Page 62 of Long Hard Fall

But he was. And she was next to him. She wanted him to be honest with her. And he would, but not about her brother. It’d devastate her; she’d blame herself for ever making her brother worry.

He shot her a grin full of promise as he turned into his drive.

She smiled back and when her gaze angled away, she frowned. “What the hell?”

He looked in the same direction and an ominous cloud floated over the whole night. A dark sedan sat in front of his garage, parked next to Abbi’s car.

“Is that Ellis’s car?”

She nodded, but she was squinting to look inside the vehicle. All at once, three doors opened.

He recognized Ellis as he stepped out of the car, but there was another man and a woman with him.

“Who are they?” he asked.

“My parents.”

Ice washed through his veins. The air around them grew heavy. Abbi must be thinking the same thing he was. This couldn’t be good.

“Haven’t you talked to them since you told your ex off?”

She shook her head, her gaze stuck on the people congregated behind the car, waiting for Cash to park. “I thought he’d go home, and I just didn’t want to deal with them. I texted them and said I was staying in Moore until the end of the week and then I’d love their help moving my stuff.”

Since Ellis the Ex was in Cash’s normal parking spot, he swung around in front of his separate garage.

Abbi gave him one final look, as if she was siphoning strength from him to face her family.

As soon as she got out, her mom’s voice carried across the yard. “Abigail, thank god!”

Cash’s boots hit the ground in time to see Abbi’s mom scurry across the gravel, her arms out to hug her daughter.

Abbi let her mom soothe herself for a moment. “What are you guys doing here?”

Abbi’s dad strode to his ladies, his suspicious glare landing on Cash. Cash looked at Ellis. The man’s grim stare was stuck on Abbi, like if he didn’t look at Cash, Cash didn’t exist.

“When Ellis called and told us you broke up with him because of…” Mrs. Daniels peered at Cash.

He stopped by his tailgate and waited, letting Abbi take the reins in this situation.

“Mom, Dad, this is Cash Walker. Perry called him Reno.”

Mr. Daniels’s jaw clenched and he assessed Abbi’s ruffled hair and rumpled appearance. Cash’s own shirt was untucked and his coat was in the cab. They didn’t look like a couple who’d been out dancing. They looked like they’d been doing what they’d just done.

“Nice to meet you.” Cash put out his hand. Mr. Daniels glowered at it, but eventually grasped it in a firm handshake. Mr. Daniels was an older, more mature version of Perry Daniels. Cash could hardly look at him without being assaulted by memories of joking with Daniels—or of finding him staring at his weapon while deep in thought, huge lines of sadness etched into his face.

He tried to look up again, but seeing Mrs. Daniels sent a wave of grief over him. These people had lost a son, and no matter how much Cash told himself he wasn’t responsible, he’d always feel like a failure for not having prevented Daniels’s decision. What had Abbi said? Her parents had been hurt and disappointed that none of Daniels’s squad had come to visit after they’d gotten home.

Cash had known why he hadn’t made the trip, but now he knew. He hadn’t felt worthy enough to face them. Their fear and grief over Abbi’s actions likely couldn’t compare to what their son’s death had done to them. He wouldn’t have been able to stammer out an apology and lurch away. And how would that have sat with them?

“What’s going on here?” Mr. Daniels asked gruffly.

The man must’ve taken Cash’s avoidance as guilt that he had ill intentions toward Abbi.

Abbi broke away from her mom and crossed to Cash’s side. He hooked an arm around her and forced himself to face Daniels’s parents—Abbi’s parents.

“I met Cash and we’ve formed a relationship. I don’t know what Ellis told you, how he told you, but there’s nothing nefarious. Being with Cash helped me see how miserable I was at home.”

Mr. Daniels scowled. “You ended a four-year relationship and started another one within a week?”

---