Chapter 6
Just as well she’d left when she had, because Cash turned up a couple of minutes later with a glass of water. He sat on the sofa next to her as she shakily drank some down. Weirdly, hearing all that stuff hadn’t made her less attracted to him.
It was like he held some sort of spell over her, and she couldn’t get free.
“What were you three doing in that bar?” Cash murmured. “It’s not the type of place for three women on their own. Especially a woman like you.”
Hey! What did that mean, a woman like her?
Jeez, first he was talking about how she wasn’t quite right, and now he was implying that a woman like her shouldn’t go to a bar?
Why? Because she was crazy?
He’s probably talking about the fact that you’re scared of your own shadow, you idiot.
Ralen returned with a pad and pen. He stopped as he saw her.
Shoot.
She was rubbing Snaggles’ ear under her nose. He probably thought she was crazy. Addie buried her face in her knees.
You can’t escape this.
You can’t hide.
And you need to find your sisters. So just grow up, Addie!
She waited for their scorn, for them to laugh at her. A twenty-eight-year-old woman, cuddling a soft toy and rubbing it under her nose while hiding in a blanket.
Ridiculous.
Everything about her was ridiculous.
“Right, your phone is charged to twenty percent,” Ralen said. “There are no messages, though.”
Addie raised her head at that. No messages? As soon as Dotty and Monroe were safe they would have messaged her.
Where were they?
Had something happened to them?
Oh God. Oh God.
“Don’t panic, Stowaway,” Cash told her in a low voice. “We’ll find your friends.”
“Sisters,” she croaked.
They both gave her surprised looks. She got it. They probably thought she was mute.
She was kind of shocked herself.
“Sisters?” Cash repeated. “Then they’re going to get in contact, aren’t they? Do you live here? Should we take you home? Do they live with you?”
She shook her head. Too many questions.
“You’re overwhelming her,” Ralen said, handing her phone to her. “Want to try calling them?”
Addie nodded shakily. Grabbing her phone, she tried Dotty first. But it went straight to voicemail. The same happened when she tried to call Monroe.
She bit her lip, trying to think. Just because they weren’t answering their phones didn’t mean anything. The battery could be dead.
Monroe was always forgetting to charge her phone.
But not Dotty.
She brought up their phones on the tracking app. They both showed that they were still at the bar. Turning her phone, she showed Cash.
“They’re still at the bar.” He glanced at Ralen.
Addie nodded and tapped her chest, then pointed at the phone. Yes, she could have written it on the pad, but her brain wasn’t thinking properly at the moment.
Cash shook his head. “Sorry, Stowaway, we’re not going back to that bar.”
All right. That was understandable. She couldn’t expect them to run her around like they were her personal taxi service. So she brought up the Uber app.
Cash placed his hand over her phone screen. “I should have made myself clearer. You’re not going back to that bar.”
Nerves filled her.
All right, maybe her instincts had been off and she shouldn’t have trusted them.
Perhaps she’d thrown herself from the frying pan and into the fire.
Shit.
He could see that he’d terrified her.
Well done, Cash.
He wasn’t really a soft guy, but he had a soft spot for women in trouble.
For Littles in trouble.
Not that he knew for sure that she was a Little, but he had his suspicions.
“I didn’t say that because I plan on keeping you prisoner or whatever else is going on in your brain.
But you can’t go back to that bar. It’s not safe there.
By now, the cops will be all over it. And even though their phones are showing as being there, it could be that they are dead and it’s pinging their last known location. ”
Her shoulders slumped. Defeat filled her face.
“Why don’t we take you home? They might be there,” Ralen said.
She shook her head. She probably didn’t want them to know where she lived.
Cash got it. She was a young woman on her own with two guys.
Two rough, tattooed guys.
She had no idea that neither of them would ever harm her.
“I know you might be scared to show us where you live,” Cash said.
She shook her head. “Hotel.”
Her voice was husky but quiet.
Sexy.
Get that thought out of your mind. She’s alone and vulnerable and you need to take care of her.
Not lust after her.
He was surprised that he was interested in her like that. She wasn’t really his type.
“You’re staying in a hotel?” Ralen asked.
She nodded.
“So you’re not from here?” Cash asked.
She shook her head.
“All right, well, we could take you to your hotel,” he suggested.
She nibbled at her thumbnail, looking unsure.
“Why don’t you send your sisters a message telling them that you will meet them at the hotel?” Ralen suggested. “If we don’t hear from them in an hour, we’ll take you there and see if they’ve come back.”
“And if they haven’t, we’ll go from there,” Cash reassured her. “I know someone who might have an idea of how to find them.”
Ink would be thrilled to be woken in the middle of the night with this. Maybe Cash could just talk to Brody on his own. See if he had any ideas on how to find them.
“Why did you get into the back of Cash’s pickup?” Ralen asked. “Was it just because you were running away from the brawl?”
She looked worried again.
Hmm. It seemed it might not have been the brawl or she would have just nodded, right?
“Addie,” Cash said as he leaned forward to stare into her eyes. “Why did you hop into the back of my pickup and hide?”
He’d assumed, like Ralen, that it was due to the brawl. She did seem rather nervous and the type who would hide. Look at her right now. She was hiding under a blanket. But what if it wasn’t just the brawl? What if there was something else?
Had someone hurt her?
His temper stirred. Cash could be hot-headed sometimes. He was trying to control it, but it wasn’t always easy. And a woman being hurt was his biggest trigger.
Addie was pale and nibbling on her thumbnail. There was definitely something else.
“Addie,” he said in a low voice. “Tell us what it was.”
She shook her head and he shared a look with Ralen. They couldn’t force her to talk to them.
Unfortunately.
She sent messages to both of her sisters. They had to be worried about her. Why they’d all gone to that fucking shitty bar in the first place, he had no idea.
That was something else he’d like to ask them.
As well as why the hell they’d let themselves get separated from their vulnerable sister. It was clear that Addie needed someone to take care of her.
Cash shuddered as he thought about what could have happened to her if she’d climbed into the back of someone else’s vehicle.
Thank fuck she’d chosen his pickup. It had to be some sort of sign or fate.
He was meant to take care of her.
Until you find her sisters, right?
Because you’re not in a position to take on any responsibilities. And you don’t really need a girl. Especially not one who was so . . . delicate. Vulnerable.
It was clear that she’d need a lot of care and attention. Guidance. And he couldn’t provide any of that.
Not when his life wasn’t actually his own.
But he would get her safely back to her sisters. And talk to them about taking better fucking care of her.
After an hour had passed, they grabbed her things and got ready to leave. She placed the blanket on the sofa.
Cash took her hand in his and led her out of the townhouse. She was either too shocked to fight his hold or she liked holding his hand as much as he enjoyed holding hers, because she clung to him as they headed to his vehicle. A shiver ran through her and he frowned.
“You didn’t bring a jacket?” he asked, slipping his off and putting it around her shoulders.
She attempted to shrug it off, but he held it there. “Keep it on or you’ll catch a cold.”
“You don’t really catch a cold from being cold,” Ralen pointed out as he headed around to the passenger’s side of the cab.
Cash just shot him a look. He didn’t need his logic right now. She needed to wear the jacket.
And that was that.
He opened the door to the driver’s side. This was a single cab with a bench seat. It was an older-style pickup that didn’t have power steering or any sort of cameras.
Just the way he liked it.
Without warning her, he grasped hold of her hips and lifted her straight in. She let out a small squeal of shock. But he quickly let her go and she scooted along the seat so she was between them.
Christ.
That ass was a thing of beauty.
And he shouldn’t be staring at her this way.
Fuck. You need to stop.
“Belt on. You’re not riding without it,” he said in a gruff voice as he turned on the truck. Ralen shot him a look over her head as if asking him what his problem was.
Yeah, he didn’t want to know.
They were all quiet as he backed out of the driveway and headed toward the hotel.
He turned a corner too fast and she leaned into him.
Christ.
She smelled so damn good. And she felt even better pressed against him.
Cash was growing hard and he shifted around, trying to get more comfortable and hoping like hell she didn’t notice.
Thankfully, they reached the hotel a few moments later.
He parked outside and looked up at the building.
Addie tugged on his arm and he glanced down to find she typed out a message to him on her phone.
Thanks for the ride. I’ll be okay.
He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. She didn’t seriously think that they were going to leave her here, right?
“You’ll be okay? Really? You don’t even know where your sisters are. Do you have a key to the room?”
She nodded.
“Then we’re going to escort you up there. No arguments.”
Yeah, the bossy jerk was back. Actually, he’d always been like this, but he could try to be a bit softer with her. It was obvious that she wouldn’t be able to handle his harder side.
If she knew what he did for a living, she’d have a fit.
A huff of breath came from her and he glanced down in surprise. She sounded irritated.
Ralen raised his eyebrows. “Did you lose your manners back on that sharp turn?”