Page 38 of Cash

“It’s not on my bucket list.”

“Not on mine either! Why would you say that?”

“Your partner was threatening them to Devil’s Angels members,” Cash states with a laugh.

Oh my God! James has been busy, apparently. Not that I’m shocked to hear he’d say something like that. I just don’t know when he found the time.

“I had no idea he’d done that. I’m so sorry! He’s a little protective and—”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Cash interrupts.

“Well, thanks for understanding his motives at least. I can’t promise he won’t follow through with his threats, though. He can be a handful for those he thinks have crossed me,” I explain with my own laugh.

“Sounds like he and I could be friends then. Stop by tomorrow and we’ll talk. Bring your partner. I’d like to formally meet him. I’ll text you the address. Yeah?”

“Yeah, I will. Have a good night, Cash.”

“Night, Livi.”

I disconnect and stare at my phone waiting to see if he’ll send me the address. A minute later, I get the text. A moment after that, I realize I’m smiling at my ceiling again.

*~*~*~*

“I don’t know yet why he didn’t show. But he said if we stop by today, he could explain it better,” I tell James.

“Let’s hope our shift is quiet enough to give us time to do that.”

That simple comment jinxed us. We were running a complaint behind for most of our shift but near the end of it, we finally caught a break. I texted Cash and told him we’d be there in five minutes. I didn’t receive an answer back, but since we were close, I wasn’t concerned.

Pulling into a short, cement driveway, I look the residence over. Brick, ranch-style home with an attached two-car garage. Nice, neat and well-cared for. I’m not surprised because Cash struck me as someone who would care about where he lived. Getting out of the patrol car, James and I make our way to the front steps. Rapping on the door, we wait. While waiting, we hear a baby screaming its lungs out. We can also hear a male voice singing some song with questionable lyrics. The singing isn’t horrible, but the words are graphic. Definitely not a lullaby or anything close to one.

“Does Cash have kids?” James asks.

“No idea but if so, it sounds like this one’s protesting his life.”

“I’d be screaming too if that song was being sung to me,” James states as he knocks louder on the door.

Within seconds, the door’s yanked open. An unsettled version of the Cash I met is standing there with the crying baby against his shoulder. The baby’s wails are threatening to permanently damage my hearing capabilities. Cash steps back and waves us inside with the hand not securing the baby.

“My fucking kid’s broke. I broke my fucking kid,” Cash says over the baby’s cries.

“Hand him over,” James orders as he expertly takes the baby from Cash and starts cooing to him.

Cash shuts the door behind us and leads us into the kitchen. He retrieves a bottle and holds it out to James, relief clearly visible in his eyes. My eyes do a sweep of Cash and it’s plain to see he’s tired, irritable and concerned.

“He won’t take the bottle or that fucking binky thing Axel calls a cure-all. His diaper’s been changed. He just woke up so he can’t be tired yet. Fuck, he doesn’t do anything to be tired from,” Cash mumbles while running his palm across his face.

James shifts the infant so he’s up against his shoulder and starts rubbing his back in an upward motion. The screams quiet down to simple fussing before they stop altogether. A few minutes later, the infant burps loudly. It’s not long before another one follows the first and the baby starts making happy, gurgling noises.

James takes a seat in a kitchen chair and continues to soothe the baby. Turning to Cash, I let my eyes roam all that he is. I again admire his height and width. He’s solid muscle that ripples beautifully when he moves. His tanned skin’s the perfect contrast to his blond hair. Blue eyes that could be called gray in a certain light. He’s not pretty, but definitely has more raw masculinity than most men could pull off. I grin unrepentantly when he catches me ogling him.

“Liam was unknown to me until last week. His mom and I had a brief thing, and then she left town. She never told me she was pregnant. She decided she doesn’t want to be a parent and, uh, dropped him off for me last week,” Cash explains.

Shock hits both James and my face at the same time. I’m not a mom, except to Snots, but I can’t imagine doing what she did.

“Seriously? She just dropped by, said hey Cash you’re a dad and left him with you?” James nearly shouts. “Permanently? Like, she doesn’t want to be in his life at all?”

“Pretty much,” Cash answers.

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