Page 28 of Cash

She flinched, but only for an instant. Only out of surprise. She didn’t try to pull away.

I didn’t know what to say, or even if there was anything worth saying in that moment. It was only the two of us in the entire world. No, more like three of us. The dragon noted her pulse pounding away, the softness of her skin, the warmth of her.

And he would remind me time and again until my head ached with the memory. And there were so many years left in my life. Years for me to regret…

“What is it, Cash?” She wouldn’t look up. Her eyes were trained on the shackles, sitting on one of the small work tables. She still didn’t try to get away.

“If there’s anything I can do for you—anything, ever—I wish you would tell me. I know there has to be a reason why you wouldn’t share with me everything that’s happening. You don’t know me, I’m not part of your life. I understand that. But you have to understand that I can’t dismiss the pain I see you going through.”

“There’s no pain. I wish you would stop this.”

“If you wanted me to stop, you would pull your arm away.”

“It would be a waste of time to fight you off. You’re much bigger than I am.”

“A convenient excuse.”

“It’s the truth. Why would I waste my time trying to fight you?”

“Why won’t you look at me?”

She didn’t have a quick answer to that. And she couldn’t manage to raise her eyes to meet mine.

A feeling of dread started growing, like a seed suddenly bursting open and taking root.

“Who are you working for?”

She looked at me then. Her eyes were wide as her head snapped up. “What?” she hissed.

“You heard me. Who are you working for?”

She pulled her wrist from my grip—I barely noticed.

Slashes of red colored her cheeks. Her eyes sparkled for the first time in days, but this time it was with fury. “How dare you? You know who I’m doing this for.”

“Who’s that?”

“You,” she spat, using her forefinger to poke my chest. “Mary hired me to do this for you. And I resent you implying that there’s anything else in this for me.”

“I wasn’t implying.”

“What was it, then?”

“Accusing,” I snarled. “You’re guilty. Something’s making you feel this way. You won’t look at me.”

“Ha!” She glared up at me with her hands on her hips. “You think you’re the center of the universe, do you? Just because you’ve got muscles and cut-glass jaw, I’m supposed to stare and drool at you.”

I snorted. “Not what I was trying to say, but thanks for the compliment. You gave yourself away.”

“Oh, stuff it up your ass,” she muttered, turning away, going to her laptop. “I have work to do.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me, and it has to do with me. Stop denying it.”

“Yeah, there’s something I haven’t told you: you’re much more trouble than you’re worth, Cash.”

I couldn’t see her behind the monitor, but there was no missing the tremble in her voice.

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