Page 1 of Cash

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Cash

I was neverthe big idea guy in my family. Which was what made sitting here, looking around at my family and waiting to hear what Smoke had to say about going back to Scotland, a little weird for me. I was usually on the other side of things.

“Let’s take a step back,” Smoke suggested. He took the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and rubbed. Hard. “You’re right. We still don’t know what happened to the rest of our clan in Scotland. And Mary hasn’t gotten back to us with any concrete information. I’m concerned about it as much as you are.”

“Okay. We’re on the same page, then.”

He held up a hand. “But.”

“I knew that was coming.”

He nodded. “But, let’s not rush into anything. We’ve been here all this time for a reason. We can’t walk away from our duty.”

“We wouldn’t all have to go,” I reasoned. “A couple of us, a few of us. Whatever.”

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jasmine and Alina almost collapse against each other. They were glad—maybe their men wouldn’t have to go.

I bit my tongue to keep from telling them I didn’t care if they got a little lonely while we took care of things that mattered a long, long time before either of them were even born. It was because of them that we lost focus in the first place.

“What’s Pierce think about this?” Smoke asked. I turned my attention back to him.

“He wasn’t thrilled, but he was willing to leave it up to a vote.” I didn’t feel like rehashing the argument we had.

“And what’s the vote look like so far?” he asked.

“It’s crazy,” Miles muttered under his breath.

“Yeah, Miles, you made it clear that you think this is a crazy idea,” I groaned. “Can you maybe say it one more time, though, in case somebody around here didn’t hear you yet?”

“I don’t think it’s crazy,” Gate announced. That was a surprise. He didn’t usually back plans he had nothing to do with. “None of us wants to sit around and do nothing, just let things happen around us. It’s not how we are. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to move things forward.” I wondered if he wanted to go, if that was why he was on my side. Maybe he just needed a chance of scene.

“I want to know what happened to the clan, too,” Fence agreed. “What if whatever happened to them happens to us?”

“So, I’m the only one who thinks this is insane?” Miles glared at the two of them.

“Don’t assume,” Smoke murmured. “I think it’s insane, too.”

“Oh, come on.” I thought for sure he would see the reason behind my idea. He was the only family member I had counted on.

He shrugged. “I’m only saying, I think we need to work out the fine points before we make any big decisions.”

“Fine points? Such as what?”

“For one thing, is the cave as safe as it can be while part of the group is gone? For another, if we split up, what happens to those of us who go to Scotland? What if they find something terrible? What if something terrible happened out there, and the ones who did it are still around? We can’t just jet off to the father country without considering everything.”

I sat back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling. “I wasn’t planning on leaving tonight,” I growled.

“Nobody said you were. Hey. You know me. I have to look at everything from all angles before I can make a decision.”

“It doesn’t get annoying at all,” I muttered. I was sure his mate would love that part of his personality. She might think it was cute since she barely knew him. Try putting up with his bullshit for a thousand years, honey.

“What about Mary?” Miles asked. He sounded like a man clutching at straws.

“What about her?” I looked over at him.

“I think we should ask, see what she thinks. She may know what me might be up against if we go there. It’s worth getting all the information we can—like Smoke said,” he added, when I opened my mouth to argue with him.

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