Page 14 of Cash's Treasure

“Hey, Kayla, your boyfriend was looking for you,” Lana says, patting me on the shoulder, and I jump back, startled.

“Uh, what?”

“Cash, he was here earlier looking for you.”

My cheeks flare, and I look away in case the truth is written on my face. “Oh yeah, right. I, uhm . . . I ran into him.”

“He seemed so angry when I told him that you left with those men. I hope you are not mad at me for telling him that, but something about them rubbed me the wrong way. Especially the tall one with the thick mustache.”

“Oh, that’s Henry,” I say without thinking, my mind shifting back to my stepbrothers. When they showed up tonight, I didn’t have any time to hide before they were crowding me and demanding I leave with them, or they were going to cause a scene.

Deep down, I knew Henry and Mark could cause a scene if they wanted to. The two are spoiled brats in every sense of the word, which is ironic because I was the one who was raised in a wealthy household. Those two came into my life when I was seventeen, and despite being in their mid-twenties, decided they would make a career out of spending my father’s wealth.

What makes no sense is why they would come to me now. Their mother kept everything after my father’s death. I was the one left homeless. What could they possibly want with me almost a year later? I hadn’t gotten the chance to find out before Cash intervened.

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Lana says worriedly, the concern in her voice snapping me to the present.

“No, they, uhm . . . Cash got there before they could do anything.”

“That’s so hot,” she muses dreamily. “I bet he went all psycho on them the way he does when someone looks at you when you’re working.”

I flush at her words. “That’s not—”

“Ugh, if I were you and he got all possessive over me, I would be all over that man.”

My eyes drop to the floor, shooting back up when I catch Lana’s gasp. “What?” I ask defensively.

“You did it, didn’t you?” she says giddily, and I take that as my cue to leave, speed walking to the backroom. “Oh my God, did you and Cash finally stop dancing around each other and hook up?”

“Shut up, Lana,” I whisper-hiss, panicked at the thought of her voice carrying in the bar.

“How was it? Is his dick as big as his attitude? He totally has BDE.”

I wrinkle my nose and glare at her. His dick is indeed big, but I am not going to share that with her. “That’s between Cash and me,” I say before realizing she just baited me into admitting to hooking up with him. “Shit.”

“OMG, I am so proud of you.”

I ignore her and consider changing out of my work clothes into the jeans I arrived in this afternoon, but I decide not to. I have undressed around Lana more times than I can count, but with the evidence of my lovemaking to Cash still clinging to me, I find it hard to do so this time.

“I’m leaving,” I say, grabbing my bag and heading toward the backdoor that only opens from the inside, or I would have used it earlier to come in and saved myself from Lana’s interrogation.

“Oh, c’mon. Seriously, you two have been doing this ‘best friends’ song and dance for so long, I thought I’d die of old age before either of you ever made the first move. Now that you have, I want all the details! Cash has never shown any woman the least bit of interest before you.”

Her words bring me pause, and my hand drops from the door handle. I mean, I’ve seen some of the members from the Steel Order who frequent this place leave with women they met at the bar. Heck, even Lana would occasionally go home with one of them before she started her thing with the bartender.

Although I never allowed myself to think too deeply about it, a part of me figured Cash likely hooked up with women from this bar or one of the others owned by the club, especially on the nights he doesn’t come return to the condo. The thought makes my stomach clench.

“You’re telling me, he’s never . . . left with anyone?”

“I’m sure the guy has had sex at some point in his life,” she tells me. “But no, he’s never so much as flirted with anyone at the bar. One of the waitresses tried to flirt with him a while back, but she quit the next day after he shot her down pretty brutally.”

“What? That’s a little excessive. No way that is true.”

Lana’s head tilts to the side as she stares at me. “You really have no idea how he looks at you, do you? He hasn’t had eyes for anyone but you since the day you started working here. Hell, he threatens violence against any man who so much as looks at you for longer than absolutely necessary. Half the men who come in here are terrified to sit in your section.”

“W-what are you talking about? Cash is my best friend. He doesn’t look at me any particular way.” I mean, he did tell me he loves me, but his feelings have only recently changed, haven’t they? No way has he felt anything more for me than friendship until recently. And sure, he’s protective, but he just wants to keep me safe.

Lana is gone before I can question her further. Surely Cash can’t be as bad as she’s saying. I mean, the man does belong to one of the most notorious motorcycle clubs in the city and has a mean scowl on him, but this is the same man who took me in at my lowest and gave me a safe place to grieve the death of my father and start a new life. He lets me live in his home and even offers me rides every day without asking for anything in return.

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