The phone rang again. I was more content when the damn thing had died about halfway between Chicago and Oklahoma City. I suspected Dash was relieved that I’d gone. He might want reassurance that I wouldn’t try to have Carter find a new attorney. Maybe I should consider asking for a cut in the revenue obtained from Carter. A devious smile pulled at the corners of my lips.
I understood I wasn’t particularly likable. That was an undeniable fact. But, Dash had liked me once. Where had it all gone wrong? I knew the answer, deep down, I was a country boy through and through. A guy who was caught in the middle of two worlds. I struggled to navigate the world of sophistication and wealth, and rednecks wouldn’t like me for being gay. I was basic, and Dash was all the things I wasn’t. We were as opposite as two people could possibly be.
My phone rang again. I ignored it…again. Instead, I focused on the memories of the great sex he and I had shared. Dash took it as rough as I could give it. I was sure going to miss driving into my guy’s ass. Hell, I already missed it. It’d been so long since we were together in the same headspace. Years, in fact. I heard my phone rattling again, but I’d been awake well over twenty-four hours.
My thoughts turned blissfully numb as my eyelids grew heavy. A giant yawn escaped. I reached for a pillow and bent my legs. In the recesses of my mind, I heard my cell ring again, but I was finally slipping into sleep. I’d deal with it later.
Dash
From the elevator, I reached my assistant’s desk in five long strides, even though it usually took seven. I started speaking as soon as the elevator doors opened to our floor. “What do you have on Beau?” I asked.
Her fingers flew over the keyboard at a rapid speed, and her back faced me.
“I have access to his credit cards. The login’s auto filled. If you haven’t found anything, search those.”
“Got it,” she said, not sparing me a glance. I maintained my urgent pace, heading into my office to figure out what Chandler had searched for.
“Chandler’s not responding. It seems his phone is turned off,” she called.
My suspicions about Chandler were confirmed when I rounded my desk to the private drawer I kept locked at all times, but he’d had access to my keys last night. The drawer opened without having the key to release the locks. Immediately, I saw Carter’s file was missing.
A smile split my lips, he’d fallen for it. I had duplicated the files, inflating the estimates on all of Carter’s bids for the next year. Whoever Chandler gave that file to—and I was pretty sure that was my father—wouldn’t win a project for however long it took them to realize they’d been played. I gave a mental fist pump at the win.
Beau’s handsome face came to my thoughts. He’d be happy. We’d celebrate the success. I picked up my landline and dialed Beau again. The worry that lay just below the surface had me ducking my head and closing my eyes. Four rings then voicemail. “Beau, call me when you get this.” I couldn’t keep the begging quality from my voice. “Please, baby, call me.”
The phone was barely in the cradle when Penny came into the room. Normally, she knocked, but we were too far into this shitty day to abide by such manners. “I discovered a charge for a motelin Oklahoma City. Various gas station fill-ups lead me to suspect the charge is valid. I printed the statement and pinpointed the locations.” As she spoke, she laid each piece of evidence in front of me.
“He’s already made it to Oklahoma City? How is that possible?” I wondered aloud, picking up the sheet with the map on it. Was he on his way to Dallas? Without too much real thought, I lifted the phone again, dialing Amelia.
“Dash? Are you okay?” Amelia answered in the same caring way she always had. This time, I forewent my normal playful tease about her being overprotective.
“I believe Beau’s heading to Dallas. If he shows up there, will you call me?” I asked.
“Why don’t you know?” she asked, her tone edging toward worried.
“I can’t get into it right now. If he does arrive, I need you to talk up what a good guy I am. I’ll fly home on the first flight out.”
“Dasham, what did you do?” she asked sternly. “Beau’s a good man.”
“I know, but now’s not a good time to explain. Call me if he arrives,” I said, letting that be enough for now, and hung up the phone.
Absently, I thumbed through the files of other construction companies I represented. Those files were filled with blank copy paper. Although my only real worry was Beau, I had to confront Chandler. Make a big deal about the theft and inflate the importance of the files containing sensitive information not meant to be seen by anyone else. If one man represented the epitome of a bottom dweller, it had to be Chandler.
“Can you continue to follow Beau’s card?” I asked. “At least that’ll give me a direction.”
“Dash, I love Beau. I do,” Penny started. “But are you certain you should go after him?”
My head jerked up as I rose from my seat. “What’s that mean?” What a ridiculous thought.
She lifted her hands in some sort of gesture of peace. “You both have changed. You’re devoted to your work, spending well over a hundred hours a week here. I’ve been in this for too long. People like you have a hard time maintaining any sort of relationship. You’re married to your job.”
I gazed at her in disbelief. Why was this the first time I let that philosophy sink into my thick skull? Because I’d discounted it. My arrogance pushed me to believe I could handle my personal and career growth. How dumb was I?
I didn’t show Penny my cards. I rarely did until I had time to consider it all. “I understand your perspective.” That reply would have to suffice. As I rounded the desk to leave the office, I added, “I’m going to find Chandler.”
“You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you like this. I like the hair falling down on your forehead. It makes you look younger,” she said, propping her shoulder against the doorframe. I almost rolled my eyes. She’d nailed the exact reason I kept it swept up all of the time.
I lifted my hand to my head, realizing I hadn’t even dried my hair today. I never left the house with my hair in disarray.
