Hard To Be Humble
CASH
SEPTEMBER
My heart thumped in my chest like a bronc’s feet pounding into the arena sand.
Holy fuck, she was coming with us. Honest to God, I was more than a bit surprised she’d said yes so easily.
Granted, I hadn’t really expected her to demand Walker come along, but I didn’t think that would be a problem.
Walker Rose was chill, and probably one of the few girls I never had an interest in.
Not because she wasn’t pretty—she was a knock out, for sure—but because Hux would’ve killed me if I hurt his baby sister.
In a way, she was kinda like a sister to me too.
We saw them all a lot growing up, between rodeoing and church.
She and Ollie made their way back toward the bunkhouse and I jumped into the passenger seat before quickly turning the soft hum of the radio down.
“Now listen here,” I said, trying to sound just like my dad, authoritative and demanding.
“Ollie’s ‘bout to get in this truck, and I don’t want you two assholes screwin’ this up for me.
Don’t spend the whole time jokin’ about how many girls I been with or stupid shit I did in high school.
” I pegged both Ryder and Maverick with equally hard stares. “This shit’s serious.”
“Are you gonna do the thing…” Maverick asked, raising a hand to hover over the volume dial, “Or can we listen to the radio?”
“I mean it,” I warned. “This is a big deal for me, and—”
“How long’s the drive?” Ryder cut me off, like I wasn’t even talking at all. Like the bastard didn’t even hear me.
Frustration and a hint of dread bubbled up in my chest, like water boiling in a pot. Mav answered before I even had a chance to, though, heaving a great, dramatic sigh as he replied, “Two…three hours.”
“Great.” Ryder groaned. “Two, three hours of horny Cash tryin’ to impress the woman on earth least likely to be impressed by someone like him.” Shaking his head, he took a sip of his energy drink and cheersed it in the air. “Can’t wait.”
“Are you gonna do the thing?” Maverick repeated, his jade gaze practically burning a hole into my face.
“Come on, guys,” I begged. “You’re supposed to be my brothers. Be there for me when no one else is. Believe in me when no one else does.”
“You always believe in you,” Ryder chirped.
“So does your mama, so we really don’t ever have much to do.” Mav’s lips quirked up ever so slightly in the corners before drooping once more into the signature frown he wore so well. “They gonna be much longer? We’re losin’ time. You know how I feel about bein’ late.”
“Doesn’t really hit as hard when you set the schedule, mama,” I reminded him. “She needs time to get all pretty for me, and she deserves as much time as she needs.”
And I needed just as much time to prepare for this car ride. There were so many damn scenarios running through my head of all the ways it could go wrong. Too many for my damn liking.
“Bad and Aunt Violet are probably fifteen…twenty minutes ahead of us by now,” Mav replied through gritted teeth. “The longer it takes us to get there—”
His cell phone rang through the cab’s speakers, Mama’s name showing up on the display.
I quickly hit the red button without thinking.
That’s just what I needed. Her finding out what I was doing.
Who I was with. She’d been unhappy with me after finding out about Jacie Lynn.
Well, unhappy was putting it a bit lightly.
Mama didn’t cuss—not ever. But she came really damn close last Friday.
“Did you just hang up on Aunt Violet?” Maverick’s jaw dropped open, reminding me of a fish gasping for air.
“Shut up,” I huffed, catching movement in the passenger side mirror. “They’re comin’. Besides, It ain’t safe to talk on the phone while drivin’. We’ll see ‘em soon enough.”
“We ain’t drivin’ right now,” he muttered.
Ryder snickered from the backseat. “I once saw you pick your teeth with a pocket knife while you were drivin’ a four wheeler through a pasture, Cash… Don’t start preachin’ about safety now.”
“Ain’t the past grand?” I brushed them off, waving a hand through the air. “Shut up, they’re almost here.”
“Tell me to shut up one more time,” Maverick warned under his breath as the girls threw a couple of bags into the bed of the truck.
The back door opened and Walker sprang up into the cab first.
“You’re gonna make two ladies sit in the back seat?” Walker asked as she settled in next to Ryder. “Well, looks like chivalry sure is dead, Ol.”
“Ollie can sit up front on my lap if she wants.” The words fell out of my mouth without even thinking.
Maverick shook his head, another ghost of a smile dancing across his lips. “Smooth,” he mouthed.
“Wouldn’t you like that, Big Daddy? I’d rather ride in the trailer with the horses, though.
I bet they smell better.” Ollie’s voice settled over me like a cloud of smoke as she hoisted herself into the truck and sat directly behind me.
I only caught a glimpse of her in the rearview mirror, but it was enough to set my heart to a merry little tune.
Fuckin’ Ryder. He couldn’t have switched sides so I could at least turn back and look at her now and then without being blatant as all hell.
“You don’t like the smell of Axe body spray and hormones?” Ryder asked.
Well, speak of the devil.
“I don’t. Wear. Axe.” I grunted, glaring at him through my sunglasses.
And even though he couldn’t see through the polarized lenses, Ryder laughed all the same. “Oh that’s right. Old Spice mixed with Drakkar Noir then.”
“I might ride in the back with the horses myself if Cash is going to do the thing,” Maverick chimed in as he put the truck in drive.
“What thing?” Walker and Ollie asked at the same time, their voices a harmony of tones. Walker’s warm and light. Ollie’s sultry, smokey even.
“Don’t worry about it,” I dismissed, turning back to take them both in. “You girls excited?”
Fuck, she looked hot as hell. She’d changed out of her jeans, opting for denim cutoffs that I had no doubt hugged her curves in all the right places.
Maverick’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Does everyone have their seatbelts on?”
“I do!” Walker all but chirped from the middle seat, reminding me in that moment of Cason—all happy go lucky and just excited to be included.
Ollie shuffled about and let out a frustrated grunt. “Mine’s stuck behind the seat or something.” After another moment of fighting with it, she huffed. “ Fuck it, just drive. I’ll be fine.”
Maverick slammed the truck back into park so fast I almost got whiplash. He turned, slowly, ever so damn slowly, in his seat to stare at Ollie.
Oh, fuck. Here we go.
“Ma’am. You can either put your seatbelt on, or you can get out and walk.” His tone was so damn low I almost couldn’t hear it over the rumble of the motor. “Choice is yours.”
“O…kay…” Ollie replied, and it took everything in me not to smack my cousin. Here he was, ruining this drive before we even got out the damn gate.
My face flushed with embarrassment. Ollie wouldn’t know about all of Maverick’s little quirks.
“He’s, uh…” Ryder blew out a breath, and I caught a glimpse of his sympathetic smile aimed Ollie’s way in the rearview mirror. “He’s got some preferences. Best to just go along with ‘em.”
“Good to know.” Either she couldn’t hide her annoyance, or she didn’t plan on bothering to try. I didn’t need to look back to know I’d find a scowl poised on her plump lips. “Seatbelt’s on. Anything else, Captain Maverick?”
Mav nodded, settled his gaze forward once more, and shifted the car back into drive. “If you brought headphones, put ‘em on now. He’s gonna do the thing. I can feel it.”
“Yeah, yeah.” My chest tightened, and I couldn’t help but rub my hands together as I turned in my seat to look at the girls. Ryder was trying to hide a grin behind his hand. Fucking dick.
Clearing my throat, I pegged them each with a stare, and even though I spoke to the both of them, all I could focus on was Ollie.
“Look ladies, you are both so fortunate today, for you will get a rare insight into the mind of a champion. We ask that you please hold your questions, comments, and murmurs of appreciation until the…thing—” I tapped Mav’s arm and smirked, “—as my cousin puts it, is over. Thank you.”
Ollie snorted. “Who wrote that little speech?”
“I did,” Ryder explained. “My fiance’ tweaked some stuff. Mav helped.”
“Zip it,” I said, pulling a CD out of a case by my feet. A little relic from the past I refused to let go. “Maverick, would you do the honors, please?” I held the disk out to him reverently, with all the dramatic flare I possessed.
Mama always did say I was quite the performer. And right now, these ladies were about to get themselves a show they’d never forget.
“I’m drivin’,” he grunted.
“Come on!” I snapped. “If we’re gonna do this, and we are, we’re gonna do it right.”
With a great, heaving sigh, Maverick snatched the CD out of my hands and loaded it into the console. “Don’t say I didn’t warn y’all,” he groaned, his gaze flicking to the rearview.
“Shhh!” I hissed before taking a deep breath.
Time for Big Daddy’s breathing exercises.
A powerful, masculine, confident voice issued from the truck’s speakers as Ryder did his best to hold back his laughter in the back seat.
“Hey, Stud,” The voice said. “Well, I guess you’re on your way to another rodeo, and you know what that means? It’s time to kick. Some. Ass!”
My eyes started to drift closed as my focus honed in on the words, my lips following along silently with the audio.
“Is that… Is that your voice?” Ollie asked, dumbfounded. Or in awe. I’d go with awe.
“Better be quiet,” Maverick warned. “He will start it over again.”
“You are, quite literally, the best there ever was.” The voice—my voice—continued, “No one has ever reached the heights you’ve already conquered. No one can soar like you. Like Cash. The Great Cash Mooney.”
My laugh echoed forth from the speakers as “Crazy Train” by Ozzie Osbourne began to play. I cranked up the volume so I couldn’t hear Ollie cackling like the sexy little witch she was in the back seat.