Hooked (18 page)

     “I love you too
,
mom.” 

    
I gave her the biggest hug I could to let her know I meant it.  While we were still embraced the door opened and my dad walked in.  He cleared his throat.  Mom and I both looked up. 

    
“Millie, I, you can go out with Cash.  I still don’t trust that kid and I’m going against my gut here.  I haven’t really talked to you about this
,
but boys like him
,
they are only out for one thing.  They don’t consider your feelings or what you want.
”

    
“Dad,
I
—
”

     “
No, let me finish.  I will allow you to make some of your decisions because you are
growing up and will soo
n be off at college.  I don’t like this and I don’t like him
,
”
h
e said.  I looked up at him searching his eyes.  He looked hurt and I didn’t understand this.  I hadn’t done anything to him
,
so after a moment, I stood up. 

     “Dad, I know you love me and care about me, but I really like Cash.  He’s nice to me and he’s nice to Eli.  You don’t know him
,
so I don’t understand why you would judge him so harshly
,
but I hope one day you’ll give him a fair chance because I have a feeling he hasn’t had many.” 

     I went to my room feeling a mixture of happiness and sadness.  I was happy that my dad was letting me go out with Cash tonight
,
but sad that he didn’t like him.  I decided that my dad would come around and I was going to concentrate on my date with Cash.  I couldn’t wait to see him
,
so I called to let him know I could go out tonight. 

    
“Hey beautiful,
please tell me you are calling me to let me know I get to kiss those beautiful lips tonight.
”

     “
Absolutely
, I can’t wait
.
”
I smirked at his greeting.

     “I
guarantee
that I’m more excited than you are, I’ve been waiting over a month to take you out and show you off.”  I giggled at his comment.  “I love your laugh
,
sweetheart.”

     “
Aww
, are you being sweet in hopes to get
that
good night kiss?”  I joked with him.

     “I’ll be anything you want me to be as long as I get to feel your soft lips on mine.”  I blushed and was thankful he couldn’t see my face.  He was always so
forward and aggressive with me.  “Did I embarrass you?” 
He
asked with amusement in his voice.

     “You know you did!  In fact, I think you do that to me just to see me blush.”

     “It’s the truth.  Everything I say, I mean it when it comes to you, always.” 

    
I don’t know why
,
but when he talks to me like this my insides melt.  It’s like he knows exactly the right things to say to me and he always says it with so much conviction.  I kind of have a weird feeling about this because I know he hasn’t been forthcoming about a lot of
h
is past
,
but I trust him completely.  I know that we will have to talk about all of that at some point
,
but now isn’t the time. 

    
“What time are you coming to get me?”

     “I guess that depends on what you want to do. 
D
o
you still want to go to a movie or did you just want to hang out?”

     “Um
m
, I guess we can still do the movie since I already told my parents that’s what we were doing.”

     “Ah, I see, you don’t want
to rock the boat since you just got ungrounded today,
huh?”
H
e chuckled into the phone.

     “You got it
,
buddy.”  I sighed.  I felt really happy after talking to him.  He
made
my sadness
disappear
.

     “Don’t call me buddy.  I would answer to my name or any term of endearment you like, but not buddy.  I’ll always be more than a buddy to you.”

     “There you go trying to embarrass me again
,
” I say with a laugh
.

     “No sweetheart, just stating a fact. I’ll pick you up at six that way we have more time together.”

     “Okay, see you then.”  I hung up smiling. 

    
Now
,
I had to go to my closet to find something to wear. 
I only had a little bit to get ready and I had a feeling I would be taking careful consideration because I wanted to
look good. 
I decided to go with jeans and a striped shirt that hung off one of my shoulders.  I wore my new high boots and
tucked them into my jeans.
  My hair, I wore in a low side ponytail.  I wanted to look nice
,
but we were only going to a movie
,
so I didn’t want to be over dressed.  I added some dangly earrings and I was ready to go.  I looked at my clock.  Great, he would be here any minute.  I added just a dab of perfume and grabbed my purse. 

     I went downstairs and my parents were sitting on the couch together.  They had
obviously
made up and I was glad.  I didn’t want them arguing because of me. 

    
“Millie, you look beautiful.” 

     “Thanks
,
mom
,
” I
said sitting
down in the recliner just as the doorbell rang.  I hopped up to get the door. 

I opened the door and my breath caught.  He looked so
handsome
.  Cash smiled up at me.  “You look beautiful.”

     “You look good
,
too,”
I said, thinking that was such an
understatement. 

    
He looked gorgeous.  He had on black jeans, black boots and a grey v
-
neck sweater with a white
T-shirt
underneath.
  His hair appeared messy
,
but I knew he had actually fixed it and his blue eyes twinkled. 

    
“Come on in,” I said as I stepped aside. 

    
He walked in beside me and just stared at me.  He didn’t even notice my parents in the room.  My dad cleared his throat and I think he was expecting Cash to turn and face him
,
but he didn’t.  He stared at me for what felt like a full minute.  He turned and met my father’s gaze. 

     “Hey, nice to see you again,” he said as he stuck out his hand for my dad to shake.

     “James
Diamond
,” my dad said like hadn’t met him before.  I started feeling uncomfortable as they just stared at each other
,
so I pulled Cash’s arm over to my mom. 

    
“Cash, this is my mom, Charlotte.”

     “Cash, it is so nice to finally meet you
.
Millie has told us so much about you.” 

    
Cash raised one eyebrow
and said,
“Really?”  I smiled and looked down at the floor.

     “Well, we better get going if we are going to make the movie,” I say trying to get the heck out of there.

     “Be careful and be home by ten,” my dad says looking at Cash.

     “Dad, my curfew is eleven,” I say knowing it’s all because of who I’m going with.

     “No
,
Mil,
its
fine.  That should give us plenty of time,” Cash cut me off. 

    
My dad looked at Cash with one eye twitching and I knew it was because he heard him call me Mil.  No one calls me that
,
except my family.  My dad is making me mad
,
but I don’t want anything to ruin my night
,
so I start walking towards the door and Cash put his hand on my lower back leading me out the door.  I don’t know how he does it.  I would be so nervous and scared right now, especially if I was meeting the person that just arrested me a month ago, but he came right in and was even cool about everything.

     “Bye, see you later.”

     “Have a great time,” mom said as she shut the door. 

    
He guided me to his car and opened my do
or.  “Wow, hot and a gentleman?
  What
,
oh what
,
should I do with you?”  I giggled before I started to get in.  He wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me into his hard body.

     “I can think of a few things
.
”
  H
e winked.  I lightly slapped his arm

     “
Whoa
there big guy,
let’s
go before we give my dad a heart attack.” 

    
I
only had
one leg in the car before he bent down to kiss me. 
Every time
he touches me
,
it’s
like I
lose
time.  I smile up at him
a
nd
he shuts the door.  I watch him walk around the front of the car to his side.
  He slides in and looks over to me
,
all
the
while leaning in and rubbing the back of my neck. 

    
“You look absolutely amazing
,
Millie and it’s probably going to be the longest night of my life having to keep my hands to myself.”

     I lean my forehead to his and sigh
.
“Well, no one said you had to.”  I grab his hand and intertwine our fingers together while he raises
my
hand
and kisses it.  “Let’s go watch our romantic movie that I know
you’re
just going to love
,
” I tease.  He rolls his eyes at my comment.

     “I hope you understand how big of a deal this is.  I’ve dated plenty of girls and I have never given in to a chick flick.”  His smile falters as he looks into my eyes and I guess he could tell his teasing was making me uncomfortable.  “I’m sor
ry
,
Mil
.
I was only teasing you.
  I guess since it’s out there, I may as well tell you that I wasn’t a great guy when I lived in
Boston
.  In fact, I was an asshole.  I didn’t care about girls and I dated a lot of them.”  He swallows hard waiting for my response.

     “Did you sleep with all of them?”  I ask in a small voice
,
I think because I already knew the answer.

     “Uh, wel
l,
yeah
,
most of them.  I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything
,
”
he says while looking straight ahead.

    
I push down the sick feeling I’m having.
  I talk myself out of being jealous because it was silly for me to be upset.  That was his past, he didn’t know me then and it wasn’t like he cheated on me.