Page 10 of Cold Foot Cash (Wreck’s Mountains #4)

Cash hadn’t expected that.

His heart was still hammering, and his adrenaline was spiked. He’d meant to take her on a short flight, but she’d relaxed into it so fast, and he hadn’t wanted it to end. He would never forget the sound of her bell-tone laugh. It had filled the sky, and filled his soul.

He’d wanted the Cold Foot Crew to see him giving her flight. He was proud of Harley, and something had driven him to fly her over his home, over his territory, over his woods.

He’d started out all in good fun, but something had happened by the middle of that flight. He’d grown addicted to watching the smile on her face. He’d grown to love the trust she had in him. He’d grown protective of her as he realized he wouldn’t let anything happen to this gorgeous woman, with the sweet laugh, and the joy in her pretty eyes, and the way she could cut right to his faults and understand them.

She’d told him he needed to figure out what had made the hole in him in the first place, and it had rocked him. She’d made absolute sense. With anyone else, he would’ve told them to fuck off and mind their own business, but with Harley? She could see him. She could really and truly see him—the good and the bad, all of it, and without much effort. She was open to him.

He’d never experienced any feeling like this before.

Harley made him want to figure out what had made the hole inside of him.

And now here he was, sitting next to a bonfire, watching her chatter with the females of the Cold Foot Crew, and wishing he would’ve found her years ago—back before she’d met her ex, before he’d gone down his troubled roads, back before he’d gone to prison. All of that time had been wasted.

Harley had pulled her long hair into a ponytail as she played horseshoes with the girls, and the blond curls up front had fallen out. Her blue eyes were bright and happy, and he loved every single thing about her body shape. Loved how she was shorter than him, loved that she had curves. Loved that she was confident. Loved how nice she was to the other girls, and how easy she fell into conversations with anyone here. Loved the way she moved. Loved the way she couldn’t seem to keep her attention off him for long.

He understood that. He was feeling the same.

“I know that look,” Wreck said from where he sat beside Cash.

When he looked over at his Alpha, he was taking a swig of Happy Hooker beer that Cash had put in the cooler.

“I don’t have a look,” Cash muttered.

“Mmm hmm.”

“We’re just friends.”

“She fits in well here,” Wreck observed.

Cash tried to change the subject. “How’s catfish hunting going?” he asked Kade.

“It would go faster if you could get me screenshots of some of the conversations. I bet its someone at the warehouse. I looked all over our pages, but no one ever mentions that you work there, so it has to be someone who actually knows for a fact that you work there.”

“I bet it’s Darth,” Cash muttered. “He’s always watching me. He gives me the creeps.”

“Maybe. We can look into Darth.” Kade crossed his arms and stared into the fire. “How’s maker-hunting going?” he asked Garret.

“It’s not going at all,” Garret said with no hesitation. “I don’t want to know.”

“Why don’t you want to know?” King asked. “Someone had plans for you, obviously. They Changed you without a bite, so that means they injected you, and then what? Never stepped forward after you were Turned to teach you how to be a shifter? Why? What was all that for?”

Garret shook his head. “I used to drive myself insane with it, but not anymore.” He lifted his attention from the sleeping baby in his arms, and there was truth to his tone when he assured them, “I’m good. To me, Raynah is my Maker now. She teaches me about my bear. You guys teach me how to balance my life. Why would I give a fuck about some mystery guy out there and his lame plans? Whatever his reasons, I got lucky.”

“You got lucky to get Turned into a shifter without consent,” Cash said out loud, just so Garret could hear how ridiculous that sounded.

Garret shrugged and looked around. “I bet my life is better than that guy’s. I got a good lady, got a baby, got friends, got a warm bed at night, got a job, got food on the table, got my brother—”

“Thanks for listing me last, Prick,” Dylan muttered.

Garret chuckled and dragged his attention back to baby Breah. “Whatever that guy’s reasons, I don’t care anymore. It isn’t about his plans. It’s about me and Raynah’s plans now.”

Wreck was sitting beside Cash, and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Damon and I are still hunting him though, Garret. Even if you don’t want to know, what he did is against our laws. He can’t be allowed to get away with it. What is to keep him from doing that to someone else? What if that someone gets eaten up by having a new animal, and with no guidance? You ended up in a good place, but that was sheer luck. I want to turn your Maker into ashes. There is no excuse for what he did.” Wreck turned to Cash. “Harley fits in well here,” he repeated, and gosh dangit, the Alpha never forgot a conversation. Cash had failed to derail it.

“She’s got some things to get through before I can think about that stuff,” Cash said low.

“But you’re just friends though, right?” Wreck asked, his tone smug.

Cash glared at him. “You know, you aren’t allowed to be annoying while you drink my beer. Them’s the rules.”

Kade was standing on the other side of Wreck. “I think the rule should be we’re allowed to be annoying to you all the time, because you’re fucking annoying all the time.”

Garret was sitting in the camp chair on the other side of Cash, holding baby Breah. Without looking up from the baby, he said, “You say he’s annoying, but I say he’s hilarious.”

“Thank you,” Cash said. “That’s why you’re my best friend.”

“Since when?” Reed asked from Garret’s other side.

“Since all of you but Garret drank my beer!”

“I just don’t think that’s a good decider,” Dylan, Garret’s human brother said from where he stood staring at the flames on the other side of Reed.

“You can be my second best friend,” Cash told him.

“I changed my mind, I love that decider.” He made a ‘haha’ face at Reed, and grabbed a canned margarita primly from the cooler. “See what I’m doing, Cash? I’m not drinking your beer.”

“Why are you competing for best-friendship with him?” Kade asked.

“He’s fun at parties,” Dylan said as he sank into his chair. “Plus he’s good to have around in a fight. Am I right, Cash?”

Cash shook his head subtly, and tried to hint to him to shut up.

“What’s he talking about?” Wreck asked.

Shhhit.

“Nothing. Just a misunderstanding.”

“Mmm,” Dylan said, sipping his canned mango margarita. “The whole town is talking about it.”

“Talking about what?” Garret asked.

A big splash behind them was the perfect opportunity for Cash to try and distract the others. “Are we sure Raynah won’t eat us all?”

“I’ve also been wondering that,” Harley called out. “Her crocodile is very large, and has very big teeth.”

Timber waved off Harley’s concern. “We come out here all the time. She doesn’t even come up on the bank.”

And at that moment, Raynah’s crocodile charged up onto the bank right behind where they sat, opened her massive jaws and snapped. She shook her head and made a chuffing sound like she was laughing, and slid back into her pond.

Garret was cracking up and pointing at Kade. “Look at how scared you look.”

“I’m not scared,” Kade muttered, his eyes on the waves behind him.

“Oh yeah? Then why did you jump forward about ten feet?” Cash asked. “You damn-near went through the fire.”

“She got you,” Sasha called, and threw another horseshoe.

Harley stared at the water, her eyes wide with horror.

“She was joking,” Cash reassured her. “Raynah thinks she’s funny.”

“Correction,” Garret said, staring after the waves his wife had created in the pond the Crew had made her. “Raynah is funny.”

“What happened in town?” Wreck asked, and gosh dangit! Wreck was like a dog on a bone.

Cash sighed. “Just a little misunderstanding.”

“I heard you kicked the shit out of like five people,” Dylan said unhelpfully.

“You’re not my second best friend anymore,” Cash spat out.

Dylan wore the most annoying smile.

“If you didn’t care about friendship, then why are you drinking the margarita?” Cash asked.

“Because they taste awesome,” Dylan told him.

“They do not taste better than Happy Hooker.”

“Yeah they do.” There was truth in Dylan’s voice.

“Cash!” Wreck barked.

Cash winced at the anger in his Alpha’s voice. “The guys from the bar busted out my truck windows after you all left, and I taught them not to touch my truck. I wasn’t even arrested this time.”

Wreck just glared, and Cash was pretty sure he had an eye twitch. “You’re supposed to be staying out of trouble. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“I did. I told Harley.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone in the Crew?”

“I’m telling you now.” Cash offered an innocent grin.

“In his defense,” Harley called out, “Those guys were really wanting the fight. Cash gave them a chance to back out. Police took them in for destruction of his property.”

“Oooh,” Kade drawled out. “So that’s why the window guy was working on your truck today.”

Harley came close to the fire, holding a horseshoe in each hand. “Yeah, and then he went straight to the motel, got himself a room, and didn’t even drive his truck home with busted windows. He handled it well.” God bless that sexy woman for having his back so easily in front of his Crew. He saw it, and he appreciated that about her. She’d done it with the police last night too.

“Why the motel?” Garret asked.

“Oh, it’s where Harley is staying while she’s in town.”

“I have a rental house that’s almost ready to list,” Garret told her. “It’s right in town, convenient to everything. Don’t pay for the motel, you can just stay at the rental while you’re here.”

“Really?” Harley asked.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll give you the keys. Just give them back to Cash before you head back home.”

Harley was looking at Garret all wide-eyed. “That’s really nice of you.”

Garret shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Maybe she would want to stay in my rental house more,” Sasha said playfully.

“Oh, are we competing now?” Garret asked.

“Maybe we should let her decide which is the better one.”

“Wait, you have a rental house too?” Harley asked.

“Yep! It’s right next door to Garret’s.”

“Are you guys like, real estate moguls or something?” Harley asked.

“Nope, this all happened on accident,” Garret explained. “It would be fun to see which one you like more. Mine has a porch and also brand-new counter tops in the kitchen.”

“Mine has a brand-new kitchen,” Sasha quipped.

“Yeah because the entire house had to be gutted,” Cash pointed out.

“Brand new everything,” Sasha said.

“Were any of the humans hurt badly?” Wreck asked.

Cash sighed dramatically. Wreck was getting on his damn nerves tonight. “If I killed them, you would’ve heard about it. I just…gave their faces a little more character.”

Dylan snorted. “I work with one of them. He looked like he’d been hit by a semi truck.”

“Well, shouldn’t have broke my windows and jumped me,” Cash gritted out.

“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Dylan said.

“See?” Cash asked Wreck. “All good. Everyone lived, my truck had new shiny windows, no need to make a big deal of it.”

“Hey Cash, did you know your lady can do a party trick?” Timber asked.

Well, that perked him up. “What kind of party trick?” Please be a stripper dance, please be a stripper dance—

“I can make a sound like an elephant.” Even in the firelight, the blush on Harley’s cheeks was evident.

“How does Timber know you have a party trick before I do?” Cash asked.

“She did it for us when you were taking a piss,” Katrina explained.

“If you do this, is it going to turn me on?” Cash asked. He wanted to know what he was in for.

“I think you’re super safe from that,” Harley said. “Ready?”

Preparing mentally for his potential boner, Cash nodded. “Born ready.”

She put her arm in front of her nose and did this graceful motion with it like it was an elephant trunk. She pursed her lips together and blew out a sound and was sort of elephant in nature, and Cash burst out laughing along with the others.

“Okay that was awesome.”

“Hey Cash, you should show her your party trick,” Katrina called out from where she was aiming her horseshoe at the small metal post in the ground.

“I assume you’re talking about my rapping.” He stood and cleared his throat.

“I will kill you if you rap a single line,” Wreck assured him.

“No, Raynah told me you pretend to be an angel at bars to attract hot chicks,” Katrina said.

Busted. He tossed a glare over his shoulder at Raynah, who was slithering through the water. All he could see were the spiked scales along her back. Traitor. “Do you girls talk about everything?” he grumbled.

“So it’s true?” Harley asked. She looked intrigued. Great.

“It’s sort of true,” he admitted.

“You should try it on Harley,” Katrina pushed.

“Well, me and Harley are the king and queen of the friendzone, and I don’t think she’s ready for that kind of seduction. Rain check.”

“I promise I won’t get seduced. Show me your angel moves.”

Cash inhaled deep and closed his eyes for a three count. He was going to piss on Raynah’s truck tires tonight. Or maybe he would just take them off her truck and toss them in the woods.

“Come on,” Harley encouraged him. “I’m feeling very difficult to seduce tonight. Very dry. Very unattracted.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. Was she throwing a challenge down? “Oh really,” he asked in a husky voice as he stood. Cash only broke eye contact with her as his shirt was coming off, and then he focused on the half Change. Pain ripped through his back as his wings pierced his skin, and he beat them hard against the air, leaped over the bonfire and landed gracefully right in front of Harley, whose smile had faded.

Wings folding slowly, he took three more slow, deliberate steps to close the last of the space between them, and then lifted his chin higher, fueled by the hungry look in her pretty blue eyes. Cash brushed one of her blond waves from her face and tucked it behind her ear, then cocked his head. “You and I both know I can seduce you whenever I want.”

“Ooooh,” the girls crowed at once.

“Okay, that was actually scary-smooth,” Timber said.

“How are you feeling there, Harley?” Sasha asked her.

Harley cleared her throat delicately and averted her gaze. “I’m…I’m…unaffected.” But her voice cracked on the last word and the girls were all cracking up and goading her now. She took it well enough, and was trying and failing to hide her smile.

Cash leaned forward until his lips almost, almost touched her ear. “We can hear lies, Love.”

He eased back and winked at her, then tensed his muscles and leapt in to the air, beat his wings hard as he pushed backward, and then landed near his chair.

“And scene,” he announced, ending the game. Cash took a bow.

“Can you keep the wings out for a while?” Harley asked, to another round of teasing from everyone. “I’m purely curious. You don’t have to, of course. I was just asking, you know, for scientific curiosity. Can you. Or is it a fast thing. Like, do you have any endurance—”

“Oh I have endurance,” he promised her to another round of chuckling and teasing.

“No, I didn’t mean that. Ummm. Okay. Whew.” She fanned herself with her hand and looked to the girls for help.

“You’re doing great,” Katrina said through a grin.

Harley looked back at Cash. “I mean how long can you keep your wings out?”

“Do you want me to stay like this for a while?” Cash wanted her to say what she needed, and he would do it.

She swallowed hard and nodded, and God he loved the way she was looking at him right now.

“Anything you want.”

“Swoon,” Timber joked, placing her hand on her forehead and falling back into Katrina’s arms, who was standing there ready to catch her. Sasha started fanning her dramatically.

“Yeah, yeah,” Cash muttered with an eye roll.

“Wait,” Timber said, standing upright suddenly. “Wreck, can you half-Change like that?”

“You want my big-ass fiery wings out?” Wreck asked her. His face looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon.

“Yes?” Timber answered uncertainly.

“I don’t want to die just because you’re horny, Timber,” Kade griped from beside Wreck, and then there was another round of laughing.

Cash chuckled and settled his wings behind him as he relaxed into the chair. When he caught Harley’s gaze across the fire, she was smiling at him with a faraway look in her eyes. Oh, she liked this. He could tell.

What he wouldn’t tell her for another five days was that he was pretty sure his angel-bait bar-days were over.

He was only interested in catching Harley now.