FanGirl Squeal (RockStars of Romance Book 1) (25 page)

“I just don’t understand the problem,” Nicole commented. “You
guys have been on trips together. You’ve been to Boston, Atlanta, New Orleans,
and he’s come out here like a thousand times since the 4
^th
of July.
Why not just go public and be done with it. Girl, you better claim that man
before some groupie does.”

I’m not thinking about groupies. Timothy and Deborah Ford
are the problem. They’re not ready for Cash.

I ran up the steps and into my bedroom. I gathered up Cash’s
jeans and t-shirt and tossed them on the bed. I sat on the edge of the bed and
leaned over his sleeping body.

“Cash!” I hissed. “Wake up!”

I did this at least three more times before he rolled over
and lazily opened his eyes.

“Mornin’ babe.” He reached for me to pull me into a kiss but
I pulled away.

“You have to go home.”

“What?” He laughed. “Are you serious?”

My heart was racing. I felt like I was sixteen again when me
and Cassie were trying to sneak boys out of the house before her mom came home.
I know it’s stupid and I should act like an adult and introduce my parents to
the most important person in my life, but I’m just not ready. I can’t do that
without major preparation and shots. Lots and lots of tequila shots.

“My parents are going to be knocking on my door in a matter
of minutes. You have to go,” I whined.

Cash rolled onto his back and slowly shook his head. “You
know, I’ve been wondering when you were going to introduce me to your mom and
dad. You’re acting like a kid about this. I get less resistance from Brittany
when I want to meet one of her boyfriends.”

“You really don’t want to meet my parents,” I told him. “Seriously,
neither of you are ready.”

“I am,” Cash argued. “How long are they going to be here?”

“One night.”

Cash sat up and pulled me into him. He kissed my forehead
and wrapped his arms around me. “We’re adults. We can hide our relationship
from the public, but we shouldn’t be hiding our relationship from your parents.”

I threw in the towel. Cash wasn’t making any moves to even
put on his boxers and a car just pulled into my driveway. I’m certain that it’s
not Troy.

“Fine. Do what you want. Just please, I beg you, do it with
some clothes on.”

“You’re adorable. You have nothing to worry about. I’m great
with parents.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said under my breath as I went to answer the
door.

“Hey!” I dragged out when my parents walked into the house. “How
was your flight?”

“Long and way too early,” my dad answered. We hugged and I
took their suitcases and stashed them in the hall closet.

“You guys want some coffee or breakfast?” I asked, praying
that my and Troy’s Starbucks addiction hadn’t prevented us from keeping at
least a canister of Folgers in the house.

I kept looking towards the hallway leading to my bedroom
knowing that at any moment Cash was going to come strolling down the hallway,
jeans hung low on his hips and barefoot, I’m sure. There’s no way to hide the
fact that he spent the night.

My parents have never experienced me having a man over.
Jacoby and I did not live together and he was in New York most of time. When I
did visit, my parents certainly weren’t stopping by early in the morning.

I shuffled around the kitchen, preparing a pot of Folgers
that I lucked out and found in the freezer. It must been left over from Brandon’s
last visit.

“So, why are you here?” I called into the living room. “Especially
just for one day?”

“Your father is speaking at Stanford on Thursday. We wanted
to arrive the day before,” Mom answered. “But your Dad mistakenly booked our
flight a day earlier than our hotel and rental car. Since everything is
reserved for tomorrow, we decided to stop in and spend the day with you instead
of changing our flight.”

“Dad, you need an assistant,” I said. “I can probably find
you a good one. My assistant knows a lot of people.”

“I probably do,” he agreed.

I carried two mugs of coffee into the living room and gave
them to my parents. I sat in a chair and listened as my mother talked about
keeping my nephew while Ashley and Kevin went to Greece for their anniversary.
I hadn’t even known that my sister was out of the country.

“Well, honey, anything new with you?” my mother asked.

I nodded. It was now or let Cash do it. I was leaning
towards just letting him walk out of the bedroom like
Surprise!
But that
wouldn’t be good. He deserves a proper introduction.

“Okay.” Deep breath. “I have some news.”

“Please don’t say you’re pregnant.”

“No, Mom, that’s not it. I met someone a few months ago and
it’s going really well. I wanted you guys to meet under very different
circumstances but you’re here and he’s here so...”

My mother glanced at my father then back at me. “A few
months, Savannah? You’ve been dating someone for a few months and you’re just
now telling us about him. And he’s here? Do you have a man living with you? You
know we don’t approve of cohabitation.”

“No, he does not live here,” I said, already exasperated
with the questions. “He has three houses. He doesn’t need to stay in mine. I
didn’t tell you because not that many people know. We’ve been keeping a lid on
our relationship because he’s sort of famous.”

“Oh God,” my mother groaned. “You’re dating a rapper?
Really, Savannah?” She turned to my father. “I knew this was going to happen. I
don’t understand why your child chose this line of work. Always surrounded by
celebrities. I knew she was going to get caught up in that. We didn’t pay all
that money on her education for her to be some rapper’s girlfriend. Next thing
she’s going to tell us is that she’s going to be a cast member on that
Love
& Hip-Hop
show.”

“Hey,” I tapped my mom’s shoulder. “I’m right here and I’m
not dating a rapper.”

I just stopped talking. There was just nothing else to say.
When my parents see Cash with all his tattoos, blue eyes, and the fact that he’s
white, they’re going to wish I was dating Lil Wayne. I stood up and jogged to
my room. At least Cash had on jeans and a shirt.

“They’re here,” I said.

“Don’t look so sad,” he laughed. “It’s fine. Come on,
scaredy cat.”

I should have warned him again about my parents but Cash is
confident enough to believe that he can charm anyone. Cash squeezed me around
my waist and laughed when I dragged my feet.

“Rip off the band-aid,” he advised with a smirk.

We walked into the living room. Nicole, for some reason, had
joined my parents in the living room. She was grinning like she’d never met
Cash before.

“What are you doing up here?” I asked.

“I came up here to tell you that Julie called just now. She
still wants to meet about that VH-1 project.”

Viacom and VH-1 have been trying to put together a panel of
entertainment journalist to talk about the state of celebrity “gossip” and they
definitely want me, but I don’t want to be on television. They’re not offering
me enough money anyway.

“We’ll talk about that later,” I snarled since I hadn’t told
anyone about the opportunity, especially not Cash or my parents.

My parents were waiting for me to introduce them to the
elephant in the room. I could already tell that they weren’t pleased.

“Sooo, Mom and Dad, this is Cash Myers. Cash, these are my
parents Dr. Timothy and Dr. Deborah Ford.”

Despite the astonished looks on my parents’ faces, Cash was
very polite and charming. He flashed that smile and reached over to shake both
of their hands.

“Nice to meet both of you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Hmph,” Mom huffed. “Definitely wish we could the same. You’re
that musician that she’s obsessed with, correct?”

“Welp,” Nicole jumped up. “I think I’ll get back to work
now.”

I’ve never seen Nicole move so fast. I sat down in my chair
but then Cash was just standing there so I moved to the couch next to my mom so
he could sit in the chair.

“I am a musician,” Cash answered. “I wouldn’t say she was
obsessed. I don’t get an obsessed vibe from her.”

“And do you carry on relationships with your fans often?”

Ouch! My father was serious with that question. Cash even
stopped smiling.

“Umm, no sir, I don’t make it a habit of dating my fans.”

“Then why my daughter?”

“Dad!”

I said a quick prayer that Cash wouldn’t mention the book.
That was something I just didn’t want them to know about.

“We met and I thought she was beautiful and intriguing. I
wanted to get to know her.”

“I know my daughter,” my mother said. “But I don’t know you.
Don’t you think that it’s odd that she waited months to tell us about you?”

“I know she had her reasons,” Cash answered. “I understand
that I’m not the typical guy that you’re used to seeing her with, but I care
about her.”

“Umm-hmm,” my mother frowned. She wasn’t even making an
attempt to hide her true feelings about Cash. They were written all over her
face.

“You care about her?” my father said. He too wasn’t shy
about letting his condemnation show. “Are you sure about that?”

Cash gave me an uneasy grin. I wanted to pull him out from
under my parent’s scornful glares but my mother’s hand on my knee stopped me.

“Yes, sir,” Cash replied politely. “I’m quite sure.”

“Is dating outside your race something that you do often? Or
is my daughter your first? Are you one of those
I have black friends so I get
a pass
type of people?”

One thing I’ve learned about Cash is that his patience level
is off the charts. He handles pressure well but when he gets upset, he’s a
force. My parents may have been at a ten but Cash was sitting pretty at a cool
two. I, on the other hand, was more pissed than my parents.

“No,” I shook my head vehemently. “I’m not going to let you
two do this to him.”

My mother let out a snide snicker. “What exactly are we
doing to him, my dear?”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, Mother,” I emphasized the word
since she wanted to slip into bougie mode. “I’m not going to let you try to
make him out as a bad guy. I didn’t introduce you to Cash earlier because I
knew you’d be like this. The only reason I’m doing it now is because you showed
up when he was here.”

“Does your sister know about this?”

“You know Ashley doesn’t know or she would have told you by
now,” I huffed.

“Savannah,” Cash spoke my name quietly as if lowering his
voice would make me lower mine; an old technique that my parents often use on Ashley
and me.

“What?”

“I’m gonna take off so you can talk to your parents without
me.”

He stood up and held out his hand to my father to shake. “I
just wanted to introduce myself, Dr. Ford. Hopefully, you and I can have a
conversation at a later date, but I see that there are a few things you
probably want to discuss with your daughter.”

“Your assumption is correct.”

Unlike my mother, my dad isn’t always rude as hell. He
believes men should be men so the fact that Cash had respectfully indicated
that he’d be open to having a conversation, mano-a- mano, with him definitely
sat well.

“We will talk,” my father said as he shook Cash’s hand.

Cash moved towards my mother but she stiffly shook her head
at him and he backed away. I sucked my teeth and followed Cash to the door.

“I’m so sorry about that,” I said once we were out of my
parents’ sight and earshot.

Cash smirked and backed me up against the wall. He leaned
down and kissed my neck.

“Is there anything that your parents could say to change how
you feel about me?” he asked in between kisses. I shook my head and murmured
no.

“Then don’t apologize. They’re not that bad, Savannah. They
have a right to feel how they feel. You’re their baby girl and I’m just the
white guy who won’t stay in his lane. I get it. They don’t know me and they don’t
know how I feel about you.”

“I’ll tell them but even so, I’m pretty sure that nothing I
say is going to change anything. They don’t believe in interracial dating.”

“You’re wrong,” Cash replied. “What you say will change
everything. Your parents aren’t racist. They just want what’s best for you,
baby. Hopefully, I can make them see that I want the same thing.”

“Yeah right,” I scoffed. “That’ll happen.”

Cash lifted my head so he could look into my face. “It won’t
be easy, but you’re definitely worth it,” he said before pressing his lips
softly against mine.

I closed my eyes and sank into his kiss. Too soon, he pulled
away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” I sighed. “Bye.”

I closed the door behind him and walked down the hallway
like a solider about to step onto the battlefield.

I sat in my chair and crossed my legs while glaring at my
parents.

“Alright, say what you need to say because I have to get
back to work.”

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Deborah replied. “I want
to ask if you’ve lost your mind, but I know that you aren’t crazy. So what is
it, Savannah? Do you just enjoy testing us?”

“I wasn’t aware that who I choose to date has any bearing on
you or is any sort of test.”

“You’ve never dated anyone who wasn’t black,” my father
said. “Even when you went through that period when you only dated mixed boys,
they were still black. Now is the time for you to start considering getting
married and settling down so why him? Why now?”

“Because I like him,” was my simple reply. “And honestly, I’m
more worried about the fact that Cash is a super celeb than I am about him not
being black. His skin color is the least of my concerns. You’re forward
thinking, for the most part,” I added snidely. “It’s 2013-”

“And black people are still being held down, killed, and
discriminated against by white people,” my mother interrupted. “We’ve got white
folks killing black boys down south. Black boys being harassed right in front
of us on the streets by NYPD. Our struggle is a never ending battle. Yet, here
you are, dating a white boy.”