Chapter 12
Cade
The wind blew through my hair and over my bare arms as the bright sun warmed my skin. I pushed the sunglasses up on my nose and enjoyed the rarity of a cloudless day. A set of top-of-the-line Bose speakers inside my yet-to-be-renamed ride pumped sweet bass through the seat and rattled my balls.
Today was a good day.
Blue 2 wasn’t perfect, but she was drivable, and much like my favorite kind of girl, she was also topless. The thought made me think of Tasha and the way she’d let me strip her. The way she’d trusted herself in my hands and came apart under my touch.
I tried not to use my imaginary X-ray vision on her when I saw her stepping out onto the sidewalk, but my only thought when I saw that short plaid dress and tall shoes had been getting her out of them.
This morning I woke with a single, penetrating thought. I was tired of being alone. At home or at work, I itched to interact with someone, anyone. I’d always been an extrovert until the accident, and now I felt the old me returning. Whenever Tasha was around, my mood improved. I wanted to talk.
With the day off from Oak & Sage, I was at loose ends. I knew Tasha had a long day of classes, and I’d found myself actually counting down to when I could see her next.
It felt good to look forward to something.
Blue 2 rattled and I mentally noted to tighten her axle. By winter she’d need a new soft top, and the heater was busted, so that would require a repair as well. I let those issues fall away and refocused on the gorgeous spring day. I couldn’t wait to show Tash what Blue 2 could do.
At the gate in front of Tasha’s father’s house, my mouth dropped. Two stone pillars guarded the entrance, a black iron gate with a touch pad outside. She keyed in a code, taking a brief moment to look back at me, slide her sunglasses down her nose, and wink.
My heart kicked my ribs.
The second I had an opening, I was kissing her senseless.
I followed her through the gate and up to a house, which was, no shit, three times the size of my dad’s house. And my dad’s house wasn’t small. I swung Blue 2 in behind her gleaming Beamer, considering how out of place both my car and I looked in this setting. Money virtually emanated from every inch of Tasha’s family home. The pale brick driveway was empty save for a very shiny, red Lexus F-sport.
Nice ride, Morton Montgomery.
I stepped out and shut my car door and noticed Tasha transfixed on the Lexus, her mouth pulled into a frown.
“Not a Lexus girl?” I joked, wondering what she found so offensive about the car.
“Changed my mind. Let’s go.” She turned for her car and I wrapped a hand around her elbow to stop her. Her eyes trailed up to mine, sadness in their depths.
“That’s Tony’s car,” she told me.
My fist curled. Punching Fry’s lights out would be an honor. I started for the front door but Tasha’s hand caught mine.
“What are you doing? Don’t go in there. If he’s in there, then my father’s in there, and if my father’s in there…”
I turned and caught her jaw in my palm, lowering my face to hers and watching as her blue eyes darkened. I brushed my lips along hers for a soft and over-way-too-soon kiss. “Let’s find out.”
She nodded. Once.
I wove her fingers with mine and pulled her to my side, but when I started for the door again, she tugged me.
“Before you go in there, there’s something you should know.” She was whispering. I didn’t like seeing her timid. She licked her lips before continuing. “He won’t like that you’re with me.”
“Tony?” I couldn’t help laughing. “G-good.”
Subtly, she shook her head. “My father.”
I frowned.
“He asked me to stop seeing you…for treatment. He thought we were fooling around.” At my skeptical raised eyebrow, she added, “We weren’t…at the time.”
But she’d kept seeing me anyway. I couldn’t help the smile that overtook my face. Even in the midst of her father, who hated me, and her ex-boyfriend, who I hated, I felt flattered and damn lucky that she hadn’t let her father scare her off.