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In a flash, Dash’s warmth disappears before I hear bones crack, followed by a pained wail. I whirl around and gasp as one of my assaulters sits on the ground, clutching his bleeding nose, while Dash pummels the other one with quick, hard punches.
“Dash! Stop,” I shout. “Please.”
Throwing a painful kick to the gut to both of them, he returns to my side. His eyes are still livid but they soften slightly when they lock on mine. His torn knuckles cup my cheeks gently and he asks, “Tell me you’re okay, Bianca.”
I’m only capable of nodding.
“I’m taking you home.” Taking my hand, he guides me, but stops as soon as he notices me limping, and curses, “Fuck. What did I just ask?”
“I twisted my ankle.”
Bending down, he picks me in his arms while I wrap mine around his neck. As he carries me back to the club, he demands in a hard voice, “Where the fuck is Niall?”
“I-I don’t know. I lost him inside the club,” I reply with a wince.
His features twist into rage again but I know it’s for his stepbrother, not me. “Why would you leave the club alone? Where’s your phone?”
“He has it. So I couldn’t call a cab.” My answer doesn’t help and he roughly exhales.
“Don’t ever put yourself at risk like that again,” he demands, meeting my eyes. “Promise me.”
The protectiveness in his depths takes me aback. Suddenly, I see him in a new light and it’s nothing like the way Niall described him. I hold his gaze as I promise, “I won’t.”
We reach his car and he buckles me into the passenger seat before coming around to slide behind the wheel. The ride back is silent and the tension doesn’t disappear from him until we are at his house. I’m once more back in his embrace as we step inside and when he walks in the direction of the stairs, I stop him.
“No.” He stares questioningly. “I don’t want to stay alone.”
Understanding dawns and he instead lays me down on the couch, arranging the cushion against my head. Straightening, he says, “I’ll be back.”
I’m still shaken by what happened outside the club, coming close to thinking I’ll be assaulted, or worse, raped, if Dash hadn’t showed up on time. I don’t care if he followed me or was there by chance, I’m just grateful he was there.
Few minutes later, he returns and places a glass of water and painkillers in my hand. “For your ankle.”
I thank him for the pill and everything he did tonight. While I drink the water, he covers my naked legs with a soft blanket. After switching on some random movie on the TV, he settles beside me at the end of the couch with one arm stretched along the back.
It’s the first time we’re civil around each other and it doesn’t feel awkward. My eyes keep drifting between him and the screen until I begin to feel sleepy. When the events of tonight catch up on me, I want to forget everything. Still, a burning question that’s plaguing me for a long time slips from my mouth.
“Why do you hate Niall?”
Vivid green eyes collide with my brown ones and I’m almost certain he won’t answer me but he does and the coldness in them renders me stunned. “He would have to mean something to me for me to hate him.”
“Yet you’re always riling him up.”
“Just because I don’t hate him, doesn’t mean I like him, kitten.”
I roll my eyes and face forward again. There’s more he isn’t telling but I’m too exhausted to peel his mysterious layers. Eventually, heaviness sinks in and it’s not long before my eyelids close. Somewhere in my unconsciousness, I hear Dash whisper, “I never had a reason to hate him… Until you.”
Chapter Forty-six
BIANCA
I shake myself off the memory of Dash saving me outside the club.
Ever since he took care of me last week, it’s like I’m reliving the past with new eyes, one not brainwashed by Niall. My ex, who didn’t even ask me the next day about how I got home from the club. Not even apologizing for ghosting me at a party he invited me to.
I am, however, madder at myself that I never confronted him. I was blinded by what I thought was love. It was the first red flag that I shouldn’t have ignored. Because things only escalated from then onward.
If I’m being completely honest, things shifted between us after the first night Dash crashed into our lives.
