No Regrets (Bomar Boys #1) (11 page)

“Yeah, I might need the money before I’m ready to face them.” Jemma snorted, “Maybe you could take it over there for me and just bring me back the profits.”

It was his turn to snort, “Babe, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m a Bomar. Big Mike won’t give me anything but hell if I show up with some hefty diamond ring. He’s liable to call the cops to check if it was stolen before he’d give me a nickel.”

“That’s not fair. You don’t have a record.” She paused, scrunched her nose up, “Do you?”

“No. Of course not.” He shrugged, “Nothing new since I turned eighteen anyway. I’ve been picked up a few times but they had to let me go. I told you, I don’t mess with that side of the family business but it took the cops a little while to figure that out.”

He tried not to take offense at the question she had every right to ask and told her as much of the truth as he could face. He was a Bomar. He did have a record. His juvie record was longer than his arm but he’d straightened up by the time he turned eighteen. He didn’t think now was the time to tell her she’d been a big part of that.

“I’m sorry. I had to ask.”

“It’s okay.” He shrugged, telling himself that it didn’t hurt to have her think so little of him.

She sighed, “No. It’s not. It’s just, I’ve been away a long time…”

“And things change. People change. I get it.”

“I didn’t honestly think for a second that you had somehow become a drug kingpin or a thief, Cash.” She nudged him when he didn’t look at her, “I’d expect if you had you’d be living somewhere a little bit fancier than this.”

He chuckled, “Maybe I’m just hiding my money from the IRS.”

“Yeah, you and me both.” She giggled.

He grinned, happy that he’d made her laugh. It was a sound that he’d missed. Light and carefree, it had always made something tighten in his chest and now was no different.

They stared at one another as their laughter trailed off. Tension sparked and the heat that had always been between them flared again. He moved back into her and cupped her cheek, gently swiped his finger over the bruise that marred her beautiful face. She leaned into him and closed her eyes, covered his hand with her own and held him to her.

“I missed this.” She whispered softly.

His heart squeezed, “What?”

“Us. How easy it always came, talking, touching, everything.” She opened her eyes and looked right at him, looked deep, right down to his soul, “I missed you.”

The entire world dimmed down to this one moment with this one girl. Because this was what his dreams had looked like, sounded like, for five years. This was everything he had wanted but never expected to get because he’d ruined it, ruined them. And she deserved to know why.

“I missed you too.”

“I know.” She smiled softly, “Colt told me.”

He snorted, because of course his brother had. He’d left them alone for five minutes. There was no telling what all Colt had told her, but he knew there was one thing that he hadn’t, wouldn’t, because he knew Cash had to do it himself.

“Jemma, there’s something you need to know.”

She tilted her head slightly, “Really?”

“Yeah, I…”

A loud bang sounded across the room and Jemma shrieked. Cash whirled, putting himself between her and the door instinctively. At first glance, he thought he had overreacted. The pretty blonde storming into his apartment wasn’t a threat. But then he got a good look at her face and realized he was wrong. She looked ready to throttle him.

Skylar stopped in the middle of the room, her eyes flashing from open hostility to curiosity to disbelief. He stood his ground. Jemma had reached for his arm but dropped her touch away just as fast. Colt had come in behind the other woman, his hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans, an annoyed look on his face that said all he needed to know. Skylar was on a warpath.

“Cash, move away from her, slowly, or I’m going to kick your nuts so far up your ass God himself will not be able to recover them for you.”

Jemma had laid her soul bare with Cash. She’d opened up to him. She hadn’t held anything back. She’d told him everything about the situation with Hoyt. She’d told him about her doubts and her worries. She’d told him how she felt, how he made her feel, and she’d told him that she missed him.

Maybe she should have held back. Maybe she should have kept some piece of herself back from him. Maybe she should have played it safe and not risked her already bruised and broken heart.

Hadn’t she just been telling herself that it was her heart that got her into trouble? But her head and her heart were in agreement when it came to Cash. He could have taken advantage but he hadn’t. He’d put her first, even when it had hurt him to do it. It couldn’t be wrong to trust him now, could it?

She felt like if she locked her heart away that would be giving Hoyt more power than he already had. He’d changed her in so many ways. He’d taken a strong and carefree girl and twisted her ability to love and to forgive into a weakness. She had let him put her in a cage but she’d busted free of him. If she chose to stay in it now, then he won and she really was broken.

That was my worst fear for you.

Cash’s words would haunt her for the rest of her life if she let that happen. There were so many things he hadn’t said. There were so many more that he had with just that one simple yet complex statement.

He’d thought that he would break her. She could see that now. Put together with what Colt had already told her, she understood Cash far better than she had when she was a seventeen year old girl and better still than she had when she woke this morning. She’d known he had issues with his family, with his father and with his mother and even with his twin, though he would never admit to that one. What she hadn’t known was just how tied to those issues she was for him.

She was hurt. She was hurting. But she wasn’t broken. She might have thought she was. There might have been a lot of evidence to support that theory in the past twenty-four hours, but she was stronger than she’d given herself credit for. She’d hurt Hoyt. She’d gotten away. And now she was going to stand up for herself.

It wasn’t much, not in the grand scheme of things, but it was a start.

“Take it down a notch Skylar.” Colt growled as he trailed her best friend into the room. “I told you they were fine.”

“You told me a whole helluva lot of shit that made no sense. That’s why I’m here.” She snapped and then narrowed her eyes at Cash, “I don’t see you moving so I hope you haven’t grown attached to those new balls you’ve grown.”

“Skylar!” Jemma gave her a warning look, “Stop threatening his balls.”

Colt smirked, “Yeah, she likes them right where they are.”

“Colt.” It was Cash’s turn to issue a warning. “Shut it.”

His twin only smirked and nudged Skylar, “Told ya.”

Skylar looked between the two of them and Jemma fidgeted. She’d never been able to hide anything from her best friend. She knew her better than anyone. Even if they hadn’t seen each other in years, even if Skylar had been in the room less than five seconds, she knew there was no hiding the fact that something was happening between her and Cash. Skylar’s jaw fell open and her eyes went wide.

“Well, well, well, someone want to tell me what I interrupted?”

“Nope.” Jemma nudged Cash aside and hopped down from the counter. “I’m so glad you’re here. Give me a hug.” She moved towards her friend and opened her arms.

Skylar harrumphed but accepted the hug. She wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her tight. Jemma squeezed right back. It felt good in a way that hugging Cash couldn’t give her. He offered comfort through strength. Skylar was smaller but she was no less fierce when it came to her friends and family than Cash was. She threatened the very air in her lungs she squeezed her so hard.

“You okay smalls?” Skylar whispered against her hair and Jemma smiled at the childish nickname.

“Yeah-yeah. I’m doing better.” She whispered back and felt Skylar tremble slightly.

“I’m so sorry. My phone didn’t have service.” Skylar pulled back to look her in the eye and she winced at the tears she saw gathering there, “I’m so sorry I didn’t get your calls or your messages. I would have been here if I had. You know that right? When Colt showed up I…”

“Hey.” She cut her off with a shake of her head when Skylar’s voice broke, “I know. You don’t have to apologize. I know you would have been here if you could have.”

“I told Trey going to the falls was a horrible idea. I mean really, me and the woods are a terrible combination.” Skylar tried for sassy but couldn’t pull it off with a wobbly bottom lip, “Me going camping should have been the first sign of the apocalypse.”

“I thought so too.”

“Never again.” Skylar pulled her back in for another bone-crushing hug, “I’m never going camping again. It was the worst three days of my life. Shit, what am I saying? You’ve had it so much worse. I’ll stop whining now. I’m sorry.”

Jemma smiled, “Hey, I’m okay. I promise.”

“Colt said you stayed here last night.” Skylar lowered her voice, confusion darkening her eyes when she pulled back enough to look at her again, “Are you sure you’re okay? Because I feel like I’ve slipped into some weird twilight zone thing.”

“Oh, Sky…” She swallowed a laugh, “There’s a lot I need to tell you, clearly, but right now, these two are the smallest of my concerns.”

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been called small.” Colt chuckled as he moved past them, winking for good measure.

“Oh, honey… I promise you, it’s not.” Skylar shot back with a smile made entirely of sugar sweetness.

“I’d offer to prove you wrong but I wouldn’t want to ruin you for that little boy toy of yours.” He wagged his eyebrows playfully. “On second thought…”

“Oh my God, Colt!” Skylar smirked when his hand went to the button on his pants, her eyes following the movement before he stopped with a chuckle, “You’re such a tease. You never follow through.”

Jemma watched the interaction and felt her eyes growing wide. She shot Cash a glance and he smirked. She had to look away to keep from laughing. Earlier, he’d told her Colt had it bad but Skylar refused to give him the time of day. From her perspective, Skylar was giving him way more than time or attention. That was something she was adding to her girl-talk topics just as soon as they got away from the twins.

“Colt?” She turned to where he’d moved to stand next to Cash.

“Yeah sweetheart?”

“Thank you for going to get Skylar.”

His eyes drifted momentarily before returning to her, “No problem. Happy to help.”

Her eyes drifted too and Cash met her gaze. There was a strange look on his face now and it took her a moment to place it. Resignation. Her chest felt heavy when she took her next breath. He was preparing to let her go all over again.

Skylar was here. Her friend was here. The person she’d really been running to, the person she had been looking for. Skylar was here to take care of her, to offer the comfort and understanding she needed, to take her away from him.

“So…” Skylar broke the silence, “I guess we’re finally going to get that chance to live together huh?”

“Oh, yeah.” She cringed and turned back to her friend, “I was kind of hoping you’d let me crash with you until I can figure everything out.”

“Of course. It’s not even a question. I have a spare room and everything.” Skylar glanced around the apartment and frowned, “My place is smaller than this. Why is my place smaller than this? It should be identical.”

“It’s not smaller, you probably just have more stuff taking up space than we do.” Cash offered and earned only a glare from her friend.

“It’s fine, Sky. I didn’t bring much, just a change of clothes and my toothbrush.”

Skylar huffed at that, “You didn’t bring anything with you?”

Jemma shifted uncomfortably, “I didn’t have a lot of time to pack. I had to get out so I grabbed what I could and bolted.”

“But…” Skylar started but a growl cut her off.

Cash glared at her, “We can replace what she left behind, Skylar. We couldn’t replace
her
if she’d stayed and that asshole hurt her worse.”

“Oh…” Skylar stopped arguing and nodded slightly, “Okay, yeah, I guess I knew that. Sorry. This is just... all I know is what Colt filled me in on during the drive here and I’m confused about exactly what happened and how the four of us have come to be standing here if I’m being completely honest.”

Jemma glanced between the twins. She’d assumed Cash filled his brother in on everything but she hadn’t actually heard him say a word. Obviously Colt had figured out a few things on his own and from the conversation they’d had, but she got the feeling if he hadn’t warned Skylar then he didn’t know the whole story either.

Her heart softened in her chest all over again and she was moving before she could talk herself out of it. She walked straight to Cash and threw her arms around him. It took him only a second to react and then he was wrapping his arms around her, shifting her closer so he could hold her more tightly.

“Thank you.” She murmured so only he could hear, “Thank you for trying to protect me.”

“Always.”

She bit her lip to stifle a whimper at that admission and winced. She’d probably split it again but she couldn’t care. Not when she was wrapped in Cash’s arms and he’d kept her secrets, tried to protect her, even from the person he cared about most in the world.

“Um, okay…” Skylar’s voice behind her was full of barely restrained judgement, “I guess I should get fitted for ice skates because hell just froze over.”

Colt scoffed, “Like you know a thing about hell.”

Jemma pulled away from Cash when Skylar shot something equally sarcastic back at the tattooed twin. Cash let her go. She smiled when she felt him brush a kiss against her temple. It was such a small act, it shouldn’t have meant the world to her, but it did. It was a promise that what they had was still there but that he wasn’t going to push her, not now, not yet. In fact, he’d been the one to pull back… because he was always trying to protect her, even from herself apparently.

“I should get my stuff.”

Cash nodded, “You can take the charger for your phone, if you need.”

“I have an extra.” Skylar spoke up.

“Oh… okay then.”

Jemma winced when he shifted, shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against the counter. So far, nothing between them had been awkward. They’d been slammed back together in the most unexpected ways and it had been painful and emotional and difficult, but it hadn’t been awkward. Not until now, when she didn’t need him to be her savior anymore.

It was a strange feeling, wanting to offer him comfort. She wanted to tell him that Skylar coming home didn’t change what had happened between them. It had been a rough twenty-four hours but it had been an eye-opening day too. Her entire world had been blown apart and she needed some time and some space to figure out how the pieces went back together, but there was one thing she already knew.

Cash was a piece of the puzzle. He always had been. Even when she’d wanted to hate him, he’d been a part of her. What he had done had colored her decisions since, just like everything that he had said and done since he found her on the side of the road, at her wit’s end, would color her decisions going forward.

“I’m going to Skylar’s but I’m not leaving okay?” She met his gaze and hoped that he would understand what she was really saying, “I’m not running away and I’m not going back.”

His intense blue eyes held hers captive for a long moment before he nodded, “Good.”

“Good.” She echoed softly, “I’ll see you soon Cash.”

“See you soon Jemma.”

She ignored the confused look Skylar gave her as she slung her bag over her shoulder. She traded a quick hug with Colt and thanked him again for his help. Both brothers looked downright sheepish at the idea of anyone owing them gratitude but they accepted it with quiet acknowledgement. Skylar didn’t say another word, not to them and not to her, not until the door shut behind them and they were alone.

“Jemma Marie Buxton, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

She let Skylar all but drag her down the sidewalk. She glanced back once but it was useless. The door was shut and there was nobody there. Somehow, walking away from Cash felt wrong. It hurt a hundred times worse than her bruises, than leaving behind her entire life in Houston. The only reason she could fight her feet when they wanted to stop, wanted to go back, was because Skylar had a good grip on her arm and she knew that she wasn’t going far.