Chapter 63
If Bubble gum and Cotton Candy had a baby, they would live in this bedroom. Cash stared around the spare bedroom at Bonnie’s apartment in horror.
Everything was a shade of pink, from pale pink all the way to hot pink. Every pink you could imagine. The only things that weren’t pink were the doors and the carpet. That was it. Even the ceiling was pink, with a pink chandelier hanging from it.
“Is this all right?” Bonnie asked. “Here, why don’t you put her down? I’ve got a weighted blanket in this chest. That might help.”
Bonnie bustled around as Cash laid Addie down on the fluffy pink bedspread.
Was it possible to get a migraine from looking at too much pink?
Because if it was, he was well on his way to developing one. But he didn’t say anything to Bonnie. She was being really kind to Addie, fussing over her. She found a weighted blanket and tucked it around her.
Addie just stared around, looking at both of them, but not saying anything. He wasn’t certain if she was still too anxious and scared to talk, or whether she was just so overwhelmed she had nothing to say.
“This is great, Bonnie, thanks,” he said to her. “I really appreciate you putting us up like this. I didn’t think that my brother’s house was a good place for Addie right now. She needs some quiet and to feel safe.”
“Of course you should come here. We’re family, aren’t we?
” Bonnie said as she patted his arm. “I know you’ve never really liked having this job, Cash.
I asked for you because I figured it would be good for you to come home.
That it would give you a chance to reunite with your brother and sister.
I’m sorry if it was the wrong thing to do, bringing you here. ”
Cash froze and stared down at her. “You brought me here, Bonnie?”
Bonnie shrugged. “I overheard Dante and Ralen talking about your situation, about how your brother and sister didn’t even know you were alive, and you didn’t want to tell them unless you could go home and see them in person, because you thought they might try to find you.
I wanted to move away, and I had a choice of several locations for my shop, so I chose this one thinking I could bring you with me, and you could reunite with them.
But sometimes you don’t seem really happy about being here, so I worry I made the wrong choice. And—oomph!”
Cash cut her off as he drew her tight into his chest and rocked her back and forth.
“Bonnie, you’re one of the very best people I know.
” He pulled back and stared down at her.
“And I’m not upset about being home. Coming home was the second-best thing to ever happen to me, the first being meeting Addie.
If I hadn’t been able to reunite with my brother and sister, to tell them I was alive, I think I might have gone slowly mad.
I think that one day I likely would have picked a fight that I couldn’t win. ”
Sadness filled Bonnie’s face. “I didn’t want that to happen.”
“Being here doesn’t upset me, Bonnie. Looking after you doesn’t upset me. Sometimes I just feel a lack of control over my life.”
“Oh, if anyone knows about that, it’s me,” Bonnie said.
He bet it was.
“But now that I have Addie, I think I have a sense of responsibility and purpose, a reason why I’m here. So thanks, Bonnie. If you hadn’t brought me back here, I’d never have met her. I’d have never had a chance to spend time with my brother and sister. And I owe it to you.”
“I’m just glad you’re happy,” Bonnie said. “Now let’s make sure Addie is happy, too. Do you think you’ll go back into the apartment to live?”
“No, I don’t think so,” he said.
“Well, when you do find a new place,” Bonnie said. “You will come here to furnish the playroom, right?”
“Of course we will, Bonnie. We wouldn’t go anywhere else.”
When she left, he turned to Addie. She still looked a bit shell-shocked, although he saw that there was some color coming back into her cheeks. Maybe the weighted blanket was a good idea.
Walking over to her, he lifted the blanket up and then climbed under it, so he was curled up behind her, his arm around her.
“I was scared for you, Addie girl,” he told her. “I was scared that I wasn’t going to see you again. Fucking terrified. Thank fuck the Fox is a paranoid bastard who had cameras set up around the alleyway or we might not have found you in time.”
“Fox?” she managed to whisper.
Relief filled him. If she could talk then she was starting to feel better. “Yeah, the Fox is Brody’s boyfriend. Did no one ever say his name?”
“Not that I remember,” she managed to say.
He kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, that’s his name, but it’s best not to talk about him with anyone outside of the Iron Shadows. The Fox has done some interesting things over his lifetime, but he helps us now, and he’s never hurt anybody that was innocent.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I like him.”
“So do a lot of the other girls,” he said. “Some of the guys have a bit of an issue with him. Mainly Duke because he keeps buying Sunny crazy gifts. But I owe him big time. He helped me find you.”
And he didn’t give a fuck that he’d done it by putting up cameras around to keep an eye on him to watch for Ortega.
“I was so scared,” she told him. “I didn’t know how I was going to escape them. I knew you’d be looking for me . . . but I didn’t know how you’d find me before they . . . before they hurt me.”
“I will never let that happen again,” he said, tightening his arms around her. “Never again.”
She clung to him tightly, still trembling.
“No matter what, I’m always going to be here for you, Addie.
I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to get through this.
Monroe is safe, Dotty is safe, and you are safe.
We’ll find somewhere else to live. We’re going to create an office for you and a playroom and you can decorate it how you like.
Although I’m kind of hoping you don’t like pink as much as Bonnie does. ”
She let out a small, soft laugh, and he relaxed even further. His girl was coming back to him.
“This is forever, remember? You’re mine. I’m yours. The girl that brought me back my control, that gave me a sense of purpose. The girl I love, I trust, and I cherish. My forever girl.”