Cash (Sexy Bastard #2) (18 page)

“That’s great. I hope you
enjoy it.” I grab some clothes out of the pile of clean clothes
and start to get dressed. If I hurry this up, I’ll still have
at least an hour to work on the new cocktails before I have to start
going over stuff with Katie.

“Seven on the dot, don’t be
late. And if you would wear a tie—”

Stop the train right there and return
it to the station. No. No family dinner—at least, not one with
my real family.

“Mom, I have to work tomorrow
night.”

“Cassius Ryan Gardner, is it too
much to ask for you to come and see your family? After everything
that’s happened, who knows how much time we have left with each
other?”

That card is never going to get old for
her. Never mind that dad wasn’t in mortal danger. Never mind
that she hasn’t been interested for the last five years. Never
mind that I might have a life outside of whatever resemblance of a
life they have. The only reason I’m not going to hang up is
because of Tasha. My sister still regularly puts up with them. She
still lives with them. And I am trying to do right by her.

“Thank you for the invite, but I
have responsibilities to people. I can’t just abandon them when
something comes up.”

And not right before a big opening.
Jogging down my stairs, I pause at the bottom to lock my door and
walk down the hallway toward the bar, the phone still to my ear.

“Cassius.” She puts on her
stern mother voice. Too bad it barely worked when I was a kid, and
since I left the house it has no effect on me. Katie and Jackson are
at the bar. Katie’s prepping for the night and Jackson’s
going over some last minute plans. I hunch my shoulders as if I can
keep this call under wraps.

“My hands are tied, Mom. I’m
sorry.”

There’s a rustle on the other end
of the phone, and a welcome voice comes down the phone.

“Cash,” Tasha says. “The
thing about this dinner-”

“Love you, gotta go, bye.”
I hang up the phone with only the slightest twinge of regret. I
promised to be there for Tasha, but going to family dinner is pushing
it. I slip my phone into my back pocket. My mother has never worked a
day in her life. Being responsible to her means showing up for a
luncheon on time, or at least fashionably late. Much like my father,
there’s little thought given to how their actions impact
others.

Katie looks up from where she’s
stacking glasses. She’s been coming in early to train, because
someone’s got to take care of Altitude. Jackson’s still
grinning like a fool, and Ryder seems to have ventured out of the
back office for this sideshow as well.

“Did you just say the words, I
love you?” she asks, staring at me like I’m growing horns
or decided to have small stars tattooed all over my face.

“Although this may shock you, I
do know those words.”

“Savannah?” She says with
an arched brow.

The response makes me miss a step and I
catch myself on the bar. What in the world would make Katie say
something like that? I like Savannah, and if she did find someone
else out in sunny Southern California it would piss me off, but love?
That meant things like putting up with chick flicks and brunch.
People have sisters for that, not fuck buddies.

“No,” I say way too
quickly. That’s insanity. We’re just normal friends who
fuck. That’s it.

Katie holds up her arms, surrendering
to my verbal gun splatter. That was not supposed to come out like
that. I take a deep breath and pinch the bridge of my nose. Back
track time. Let’s try this again, without a mention of
Savannah. “It was my sister.”

“You have a sister?”

Katie is just being curious, friendly
even, but talking about my family isn’t something I want to do
with anyone.

As if on cue, my phone goes off again.
I screen the call this time, and it’s Tasha. I did just hang up
on her. If I don’t take this then I really am breaking my
promise to her.

“Natasha, how long has it been
since we talked?” I try to ignore Katie and Jackson’s
shared faces of mock shock. I cover my phone. “It’s my
sister. Please address your shock to my ass.”

Heading back to my apartment, because I
have zero interest in giving Katie and Jackson any more ammo on my
family, I ask Tasha about school.

“Classes are great. It’s
the other things I need help with.”

“Like what? Cause I ain’t
helping you hook up with any boy.” She’s my sister and I
love her. Knowing what I was like in high school means that no boy
will be allowed within fifty feet of her. I’ve been calling her
to check in and slowly we are making our way back to each other.

“Double standard much? From
everything I hear, you’re with a different girl every night.”

“Younger sister, you don’t
get to have sex. Even after you’re married.”

“I’m glad to see you taking
your sibling duty serious, because you owe me and I’m calling
in the favor.”

“Where do I pick you up?”

“2323 Bluebird
Lane.” I stop in the middle of the stairs, caught
between my home and my work. It’s an easier limbo than walking
back into that house on Bluebird Lane. I’m not going home, not
again. I’d do a lot of things for Tasha, but I can’t sit
through another family dinner. Leaning against the wall, I slowly
bang my head against it. Maybe it’ll finally shake some sense
loose.

“Cash…Cash…”
Tasha’s voice breaks through the buzz in my head. Focus,
Gardner, your sister is on the phone. No need to fuck it up twice.

“I already told Mom—”

“I am not sitting through this
alone. You are coming. I’ve been through five years of her
‘family’ dinners solo. You don’t
get to cut and run again. You owe me this.”

I do, and there is no way around that.
While I got to escape Tasha was fed to the wolves, forced to survive
in a world that none of us could comprehend.

“I’m not wearing a tie.”

“I will have one waiting for
you.”

“Tash.”

“
Cas
.
See, I can do stupid nicknames too. Six forty-five. If you’re
late, you won’t like the consequences.”

“Like what?”

“I will plaster your high school
year book photo all over your next bar.” That photo could undo
the carefree bartender image I’d worked so hard to create. One
look at that slick and shiny goodie-two-shoes photo and no one would
let me sling a drink again.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would.”

“Only because you’re my
sister.”

“Save the family ties stuff for
the ‘rents.” She pauses and then adds. “Thanks,
Cash.”

We’re in this together. She may
have been my parent’s biggest fan when the shit hit the fan,
but now we’re rooting for the same team. It’s the two of
us against the world of our parents, and I’m not abandoning her
again.

“I said anytime, and I meant it.”

Katie and Jackson both wait at the bar
looking interested. Katie’s got her head propped up on her
fists, clearly ready to hang on every word, and Jackson’s
drumming his fingers on the bar top.

“Can I help you two?”

“Cash has a family,” Katie
says. Ryder looks at me as if judging my reaction to the news.
Normally I’d walk away from all of this.

“A sister? And a mother? Will the
wonders never cease?” Katie says, with too many stars in her
eyes. I’m going to need to shut that one down fast. No one
needs to go sniffing around my family. “Next thing you know,
you’re going to be dating someone.”

“Isn’t he already dating
Savannah?” Ryder asks.

“I can’t work tomorrow. I
have a thing,” I say, ignoring the question.

“Is your family okay? You can
take more than tomorrow off if you need it.”

“I just need tomorrow.” My
voice is warning him just to stay out of it.

“All right, I’ll see what
we can do. It would have been nice to have some more warning, but
it’s family,” Ryder says, taking most of it in stride. I
breathe a sigh of relief. If only dinner would go as smooth as
talking to Ryder. Not all families are created equal.

The house is big, but it’s always
been big. Expensive, massive, a building that lords over us all. I
drive through the gates and pull at the tie around my neck. The last
thing I want to do is let my sister pick out my clothing. Knowing
Tasha, she’d pick something that came straight out of the worst
ties of the 1980s. Then I’d really never hear the end of it
from Mom, and Dad would probably try to disown me, or at least cut
off my trust.

They’re having drinks in the den
when a servant lets me in. I have to pause outside the door to take a
deep breath. I can do this. How many dinners did I suck down as a
kid? I just have to remind myself not to engage with my father and
his past. Still, I can’t help but compare this family meal to
the one I had just a few days ago with my friends. There’s a
tightness in my chest when I realize that Savannah isn’t going
to sit next to me and drop her feet into my lap. As much as I want to
keep Savannah to myself, I wish she were here with me.

“That you, Cassius?” Dad
says, coming to the doorway. Looking at him now, I’d never
guess that he was in the hospital just a few weeks ago.

“Cassius darling, come on in.
It’s rude to lurk in doorways,”
Mom calls.

They’re all arranged like a
painting. Dad in his suit stands framed in the doorway. Mom’s
perched on the couch, but springs to her feet the moment I enter.
Tasha looks out of place. She’s foregone a proper dress for
leggings and what might be called a dress, but on my sister I call it
a shirt.

“Dad,” I say. Mom joins him
and gives me a big hug.

“I was hoping Natasha wasn’t
playing one of her little jokes. Here you are.” Mom’s
arms dig into me, and I can barely breathe through the cloud of
Chanel No. 5. She holds me at arm’s length and her eyes shine
with tears. I’m not completely fooled by the show. Mom’s
always been good at shifting her emotions; it’s how she gets us
to do things. “My family, together again.”

Tasha salutes me with her glass from
across the room. She motions a straight line up and down her front
and gives me thumbs up.

Mom beams like its Christmas morning.
She threads her arm through mine and steers me toward the dining
room. It’s like she’s holding me prisoner, afraid I might
run away again. If only she knew how true that statement was, she’d
shackle me to the dining room table.

The dining room is just as cold and
desolate as I remember it. Even the floral arrangements feel like
they just came out of the deep freeze.

“Now Cassius, please tell me
you’ve found someone to settle down with and start giving me
grandbabies.”

I want to spit out my drink, but that
would give away too much. No way am I letting my mother sink her
talons into Savannah.

Although the image does cross my mind
of Savannah with a baby on her hip. Blond curls and tiny—no. I
stop the thought before I get too attached. Who am I turning into?

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Shame. You know the other day, I
was just having lunch with Janice at the club. You remember Janice,
don’t you?” No, and I try to remember very little from my
time spent at her club. “Janice Dockson? You went to school
with their daughter Morgan—lovely girl. I ran into her mother
the other day and we started chatting. Did you know Morgan isn’t
seeing anyone as well?”

“I’m not going on a date
with Morgan Dockson.” I wouldn’t even consider it,
especially not now.

“No of course not, but it would
be a step in the right direction. Maybe just drinks. You could invite
her to the grand opening of your new club. It would be so nice to
have you associating with your peers again.”

My hands are on the table ready to push
myself back when Tasha’s shoe connects with my shin. Her look
across the table says
not on your life
.

“I actually have seen Morgan
recently. She came to my club the other night celebrating a
bachelorette party.”

“Aurelia Bishop’s—tacky
as hell. If I was her mother, I would not have attended.”

“Mom,” Tasha says. “It
was a nice wedding.”

“Oh it was nice, but really
Cassius, promise me when you get married you’ll let me help. We
could hold it at the club, or here on the property. Flowers that are
subtle and but dignified. And not a single sequin on your bride’s
dress. Pearls, and lace…”

Her words go on, but I just can’t
force myself to listen. Torn between images of Savannah in a wedding
dress—or better yet, Savannah on our wedding night. Jesus
Christ, where are these thoughts coming from?

My parents act as if everything is
normal. I guess, for them, it is. They do this every weeknight—Mom
always made sure of it. Lives have fallen apart around them, and they
just don’t seem to care. It’s like nothing ever happened.

“He’s not dating anyone
mom, try not to shove him down the aisle because you have bride
fever. Isn’t that right, Cash?” Another foot to the shin
and I have to pay attention.

“Absolutely, Tash,” I say.

She toasts me with her glass only to
find it empty. “Cash, would you be a wonderful brother and
possibly make me a drink?”

“Did you become twenty-one in the
last five minutes?”

“Mom.” Tasha tries to
appeal my decision.

“It’s just here,
Cassius—what’s the harm in letting her have a drink. Be a
dear and go make her a fresh drink, please.”

“Yes, and he can show off his
wasted talent,” my father adds. That’s just what I need
to push me over the edge. I push myself back from the table and
motion for Tasha to follow me.

My parents will never change, and so I
head back into the den where they keep the good liquor. It’s
been this way since I used to steal bottles back in school. I grab
the bourbon and shaker and start going to work.