Up to Me (15 page)

“Oh, no.  If there was a song that applied to you, it would be ‘Little Red Corvette’.”

“I’m nothing like that!”

“
You
don’t think so, but I do. I see it. I see the fiery, racy, wild side of you that you try to ignore, try to hide.  It’s my mission in life to get you to take that thing out for a spin.”

“Your mission in life, huh?”

“Yep.”  I reach out to trace her luscious bottom lip.  As we fall quiet, I can see the weight fall back down on her shoulders.  Suddenly, she still looks exhausted.  “Here,” I say, moving around behind her where her back is to my chest and the spray of the shower is cascading down the front of her body.  “Let me make you feel better.”

She doesn’t argue.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN- Olivia

Some sort of bell pulls me from a pleasantly oblivious state of rest.  When I open my eyes, I’m greeted with the sight of Cash’s naked body rising from the bed and walking across to the bathroom to grab his jeans from the floor and pull them on.  When he comes back through the bedroom to head for the door, he sees me watching him.  He grins.  “See anything you like?”

I smile in return and waggle my eyebrows at him.  He detours back to the bed.  Throwing off the covers, Cash bends to drag one hand up my thigh while he pulls one of my nipples into his mouth.  I catch my breath, instantly ready for him.  He stops when his fingers are painfully close to where I want him most to touch me.  He raises his head and gives me his wickedest, most promise-filled grin.  “You think on that until I get back.”  He gives my lips a quick peck and jogs off toward the garage door.

I’m lying in bed, smiling like the Cheshire Cat when I hear Ginger.

“Is she here?”

“Yes.  Would you like to speak to her?” I hear Cash respond. 

“Of course. I didn’t drive all the way down here to ask a simple question.  Unless you want to make it worth my while.”  I grin and shake my head.  I can almost see the smile she’s wearing as she sharpens her cougar claws on Cash’s chest.  Before Cash, who is no doubt speechless, can respond, she continues.  “Where is that disappearing wench?  She scared the shit out of me!”

I look at the clock.  No wonder she’s upset.  It’s nearly seven p.m.  I must’ve slept longer than I thought.

I pull the covers up tighter around me and sit up just as Ginger is coming into the bedroom.  “There you are,” she says flinging her arms.  “And just as I suspected.  I’ve been worrying my ass off and you’ve been having multiple orgasms at the end of a Greek god’s penis.  Figures.”

“I’m sorry, Ginger. I didn’t mean to worry you.   It’s that stupid phone I’m using.  I can’t wait to get mine back.”

“That’s a likely story.  But hell, I’d lie, too, if this was waiting for me back here.”  With a smile, she perches on the edge of the bed beside me.  “No worries.  I’m just happy to see your hen house being taken care of by such a fabulous cock.”  She leans in and whispers to me, “And it is a fabulous cock, am I right?”  I say nothing, simply grin.  She leans back and clears her throat.   “I expected nothing less.  God doesn’t mess something like
that
up,” she says, hiking her thumb back toward Cash who is hovering in the doorway, clearly already bored with Ginger’s presence.

“No, He didn’t mess up
anything
on that!” I gloat.

“You’re a saucy bitch to tease me this way.  Where’s the other one?  They’re twins.  He ought to be just as perfect. Only a little less…attached.”

Ginger grins at me and I roll my eyes just as I hear the door open. I see Cash turn toward the garage and then I hear another voice.

“I hope it’s a bad time,” Nash says in his gruff way.  He steps into the doorway and looks in at me.  “Damn, you lucked up.  I love a girl that doesn’t mind company.”

If the sting in my cheeks is any indication, my face is cherry red at his insinuation.  Before anyone can respond, Ginger turns to me, her eyes wide.  “Sweet mother of sex, they’re triplets!”

Ginger looks back toward Nash and my eyes meet Cash’s.  I’m fine until he winks. Then I lose it.  We both burst into laughter.

“What?” Ginger asks, turning to look back at me.  She narrows her eyes on me and gasps.  “You’ve been hiding them from me
on purpose! 
You naughty, naughty little vixen!”  She pauses for only a second before she throws her arms around my neck.  “Never in all my wildest dreams did I take you for a foursome.  With triplets, no less!”  She leans back and grins at me.  “You’ve officially earned your claws.  Not the cougar kind, of course.  You’re far too young for that.  But you get honorary claws just for being the only hen in a whole house full of cocks.   I’m so proud,” she says melodramatically, covering her mouth with her hands.  I know she’s just teasing when she winks at me over her polished nails.

“God, you’re incorrigible.”

She drops her hands and kills the drama.  “I know.  But that’s why you love me.”  She stands and tugs at the hem of her short skirt.  “Well, boys, I’d have been happy to join this little party, but I’m thinking it’s already a bit crowded.  I wouldn’t want to overwhelm anyone with my fabulousness.  Maybe next time.”  With her typical cocky strut, Ginger makes her way from the room, reaching behind her to slap Nash on the butt as she passes.  I see her turn and give him a cheeky wink as she goes.

“Who the hell was that?” Nash asks.

“You don’t want to know,” Cash replies.

“I heard that,” Ginger chimes in from the garage, her voice echoing back to us.  I hear her mumble something else a few seconds before another voice sounds.

“Hello?” 

Marissa.

Oh shit!

I hear a light knock, like she rapped on the doorframe with her knuckles.  I look to Cash and he sighs heavily through thinned lips.  “Dammit!” I hear him mutter.  “Couldn’t you people have called?” he says testily.

“I’m sorry,” I hear Marissa say.  “I was looking for…him.”  I imagine her indicating Nash.  He’s the only “him” in the room other than Cash.

“Fine,” Cash says abruptly.  “You found him.  Why don’t you two take the office?  You can have some privacy.”  I see him trying to push Nash out of the way and shut the door, but not before Marissa gets into the apartment far enough to see into the bedroom.  In to where I’m still lying naked in the bed, covered only in a rumpled sheet. 

She looks in and I see a frown flicker across her forehead before she rushes past Cash toward me.  She launches herself at the bed, throwing her arms around my neck.  I’m stunned, of course, and left wondering what’s going on while I try to keep myself covered.  The room is far too full for my current state of undress.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she murmurs against my neck.  I feel her body shake. It takes me a minute to realize she’s silently sobbing.

“Marissa, what’s wrong?”  I ask this more out of shock than any real concern.  My cousin has been a royal bitch since birth and any love between us died about six months thereafter.

She leans away and looks back at me with huge, watery blue eyes.  The most puzzling thing is that they seem to be
sincere
huge, watery blue eyes.

“I was so afraid for you. I heard them talking about killing you.  Both of us. 
All
of us,” she says, turning to look back at the twins, standing quietly in the doorway.  “I’ve never been so scared in all my life.  And all I could think about was sending you to that damned art exhibition wearing that stupid dress.”

I’m dumbstruck. And completely suspicious.  I’m adult enough to admit it.  This girl, who I’ve often fantasized about scalping or setting on fire or dying purple, suddenly gets
nice? 
Um, I don’t think so.

“I know you probably think I’m crazy.  Or making it up.  But I swear to you, Liv, you were all I could think about.”  Her lip starts to tremble and her eyes fill with more tears.  “You’ve always been good to me, always been such a sweet person and I’ve always treated you like nothing.  And I’m so sorry.  All my life, I’ve been surrounded by people just like me.  People who probably couldn’t care less if I disappeared. And that includes Daddy.  What I needed most was to be surrounded by people just like you.”  She pauses and swallows hard, tears streaming down her face.  “I don’t want to be that person anymore, Liv.  Can you ever forgive me?”

Holy cousin of brain damage!  Marissa’s had a stroke.

That’s the only plausible explanation.  The. Only. One. People like her don’t suffer crises of conscience.  People like her don’t have changes of heart. People like her don’t have hearts
period. 

But as I look into her eyes, I’m struck again by how sincere she seems.  She appears to be genuinely contrite, genuinely distressed about this.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal, Marissa.  Don’t stress over it. I think you just need to go back home and get some rest.”

“No, I don’t.  I don’t need rest. I need to know you forgive me.  And then I need to talk to him,” she says, looking back over her shoulder at Nash.  I don’t think she’s even spared Cash a glance since she walked in.

I wonder what she thinks, what she knows.

“Where is my daughter?”

My heart sinks when I hear that voice.  I glance at Cash.  Even from across the room, I see him stiffen. 

My first inclination is to hide under the covers.  That, of course, is not an option.  The best I can do is sit up nice and straight and take it like a woman, a woman who is old enough to make her own decisions.

Mom stops in the bedroom doorway and stares at both Cash and Nash. It’s a withering glare that would make my balls shrivel. If I had any, that is.  I guess I’m having sympathy ball shriveling.  It’s not a good feeling.

Nash steps slightly to the side, giving her a wide berth as she enters the room.  Cash doesn’t move at all, but to extend his hand.

“I’m Cash Davenport. You must be Olivia’s mother.”

“And why must I be?  I’m sure she’s told you nothing about me.  If she had, you’d know better than to pull a stunt like this with my daughter.”

“It’s enough that I know your daughter.  It speaks highly of you that you gave birth to and helped raise someone like her.”

“If you think so much of my daughter, why is she in this position?”

“She’s in this position because she’s a good person who wanted to help someone.  Who wanted to help me.  She’s
here
because I’m trying to keep her safe.”

“Well, you’ve done a bang up job so far,” my mother snaps, pushing past him and making her way to me.  I see Cash’s jaw clench before my chin is in my mother’s palm, my face being examined.  “Are you hurt?”

“No, Mom.  I’m fine.  Cash and Gavin found me and took care of everything.”

“Cash, Gavin, Gabe.  Where do you meet this trash?  I thought getting out of Salt Springs would be good for you, but you might just be the kind of girl that falls for this…type no matter where you live.”

“Mom, I didn’t—”

“I see that Olivia’s mother made it.”  I peek around my mother. Gavin has appeared in the bedroom doorway as well. 

Next time I’m having an impromptu toga party so
I
can be the only appropriately dressed person in the room.

“And you!  You’re the one that got her in this mess in the first place. If you’d simply driven her to school like she’d asked you to do…”

Gavin hangs his head at that, mainly because she’s right. 

“You can’t blame him for that, Mom.  He thought he was doing the right thing.  Which he obviously was, since that’s where I was attacked.”

Mom turns her icy eyes back on me.  “Honestly, have you no shame?  No pride? No sense of self-worth?  Letting people like this tell you what to do, get you into trouble?  Whoring around with men like this?”

“That’s enough!” Cash booms from behind her.  “She may be your daughter, but that doesn’t give you the right to talk to her like that.”

“Oh yes it does.  The only person out of line here is
you.
I assume you’re the one she’s shacked up with?  You’re the one defiling my daughter on a regular basis?  Not enough respect for her to marry her.  You just use her like some cheap dime-store floozy.”

“I’m not using her.  And I—”

My mother waves her hand imperiously and cuts Cash off. “I’m not interested in your excuses.  I’m here to collect my daughter and get her out of your life.  I’ll ask that you kindly stay out of ours.”  She turns back to me and commands, “Now get dressed. You’re coming home with me.”

“No, I’m not Mom.  I’m staying here. I’m a grown woman. You can’t keep treating me this way.”

“As long as you keep acting this way, I’ll keep treating you this way.”

“Acting what way?  So I’ve made some mistakes, made some bad judgments.  Is that so terrible?  Is that so abnormal? You made mistakes and look at you.  Do you think I’d make the same decisions you’ve made if it meant I’d turn out cold and miserable and alone?”

“I’m none of those things, Olivia.”

“You are, you just don’t know it. You picked the perfect man who gave you the perfect house and the perfect car and the perfect life, but you’re miserable. You loved Daddy, but you somehow got it in your head that he wasn’t good enough, that life on a farm wasn’t good enough.  Well I’m not you, Mom.  I’d rather have a life full of love and happiness than all the money in the world.”

“And that would be fine with me, but if you think someone like this,” she says, jacking her thumb back over her shoulder at Cash, “is the man who can give you anything but heartache, think again.”

“Mom, he risked his life to save me.”

“He’s the one who put you in danger.”

“No, I put myself in danger.  I knew the risk, but I wanted to help.”

“What on earth could be so important that you’d do something so foolish, Olivia?”

“Someone’s life, mother.”

“Someone you don’t even know. Am I right?”

I pause.  “Yes, but—”