Chapter 46
Addie was feeling at a loss.
She shouldn’t let the fact that Cash had left get to her like this. After all, their ‘relationship’ had to end at some stage.
They lived in different cities.
They weren’t destined for any sort of relationship. That had been made abundantly clear.
She’d gone into this with her eyes wide open. So she had no right to feel . . . to feel abandoned.
He hadn’t said goodbye.
No, but from what Butch had said, he and Ralen had to leave in a hurry due to some sort of emergency.
So it was no surprise that Cash hadn’t taken the time to wake her and tell her goodbye. And he’d messaged her to apologize for leaving in a hurry.
But she wished she’d gotten to say goodbye.
That was the part that really upset her. She might never see him again. They hadn’t had a lot of time together and yet it felt like they’d known each other forever.
It was crazy, but it had felt so right.
However, what had felt right for her obviously hadn’t been right for Cash.
Addie guessed that was just the way life went sometimes, right?
She still felt lost and alone. And now, as well as Butch watching them, they had Ethan Stone. He was nice enough, but he was no Cash or Ralen.
She sat down on the sofa next to Monroe. Weirdly, Dotty was in the living room, pacing up and down.
“What’s going on?” she asked Monroe.
“Huh?” Monroe asked, staring over at her in surprise. “What’s going on where?”
Another stab of worry hit Addie. Monroe looked terrible, pale with dark marks under her eyes.
“Are you getting any sleep?” Addie asked.
“Not much,” Monroe confessed. “But then, are any of us?”
Yeah, that was true.
Suddenly the door opened, and she sat up straight. Maybe that was Cash. Maybe he was back. But it was just Butch stomping into the room. He stalked in and eyed them all.
“You all look like shit.”
She hadn’t spent much time with Butch, but he didn’t really seem the friendly, cozy type of guy. However, she hadn’t quite expected him to just bluntly say that.
“Thanks so much,” Dotty said dryly. “That’s what I always love to hear, how crappy I look.”
Addie winced. That was Dotty’s ice queen voice. It had frozen many a man and woman in their tracks. But Butch seemed remarkably unfazed by the chill seeping from her words.
That was pretty remarkable, really.
“Can you blame us?” Dotty asked. “After everything that’s happened?”
Butch crossed his arms over his chest. “Could be worse, couldn’t it? You could all be dead.”
Monroe sucked in a deep breath, while Addie let out a small pained noise.
Butch grimaced. “Fuck sorry. Didn’t mean to upset you all. But it’s just the truth. Things could be worse.”
Dotty sat on an armchair and sighed, nodding. She rubbed at her temples. “You’re right. Things could definitely be worse.”
Did she have a headache? Addie should get her some painkillers. But before she could even get up, Butch had grabbed some from the counter in the kitchen and brought them over to Dotty with a glass of water.
Dotty stared at them with a look of surprise, as though she couldn’t understand how they’d even gotten there.
“Oh, thanks.” She glanced up at Butch, then away.
Huh. Was there a little bit of red in her cheeks? Was she embarrassed over something?
Butch’s phone started to ring, and he drew it out of his pocket with a frown. “It’s Ink. Got to take it.”
Turning, he walked out of the room.
“He talks so much, it’s hard to get him to shut up,” Dotty said wryly.
Addie grinned at her. “He’s a regular chatterbox.”
Dotty swallowed the pills and looked over at Addie. “Your voice sounds much better.”
“My throat feels a lot better.”
“Good. That’s one thing to feel thankful for.
” Dotty tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair.
“We can’t stay here much longer. These guys can’t keep doing this for free and while I could afford it for a while it’s not going to be cheap.
Especially when nothing else has happened.
” She stared at Monroe. “But I don’t like the idea of returning if you’re in danger.
I think I’ll look into security for you. ”
“I could just stay in the house and not go anywhere,” Monroe suggested. “Or, I could still disappear somewhere else for a while.” She looked lost as she suggested that.
“No, we all stick together,” Dotty said. “Just the way it’s always been. All for one, one for all.”
“The Three Cutie-teers,” Addie said.
“Still don’t like that name,” Dotty told her. “Have you not thought of anything a bit better? Or just not naming us at all.”
“I think it’s cute. Instead of musketeers, it’s cutie-teers,” Addie said.
And she couldn’t change it now. She’d had T-shirts made up. She just hadn’t been able to give them to her sisters yet.
“No, whatever we do, we do it together,” Dotty said firmly. “We’re not leaving anyone behind.”
Monroe looked kind of miserable, as if she didn’t agree, and Addie reached over to squeeze her hand. “Do you want one of my squishies?”
To her surprise, Monroe nodded, and Addie got up to go into the bedroom. She grabbed one that she’d made. They were all lined up on a dresser: the ones Ralen had made, the ones done by Cash, and hers.
She sighed sadly. That might be the last time she ever got to interact with a Daddy Dom, to call someone Daddy and she’d only really had a taste.
That was kind of sad.
She grabbed one that she’d made and took it back to Monroe, right as Butch walked into the living room again.
He was scowling, but then that seemed to be his default facial expression anyway, so she didn’t really pay too much attention.
“Vextar is dead.”
The words were shot out of Butch like bullets, and that’s the way they hit the three of them. Dotty sat up straight, then collapsed back. Monroe gasped and grabbed her chest, and Addie sat right where she’d been standing on the floor.
Butch took in the three of them. “What’s wrong?”
What’s wrong? Was he serious? He’d just told them that Vextar was dead.
Monroe’s husband was dead. Sure, she barely knew him and he’d trashed their hotel room and threatened them.
But still . . . this was big.
And Butch was acting like someone had told him that they’d run out of coffee. Actually, he’d probably be more upset about that.
“He’s dead?” Monroe asked. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure. That’s what the cops told Ink. They want to speak to you, Monroe, about identifying him.”
“Identifying him?” Monroe cried.
“Why should she have to identify him?” Dotty said. “He’s the one that was trying to hurt her. Are you really asking her to identify the man that tried to kidnap her?”
“Well, to be fair, he wasn’t actually at the airport,” Monroe said.
“Yes, but in all likelihood, he’s the one that sent those men to grab you,” Dotty told her.
Monroe nodded.
“Either way, I don’t think she should be expected to go and identify this dead body. The police must have some idea that it’s him,” Dotty said.
“Well, he somewhat matches the description that Monroe gave them,” Butch explained. “But they would like her to identify him as well.”
“How did he die?” Addie asked.
Butch grimaced. “I don’t think you really want to know.”
“Well, now I think we have to know,” Dotty said. “What happened to him? How did he die?”
“He was murdered,” Butch said. “Shot three times.”
Monroe gasped and with her hand over her mouth she ran out of the room.
Addie jumped off the floor and ran after her, ignoring the wave of dizziness that hit her. She hadn’t exactly been eating properly since Cash had gone. And it seemed that it was catching up to her quickly.
Dotty followed her into the bathroom, where Monroe was bent over the toilet throwing up, not that she seemed to have anything in her stomach to throw up.
Addie knew how that felt, and it wasn’t nice. Grasping hold of Monroe’s hair, she rubbed her sister’s back. The memory of Cash doing this for her hit her hard.
Was she ever going to stop thinking about him? Stop missing him? Stop wondering about what could have been?
She really hoped so. Because she didn’t want to live this way for the rest of her life. She guessed the idea of him would fade over time, the memory would go.
Monroe finally stopped puking, and Dotty helped her drink some water while Addie closed the lid on the toilet and flushed.
“I’m so sorry, Monroe,” Addie said. “That must have been a real shock. Even though he was a dick who left you the morning after your wedding without a word, ghosted you, and maybe sent men after to kidnap you, it must still be hard to learn that he’s dead, that he was shot.”
“It was just a surprise,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting that. I don’t know what I wanted. I don’t think I wanted him dead, though. Maybe he wanted me dead. Who knows what those guys had intended on doing if they got hold of us in the airport?”
“What do you want to do?” Dotty asked. “You don’t need to go and identify the body if you don’t want to.”
Addie nodded. “The police sound pretty certain that it’s him. You don’t need to put yourself through that.”
Monroe sighed. “But I think I do to know for sure that he’s gone.”
“All right,” Dotty said with a nod. “Then we’ll go with you.”
Addie nodded. “Absolutely. The three cutie-teers ride again.”
“Well, there might really be tears this time,” Monroe said. “But you guys don’t need to come with me.”
“We’re going with you,” Dotty said firmly. “I’ll go and tell Butch to make it happen.” She left the room.
Addie pulled a face at Monroe.
Monroe giggled. “I bet Butch will really like that. He seems to totally enjoy being bossed around.”
“Yep, he’s got ‘I want to be bossed around’ written all over him.”