Chapter Fourteen

 

“I don’t know that I can play today,” Aiden said after dropping back down at the table.

“You’re such a whiner,” Dante countered.

“Hey,” Aiden snapped at him. “Some of us were on a call half the night instead of being tucked in bed by mommy.”

“Accident?” I asked.

“Yeah, pretty bad one out Miller Road,” he said. “Not far from where you got your flat tire.”

Which made me turn to Cash.

I really looked at him. He was acting completely normal, but a slight sagging in the corners of his eyes betrayed him. I knew that area of Miller Road gave me the chills. It was such a sharp turn and it was easy to see how accidents happened around there. Especially at night.

“I heard Mom tell Dad that someone died,” Dante said with his mouth full of food.

“Really?” Haley asked as she began rubbing Aiden’s shoulder.

“A woman in her forties. There was a lot of cleanup.”

Gross.

I didn’t know how they did that sort of thing. I didn’t think I could.

Brennan cut in. “Quit being a pussy. We’re all playing.”

“Come on, Gemma,” Cash called once he broke free from the rest of the group.

He’d gone in and changed after we got everything set up, so now he was in long shorts and tennis shoes. The perfect picture of a summer evening, but still sexy as hell.

“Come on, what?” I asked back.

“Football. You’re playing.”

“Uh, no, I’m not.”

“Everyone’s playing.” He sauntered toward me.

I had the feeling I was going to get on that field even if it wasn’t under my own power.

“I’m in,” Bailey called out. She was always in.

“Oh, me, too,” Bianca said. “Even though I totally suck. You playing, Gio? I mean, do you know how?” She gave him a sweet smile and batted her eyelashes.

“Gio played football in high school,” I said, thinking she’d already know that.

“What?” she said. Clearly, she didn’t.

“Yeah, some college, too. How do you not know this?” I asked.

“Yeah, how come I don’t know this?” She turned on my brother, who shrugged in return.

“Oh, please tell me you played, too.” Bailey was already bouncing on her toes, clapping her hands softly. “Those tight pants are super-hot.”

Sal gave her a little grin and nodded his head. “Yeah, I played.”

“Oh, sweet Jesus!” Bailey ran for him and launched.

Luckily, my cousin was quick and he caught her but had to take two steps back to keep both of them from crashing to the ground.

Game on.

It was decided that significant others wouldn’t be on the same team. Something about reading each other too well. So, it broke down to Team One being me, Aiden, Gio, Dakota, and Sal. Team Two was Bailey, Bianca, Dante, Brennan, Cash, and Nick. Which obviously left things uneven.

Haley said she couldn’t play because she’d just finished a twelve-hour shift and needed to get off her feet for a little while. The brothers let that go. They accepted things from others that they’d never let one of them get away with.

“Where the hell is Dalton?” Cash asked.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen him around at all.

“We’ll play without him until he shows his face,” Aiden decided.

“That leaves things uneven.”

“What about Shay?” Aiden asked. “She’s over there by her parents not doing anything. Go ask her.” He looked at Cash as he said it.

Cash nodded and ran over to her.

She smiled and shook her head, but he didn’t give up. I could see her laughing when he grabbed a hold of her arms to pull her our way, followed by a fun little back and forth between the two of them that wasn’t fun for me to watch but must’ve worked because the next thing I knew, they were walking over together.

Looked like she was playing.

“Who’s Shay?” I asked. “A cousin?” Because I hadn’t met her before and Cash hadn’t mentioned that name, but based on their interaction, I desperately wanted her to be related by blood.

It wasn’t jealousy. It was insecurity.

“We don’t have any cousins who still live here,” Brennan answered. “Her parents and ours have been friends since before we were born. She grew up with us.”

“And she’s the first girl to see Cash’s tree trunk.” Dante snickered.

Aiden reached over and gave him a big shove, almost causing Dante to hit the ground.

I took a deep breath but felt Sal and Gio watching me.

“I swear, Dante,” Aiden said while offering Dante a hand back up. “One day I’m going to buy you a muzzle.”

Heat engulfed my face.

I wasn’t jealous—that would be ridiculous—but being confronted with this tall girl and her blond hair with its perfect highlights walking over with my boyfriend knowing they’d… well, I didn’t know what they’d done, but if she’d seen him naked, I could guess.

Right about then I was wishing I’d left earlier when I’d had the chance.

Since I knew next to nothing about football, I did whatever Gio or Sal told me to. Now this was supposed to be touch football. If someone touched you, it was the same as being tackled, but the guys were way more than touching each other. It was full contact.

A play didn’t go by where one of them didn’t end up on the ground. They were hitting hard, too, but didn’t do that with any of us girls.

“We’re going to throw you the ball,” Gio said as we stood in a huddle.

“I’d rather you didn’t.” That was an extreme understatement.

I’d been watching the way the guys hit each other and if there was even the slightest chance that I might get caught up in the middle of the melee, I’d rather pass.

“They won’t be expecting it, Gemma,” Shay said quietly.

There was the kicker. In the short time we’d been playing, I found that Shay was honest-to-goodness nice. It made me want to smack her. I didn’t, of course, but the feeling was there.

“Ok.” I sighed.

We set back up, the guys did their thing, and I went running.

Luckily, I’d had a pair of shoes in the car that were more appropriate for this sort of thing and I did run for exercise, so I crossed the field pretty quickly. Gio drew back and launched the ball. If I hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t believe it myself, but I caught it.

And it stung like a bitch.

But I turned and ran anyway. I was almost into what was marked as the goal when an arm snaked around my waist and pulled me back into a hard wall of muscle.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Cash asked into my ear, still holding me off the ground.

“Damn it. I was almost there.”

“Almost doesn’t count, sweetheart.” He laughed, his chest bouncing against my back. Then he let his arm loose and I slid down until my feet hit the grass.

Ugh. We had to go again. This time Gio decided to throw to Shay with Aiden and Sal clearing the way for her. He said it wasn’t because I’d done anything wrong, but more because they’d be expecting him to throw it my way again. Which would mean they’d be trying to tag me. Whatever. I didn’t care if I ever caught another football in my life.

We were all on the move again. Once they realized what Gio was doing, the guys on the other team shifted to go after Shay.

Cash was closest and damn, he was fast.

He reached a hand out, probably thinking he’d just make contact, but instead, Nick hit him from behind and he sprang forward, taking Shay to the ground. Nick, Aiden, and Brennan fell too.

Once everyone else stopped, the guys got up.

Except Cash.

He was laying on top of Shay, talking to her. I hoped she wasn’t hurt.

But then they both began laughing and it was a scene I wanted to scrub from my brain but knew I couldn’t.

He took too long rolling off her.

My face burned, but I kept my shit together. I wasn’t a jealous person. Then again, I’d never had anything to be jealous of.

I was in trouble.

“They’re friends,” Dakota said beside me, making me startle.

I hadn’t seen him there. If he’d even been there the whole time.

“I know.” But I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

“Your face doesn’t say that, you know. Quick—laugh.”

“What?” I gave him the side eye.

He glanced around. “Laugh. Imagine Dante getting a donkey kick to the nuts.”

I snorted loudly, then laughed.

“That’s what I’m talking about.” He laughed with me until everyone was back on their feet. “I didn’t want anyone to see you looking like that.”

“Like what?” I asked as we walked slowly back toward the game.

Dakota gently put his arm around my shoulder.

“Like you might stab Shay later if you get the chance.”

My eyebrows dropped. “I wasn’t—”

“You might not have been, but your face was.” He nudged my hip with his. “I promise, Gemma. You have nothing to worry about where Cash is concerned.”

“I’m not.” I wasn’t. “But hypothetically, why would you say I have nothing to worry about?”

Dakota smiled widely at me. “That man talks about you more than anything else. He’s in love. When a Waterford is in love, they are disturbingly focused.”

This time my eyebrows shot up. “Disturbingly?”

A cocky half-grin split his face. “In the best way.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head with a smile.

“Hey,” Cash called out from about fifteen feet away. “You better watch it with my girl.”

“Your girl?” Dakota raised an eyebrow with this small smile on his full lips as he pulled me in tighter to his body. “I think that would be up to Gemma.”

Cash gave a crooked smile as he came over and stopped right in front of us, folding his arms across his chest.

Swoon.

“I’ve already claimed her,” he said, bringing a laugh out of Dakota. “And she doesn’t have the right parts for you.”

I covered the smile that was threatening to explode on my face.

“How can you be so sure?” Dakota challenged back.

Cash chuckled low in his chest. It was so, so sexy. Then he shrugged. “Trust me.”

Dakota was about to respond, but Gio got to it first. “Can we all be done trying to piss on my sister and get back to the fucking game?”

The three of us laughed loudly.

As we walked back to huddle with my brother, I whispered, “Thanks.”

Dakota gave me a nod in return.

It was only two more plays before we heard the first warning shot from the fireworks as they tested to see if it was dark enough. We weren’t even close to time because it was still light enough to play football, but Aiden decided to call the game so everyone could clean up, grab a snack, and a drink before the big show.

Cash slinked up beside me, putting his arm around my neck, and pulling me into him.

“Have fun?”

“Yeah. I didn’t think I would.”

“You’ll always have fun with me.” He kissed my cheek loudly.

Those words had a double meaning that I was pretty sure he hadn’t intended. When I looked up at him, I saw a little glint to his eye that said maybe he had meant it.

An hour later we all situated ourselves around the yard. The older folks sat in chairs toward the back of the viewing area. Large blankets dotted the yard for us to sit on. Gio sat closest to my right but still far enough away that I couldn’t hear whatever he was whispering into Bianca’s ear that was causing her to giggle. I didn’t think I wanted to hear it, to be honest.

Cash and I laid back, his arm around me so I could rest my head on his shoulder. He folded the other arm behind his head to offer himself some cushion.

“Comfortable?” he asked, looking down at me.

“Very. I could almost fall asleep.”

“Don’t. You’ll miss the show.”

“You were on that call this morning with your brother?”

His lips turned into a thin line, but he nodded.

“I didn’t know you guys have to clean up accidents.”

“We do sometimes. There were multiple cars, which was why he needed the help, but I don’t like to talk about it. It’s sad when someone dies and it’s hard, but it’s not every day.”

I gave him a little smile, then pushed up to kiss him full on the lips. I didn’t intend for it to turn into anything more than a little show of how I felt, but he held me there until someone cleared their throat. No idea who it was or if it was meant for us, but I pulled back anyway.

Bright colors exploded above us in beautiful succession one after the other. Music played quietly from closer to the house, the weather was beautiful, and everything was perfect.

This was the kind of night dreams were made of.

After the grand finale, we all set out to clean up, which went pretty quickly, given that there were so many of us. Then people started to leave. My group left at the same time as most of the Waterfords’ friends. Which basically left me with the family.

“Can I hitch a ride?” Cash asked as I put the last of the leftovers into the fridge. “I drove one of the tows and don’t even want to deal with it tonight.”

“I suppose.” I sighed, cocking my head playfully. “Do I get a tip?”

“I’ll give you more than just the tip,” he said with a yawn, then he caught himself.

I’d known from the get-go that Cash could excel at sexual innuendo if he chose to, but with me, he usually held back. I was glad he didn’t this time.

“Oh, promises, promises.”

He grabbed my hips to pull me toward him.

“Are you coming back to my house or going home?” I asked.

“You want me to stay over?” he asked, kissing up my neck. It was doing things to me that shouldn’t happen in his parents’ kitchen.

“Do you want to?” I asked.

“That would be a hell yes.” He pushed me back a smidgen so he could get a look at my face. “Is that a real question?”

“Well, you haven’t, other than that one time so I wasn’t sure.”

“I didn’t want to assume.”

“Maybe you should assume sometimes. It’s not always easy for me to say things, Cash, to put my feelings into words. And I know that sucks for you and I’m trying really hard to be different, but this is the reality right now.” I took a deep breath. “I’d like you to stay over sometimes. I’m not saying move in and make me your life. I mean, I’d like you to stay over sometimes.”

“Let’s go.”

Cash pulled me along behind him until we were back outside amongst his family. Everything had been cleaned up, but the lights were still flooding the backyard, and his family was standing around talking and laughing. That was one thing his family never lacked.

Laughter.

Haley was snuggled into Aiden’s chest, looking about ready to fall asleep. Brennan stood with an arm around Dakota, who in turn had his arm around Brennan’s waist. Those two were adorable. The twins were monkeying around behind them all when we joined them.

“We’re heading out,” Cash said when there was a break in conversation.

“Haley can pick us up back at the yard if you want to drop the truck off.” Although Aiden looked like that was the last thing he wanted to do, he still said it.

“Nah, I’ll bring it in the morning. I’m staying at Gemma’s tonight.”

They all said goodnight so we started to walk away. Except that fucking Dante sounded off with a porn melody that made Cash tense up.

“Be right back,” he said quietly and then bolted for his brother.

Dante tried to get away, but Cash tackled him to the ground.

Aiden’s head fell back and he sighed in annoyance but turned on his heel at the same time Brennan did. Even though the older two didn’t hurry, they still made it to the two wrestling on the ground in time to lend a helping hand. Poor Dalton leaned against a tree watching and threw me an apologetic look for his twin. I smiled over at him so he’d know I didn’t judge him by his brother’s behavior.

Of all the brothers, Dalton was the quietest, the one I’d gotten to know the least. But it seemed to me that he was also the hardest to get to know. I made a mental note to ask Cash more about him at some point.

While I was busy with all my contemplation, the brothers started walking back toward me, Aiden with Dante’s shirt tight in his fist.

“I swear to all that is holy, Dante, you’re going to learn how to treat a woman if it kills us all,” he said, giving him a shove toward me.

“Sorry, Gemma.” Dante looked like a chastised little boy. “I really am just fucking around.”

Brennan shoved him hard.

“Fuck. Sorry. I meant to say I’m joking around.”

“Thanks,” I said, not knowing how to take it.

Then we could finally leave. Cash walked like he couldn’t wait to get out of there and I knew I couldn’t.