Neither of us had seen Ryan yet, which was odd since Dash was her date for the ball. Maybe that was where he led me now—to an ambush orchestrated by her. I wouldn’t be surprised.
But when we came to a stop in a well-lit corridor with no waiting attackers, I frowned. “What are we doing, Dash?” I finally asked, deciding there was no point in drawing this out.
“Talking,” he replied, turning to face me with an expression unlike any I’d ever seen from him. He almost appeared… sad. Contrite, even. He palmed the back of his neck and blew out a breath. “Look. I owe you an apology.” He winced and shook his head. “Several, really.”
“Okay…” I think he’s about to confess something.
Good. The camera is already on, Tray reminded me.
Right.
The one in the tiara on my head. Tray had affixed it to my hair before we left the limo. It had a camera custom-built into one of the prongs. Where he found it, or how it was created, I had no idea. The man possessed a lot of skills that impressed me, this being one of them.
Dash cleared his throat and glanced up at the ceiling. “Fuck, I don’t even know where to start. I didn’t pick up Ryan tonight, despite her edicts to the contrary. She’s going to be livid when she finally gets here, and I’m sure I’ll be bearing the brunt of that anger. So I almost stayed home, but I couldn’t just sit by knowing what’s going to happen tonight. I had to tell you. To warn you.”
Yeah, this wasn’t at all where I expected this conversation to go. “Warn me about what, Dash?” And he left Ryan at home? Wow. I wished I could have been there to see her face when she realized he wasn’t coming.
“I’m sorry, Ella. You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to say that to you over the years. I was such a dick to you at the Holiday Ball. No excuse in the world can justify my behavior, so I won’t even try. But not a day goes by that I don’t regret my actions.”
My brow furrowed. “So why did you do it?” This was the part I wanted him to admit, the piece of information I needed to play before the school.
“Does it matter?” he asked, his tone holding
a touch of derision. “We both know Ryan and Carmen put me up to it, but that’s just an excuse. As is admitting that I was a stupid kid who fell beneath the manipulation of two world-class bitches.”
There, I thought, triumphant. He admitted it.
But he wasn’t done.
“I loathe them, Ella. And I hate even more who I am when I’m with them.” He released the back of his neck and stuffed his hands into his pockets, his posture that of a scared boy rather than the intimidating male he usually put on for the school.
“These last few months have been… enlightening.” He cleared his throat. “You’ve stood up to them—to all of us—for years. But you’ve taken it to a whole new level, your confidence sky-high.”
I had no idea how to reply to that. So I went with, “Uh… ’kay. Thanks?”
He laughed nervously and shook his head. “I’m fucking this up. What I’m trying to tell you is, I’m an idiot. Homecoming was actually the major turning point for me because of the way I felt after you ran away—again. The first time, I’d been a stupid kid. However, this time, well, I honestly couldn’t believe the things that had come out of my mouth or how I’d grabbed you. I realized in that moment that I wasn’t the man I want to be at all. But a fucking dick.”
Okay, yeah, this definitely wasn’t where I expected this conversation to go at all.
The surprise radiating from my mating bond said Tray felt the same. He expected Dash to make a move, to apologize for his behavior as a way of getting into my pants. But he didn’t seem to be heading in that direction at all. If anything, I felt like a priest in a confessional booth listening to this boy expel all his sins.
“Anyway, I know Tray is part of the reason you’ve changed lately, which is why I’m here tonight,” Dash continued. “It would have been so much easier to just stay home, let Ryan stew, and just blow her off Monday. But after everything I’ve put you through, I couldn’t just sit by and let her ruin you all over again. Because what she’s planning? It can destroy a person. And you don’t deserve that, Ella. Fuck, you don’t deserve any of this shit.”
“What are you trying to tell me, Dash?” I demanded, my stomach twisting painfully. “What is she planning?”
“She’s gone on and on about it for months.” He glanced upward, sideways, anywhere but at me. “It’s like she lives to hurt you.”
“Not telling me what I want to know,” I said, my patience waning by the second. Because yeah, I was very aware of my stepsister’s hatred and penchant for causing me harm. “Spit it out, Dash.”
He flinched, those piercing eyes meeting mine. “She’s made sure you’ll be crowned Winter Queen tonight with Tray as the Winter King. And then he’s going to announce to everyone how it was all a game to win your virginity. That none of it was real. He’s been playing you from the beginning, Ella.”
My shoulders sagged in relief. “Oh, that.” Fuck, for a moment I thought she had another plan up her sleeve that I hadn’t anticipated. This one, I could handle.
Dash’s lips curled downward, then his eyes widened. “You already knew.”
“Of course she did,” Tray said, joining us in the hallway.
I’d felt him creeping closer as a result of my unease, ready to kick the shit out of Dash on a second’s notice. So when he wrapped his arm around me, I melted into him on a contented sigh. “Yeah, I knew. He told me after Homecoming.”