Page 46 of Cash

"Of course."

"I'll see you soon though. I'll text you."

She moved to get out of bed.

"You stay here, I'll show myself out," he said, kissing her one last time.

18

CASH

He didn’t want to leave her house. He wanted to be in the bed with her cuddling her. Fuck. He can't remember the last time he was disappointed he couldn't cuddle, but here he was. And after some game winning cuddling, they would have sex again. Then he would get her a snack and take her to the shower and fuck her again. It could have been a glorious night, but instead he was climbing into his truck heading home because he had agreed to let River stay there.

He wasn't mad at River. He had never grown up with an alarm system and it can be tricky, so no hard feelings. Just fighting disappointment at the thought of what could have been. But there would be other nights with Evie. He was hoping for many nights, endless nights. That was a thought that should have terrified him, but it didn't. He blamed Conner and Wes for turning all lovey-dovey and making it look so fucking good.

As he pulled up to his house, he could see a cop car sitting in his driveway. His gate opened and he pulled in.

"And you're allowed on the premises?" asked the cop.

"Yes,” answered River, seeming irritated.

"Cash Hawthorn doesn't have any kids," said the other officer, his hands crossed over his chest.

"I know he fucking doesn't. I'm his nephew. I've told you that. I told you the fucking safe word or whatever."

"Watch your tone, son, or we will take you in."

"For what?" River exploded.

"Watch it, ya punk kid," the other officer said, reaching for his cuffs.

"What's going on here?" Cash said, strolling up to the front door. He had his game face on because someone coming at his nephew like that felt the same as when the other team came after his teammates on the ice. Being an enforcer was in his blood.

"Mr. Hawthorn.” One of the officers glanced at him with a surprised look. “Do you know this young man?"

"Yes. As he said, he's my nephew. He is staying with me this summer. Why the fuck were you reaching for your cuffs?" His voice remained even, but stern.

"It was a misunderstanding. We just wanted to make sure your house was safe."

"Making sure my house was safe by threatening my nephew? I'm not following."

"If everything is good here, we’ll be on our way," said one of the officers. The other seemed to still be sizing up River.

Cash stepped between his nephew and the officers. "Have a good night," he said as he gently nudged River back into the house and shut the door behind them.

"What the fuck was that?" Cash asked.

"I don't know. I tried to tell them I belonged here, but they wouldn’t believe me," River spat out.

He looked pissed. Cash would be pissed if he was in River's situation as well, he was pissed now, and he hadn't been the one the cops were intimidating.

"Were the tacos good at least?" Cash said, trying to lighten the situation.

River just glared at him.

"No harm done man, let's just try and forget about it," Cash said following him into the house.

"I don't know what happened. When I went to the gate to get the tacos the code worked fine, but then I got in and the alarm went off and I tried the code, but it wouldn't work. I didn't even know it was on."

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