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I pushed back from the table, my chair not so silent as it dragged over the wooden floor. “I’m not feeling well. I’m going to clean up and go home. Thank you for dinner.” I nodded to my mom and Rich.
“Do you need me to have a look?” Aunt Nora asked.
“No, I’m okay. I think I just need to get more sleep.” With my plate in hand, and silverware piled on top of the uneaten food, I held my glass in the other and disappeared into the kitchen. It took mere seconds to get them rinsed and into the dishwasher.
I didn’t bother to wait around to see if anyone would follow me. I climbed into my Cadillac Escalade-V and got the fuck out of there, grateful I’d brought it here, so I didn’t have to rely on others for rides.
Every time I thought I didn’t deserve Reed or Elic, I felt a ghost hand slap over my mouth like somewhere Elic heard me think the word and was silently telling me to knock it off. It was all in my head, but it helped drill into me that maybe he was on to something. I used the word to keep my distance from Reed. It was another buffer, another layer on my list of reasons why I shouldn’t cross that line with him.
The sex line was obliterated.
The tearing out of his heart was too.
Yet the relationship one stood fifty feet tall with barbed wire at the top and a greased-up wall so I couldn’t climb it if I wanted to.
Reed and Elic looked damn good tonight. They obviously weren’t hurting from my departure. I could deal with it, knowing they were happy. Maybe they were together. They were both amazing. It would fit for them to be in a relationship. One that didn’t include me.
Jealousy didn’t flare in my chest at the thought. Not with them. Because in the last week, the idea of them being with me grew roots. The kind made in fantasies but roots, nonetheless.
A loud-ass motorcycle roared up the country road behind me, flashing its headlight. Goddammit. Reed must have called Dash.
There was no point in pulling over to see what he wanted. I kept driving until I hit Dremest, the city divided in two by a creek. I lived on the western side near the edge while still being within the city limits. Being away from Reed was hard enough, so I found a place that kept distance between us without being too far.
Dash kept up, revving the engine at traffic lights, drawing attention to himself. The sun was still up. There was no missing who he was, especially since his crazy ass wasn’t wearing a fucking helmet. I got on him all the time about it, but he wouldn’t listen. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t wrecked before.
My SUV glided through the private parking garage beneath the building. I had four spots assigned to me but only took up one. The guys would rib me, telling me to buy myself something to fill those spots. I didn’t need another vehicle though. I didn’t like bikes like Dash. He had three of them, for fuck’s sake.
Dash parked beside me, killing the engine after I did. He hung his sunglasses on the handlebar, knowing no one would touch them there. Not only was a security guard at the entrance of the garage but there were plenty of cameras too.
I waited alongside my SUV for him to swing his leg off the bike.
He grinned as he walked toward me. “Hi.” For as crazy as he was, he was a happy guy.
Dash’s blond hair was back from his face in waves from the wind whipping through it while he rode. It went past his chin, and sometimes he’d pull it back. One night when he was drunk, he told me he kept it long so the people he fucked had something to hold on to. It was something I didn’t need to know. He wasn’t as big as me, or as big as his brother. They were equally strong and could hold their own in a fight.
“Need something?” I asked, crossing my arms, giving him my best fuck-off look.
“Nope.” He popped the p when he spoke.
“So, Reed didn’t call you and tell you I bailed on dinner?”
He rocked back on his heels. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Whatever, man.” I turned toward the elevator. It was less than a minute before the doors slid open so I could enter my code to be taken up to the top floor. Of course, Dash wasn’t going to let me ride alone. He said he didn’t want anything, but we both knew he was a terrible liar.
“Flynn called me today,” he said as we reached my place, the doors opening into a hallway that only led to my front door.
“What did he want?”
“To talk about another tour.”
I whirled, narrowly missing slamming into him. “We just got home! We don’t even have a single new track recorded.”
Dash put his hands up, his silver rings glinting off the hallway lights. “It wasn’t my idea.”
“Fuck,” I growled and got to my door, entering another code to get inside.
I tried to push the door closed to keep Dash out, but he shoved his foot between the door and the frame to keep it from shutting. It wouldn’t have mattered. He knew the code to get in.
