Page 101 of Slash & Burn

I jerked my head back. “Yourcompany?”

He nodded, like he knew I didn’t think him capable of running anything on his own. “Yeah, I’m a carpenter.”

Cash had always been so good with his hands. He’d been wearing a tool belt since he was a kid, I just never imagined he’d have turned that into something profitable enough that he’d have pull with the bank.

“Listen,” he said, looking over his shoulder as if he half expected Sherry to burst in. “You won’t owe me anything. I won’t get a say or make any decisions. I just figured it might be harder for you to get this on your own. And I’m happy to help.”

He wasn’t just happy to help, he wanted to help. I could see it in his eyes. Cash wasn’t as stoic and thick skinned as he wanted people to think.

“I don’t know what to say,” I muttered, feeling my face flush with embarrassment for having thought so little of him all these years. But being wrong had never felt so good. “If you’re okay with the risk—because we both know I can’t promise anything—then of course I’ll take your help.”

He gave my shoulder a squeeze, the Cash version of a hug. “I know you, Jilly. I’m not worried.” As he sat back the door opened and Sherry peeped inside.

“Are we ready?”

“Ready,” Cash answered, his smile maybe the brightest I’d ever seen it.

“Ready,” I added, just as Sherry took her seat.

“Fantastic. Let’s make a deal.” She laughed at her own joke harder than anyone else, but her energy was contagious.

When we walked out an hour later, signed loan documents in hand, I felt a wave of anxiety and excitement crash over me.

“You okay?” Cash asked, eyeing me with a hesitant grin.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s been kind of a crazy couple of months.”

He took a handful of steps toward his truck parked on the street. “Just take it one step at a time. You’ll be fine.”

“And if I’m not?”

“Then you’ve got me.” He said it so casually, so matter of factly, it was as if the last decade of our lives apart hadn’t even happened. “I’ll stop by this week to see how you’re doing.”

He went to get into his truck and I called out in a rush. “Thank you, Cash.”

“No worries, bean.”

I watched him back out, heading out of town. It had been years since I’d known where he lived, and clearly I had no idea what he did for a living. The details of his life were ones I hadn’t even tried to glean the few times we’d crossed paths. I felt like shit about that now, and promised I’d work on it. If he didn’t want me to know, so be it. But it was time I at least started asking.

CHAPTER 40

GRADY

“Holloway! My office!”

I dropped my head into my hands, letting out a sigh before shoving off the locker room bench. AJ watched me walk out, his grim expression not helping as I headed into Blaise’s office to get my ass handed to me.

“Sit,” he barked, slamming the door behind me. “What the fuck? What’s going on?” I opened my mouth to respond, but he went on. “You were fine two weeks ago. Back to your old self. You brought in Michum and you were fucking king of the ice. What the fuck happened?”

These were only exhibition games, but if I said that out loud Blaise would lose it. Besides, it had never mattered to me before whether a game counted or not. I was playing like shit, and every fucking person in the rink knew it.

“I’m sorry, Coach.”

“No.” He lowered his voice, sitting heavily into his chair. “I don’t want an apology, Holloway. I want to know what’s going on. For real this time.” He eyed me like he knew I’d kept things from him over the summer and he was insulted by it.

I looked up at the ceiling, swallowing hard. “I fucked up. I . . .” There was no way to say this out loud and not sound like a child, like some lovesick puppy. But if he was going to chew me out, he might as well know why. Maybe he’d scream some sense into me. “I fell for a girl. Over the summer. She helped me heal. She helped with a lot of things. But it . . . It didn’t work out.”

Blaise let out one long breath, like air being drained from a bike tire. And then he shook his head. “Fucking hell.”

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