Page 43 of Dash

“Valerie,” my father answers.

“Does she know this kid?” I ask Dash.

“How in the hell would I know?” he snaps, growing angry again.

“How would you not know?” I snap. “You’ve known her forever. Have you ever heard her mention his name?” The bitch has called every day; she has even been to my parents’ house. She had the nerve to show up two days ago, but my father told her that he was in a lot of pain and was sleeping it off.

“How many damn times do I have to tell you...? I don’t know every little thing about the bitch.” Dash snaps at me.

“Enough,” my father roars as the waitress approaches our table. “Come back later,” he orders her. She spins around and all but runs off.

“Call their bluff,” I suggest.

“That’s a stupid idea,” Dash fires back.

“Did you just call me stupid?”

He leans back in his seat and chooses to ignore my question, but his narrowed gray eyes say it all. His hard face, tight jaw—Did I stutter look on his face.

“Call their bluff,” I repeat, and he snorts.

“We’ve been hiding out for a week,” he shoots back. “Why would we be willing to risk it?”

“Dash is right,” my father agrees. “Why would we do that?”

“And why, exactly, are we hiding out?” I ask. This is what I meant by keeping secrets. “That day at the track you told me no more secrets. Why are you still keeping them from me?” I demand.

“Sweet pea…?”

“No, Father,” I snap. “Dash is going to be honest with me or he’s not gonna have to worry about the world knowing about us ‘cause there will be no us.” I know my voice sounds hard, but would I really walk away from him? I hope that I won’t have to follow through with that threat.

He shakes his head as he looks down at the table with a hard laugh. “You just can’t let shit go, can you?”

“Obviously not,” I answer.

He looks up from the table and into my eyes. “The brakes were cut from my bike. Someone wanted that bike to go down. That’s what I haven’t told you.”

“What?” I ask in shock. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure,” my father answers my question.

“But…why?” Who would want to hurt Dash?

“That’s what we don’t know.”

“Do you think it was that kid?” I ask looking over at my dad. “He knew we were there. He says he has pictures…”

He shrugs. “Your guess is as good as ours.”

I look down at the table as I realize why we are keeping a secret from the world. If they knew that we were an item, it would not only look bad for my father’s company, but it would also make me a target as well. “What do we do?” I ask, feeling defeated.

“Exactly what we’ve been doing,” Dash replies.

I lean back in my chair as my father finally signals for the waitress to return to take our orders. I don’t know why, but the fact that Dash wants us to continue being a secret hurts. But I understand his reason behind it. Safety.

CHAPTER NINETTEN

DASH

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