Page 26 of Cash

He gave a defeated sigh. "Does he want this?"

"Yeah...and if I bring him back, he’ll just run away again, he told me. I can only keep him here until he's eighteen anyway. I’d love it if you could talk some sense into him and be a role model."

That was a funny thought. Cash as a role model. That wasn't exactly what he was known for, but he knew he could do it.

"I'll talk to him when I get home and if he's on board, it is fine with me," Cash said, resigned to the current predicament.

"Thank you, Cash."

"You owe me," he said.

"I know."

"I'll text you after I talk to him."

He made his way home and as he pulled into his garage. The sound of a loud guitar coming from his living room. Damn...he was good. This was going to make for an interesting summer.

"River," he called loudly over the music. Cash gave an approving nod because he was actually pretty good.

"Hey..." he said, making his way into the kitchen.

"So, I just got off the phone with your mother," he said.

River just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"She mentioned you two haven't been getting along. She thought you might like to spend the summer here. I'm okay with that, but only if you want to."

A smile tried to find River's face, but he pushed it away. "It beats living with her."

"Now there will be some rules, but for tonight let's just order a pizza and watch a movie. We can figure more of this out tomorrow."

And just like that, the two of them settled in the TV room in the basement with an enormous TV and let the day fall away. Cash knew he needed to talk to him about what had happened, but they could both use a good night's sleep before that.

12

EVIE

Evie made it home from the rink in a foul mood. She wasn't sure why she was so bothered Cash hadn't shown up today. She had thought from the beginning he was a playboy hockey player, and he had almost convinced her otherwise. But all it took was one little internet search…she knew the score now. And knowing that would make it much easier to stay away from him.

Even with all of that, she had been surprised he hadn't shown up for the kids. He had talked about how important this was to him, about how a program just like this one had helped him when he was younger. He had fooled her again.

She woke up the next morning still angry. She had to be at the rink at six because she had a private coaching session before camp started. She pulled on her leggings, t-shirt, stuffed her fleece in her bag as she grabbed her coffee to go and headed out the door.

Her phone buzzed as she was putting her bag in her trunk, she pulled it out.

Cash - looking forward to seeing you today.

She just stared at the text. Was he fucking serious right now?

Evie - Would have been nice to see you yesterday.

She couldn't do this. She didn't want to play games with Cash Hawthorn. They hooked up at the gala, the sex was incredible, but that's all it was, and she knew it. This whole thing was over. She saw the three dots dancing, but before it came through, she blocked him. Maybe not her most mature moment, but she was done letting his guy toy with her emotions.

She got in her car and backed out of her driveway, only for her mug of coffee, she had stupidly left on her roof, to pour coffee down the windshield as the cup tumbled over and rolled off the hood. Great. Looked like this was the start to another amazing day.

She did manage to pull it together and get through her training session. When she was done the lobby was full of campers. She had her little kids first and she was getting things ready. She had seen Cash, but she was doing everything she could to not run into him.

She had managed it for most of the day, sticking to her ice and the front office, while he was busy on his own ice. She did wish she didn't care so much, but she just had to get through this week and then she would never see him again.

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