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Dash is now at the side of the ring, and he comes through the ropes. The crowd is cheering him on with, “Red Face, Red Face, Red Face.”
I tune out Tyler and watch as Dash jumps to the ground and walks straight toward me. Even with the red paint all over him, I can see that his face is a mess, his eye black and swollen. And the idea that he wanted this kind of abuse, guts me. Tears burns in my own eyes at the hate he must feel for himself to ask for this. He stops in front of me and drags me to him, and any relief I feel at his touch is quickly burned away. He leans in, his lips at my ear. “Why are you here?” he demands. “You aren’t supposed to be here. You aren’t supposed to see this.”
“To get you out of here.”
He’s silent a moment, holding me there, before he says, “Leave. Leave, Allie. You were right. We’re not good for each other.” He inches back and stares down at me, letting me see the sharp cut in his stare.
The crowd seems to be dispersing, maybe even herded out of the room, thank God. I want this, all of this, to just be over. “Can we just leave please?”
“Go home, Allie,” he says again, releasing me. And he says nothing else. He turns and walks away, and when I would follow, a big, burly man, a guard, I think, steps in front of me. I lean around him and watch as Dash climbs back inside the ring, talks to the referee, and then exits on the other side. He’s gone then. I can’t see him. I can’t find him.
I turn away from the guard, and the ring, emotions twisted, as I head for the door, needing out of here before I’m stupid enough to cry again. Needing out of here, just to breathe. Finally, it seems, I exit into the hallway and Tyler is right there with me, keeping pace. “Where are you going?”
“Home. He’s gone. I can’t find him. And I can’t be here.”
“I’ll drive you.”
I wave him off. “I’ll call a car.”
“No one will pick up here after midnight.”
“I’ll call a car,” I insist.
“Stubborn woman,” he mutters.
I’m at the building exit and I step into a chilly night, phone in hand, as I pull up my Uber app. I do as I said, and order a car. “Done,” I say, glancing at Tyler. “I ordered the car.”
“They won’t show. I’ll drive you.”
“I’m not going to let Dash find out I got in a car with you Tyler. He already has to think I came with you.”
“Don’t be a fool. This is not about his ego. It’s about your safety.”
“And yet you brought me here.”
“To help him,” he counters.
“You drove him to this.”
“I thought he was over this shit four years ago when I cleaned up his mess. Obviously, I was wrong.”
Guilt stabs at me. He wasn’t wrong. I did this. I pushed Dash to this. I drove him to this.
“Stop,” he orders and my gaze snaps back to Tyler as he adds, “I see what you’re doing. I read it in your face, woman. And just stop. Stop blaming yourself. You didn’t push him to this. I told you before and I’ll tell you now: he’s fucked up.”
“So am I,” I say. “And so are you. Don’t deny that truth, Tyler. Stop judging him.” I glance at my phone and grimace in defeat. “The driver cancelled.”
“Can I take you home now?”
“Fine,” I say. “Yes, please just get me out of here.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
The engine to Tyler’s fancy sports car is not quiet, roaring in the dark of night, while my emotions scream into the otherwise silent car. But I do not. I sit there next to Tyler, fingers curled in my lap and I am in my head, reliving Dash in that ring, staring at me, letting that monster of a man punish him. I’d been terrified for him and yet it was almost as if that’s what he wanted, for me to watch him get beaten. And then after the fight, when he’d come to stand in front of me.
Go home, Allie.
Those words, so coldly spoken, echo in my head.
“You okay?” Tyler asks.
No, I think. No, I am not okay, but that’s not Tyler’s problem, and it’s not really even his creation. I did this. I pushed Dash over the edge. I walked out on him tonight. “I’m angry with you, Tyler,” I say, “really angry, but I don’t even have enough objectivity to know if that’s a fair emotion. And I won’t tonight. Does Bella know about his fighting?”
“She doesn’t. He doesn’t want her to know. Not only did she have something big for her own career going on tonight that Dash would not want to fuck up, she lost one brother already.” He glances over at me. “And right now, based on what I saw tonight, you’re the person emotionally connected to Dash. Maybe the only person.”
