Page 109 of Sing Me Home
“Yeah,” Silas said gruffly as they rushed past. “She’s riding back with Maddie.”
“Love you guys!” I called.
They waved as they hurried away.
Liam blanched. “What happened?”
“Maggie and Bowen kissed,” I said plainly. “And Griffin witnessed the whole thing.”
“And then World War Dupree broke out,” Cash said.
“Holy…” Liam’s hands shoved into his hair.
This race had gone sideways in every possible direction—some awesome, some awful.
Cash put an arm around my shoulder. “Sorry,” he said to Liam. “I need to talk to Charlie for a minute.” His tone was tight and foreboding.
Liam turned and stalked back toward Aunt Tally and the kids.
Cash led me away, across the field. My stomach wrenched, my mind jumping straight to the worst-case scenario.We didn’t stop until we were in the shade of an oak tree. Then he rubbed his jaw, eyes glued to the ground. “I need to tell you something and you’re not going to like it. But I’m not taking it back so…”
I stared at him, mind spinning. He was breaking up with me. I’d finally pushed him over the edge. Panic fisted around my throat. I told myself to chill but I braced for it, preparing my heart for the worst. Ready with a list of reasons why he should give me another chance.
His eyes lifted to mine and his face hardened. “I paid off your debt.”
I blinked, not expecting that at all.
“Well, half of it because it’s all the money I had,” he said. “The rest?—”
“What? No!” He spent the entire advance for his album on my debt? The thought was sickening.
“Yes. And I don’t care if you like it,” he growled. “You’re not going to spend the next decade trying to pay back something that was Lorne’s fault.” Then he shrugged, completely unapologetic. “Now you can move on. No more walking around with that weight on your shoulders.”
“Cash, no!” I cried. “You were going to use that money to build a house. I can’t take it.”
“It’s done. And the rest will be paid off when Netflix gives us the money for this documentary we just shot.”
That’swhat the cameras were for? Hurt and anger ripped through me, as irrational as it may have been. “So you paid off my debt when I asked you not to and just had me film a documentary the whole world is going to see, without my permission?” My voice had gone up an entire octave.
“Woman.” He shook my shoulders. “How about, thank you, Cash, for freeing me from the mountain of debt that’s been stressing me out of my mind for the last year.”
I jammed my pointer finger into his sternum. “Go unpay it.”
He squared his shoulders and crossed his arms as if facing down a fierce opponent. “No.”
“Yes,” I seethed, poking him again.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
His brows flicked, hard and determined. “No.” His lips pressed together. “You have a serious case of Do-It-Myself-Itis andit ends here.”
“Cash Dupree,” I breathed. “You’ve been a thorn in my side since the day I met you?—”
