“She didn’t tell me shit. All Amara said was that I needed to find you and talk. Based on past experience, I’m guessing you upset her pretty badly.” I crossed the sitting area angrily and turned to glare at her. “What did you do, Gigi? Offer her money? Tell her to abort the baby? Try to persuade her to convince me to return to the Mathias household and take up the family trade?”
“One out of three. I guess I’m not as evil as you assume I am,” she said with a shrug. “I did offer her money, even told her to name her own price.” I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for her to continue. “But she turned me down and told me to go to hell. Then she cut into me about trying to change you and not loving you for yourself and how much talent you have. That’s when I knew she was the real deal.”
“Of course she’s the real deal. She. Loves. Me.”
“I’m well aware of that, boy. But I had to be sure. I can’t die and leave you here on your own.” Her voice quivered as she lowered her eyes to her folded hands, suddenly looking very small, and for the first time in my life, I could see just how weak she was under the surface. It hurt to see her like that, and I felt myself crumbling, yielding. As pissed as she could make me, as many times as she had tried to screw with my life and bend me to her will, I still loved this woman. “I needed to know you had someone who loved you enough.”
All the anger that was seething in my gut died down, and I blew out a frustrated breath. “Gigi.”
“My time on this earth is limited, Cash. I don’t have much left. And I was terrified of leaving you alone. Now… Now, I don’t have to be scared of that anymore, and I can die in peace.”
My heart cracked at just the thought
of her dying. I knew she was sick, the oxygen in her nose a constant reminder of that. But I thought it was just a setback, not a death sentence. She was Doris Fucking Mathias. Nothing could take her from this world until she was goddamn ready to go.
Jaw clenching to hold my emotions in check, I crossed to her and folded her into my arms. “Gigi, don’t say things like that. You’re not going to die anytime soon. You’re too stubborn to let death take you anywhere.”
A strangled laugh had her breathing harder, and she leaned into me weakly. “I wish that were true. I would fight him tooth and nail. But I’m already losing this battle. Don’t hate me for only wanting the best for you.”
“Ah, Gigi. I don’t hate you.” I kissed her brow. “You drive me crazy and I want to strangle you, but I don’t hate you.”
“I’m glad,” she whispered softly. “So glad.”
Epilogue
Amara
Six Weeks Later
The air had a crisp coolness to it as it blew around us in the weak sunlight of autumn in Virginia. I stood beside Cash as the minister said the last prayer and Doris Mathias was slowly lowered into the ground. I held his hand tightly, trying to give him the strength he needed to say goodbye to his grandmother.
The past six weeks had been a roller coaster of emotions and traveling back and forth from one coast to the other. After spending a few days in SoCal to get to know me better and to bond with Cash, Gigi had flown home alone. A week later, Cash and I had flown out to see her for her birthday, and the old woman had been full of life and smiles. But two weeks later, she was admitted to the ICU for pneumonia and slowly began to fade before our eyes. Five days ago, she slipped into a coma and never woke up.
After having gotten to know the old lady—and being commanded to call her Gigi just like her grandson did—it hurt to say goodbye to her. But watching Cash, as he tried to be strong, as his heart slowly broke with each passing day when Gigi didn’t open her eyes, was excruciating. All I could do was stand beside him and hold his hand.
From Cash’s other side, his best friend Caleb put his hand on his Cash’s shoulder in support, as the rest of Tainted Knights stood behind him. Santana and Kassa were with them, but from across the open grave, Kin stood with her two stepsisters, Angie and Carolina. There were no dry eyes at the gravesite, especially not mine. Gigi had been loved and respected by many, if the turnout for her funeral was anything to go by. But Cash’s friends—his family by choice—they weren’t so much mourning Gigi as they were hurting for their loved one.
Slowly, the funeral came to an end, and Cash turned away from the sight of the casket now in the ground as soon as the minister stopped speaking. “You okay?” he asked me as he tucked me closer against his side, his fingers unconsciously rubbing over my stomach through my black dress. That was where one of his hands usually ended up, and I knew feeling his daughter kick against his touch was comforting for him.
I cupped his face in one hand. “I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”
He lowered his head to kiss my cheek, and I felt the rush of his exhale on my neck. “I’m ready to go home, Dreamer. Let’s get out of here.”
I glanced to my left, catching the eye of Harden Mathias. I couldn’t read him like I could Cash. There was no expression in his red-rimmed eyes, no life. During our time watching, waiting—praying—for Gigi to wake up, Cash’s parents hadn’t attempted to speak to him once. And I hated them for it. How could they not comfort their own child when he was hurting? How could they not want to know about his life? Or just fucking say hello?
Still, I didn’t want Cash to have any regrets. “Do you want to speak to your parents?” I asked hesitantly, unsure what the right thing to do here was. Unlike how Cash took care of me when Dad died, I was struggling with how to take care of him with the passing of his grandmother, and I felt helpless.
“No,” Cash told me firmly. “If they wanted to speak to me, they had plenty of chances over the last few days. I just want to take you home and put this all behind us.”
Nodding sadly, I walked with him and the others back to the limos waiting for us on the road beside the graveyard. Kin came up beside me, staying well away from the other Tainted Knights members as she hugged Cash and then walked away without a backward glance.
Caleb gave him what looked like a bone-crushing hug, and I worriedly watched the behemoth of a man, wondering if he was actually going to crush Cash’s bones into dust. What the hell did they feed the guy to get him that huge? And how could he be so big when his twin sister was so tiny? It boggled my mind, and I was relieved when he stepped back without causing bodily harm to the man I loved.
When Caleb’s arms wrapped around me in a gentle hug, I was surprised but leaned into him for a moment. Despite his hulk-like size, Caleb was nothing more than a gentle giant. Once he released me, the two friends shared a long look with some unspoken message before he took Carolina’s hand and dropped an arm around Angie’s shoulders as they followed after Kin.
“Now’s not the time to cause another fight,” I heard Kassa hiss at Jace as Kale and Santana were next to hug Cash. “Leave her the hell alone for once in your life and let her move on.”
“Fuck that,” Jace growled in a voice that was low and intense. “I’m not just going to let her walk away from me again.”