Locked Heart (Cash Me Outside 1)

Us redheads are like vampires. Pale skin. Don’t like direct sunlight. We’re basically the same. Minus the bloodsucking thing. Cock-sucking on the other hand …

I side glance at Cash and regret not taking him up on his offer for round two.

“We can stand off to the side behind the barricades,” Cash says, leading me toward the mainstage.

The crowd is massive, and it makes sense he wants to hide out instead of trying to blend in out there.

I saw how the people were going crazy for him during his set.

Everyone loves him.

And I know exactly how they feel. He’s my Cash amplified when he’s in front of a crowd.

He pulls me into a side stage area close to the audience but half-hidden behind equipment and speakers.

It’s loud as fuck, not only from the bands but the people’s nonstop screaming.

To have twenty thousand people screaming for you, it’s surprising Cash is still the same boy I left.

It’s impossible to talk, but I don’t really need to with Cash. Not having words between us was never a problem. We could sit or stand in comfortable silence probably longer than we should’ve been able to at seventeen years old.

It’s a level of comfort I’ve never had with anyone else.

Cash moves in front of me, pulling my arms around his waist so I’m holding him from behind.

Ducking my head under the brim of his cowboy hat, I lean in and talk in his ear so he can hear me. “Feels like old times.”

We stay like that, watching the band currently on stage who is … I have no idea, but I don’t care. Because I have everything I need right here.

“Do you want me to get you something to eat? Or drink?”

I love that he’s fussing over me. Like how he bought Dr. Pepper in case I showed up.

“I just need you and what … you apparently call music.”

Cash laughs, loud and warm. “You haven’t changed at all either.”

He’s right. In many ways I haven’t, but in others …

I’ve definitely done a lot of stuff I’m not proud of. Things that might make Cash look at me differently. But I also don’t want to get into that here.

Cash whistles and cheers for the band as they leave the stage, giving each of the guys a high five or a fist bump, but he never leaves my side.

The one time I try to remove my hand from his hip, he grips on tighter and leaves it there.

Each of the band members eye me, whether out of curiosity or something else, but with Cash holding on to me, I couldn’t care less about what anyone else thinks.

While roadies swarm the stage to set up for the next act, I take the opportunity to find out more about Cash and his plans.

“What’s your tour schedule like coming up?”

“We actually have a few days off. The boys want to go to Vegas seeing as it’s close.”

“Vegas, huh? You’re gonna be in my part of town?”

“Play your cards right, I’ll never leave your … part of town.”

“How do you make everything sound dirty?”

“It’s a gift.”

Cash looks up at me with the same expression he would in high school when I knew he was about to do something that could get us in trouble.

His chin lifts, moving his mouth closer to mine. He’s about to kiss me right here in the middle of this music festival, in front of fans, cameras, and God, and he doesn’t even give a shit.

Right before our lips touch, I blurt, “You should do it.”

His brow scrunches. “Do what? Kiss you? I was planning on it, and then you had to ruin it by opening your mouth.”

“In my defense, I have to open my mouth to kiss you too.”

“Stop being a smartass and tell me what you meant.”

“You should come back to Vegas with me tonight.”

Cash turns in my arms. “Really?”

“It’s the last night of the festival, isn’t it? Stay with me on your days off, and let’s just … be us again until you have to leave. Cashton and Sherlock.”

“Oh, I am so in.”

“Yeah?” We get to get out of this heat?

“Right after this next set.”

So close. “Sounds good. And not at all hot. Or loud. Or crowded.”

Cash bursts out laughing. “I’m messing with you. Let’s go.”

“Oh, thank fuck.” I pull him close and smack a big but brief kiss on his lips.

“Come on, you can do better than that.” Cash grips my shirt collar and brings me back in for a deeper kiss that makes my whole body weak.

I moan into his mouth.

Cash’s cowboy hat tips backward and falls off his head.

I don’t know how much it was working as a disguise, but apparently, it was doing something. The catcalls and Cash’s name being called by a group of people on the edge of the barricades breaks us apart.