Locked Heart (Cash Me Outside 1)

I’ve finally made it.

I just don’t know if it’s too late for Sherlock.

Chapter Two

Sherlock

The circular piece of metal spins on top of the glass table in front of me until it falls on its side.

I pick it up and spin it again.

Spin, spin, spin.

“I think that’s the last of it.” Shannon walks into the kitchen and takes a bottle of water out of the practically empty fridge. “No regrets?”

I glance up at them. They came into my life when I really needed someone. They taught me a lot just by being themself. I’m not nonbinary like them, but they gave me power in owning who I am to my core.

I have a lot of regrets, but knowing them isn’t one of them. “Nope. You?”

“Nah.” They smile and take their phone out of their pocket. “I have something for you, though. Think of it as a parting gift.”

“Why am I scared suddenly?”

The phone appears in front of me with a headline that stops my heart dead.

Cash Me Outside Signs on for Death Valley Music Festival.

“Isn’t that the band you’ve stalked since before I even met you?” Shannon asks.

“Stalking is definitely not the right word.”

Checking up on, maybe. Following, definitely. Okay, so maybe stalking is the right word.

“You check every single year if they’re going to be there.”

I frown up at them. “How do you know I’m not looking for a different band?”

“Name one other rock band.”

“Umm …” Why can I not think of any? I know tons. Like … shit.

“Exactly. You should go.”

“I’m not going to go.” I stand to leave, but Shannon stops me, their perfectly manicured hand catching my forearm.

“Why not?”

“There’s something you don’t know. About me.”

Their hand releases me, and those stormy gray eyes I’ve stared into for the past two and a half years narrow. “You’re a closeted ex-rock star and there was a big feud between your band and Cash Me Outside where you had to fake your death and leave that scene forever?”

I touch my hand to my heart. “How do you know me so far deep in my soul you could’ve guessed that?”

“What are ex-spouses for?” They wink.

I wince.

“Too soon?” they ask.

“Way too soon.”

Though that’s not entirely true. In all truth, Shannon and I have been separated longer than we were even married.

That’s what happens when you have an existential crisis, make impulsive decisions, and then take on a life mantra to seize the day. Carpe diem and all that crap.

Wham, bam, marriage license signed.

And then a year later, hello, divorce proceedings.

It all happened that fast.

Shannon takes me over to the living room in the hotel suite my boss has let me rent until I’m back on my feet. They force me to sit on the plush couch, and I’m only mildly worried about what kind of bodily fluids I’m sitting in. This is Vegas after all.

“What don’t I know about you?” Shannon asks.

“Cashton …”

“As in Cash Kingsley? Rock god and fucking sex on a stick?”

I nod. “You know where his hometown is?”

“Isn’t he from Boulder City like you?”

“Know how old he is?”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say around your age?”

“Wanna know how many high schools are in Boulder City?”

Get there faster, Shannon.

Realization dawns. “Oh. You and him …”

“We were each other’s firsts.”

“Aww, how … oddly cool is it that I’ve technically slept with Cash Kingsley? In a roundabout way.”

I start a slow clap. “And look at that! Making it about yourself.”

They don’t even care. They flip their long dark hair. “Always.”

“So, what, Cash is back in the same state as you in how many years, and you’re going to skip seeing him? Did it end on bad terms?”

I laugh. “No. It ended … perfectly.”

“Come on. I can’t even win best breakup in your life?”

I level them with a look.

“Right. Made it about me again. Sorry. Continue.”

“We made a stupid pact.”

That’s the thing that gets me the most. This is either the crappiest timing for Cash to be at Death Valley or the best it could’ve ever been.

I let out a humorless laugh.

“What was the pact?” Shannon asks.

“That if Cashton ever made it to Death Valley, I’d go watch him play and we’d reconnect.”

Shannon’s eyes widen. “No shit. Really? Do you not see how perfect this is?”

“Shan, it’s so much more complicated than that.”

“What makes it complicated?”

“I haven’t spoken to him in eight years.”

“Why not?”

“I …” I shake my head. “I don’t think it matters. He won’t forgive the way I cut him out of my life. Fuck, either that or he probably doesn’t even remember me. He’s a rock star. Imagine how many guys he’s fucked since me.”

“No one could ever forget you, Locke.”

I snort. “He doesn’t even know I changed my name.”

“Then it sounds like you have a lot to catch up on. You should go.”

I know I promised to go, but I don’t know if I can handle it.