Rachel looked up to see the hurt look on Lily’s face.
“I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…” Rachel’s frustration at herself reached a boiling point. “I don’t want to be attracted to Cash. He’s a horny hound dog who is going to make my life miserable.”
“Or he’s a horny hound dog who is going to keep you very satisfied.”
Rachel gaped at Lily’s blunt comeback. She seemed surprised by herself, blushing bright red.
“That’s one way of looking at it,” Rachel laughed. “So, what’s the big secret about Friday nights?”
Chapter 29
Rachel was bagging a customer’s purchase of clothes when the door to the church store opened. She looked toward it to meet Cash’s furious gaze. As he stalked toward her, she paled.
Birdie Jacobs, her current customer, was the biggest gossip in town; anything Cash said would be repeated and spread around town within minutes.
“I’ll be with you in a minute,” Rachel tried to forestall the confrontation she saw coming.
He ignored her silent request. “What the fuck, Rachel? What time did you sneak out of my bed last night?” He crossed his arms over his chest, giving her a malicious smile at Birdie’s avid interest.
When Lily and another customer stopped talking to listen, Rachel silently pled for her help and received an eye roll for her effort; both women knew there was no stopping Cash.
Pasting an injured look on his face, Cash played to his audience. Rachel gritted her teeth, preparing herself for the show.
“What kind of woman takes advantage of a man then leaves him? I feel so used.”
Birdie’s mouth softened in commiseration.
“I thought we had something special, then I woke up, and you were gone.”
“We’ll talk about this later.” She handed Birdie her bag, but the nosey woman made no effort to leave.
“We need to talk about this now. Lily can watch the store for you, can’t you?”
Lily walked behind the counter. “Of course. I can see you two have a lot to talk about.”
Rachel threw a glare at her friend, who gave a negligent shrug in response. “It’s almost quitting time anyway,” Lily reminded her.
Giving in only because she didn’t want Birdie to witness her murdering Cash, Rachel reached under the counter to pull out her purse, angrily leaving the store with a farewell to her traitorous friend.
She ignored Cash once she was outside, going to her car and opening the door. Cash’s anger hadn’t evaporated; he grabbed her arm, keeping her from getting in.
“Get on my bike.” His order grated on her already-sensitive nerves.
“Go to Hell. You’re ruining my life, Cash.” Rachel angrily swung back around to face him.
Before she could utter another word, she found herself marched to his motorcycle where a Cash she didn’t recognize stared down at her.
“I’m ruining your life? I wake up and find out you’re gone. How did I know what happened to you? How did you get home? I fucking doubt you called one of your brothers to come and get you. And you can’t get a cab in Treepoint after twelve a.m. because that’s when it closes. So, how did you get home?”
“I walked,” Rachel admitted reluctantly.
“In the fucking dark? Someone driving on the road wouldn’t be able to see you.” His hand on her arm tightened.
“I didn’t walk in the road; I walked through the woods,” she snapped unwisely. She admitted it might not have been so smart when he literally shook her.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed? If you had fallen and hurt yourself, it would have taken us days to find you. You didn’t even have your cell phone on you.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out her phone before handing it to her.
“Thank you.” She thought she had lost it in the woods. She was relieved to have it back.
Cash looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “Get. On. The. Fucking. Bike!”
“Okay!” Rachel yelled back at him before angrily climbing on.
Cash stared down at her, his face ridged. “You’re lucky we’re not somewhere private, or I would set that fine ass of yours on fire.” He got on the bike, handing her the helmet.
When he started the bike, pulling out onto the road, Rachel expected him to drive recklessly, to take his anger out on the road, but instead he drove carefully. Rachel wanted to go back to Mag’s, but he drove past her house, despite her yells at him to stop. He simply kept driving toward his clubhouse. Rachel didn’t want to return there but was given no choice as he pulled into the parking lot, cutting the motor.
“I wanted to go back to Mag’s.” She refused to get off the bike after he did.
“You can go back later. We need to talk.”
“We can talk there,” she repeated stubbornly.
“No, we can’t.”
“Why?” Rachel couldn’t understand his insistence they talk here.
“Because I can’t fuck you when we’re done talking.”