Penmort Castle (Ghosts and Reincarnation #1)(102)

Cash had been silent throughout her speech and when Jenny stopped talking, she swallowed and stared at him, obviously waiting for his answer.

“Are you finished?” Cash asked, his voice cool and controlled, his thoughts lethal.

“I think so,” Jenny answered.

“Obviously, Abby hasn’t had time to speak with you,” Cash told her.

Jenny’s expression turned confused. “Speak with me about what?”

“If she hasn’t spoken with you, then it’s not my place to explain,” Cash returned.

Jenny squared her shoulders. “If it’s about Abby, then you should tell me. Sometimes she gets –”

Cash cut her off by saying sharply, “Stop.”

Jenny’s mouth snapped shut and her eyes got wide. This was likely because Cash was angry and he’d been hiding it but he had decided it was time to let it show. She’d said enough, he wasn’t going to sit and listen to her belittle her best friend even if it was with the “best intentions”.

He didn’t know what he looked like but from her expression she read his rather severe displeasure.

He spoke again, his voice deceptively quiet but clearly unhappy. “I hope you’ve realised your mistake at encouraging your vulnerable friend to embark on such a,” Cash paused, searching for an appropriate word then found it, “questionable venture.”

“I –” she started but Cash cut her off.

“Luckily for you, Abby isn’t good at being a cold-hearted prostitute.” He watched Jenny blanch and carried on. “From practically the minute I met her, I knew she wasn’t what she said she was. I investigated her, discovered the truth and we’ve moved on from that. I’ll let Abby explain what that means when she’s ready.”

“But –” Jenny started but Cash talked over her.

“As for backing off, that’s not going to happen. Patience and understanding don’t work with Abby. Backing off means Abby retreating and I’m not going to allow her to do that.”

Jenny leaned forward and put her hand on his desk. “You don’t understand, she’s –” but Cash ruthlessly persevered.

“I do understand. I know she’s lost her parents, her grandmother and her husband. I know how. I know when. I know she hasn’t recovered, not from any of it and especially from Ben. I know she’s terrified of living her life and letting anyone in for fear of losing someone else. Even if I didn’t know it, the events of this evening would have demonstrated that fact rather forcefully.”

Jenny closed her eyes and he saw her knuckles get white as she clutched the edge of his desk.

He went on. “Now I’ll explain something you don’t understand.” He watched her eyes open and his gaze locked on hers. “You don’t know me and I don’t appreciate you making assumptions about me or my behaviour or my intent, especially in regards to Abby. I know you’re her friend but it’s none of your f**king business until Abby makes it so. Do you get my meaning?”

She sat back and he saw her teeth clench before she hissed, “Now you’re making assumptions about me.”

“I’m not the one who sat there and calmly described my efforts to pimp out my best friend,” he returned.

“I didn’t pimp her out!” Jenny snapped.

“No?” Cash replied.

She was shifting in her chair, not with discomfort but with anger. “You’ve known her, what? Two weeks? You’ve no idea what she’s gone through, what she was going through. Completely no idea.”

“No, Jenny. I have every idea,” Cash responded evenly.

“You can’t, I’ve known her for decades. I lived through all of this with her!”

“It wasn’t you she threw her arms around tonight,” Cash retorted.

“No, Cash,” she snapped, “it was me who stood behind her when she sat by her mother’s bed, her head on her mother’s hand, when Mom Deux took her last breath. It was me Ben called when Abby lost it when her Dad died. It was me Abby called after the police left when they gave Abby the news that Ben had been crushed to death in his own f**king car. It was me who had to phone Abby when her grandmother died. And it’ll be me who picks up the pieces after you’re through with her.”

Cash sat back and took in a breath through his nose, trying to find patience then he said, “All right, Jenny, then you’ve earned the right to know that, now, it’s me who’s restoring her treasured family home. It’s me who’s going to sort her latest financial disaster. And, for the foreseeable future, it’ll be my house you come to if you want to see your friend. Further, it’ll be me who gives Abby the life she deserves and it’ll be me who makes certain she carries on with that life even if I’m not in it. To make certain I’m clear, there will be no pieces to pick up. I’ll take care of her while she’s in my life and I’ll be certain she’s taken care of when she’s no longer in it.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I haven’t gotten through to you at all, have I?”

“No, what’s gotten through is you’re intent on enabling the fear that’s keeping Abby from living her life,” Cash answered.

“Right,” she stood and glared down at him, “and I should encourage her to fall head over heels for some guy who’d pay for sex and who calmly sits there and tells me he’s going to keep doing it but in a nicer way, of course.”