“I’m Tracey, by the way,” she offered easily.
“Dahlia,” I returned, wincing as she offered me a surprised look, recognition sliding through her gaze, before it turned sympathetic.
“I get it,” Tracey said easily. “Seriously, I do. I may not have had national attention, but there is a reason I am here and not going to school back in Michigan.”
There was a story there for sure.
“Thanks.” I smiled and then paused. “I would say you should text me, but I don’t have a phone anymore.”
“Email?” she asked, looking unsurprised.
I nodded and wrote it down before saying goodbye and walking towards the door of the classroom, finding that the hallway had cleared out fairly fast. My smile grew to see Dermot standing there, looking way too handsome. I nearly twirled into his arms and he spun me around, chuckling at my excitement.
“Good class?” he asked, intertwining our hands as we walked out the way we came.
“It was.” I nodded. “I even met a girl, Tracey. We exchanged emails. And then the instructor gave us this entire syllabus and schedule to look over. I am super excited to learn more techniques on how to take certain photos. I think that taking this class is exactly what I needed.”
Dermot was smiling at me, affection turning his eyes nearly light green. “Good. That is exactly what I wanted to hear.”
As we stepped out into the fresh air, I found that I didn’t want my time alone with Dermot to end at all. I casually suggested lunch, which he immediately latched onto, informing security that we would be eating at a restaurant across the street.
When we got there, I thought it was odd that the restaurant was cleared out, but I was glad for it because we could sit in a small, cozy booth with me tucked into his side. It was only minutes later that I learned Dermot had already had our teams clear out the place purposefully. While my immediate reaction was ‘overkill,’ I wasn’t going to question what they thought was necessary to keep me safe. Not anymore, not when the situation was this serious.
As the two of us ate and relaxed for nearly an hour, I couldn’t help but envision us being like this for the next sixty to eighty years… And I loved it.
“You know you have taken me on my only two dates?” I squeezed Dermot’s hand. Well, my only two dates that hadn’t been ruined by Yates…. Which had been the entire point, for the record.
His smile grew. “Yeah?”
I offered a sly smile. “I may have to give the others a bit of a hard time about that.”
“Make sure I am there.” He chuckled softly.
As we walked outside, I spotted a coffee shop near the security cars lining the curb and mentioned stopping in. Security surrounded the place as Dermot got us coffee, and I slipped easily towards the bathroom. Brushing my fingers through my hair after using the washroom, I walked back out and nearly slammed right into a wall of lean muscle.
I made a surprised noise as my head snapped up to look right into the face of someone I never hoped to see again…Max Brooks.
“Dahlia.” His face looked almost gaunt, a bruise against his cheek and his eyes filled with shadows.
“Max.” I felt my entire body stiffen. “You’re here, on campus.”
“To see you.” He offered me a tight smile. “We need to talk. I have all the info you want.”
‘The info I want’? Yeah, this had trouble written all over it.
“I’m good.” I started to take a step back and prayed that Dermot would come to check on me.
“I wasn’t giving you an option.” He tried to grab my wrist, but I stepped away fast enough that he stumbled. When he tried to move forward, a dark shadow appeared behind him. I relaxed into the wall, feeling relief at Dermot’s presence… Well, until I actually saw how pissed he was.
My eyes widened on Dermot, his entire body bathed in an intense, crazy energy that had shivers breaking out across my skin. I let out a surprised sound as he pinned Max to the wall by his throat and bent down so they were eye level.
“Run, motherfucker.”
His words were rough and dangerous, my pulse picking up as I felt nervousness shoot through me. Followed by desire… Why could I never get my mind and body to agree on how we should feel? Honestly, I felt like a freakin’ mess most of the time.
Max coughed as Dermot let go of him, and Max shot me a look before he sprinted away from us, Dermot instantly pressing a device against his ear. “Have someone tail him. I want eyes on him from now on. We need to know where he’s heading.”
“Oh wow,” I breathed out. “That was… Dermot?”
Dermot walked me backward into the large bathroom, my steps stumbling slightly, before he kicked the door shut. Somehow I had a feeling Dermot had reached his breaking point.