“I would fight a million enemies to protect you, you know that, right?”
My heart swells with the gallant declaration, no one has ever made for me, but I also do so with acceptance. “Some things are not in our control though, right?”
“No, all things are not within our control.” There’s a hollowness to those words, that echo with an understanding of death.
My hope that we were about to dive into the topic of his brother is doused when his cellphone rings. “That could be Jack. He was digging around for Allison a bit more.” He snakes his phone from his pocket, eyes caller ID, and then me. “It’s him.” He hits the answer button and I give him some space, stepping back, and hugging myself, waiting for news.
The call is short, over before I even hope for good news. “He broke a few rules and had a buddy check her cellphone,” he explains, sliding his phone back into his pocket as he adds, “She’s returning text messages but calling no one.”
My brow furrows. “Isn’t that strange?”
“It’s a little odd, but she’s communicating with other people. That could be a good sign.”
Following his “could be” remark, I say what he does not, “Or someone else is communicating as her.”
“Maybe,” he concedes, “but I don’t know enough about Allison to have a solid opinion. We need more to open a missing person’s report.”
“I know I’m obsessing about this, Dash, but I go back to, what if she has no one to look for her? What if she needs help and we’re it?”
His hands come down on my shoulders. “You are not her and she is not you.”
“But maybe I ended up with that necklace for a reason? Maybe I’m supposed to help her, Dash. And the only person I know that knows her well enough to put my mind at ease is the one person who seems to be in the middle of everything right now.
“Tyler,” he supplies tightly.
“He was emotional over the necklace Allison had received from another man. I think he’ll talk to me, but it’s going to have to be in person, but I don’t want that to be a problem for us.”
“You work with him, Allie. I can’t stop you from talking to him and I’m not going to try. But you need to know that he would fuck you in a heartbeat, and the fact that you’re with me, would be a bonus.”
“I don’t think he would—”
“I do. I abso-fucking-lutely do.”
“I quit my job. Last night I quit my job.”
His eyes narrow. “Why, Allie?”
“He took what you didn’t want him to take, your privacy, your right to choose what you tell me about you. You’ll tell me what you want me to know.”
“You’re mine,” he says, his fingers splaying around my hips. “How is that for what I want you, and him, to know?”
His words are pure possessive, and with anyone else, I’d push back, I’d say I belong to no one, but at their core, Dash’s words mean so much more. He’s telling me, he’s all in with me.
“I’m with you Dash,” I confirm, because what point is there in playing hard to get with Dash? Or even coy? I’m so tired of games. My life has had far too many and I’m really not a very good player. “And Tyler knows that,” I add.
“I told you, he doesn’t care. In fact, that’s a bonus.”
“Why? What happened between you and Tyler, Dash? Why does he want to hurt you?”
He cuts his gaze and my stomach knots before he fixes me in a dark stare. “Because he believes I took Allison from him.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Tyler believes Dash took Allison from him.
I don’t like where my head goes with this. It feels like secrets and lies are at play, and that is far too familiar. It freaks me out. I try to back away from Dash, but he catches me to him. “You said you barely knew her,” I accuse.
“I didn’t. I don’t. It’s not what you’re thinking,” he promises. “I was not dating Allison. I never showed or felt an interest in her. I was at a party and Tyler was there, drinking too much, and showing too much interest in Allison, who was his employee. And he was doing it in front of other employees. She looked like she got the job because she was fucking the boss. Which is none of my business, but Tyler has a history of running through women. I suspect she became one of his fallen, and that means she’d look like a fool at work. And that probably made her leave.”
“Is that what happened?”
“I have no idea what happened, but he was neck-deep in a bottle of whiskey that night. I know him, and while most people couldn’t tell he was wasted, I knew. She was going to get in the car with him. I called her an Uber. He was embarrassed and lashed out at me. He threw his required professional confidentiality out the door and brought up my fighting in front of her and I was done with him.”