Chapter Sixteen

 

I woke the next morning to sore muscles that hadn’t been used in a very long time and Cash running his hand down my side, then over my hip. When I saw it was already almost nine, I groaned.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working today?” I asked without turning over.

When he knew I was awake, he slid his hand into my boy shorts and started doing things I couldn’t walk away from.

“I sent a text,” he said. “They know I’ll be late.”

“What’d you tell them? That you got some last night and need to recover?”

He laughed into my neck. “Something like that.”

“I’m actually supposed to be at work in ten minutes.”

He kissed down my neck, only to suck gently on my shoulder.

“But I can be late.”

“No, no,” he said with a sigh. “We have forever and since I can’t get enough of you, if we start now, we’ll be here all day.”

Still, we stayed, cuddled up in my bed for a little while longer.

But then I had to get over to Sal’s. I didn’t have time to drive Cash home because I’d slept late, so I tossed him my keys so he could take my car and do what he needed to do. I told him Sal or Gio could drop me off wherever my car was later.

What didn’t seem to satisfy him were the times we’d made love in the previous twenty-four hours because he tried to draw me back in when I kissed him goodbye on the curb. It was rough, but I pushed him away and headed over next door.

Sal’s house was usually pretty quiet when I got there. Unless he was on the phone and his voice was carrying, a person might think the place was empty. Today was different.

I opened the door and Gio’s angry voice filled every inch of the house. Corners that probably hadn’t been dusted since Sal had moved in were shaken by the bass and volume coming from my brother.

Sal was silent.

That kind of scared me. I ran into the office where the hubbub what coming from.

Angry Gio wasn’t something a person usually wanted to witness. He was a big, muscular guy, and he carried himself as if he could use his bare hands to kill you where you stood.

He probably could.

He didn’t scare me and he didn’t scare Sal.

I assumed Bianca wasn’t worried even when my brother got angry.

But I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him quite like this. Something big had happened.

“What’s going on?” I asked, concerned that they were at each other’s throats. Which never happened. They were too close to argue at this level.

Both sets of eyes snapped to me at the same time, yet their mouths sealed shut. So, whatever they were talking about, they didn’t want me to know.

Which meant one thing.

There was only one thing that they’d keep from me at that point.

Our parents.

“Are you all right?” Gio asked, surveying me from head to toe.

“Of course, why?”

“You’re not wearing any makeup and your hair is all messy.”

I was out of my house without makeup on or my hair done, which was something I didn’t do. The one other time, only Sal had seen me. I was about to answer when Gio visibly flinched.

“Late night?” he asked.

My face heated with embarrassment.

“The latest,” I said, trying to act like I didn’t care what they thought about me when I did.

Talking about sex with these two was never high on my list of must-dos.

Sal sat back in his chair with a sigh while Gio scrubbed a hand over his face.

“He better fucking treat you right,” Gio said as threateningly as possible.

“He will.” I knew they wanted the same reassurance I’d wanted from the beginning as well. But they’d spent enough time around Cash to know him and know that he was exactly what they should want for me.

“If not, we’ll have to kill him,” Sal offered.

I always thought Sal’s threats of violence sounded more lethal because he didn’t raise his voice. He was very matter-of-fact about everything.

“Make sure he knows that,” Sal said pointedly. “And we have enough money to get away with it, too.”

“Ok, Cavemen, I got it. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Both of them looked ready to barf. This wasn’t good. There were very few times I’d seen either of them look the way they were right then and suddenly I didn’t want to know. If I didn’t know, then it wasn’t real. Whatever it was I could ignore.

Even in my thoughts Dr. Peters wouldn’t let me get away with that. Everything we’d been working on went against those ideas.

I had to face my life head-on.

Still standing, still waiting, it was Gio that finally broke this horrible silence that had befallen us.

“Sal got a call from Trinity’s lawyer today.” He still wouldn’t say that we were Trinity now. “Seems our asshole parents are appealing their sentence.”

“But they pled guilty,” I all but screamed.

“I know. This is such bullshit.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “But they’re saying the prosecutor promised them a lighter sentence to talk them into the deal and that they should be out by now. That’s the bullshit their lawyer is trying to push. They even looked into getting the company back but that’s iron-clad. They can’t take the company from us.”

“I can’t… They can’t…” My head was shaking frantically at the thought of my parents being out in the world, waiting to do more damage. I knew I was making it shake, but it felt so foreign like an out of body experience.

I’d just gotten my life back. Hell, I’d never had my life before, so I’d barely gotten my life. I didn’t want them in it. I wouldn’t let them have it. I wouldn’t.

“Gemma, listen to me.” Sal crossed the room and grabbed both arms. “The prosecutor is going to be at the appeals hearing. Garrett, our lawyer, will be there. This isn’t going to happen. We aren’t going to let it. And no matter what, they aren’t getting near you. I’ll fucking kill them myself first.”

“We’ll kill them. Us. Together.” Gio looked as determined as Sal.

Which made me feel better, even though it probably shouldn’t have.

“At this point they’re just trying to get out of prison. Nothing more,” Sal explained.

I’d spent years being sent to one guy after another to have despicable things done to me for the sake of their profit. Back then I hadn’t had Gio and Sal in my corner because we’d all been trying to survive, even on the days when jumping off a building had seemed like a better idea.

We hadn’t actually wanted to die, but there were times when things were so desperate that we knew our choices were to suck it up and do what they asked or jump off a building. We always chose the former.

“What do we do?” My voice came out in a whisper.

“Well, Garrett thinks it’d go a long way for the three of us to be at the hearing. Which means going back. It’s going to the appellate court. I don’t know how long it’ll take.” Sal swallowed hard. “Is that something you think you can do?”

“Are you two going?” They both nodded, even though they clearly would rather have root canals. “Then I’m going. Of course I’m going.”

“Ok.” Gio nodded, rubbing my back.

If they were going to be there, then I had to be whether I liked it or not.

Sal went back to his seat and ran his hands over his face.

“Gemma, we’re not working today,” Sal said, already sounding tired, even though it was still morning. “Bailey’s on her way over. Gio’s going to go get Bianca to take the day. You should see Cash. We have to leave Thursday. The hearing is on Friday. We might have to stay the weekend if a decision isn’t made the same day.” He paused to take a breath. “But so you know, I’m going to get Bailey to come with me.”

“And Bianca,” Gio said.

“So, if you need or want Cash there, let me know. I’ll make all the arrangements this afternoon.”

“But if you don’t want him there, that’s fine too.” Gio took another step closer. “We’ve got you, Gemma.”

I didn’t want to leave Cash for an hour, let alone the whole weekend, but our parents couldn’t win this. They absolutely couldn’t. I knew things had been going too smoothly. I knew it and had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. This was that other shoe. They’d been quiet for too long. It had only been a matter of time, so I supposed it was better now rather than later after the guys had kids or something.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket as I took the steps outside Sal’s house, I went over to my own porch and sat at the top. A few deep breaths were needed before I could call Cash.

As I sat breathing, Gio left, peeling his tires away from the curb right as Bailey showed up and ran to the front door, her red hair flailing in the wind. I wondered what Sal had told her to get her there in such a rush.

Putting them out of my mind, I pressed Cash’s name on my phone.

“Hey, there,” he answered happily. “Your car is at my parents’.”

“Hey,” I said and knew my voice sounded as defeated as I felt. This whole thing sucked. And I didn’t care where my car was.

“What’s wrong?” He knew. He heard it.

“I… ” Well, I couldn’t tell him over the phone. I didn’t even remember where he said he was working. Or if he even told me. “Is there any way you can come to my house? Like soon?”

His engine roared. It was his truck and I found it weird that I could tell by the sound of the motor.

“I’ll be there in five minutes. What’s wrong, Gemma?” he asked. I didn’t answer him. I wasn’t going to lie and say nothing, but I couldn’t tell him this over the phone. “Please at least tell me you’re not hurt.”

“I’m not injured. I need to see you right now is all.”

“Ok. Stay on the phone with me until I get there.”

Cash knew I’d stay on, but I couldn’t talk to him right then. I didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone, yet I couldn’t pretend I’d be able to talk about anything else.

His truck jerked to a stop at the curb. His door opened and shut, so I could hang up. He did, too.

I sat playing with my phone, twirling it in my fingers when he dropped down beside me, putting an arm around me.

“What’s going on?” he asked, rubbing circles on my back.

He was there looking at me so I couldn’t hold it in. It was basically his superpower.

“My parents are appealing their prison sentence. I have to go to Chicago with Sal and Gio for the hearing. They’ll be there.” The monsters who’d fucked up my life. “I don’t want to see them.”

“Shh… It’ll be all right.” He pulled me closer, then kissed the side of my neck. “When are we leaving?”

“You’ll come with me?”

“Fuck, Gemma, of course I’m going with you. When I said I love you and I’d burn the fucking world for you, that includes a weekend trip to Chicago to shield you from those monsters. Now tell me so I can let everyone know I won’t be available to work those days.”

I gave him the basic outline and sent Sal a text letting him know to book Cash a ticket too. I didn’t want my boyfriend paying for something he was doing for me.

I wanted him there, so I’d pay for it. Or Sal would. Someone other than Cash because money wasn’t weird between the three of us. We all had our own, but it never seemed to matter who paid for what. Things got paid. It wasn’t an issue.

Though, honestly, Sal should’ve been taking a bigger share since he did most of the work.

We flew out Thursday morning. The three of us—me, Gio, and Sal—were pretty quiet on the flight. I supposed the idea of seeing our parents didn’t invoke a feeling of chattiness in us.

Nor did being back in Chicago give me the feeling of coming home.

Even Cash holding my hand tightly every moment since we’d gotten off the plane did nothing to help. I tried to think of the things I’d want to show him—this was my hometown after all—but came up empty.

There was nothing here for me.

After taking taxis to the hotel Sal had arranged, we spent the rest of the day and night in our hotel rooms. There were a few text exchanges, little things to remember for the next day or words of encouragement.

We were all on edge. I knew exactly how Sal and Gio would deal with their nerves. Now I needed to figure out how to deal with mine.

Cash and I were sitting on the bed, backs against the headboard, watching a movie. Well, I wasn’t watching, but more staring at it, when the need to feel something else came over me.

Slowly, I climbed on top of Cash, straddling him. I lowered myself down onto his lap.

His hands grasped my sides, squeezing as I set out to kiss him. He gave me that kiss, responding when I pushed harder or backed off to savor it. But when I started to roll my hips, he pulled back.

“What are you doing?” he asked in that wonderfully deep, aroused voice.

“Cash, I need to feel alive and beautiful and all the things that only you make me feel. I don’t want this to be about them and what they want or what they’ve taken from us. We’re in Chicago, in a hotel and alone. I want you. Please tell me you want me too.”

“I always want you, Gemma. That’s not the point.”

“It is the point. It’s the point I care about.”

“I didn’t bring condoms with me,” he said finally. “Didn’t think I’d need them. But I can make you feel all those things without us having sex or I can go find a store. Your call.”

I was already shaking my head. That wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted us as close as two people could get. Nothing else would do.

And I wanted it now, not in twenty minutes.

“I’ve been on the pill since I was sixteen. I take it every fucking day of my life right at noon like clockwork. It was for extra, extra protection. I’m willing to risk using only one form of birth control with you. And I’ve been tested for—”

His thumb cut off the rest of my sentence. Either he knew what I was going to say or he didn’t care.

Cash lifted my shirt over my head, then unsnapped my front-closure bra, letting his hands slide the straps off my shoulders before coming back around to hold and knead my breasts. We kissed and our hands explored each other anywhere and everywhere we could reach. He got the rest of my clothes off and all of his and I didn’t remember moving from his lap.

Cash had magic hands.

He tried to lay me down, to work his magic on my very needy body, but I wouldn’t let him. I pushed him back into position and since we were both ready, I slid myself down on him until he completely filled me.

His head fell against the headboard and he sighed a sigh that was so perfect, I wanted to come right then. Instead, I let my hips do what they already knew to do. Muscle memory or desire made my body do everything without me having to think about it.

Before I’d always go through a checklist in my head.

Do this, then do that for optimal pleasure.

But with Cash, optimal pleasure came on its own. I slid up and down and back and forth with such force, I was almost afraid I was going to break him.

The sounds coming out of him let me know I was doing everything right.

I wanted this to be good for him, to be everything he’d want it to be. Another first. Me wanting to please a man for the sheer feeling of doing it.

I was too lost in my orgasm to notice that Cash was experiencing his own until he gripped my hips to stop their movement.

When I slid off, his strong arm kept me right there with him. Cash kissed the side of my head and I nodded off to sleep.

A few hours later, we ate dinner in the room. After which we engaged in more physical activities.

Being with Cash was the best feeling every single time. He took care of me, made sure I was content and happy before taking anything for himself, though he said what he did for me was for him too and I’d have to trust him on that.

We lay in bed, my back to his front, completely naked and exhausted, which was a great way to fall asleep. Too much of a good feeling to stay awake any longer.

“Maybe me not running out for condoms was a mistake,” Cash said quietly against my skin.

“Why’s that? I swear I’m not going to give you anything.” I meant it as a joke. The yawn that interrupted the end of my sentence kind of took something away from it.

His body stiffened. “That’s not what I’m talking about and you need to stop thinking that anything remotely like that is on my mind. I meant I’m going to miss the feeling of being inside of you without a barrier when we go back.”

I didn’t know what to say to that so we got back into our pajamas, Cash hit the lights and we fell fast asleep. It may only have been ten o’clock, but we had to be up early the next morning for court and had more than depleted any energy reserves either of us had had.