Fragile by A.K. Evans

Twenty-three

Cash

Nobody had ever made me feel the way Demi did.

Yesterday had been the worst day of my life, bar none. All day long, I had been caught between feeling anger and panic. I didn’t know which was worse.

Because the anger was so consuming, I lost control in those moments after Demi disconnected the call. And the panic left me feeling hopelessness and despair as I scrambled to find a way to get back here to New Hampshire so I could make things right with her.

Losing Demi was not an option.

I wouldn’t survive that.

Luckily, I got on a plane and made it here.

Luckily, she opened the door.

Luckily, she didn’t kick me out.

Luckily, she listened.

And luckiest of all, she believed me.

I knew the last had to be true because she was now in my arms, kissing me. I’ve never felt more relieved in my life than I did at this moment.

Feeling her pressed close, taking in the light, feminine scent of her, and hearing her moan while we kissed was what I’d needed for weeks now.

God, I had missed her so much.

Demi started backing up, taking me with her. I followed, not wanting to lose that connection to her mouth.

Before I knew it, she was pushing me down onto the couch. The moment I was seated, she climbed on top and straddled me.

Demi didn’t wait for me to take action. She lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it to the side. She hadn’t been wearing a bra, so I immediately captured her breasts in my hands and dropped my mouth to one.

As I tasted and teased her on one side, she rolled her hips with such need and desperation over me. My cock was rock hard, and with the way she was moving, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to last until I was inside her.

There was no doubt this was going to be quick. It had been far too long for the both of us.

“Baby,” she breathed. “I need more. I need you.”

“Take off your bottoms,” I urged. “Do you have condoms?”

Her eyes widened as she froze. “Shit. Shit, no.”

“It’s entirely up to you,” I started. “If you’re covered for birth control, you’d be safe with just me. Even though I’ve never not worn protection, I still get myself tested regularly. I did that not long after I met you, and I haven’t been with anyone but you since.”

“I’m covered with birth control,” she confirmed as she stood and pushed her pants down her legs and shimmied out of her panties.

While she did that, I kept my eyes focused on her and stripped out of my own clothes.

A moment later, I could barely contain the emotion building inside me at the feel of her soft skin against mine.

It had definitely been way too long.

“Demi, I’m not going to last long,” I warned her before I was even inside her.

She smiled and shared, “Neither am I.”

I slipped my fingers down between her legs, touched her there, and found she was already wet.

I played only for a few seconds before she lifted her hips away, curled her fingers around my cock, and positioned herself over me. The next thing I knew she slammed herself down on my erection.

“Damn, firecracker, you feel amazing,” I said.

“I missed you, Cash,” she replied. “I missed having this with you.”

Demi didn’t give me a chance to respond.

She went to work and rode me hard. There was no hesitation.

I was mesmerized by her.

Her tits were bouncing, her eyes were intense, and her lips were parted.

She was extraordinary.

“Fuck me harder,” I urged her, my fingers pressing in deeper on one of her hips.

She did precisely as I asked, and I couldn’t get enough of her. I reached up with one hand, squeezed her breast, and watched as her head fell back. I leaned forward, ran my tongue along her collarbone, and up along the front of her exposed throat before I nipped at the skin there.

“Cash,” she whimpered.

That’s when I knew she was close and decided to help her out. I moved both hands back to her hips and encouraged her movements, making them a bit faster and much more frantic.

Seconds passed, I felt myself ready to explode, and demanded, “Come with me, Demi.”

She didn’t need the instruction because she was already there. As I shot inside her, Demi moaned through her orgasm as her legs trembled wildly on either side of my body.

I loved that, too.

I loved knowing that I was able to make her body quiver like that.

When we both made it to the other side, Demi’s body slumped forward. Wanting her to be a bit more comfortable, I managed to hold her in place while I swung my legs up to one side of the couch and lowered my back to the opposite side.

I closed my eyes and simply relished the feel of having her like this.

Naked, spent, and sated.

For a long time, we stayed like that, just enjoying having it again. Quite frankly, I didn’t feel any need to talk. I wasn’t opposed to it, but I’d said all I needed to say. Even though it was early in the morning, I was completely content to fall asleep right where I was.

But that didn’t happen because Demi broke the silence.

“I called you earlier than normal yesterday morning because I was so excited,” she started. “I wanted to let you know that I was planning to meet you in Florida today so we could spend some time together.”

Shock moved through me, and my body went solid.

She was going to come to Florida to see me.

I didn’t know if she realized how much it was affecting me or not, but she added, “I fell in love with you, Cash. And it was hurting my heart to know that there was something weighing on your mind. For two weeks, I saw you struggling with something, and I just wanted to do something to make it better.”

She wanted to make it better.

This was it.

She was all I would ever need.

She loved me.

I knew I’d treasure that gift for the rest of my life.

“I love that you feel that strongly for me,” I told her. “If it’s any indication of how much you mean to me and how much I feel for you, I almost beat the shit out of one of my best friends.”

At my admission, Demi’s face shot up off my chest. “What?”

I shook my head, feeling disappointment along with a smidgen of regret. “If Killian hadn’t been there, I have no doubt that either I would have landed in jail, Roscoe would have been in the hospital, or both.”

Worry littered Demi’s expression. “I don’t understand,” she said.

“It was the look on your face in that brief moment right before you disconnected the call when I heard the pained cry come from you,” I started. “That set me off. I yanked my phone from that woman’s hand and told her to get the fuck out of my room. I tried to call you back, and when you didn’t answer, I lost it. I threw on some clothes and started shouting as I went in search of Roscoe. He came out of his room half a second after Killian came out of his. And then I charged forward. Killian caught me before I got close enough to land a punch.”

“Oh my God. What happened?” Demi asked.

“Roscoe and Killian were both trying to figure out what happened, and I told them,” I began again. “There was a lot of words said, but the basic gist of it was that if I couldn’t make things right with you, I was holding him personally accountable.”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Demi reasoned.

I could tell she was simply trying to get me to calm down. Even though she was here now, and we’d worked it all out, it still made me angry when I thought about the whole situation. Roscoe’s negligence could have cost me the best thing that had ever happened to me.

“It was,” I insisted. “Those women were there with him. I’m not going to judge him on what he chooses to do in his personal life. That’s his choice. But when what he does starts to affect me, that’s where I draw the line. It wasn’t his job to just fuck them and let them do what they wanted. He needed to make sure that they were accounted for at all times. He didn’t, and you got hurt in the process. That is not okay. That woman was being a bitch just for the sake of it. She had no right to come in my room, especially not without her clothes on. And she definitely had no right to answer my phone and make you think that there was ever anything between her and me.”

Demi absentmindedly ran her fingers through my hair. Her expression turned curious, and she asked, “How did you leave things with them?”

“Well, I told them I was coming back here to work this out with you,” I explained. “They knew we were going to have to cancel tonight’s show. I also told them that if I couldn’t get you to listen to me and we couldn’t work it out that I wouldn’t play another show.”

“Cash… you can’t do that,” Demi remarked.

“Luckily, I don’t have to since we worked it out,” I countered. “But I’m not joking, Demi. You mean that much to me, and I’m not about to have someone else ruin what we have.”

She didn’t respond with words, but she smiled at me.

“Do you still want to go to Florida with me?” I asked.

Her smile grew. “I’d love to,” she rasped.

I nodded. “I should probably call and let everyone know that we’re on for the second show,” I told her.

“That’s probably a good idea,” she agreed.

I returned her smile and took in her beautiful face. Then I said, “I love you, Demi.”

“I love you, too.”

With that, she touched her mouth to mine before we both got up to get cleaned up. After we accomplished that, I called Beck to let him know all was well and that I’d be there before the next show. Once Demi and I got a flight sorted and had some breakfast, we had some time to kill. So we made our way to her bedroom and used that time wisely.

Demi

“I’ve never seen him so distraught.”

That came from Holland.

I was in Florida with Cash, and they were getting ready for their show. Holland saw me when Cash and I arrived, and much like the last time, she kidnapped me and whisked me into her dressing room.

I didn’t mind because not only did I really like Holland, but it also seemed I was going to get a bit more information on how things went down with Cash.

“Really?” I replied.

She nodded. “I mean, I’m so glad you two worked it out because I don’t think he would have ever been the same,” she shared. “I love him like a brother, and it was so hard to see him that devastated. He was sure you’d never speak to him again.”

My heart hurt hearing all of this.

It was making me wish I hadn’t been so quick to assume the worst. I mean, in my defense, I didn’t know he was staying in a three-bedroom suite, and a half-naked woman had answered his phone while she was in his bed.

But still.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine how bad it was for Cash. Even with everything he’d told me and what Holland was telling me now, I was certain it didn’t compare to how it all felt in the moment.

“I jumped to conclusions,” I admitted.

Her brows shot up, and she shot me an incredulous look. “I would have, too,” she assured me. “Don’t feel bad about that.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what else to do.

“It was heartbreaking, though,” she said. “For a man who is always so confident, he was utterly broken.”

“You’re going to make me cry, Holland,” I told her.

“I’m sorry,” she lamented. “It’s good. Everything is good now. You’re both here, and you’re both happy. That’s all that matters.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“You ready?” she asked, jerking her head to the dressing room door.

With a downward jerk of my chin, I confirmed that I was.

At that, Holland and I left her dressing room and made our way to the one with the guys in it. No sooner did we knock and get ushered inside when I realized it was the first I was seeing any of the guys since before the whole situation went down.

Nerves suddenly shot through my body.

Would they hate me?

I glanced cautiously around the room as all their eyes landed on me. I avoided making eye contact with them, sought out Cash, and took a step in his direction. Before I could take a second step, a solid mass filled my vision. I tipped my head up and saw Roscoe looking down at me.

Swallowing hard, I waited for him to share whatever thoughts he had about me with me.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

Blinking in surprise, I returned, “What?”

“I’m sorry for what happened and that you were hurt by it,” he clarified. “I was careless. It was never my intention to have something like that happen. You didn’t deserve whatever you went through because of it.”

Well, that was unexpected.

And it was really nice of him.

“Oh. Um, okay. Thank you for the apology,” I replied.

“Are we cool?” he asked.

I nodded. “We’re cool,” I assured him with a smile.

He returned the smile. Then, he stepped aside to let me pass and make my way to Cash. Once I was close enough, my man reached his arm out, hooked it around the back of my neck, and curled me into his body.

“Did Roscoe apologize to you?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

For the next few minutes, everyone fell into their own separate conversations, or in the case of the guys, a bunch of bantering among them. I sat back and watched, loving that I was back here with Cash, experiencing it.

After all that had happened between us, after all that I’d learned happened between them and him, I was beyond grateful that it had all worked out and that nobody seemed to be holding any grudges.

When it was time for them to head out on stage, Cash was sure to give me a kiss that would easily last me until the show was over.

I didn’t think anything could make me happier than having that.

But I was wrong.

Because no sooner had they stepped out on stage and finished their first two songs when Cash started talking to the crowd. At first, it seemed normal. Nothing was particularly different about it compared to any other time he talked to the crowd.

But then he did something he’d never done before.

He said, “I’m dedicating tonight’s performance to a very special woman.”

Surprisingly, the crowd went wild, cheering in response to his words.

“She’s here tonight, and I want her to know how special she is,” he went on. “I love you, Demi.”

My eyes went wide as the crowd roared.

Cash’s eyes slid to the side of the stage where he knew he’d find me. He winked at me, kissed his two fingers, and pointed them in my direction.

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face or the tears from my eyes.

I loved him with all my heart.

My broken, fragile heart that was now whole and healed.