t his own. It was whatever Dante told him it would be. Which meant that right now, he and Ralen were here in Billings watching over Bonnie, Dante’s stepsister.
It was a fucking boring assignment. Bonnie already had a hulking, overprotective bodyguard.
Were they even needed? He wasn’t so sure. However, the alternative was probably returning to Mexico, to Dante’s compound.
That wasn’t something he wanted.
It wasn’t that Dante was a bad guy to work for. And he’d helped them when he didn’t have to. Well, he probably felt some obligation to help Ralen, since they were cousins.
But Cash wasn’t anyone. So he owed Dante. He just hoped he didn’t have to pay him back for the rest of his fucking life.
He pulled up in front of the townhouse where he and Ralen lived while they were on assignment in Billings. Bonnie and Titus lived in an apartment attached to LittleLand; however, Dante had bought this townhouse about two blocks away.
Close enough to be there in seconds if Bonnie needed them, but far enough away that she didn’t complain too much about being smothered.
Even if she was completely smothered in protection.
The townhouse next to them was empty and had been the entire time they were here. Dante had bought both townhouses, but Ralen and Cash were happy living in one and leaving the other empty.
Walking to the back of his truck, he drew the tarp back so he could reach the box of beer he’d stashed back here.
Then he froze.
“What the hell are you doing in here?”