Page 64 of Captivated

“I’m going to go, you guys, let you have your time together. I’ll check in soon,” Piper mumbles, retreating from the room backwards, and drawing the attention of Samuel and Birdie to her. But I don’t turn in her direction because if I look in her eyes, I’m afraid of what I might say or do.

“Thank you, Piper, for all of your help,” Samuel offers on a tight-lipped smile.

“Of course.” Twisting on her feet, she exits the room as Samuel and Birdie turn to face me now.

“What the hell is going on? Just a few weeks ago, you couldn’t keep your hands off of her, and now you’re giving her the cold shoulder. She also didn’t know you were working tonight, so I assume you aren’t speaking right now? What the hell happened, Cash?” Birdie’s concerned words come out slowly, but I can still hear the worry in her voice.

I let out a long breath. “It’s complicated.” I don’t want to offer up too many details until I know exactly what the truth is myself. Birdie and Samuel love her, so I don’t want to persuade their opinions of Piper if there’s a logical explanation as to why she changed her name.

“Relationships are. And I would hate to see you lose what the two of you have by acting a fool. Talk to her. That’s the only way to move past whatever has come between you two.” Birdie’s words mirror Cooper’s—fucking talk to her—yeah, like that’s so easy. What do I say?

“Hey, Piper. I overheard you talking to your mom on the phone and realized she called you by a different name, so I lifted your fingerprint from my truck and ran it through the system at work, confirming that you actually have two identities. Care to tell me what the fuck is going on? Why you’ve been lying to me since day one about who you are? Or better yet, what the fuck are you hiding?”

“I don’t know how to have the conversation we need to. It’s… it’s just fucking complicated, alright?” I raise my voice, but instantly regret it.

“Go talk to her right now. I’m not asking, I’m telling you, Cash Williams. Do not let that woman walk out of your life.” Birdie is definitely more awake now, the sternness in her voice a command I can’t deny—because it never occurred to me until she said it that Piper could walk away if I don’t find the fucking balls to talk to her.

“Okay, fine. But I’ll be right back.” I kiss her forehead beside her cut and then walk away, looking to my left and right for a glimpse of which direction Piper went as soon as I exit the doorway.

The hips and curves that I’ve committed to memory taunt me in the hallway to my left as I watch the woman I can’t seem to fight my feelings for walk away from me in a hurry, almost like she’s trying to escape. My feet move on instinct towards her, my mind deciding to play this in a way where she can’t leave once I let her know the truth. As I close the distance between us, I decide to rip the band aid off, revealing our reality.

“Where are you going,Pfeiffer?” My voice makes her freeze, her shoulders rising like she’s anticipating a physical connection, but I can’t reach out to her just yet. “We need to talk, and I think you know just what we need to talk about,” I finally say, lifting some anxiety from my body over this situation, but not yet calming down my pulse.

She slowly turns to me, eyes wide, full of surprise and then fear as we lock our gazes, studying each other in a silent stand-off.

“What did you just call me?” She whispers, like she’s afraid to ask the question because she already knows the answer.

“You heard me. We need to talk.”

She shakes her head, her lips trembling. “Not here, Cash. Please. This is where I work. I know you have questions, but I can’t do this here.”

“Then when?” I fold my arms over my chest, standing tall and not letting her panic get to me. Because although part of me wants to wrap her in my arms right now and tell her everything is going to be alright, I don’t fucking know that and I can’t make that promise. I’m fucking pissed. I love her and am so goddamn mad at her at the same time, my mind doesn’t know what to think, my heart doesn’t know what to feel, my body doesn’t know what to do, so I trap my hands from making any movement for her.

“How about tomorrow night? Come by my place and I promise, I’ll tell you everything, okay?” She’s pleading, reaching for me, her gentle hand resting on my forearm, heating up every miniscule inch of skin beneath it, reminding me of our connection.

“No more lying, Piper. I can’t fucking handle it. This right here,” I gesture between us with one hand, “Is exactly why I don’t do relationships. You pulled me in, I’m invested now, but my head is spinning in a fucking circle and I don’t know what to think.”

“You heard me talking to my mom, didn’t you?” She mumbles, dropping her eyes to where her hand is still resting on me.

“Yeah, I did. But part of me didn’t think I heard correctly. But I did a little research, and let’s just say, I know you’ve changed your name. I just need to know why before this goes any further.” I unfold my arms now, causing her hand to drop, and stand there, fists clenched at my sides.

“I promise. I will tell you everything, Cash. Tomorrow. I have to go, though,” she turns away, finally breaking the barrier of the automatic doors and striding into the blackness of the night.

“Let me at least walk you to your car,” I say as I catch up to her, following her to the white BMW she drives. She did say her family came from money, so this definitely makes sense from the little I know about her background. Yet, I can’t help but question how much of everything she’s told me about her is the truth.

“I’ll text you when I’m headed your way tomorrow night.” Staring down into those deep blue eyes that look almost black in the night around us and blurry from the tears she’s fighting hard not to shed, I pray that whatever she has to tell me isn’t as bad as I imagine, because if I have to live a life without those eyes staring back at me, I’m going to fucking break.

“Okay.” She turns to reach for her handle, but I can’t hold back any longer. Three days away from this woman has been too long, so I pull her towards me and smash our lips together, making me breathe her in like she’s the oxygen my lungs can’t live without. I cradle her head in my hands and glide my tongue along her lips, her mouth parting for me like the red fucking sea.

Walking us back to her car, our bodies press against the cool metal as she reaches for me in return, encircling her arms around my neck, kissing me back and cementing the idea that what we have is too strong to give up on. My fear is telling me to run, my heart is telling me this is where I belong, my head is still analyzing everything that can go wrong in this situation. But while we kiss, I focus on how perfect she feels in my arms, the way her tongue moves against mine like we’ve been doing this for years, and how one day, I hope her secrets and my uncertainty won’t destroy us.

As I slow down our heated kiss to something more meaningful, I feel the weight of her turmoil in my body, like she’s trying to give some of it to me through our touch. Maybe her reason for being here with a new name is not something she did in the slightest. Maybe she is running from something chasing her. It would help explain why she’s always looked over her shoulder and seemed on edge at certain points in our time together.

So I fight like hell to take her turmoil from her, provide her a comfort in my kiss even though a difficult conversation is pending.

“Cash. Please don’t shut me out, okay?” She pleads as tears run down her face when we part. “Once I tell you, I hope you’ll understand.”

“I’m trying, sweetheart. But forgive me for having to wrap my head around this for the past few days. In my line of work, my mind instantly veers to the worst.”

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