Page 55 of Dash

“Why the fuck would Rodger care about my bike?” I ask confused.

“Tabatha.” That one word has my anger rising.

“What are you saying?” My hands now tremble for a different reason. Fear. Fear for her. He tried to hurt me because of her. Would he hurt her because of me?

“I’ll let her explain that to you,” he answers.

I snort and his eyebrows pull together. “That won’t happen,” I say crossing my arms over my chest.

“Ah,” he says after a few awkward seconds. “I see.”

“You see what?” I demand.

“You two are fighting. That’s why she wouldn’t call you to come up here.”

I want to yell at him. I want to tell him that because of that stupid party he made me throw that I lost the best thing that has ever happened to me. But he’ll argue with that statement. He is my boss, after all. And as far as he knows, I’ll risk anything to keep my job. Because that’s exactly what I did. I threw a party and invited my ex-girlfriend because that’s what my boss told me to do.

I realize what I’ve been doing wrong, and there’s a simple answer. “I quit.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

TABATHA

I sit in the same spot as when my father left. I didn’t want Dash to come up here, but I had overheard my father call him. I knew he was on his way but even that twenty minutes didn’t give me any time to prepare myself. Especially after the night that I have had. My ex-boyfriend wanted me to be his personal slave in order to save the man I loved from future harm. And the guy that I want to be my boyfriend told me that he loved me and I turned him down like watering down a flame. It’s over. Whatever Dash and I could have had is now over. I can’t just tell him I’m sorry and that I love him. Things have changed too much for that. Hell, for all I know, he went back to Valerie last night. Who could blame him for that? I’m sure she had been throwing herself at him. He had even admitted that she had been naked and he kissed her. I know he was hurt from my rejection. Who wouldn’t go seek out some love? Even if that love was only physical.

“Tabatha?”

I look over my shoulder to see Blake standing there with a guy who I’ve never seen standing next to him. “Hey, Blake,” I say softly not wanting to aggravate my pounding headache. The pain pills the doctor gave me are starting to wear off.

“Oh, my God,” he says as his eyes widen. He walks up to me and kneels down beside my chair. “What in the hell happened to you?” He reaches up and tilts my face to the side to give him a better view of my bruised face. “Did Rodger do this to you?”

“I’m fine,” I say, gently pulling away from him. I don’t wanna be that girl. The girl who others pity. The girl who others talk about behind her back. How could she allow him to do that to her? I finally stood up for myself, and it felt good.

“Where was Jackie?” he asks frowning. “I thought she was with you?” He starts to look around the busy police station.

I drop my head down and look at my hands in my lap. “I’ve been trying to call her...” he continues.

“She’s here,” I inform him. She hasn’t left my side since the police left my hospital room. But eventually nature called. “She’s in the restroom.” Before the words even finish leaving my mouth, he takes off in a mad dash toward the bathroom.

I thank God for allowing me a second of silence. I need to think of what I’ll say to Dash, if anything. Maybe he will make it easy on me and just ignore me. I would ignore me.

The seat that my father was occupying next to me is pulled back and I see a person fall into it from out of the corner of my eye. “I….” I pause when I see it’s not my father. Soft blue eyes look deeply into mine. A sharp jaw twitches as his eyes stray from mine and seek out the stitches on my face and then the cut on my lip. “Excuse you?” I ask cautiously. The police officer had said that I needed to talk to a detective; maybe this is the guy.

“Hi. Tabatha, is it?” He reaches out his right hand. “Jake.”

I sigh heavily. “Are you the detective?” I ask not bothering to shake his hand. I’m really not in the mood for courtesy. They keep asking me if I’m comfortable, and I wanna stab them with a pen and scream that no I’m not. But that would probably get me locked up in a padded room and then Rodger would win. And I continue to tell myself that won’t happen. I didn’t get my ass kicked last night to give up this morning.

“No,” he says slowly.

“Unless you’re a police officer, I don’t wanna talk to you,” I say looking away from him.

He chuckles to himself. “I knew I should have gone into the force.”

I turn back to look at him. Is he flirting? “Who are you?” I ask letting curiosity get the best of me. He did know my name.

He’s pretty. The type of guy who looks too pretty, yet he looks like he’s a mess at the same time. His dark gray shirt fits tightly showing off his hard chest and muscular arms. His big hands sit on his thighs as his legs hang loosely open as if he has this fuck off nature about him. The type of person I used to be. I wish I could find that Tabatha again. The last time I allowed her to come out, I had a one-night stand with Dash. Look how well that turned out.

“Jake,” he says again. “I’m Blake’s big brother.”

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