Chapter 50
Cash couldn’t believe it. He had Addie back in his arms.
Where she belonged.
Only, why had the two of them been racing along the street like the devil was after them? Why had she fought him? She hadn’t even realized it was him for a start.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded. “What’s going on? Why were the two of you running down the street like that?”
“Oh, my God, the man in the house,” Monroe cried. “We forgot about the man in the house.”
“There’s a man in your house?” Ralen asked, a strange look coming over his face.
“It’s Limpy,” Addie cried, her voice cracking.
Anger filled him.
Limpy, Vextar’s accomplice, was in their house? He was going to fucking kill that bastard.
Cash glanced over at Ralen, “Keep the girls safe.” And then he took off, ignoring the yells behind him. Nobody touched his girl and got away with it.
What the fuck did this bastard think he was doing?
Running into the house, he spotted a guy attempting to get to his feet in the hallway. He was ashen and rumpled.
Limpy spotted Cash and his eyes widened. He attempted to step back, then he turned and started to run.
But Cash had always been fast. He tackled him easily, slamming him to the floor, then spinning him over.
“Who the fuck are you?” Cash roared. Standing, he grabbed the other guy and then slammed him into the wall. “Well? Who are you? And what do you think you’re doing in my girl’s house?”
“I didn’t do nothing to her,” the guy whined. “I didn’t do nothing. I was just lost. I was just looking for someone. They attacked me! They kicked me in the balls!”
“Looking for someone? Do you always attack people you’re looking for?” Monroe stormed into the house followed by Ralen and Addie.
Had he not told Ralen to keep the girls safe? That meant keeping them away from this asshole. Not that he was going near either of them ever again.
“You attacked us, you broke into our place, and pushed me up against the wall. Then you shoved Addie to the ground, and you had a knife. Where’s the knife?” Monroe demanded.
He had a fucking knife, and he’d pulled it on Addie? He’d shoved her? Put his hands on her?
Rage filled Cash, blocking out everything else.
Dead. This asshole was dead.
He wrapped his hands around the other man’s throat and slowly increased the pressure.
The guy scratched at his hands while the others all yelled.
“Cash! Man, you don’t want to do this. You don’t want to kill him,” Ralen said.
Cash ignored him. He very much did want to kill this asshole. No one touched his Addie.
Not without feeling his wrath.
And then a cool, small hand touched his. Immediately, his body started to relax, and some of the anger faded. Cash had always been a bit of a hothead. But never around Addie.
“Cash, let him go,” Addie said in a husky voice. “I don’t want you to kill him. Then you’ll be in trouble. I don’t want you to have his death on your hands. Plus, he needs to give us some answers.”
She was making sense, even though he knew that he could easily get rid of the body without any ramifications to him. But still, the last thing he ever wanted was for her to be scared of him, which she might be if she saw him kill somebody.
She didn’t know the full extent of his dark past. She didn’t know who Dante was, or the things he’d had to do over the years.
The things he’d just done recently for Ortega would probably make her turn away from him. That’s why she’d never know. Cash would take those secrets to the grave if it meant that he got to keep her.
So he forced himself to let go of the asshole and step back. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. To his shock, rather than looking at him in fear or horror, Addie moved closer and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing the side of her face against his chest.
“You’re all right,” she told him. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”
Was she trying to soothe him? Was she trying to do what he had often done for her? A wave of gratitude filled him. He knew he didn’t deserve Addie.
He’d lived a rather checkered life, and there was more of that to come. The things he sometimes had to do weren’t within the law. And that wasn’t going to change.
But there was no mistaking the way he felt about her, and the lengths he would go to in order to keep her.
Ralen took hold of the guy he’d been choking and spoke quietly to Monroe, who rushed off. Probably to grab something to tie him up with.
Addie’s hand cupped his cheek and he glanced down at his girl. When he stared into her eyes, he felt even better, more calm, more relaxed.
Shit. Had he scared her?
She didn’t look worried, but she might be hiding it from him. She might be concerned that he was going to turn on her.
“I’m so sorry, Addie. Are you—”
“Are you okay?” she asked, interrupting him.
Then she blushed. “Shoot, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
“No, no, baby. You didn’t. I want to know if you’re all right, though. Did he hurt you?”
“He just grabbed me, shoved me around a little bit. I don’t know about Monroe, though.”
Turning, she glanced at her sister, who had returned with a belt which Ralen used to secure the intruder’s hands behind his back. Ralen sat him up, leaning him against the wall. “Stay the fuck there.”
Then Ralen turned to Monroe. “Are you all right? Did he harm you?”
Monroe shook her head. “No, he just slammed me into the wall and tried to strangle me. It really wasn’t that bad.”
“Not that bad?” Ralen snapped. “We need to have a talk about what you consider to be bad!”
“It was bad,” Addie whispered. “It was really bad. I was so scared.”
Cash could feel her trembling against him.
Screw this. He lifted her into his arms and held her against his chest. If she acted scared or wanted him to let her go, he would, or at least that’s what he told himself.
But she didn’t do either of those things.
Instead, she just slumped against him, as though she was glad that he now had her in his arms.
“I have you. I have you now. You’re safe.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she told him. “I don’t know why you are, but I’m so glad you are.”
Fuck, he was too. He hated to think what might have happened if he and Ralen hadn’t been here.
Hopefully, they would have gotten away. They’d had a good head start, and Limpy probably wasn’t that fast, but he still didn’t want to think about that.
It was terrifying.
And it was further proof that she needed to be with him at all times, so he could look after her.
“Let me go,” the guy said. “I’m gonna tell the fucking cops that you assaulted me. He tried to strangle me.” He nodded toward Cash.
Cash let out a bark of laughter. Was this guy for real?
But then Addie made a small sound of fear and burrowed deeper into his chest.
“What is it, baby?” he whispered into her ear.
“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” she whispered back.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going to get into trouble. He assaulted you and Monroe. I was just defending you. Not that we’re calling the cops anyway.”
She tensed and glanced up at him. “I did call the police, though.”
Shit. He glanced at Ralen, then at the guy. “Police will be here soon. He’s Limpy, isn’t he? He’s the guy from the video.”
Ralen studied him. “Yeah, I think so. Do you want me to get rid of him before the cops get here?”
Cash nodded. “We need answers from him. A guy like this isn’t likely to give them to the cops.”
“But he’ll give them to you two?” Monroe asked, looking confused.
“Yep, he’ll give them to us,” Cash said with surety. “Find something to put over his mouth, Monroe. We aren’t going to have time to get rid of him before they get here so we’ll have to hide him. Are you up to dealing with the police?”
“What should we tell them?” Addie asked as Monroe rushed off.
“We’ll tell them that the guy ran off when I got here and I decided it was a better idea to stay with my girl than chase after him.”
Addie stared up at him. “Your girl?”
He cupped the side of her face. “All mine.”