Page 57 of Dash

I stand and shove my hands into his chest pushing him backward. “Don’t you dare accuse me of something you know nothing about,” I shout back. “You were the one who had just been drunk and with your ex moments before. And you kissed her.” I do air quotes around kissed. “Who knows what else you did with her.”

“I was just doing what your father told me to do. Get information,” he says matter-of-fact with a wave of his hand.

“Oh? And he told you to stick your tongue down her throat?” I demand.

“No. His exact words were to do whatever I had to do in order to get the information that we needed.”

“Lies.” I spin around giving him back for a second before I turn back to face him with my hands clenched down at my sides. “All you do is lie,” I yell.

“And all you do is run away,” he sneers in my face. “Not all of us are as heartless as you and can just turn our backs on others at any given moment.”

I feel the tears start to sting my eyes, and I blink them away. He truly hates me now, but this is not the time to fall apart. After everything I’ve been through tonight, I can keep it together for just a little longer. I swallow the knot in my throat and lick my dry lips. “Well, you made it pretty damn easy,” I lie. He hasn’t made anything about us easy. It’s so damn hard to stand here and be a bitch to him. My legs are tired, and I would give anything for him to pick me up and hold me in his arms. But that ship has sailed. “But I sure as hell can’t stand the fact that you keep coming around.” Stay strong, Tabatha. Don’t apologize; you can’t take those words back now no matter how big of a lie it was.

I expect him to yell in my face for what I said. For him to shoot the hurtful words right back. But instead, his hard eyes look me up and down, and he snorts as he shakes his head. That hurts worse than any words could. He looked at me as if I was nothing.

He runs his hand through his shaggy brown hair and speaks. “Well, I’ll make something else easier for you. I quit.”

I look down the hall and spot my father, and he hangs his head. I know immediately what he means. He quit the team. “Dash…?” I reach out for him, but he pushes me away and walks off.

He has to push his way through my father, Blake and his brother, and two police officers as they stand there staring at us. Who knew we had an audience?

“Dash? Man…” Blake calls out after him before he takes off to follow him.

I straighten my shoulders and push down my short dress as I avoid their eyes. As I try to walk away with some dignity left. Which, let’s face it, I have none.

“Sweet pea…” my father starts in on me.

I raise my hand to stop him. “Please save the lecture for later, Daddy,” I ask, still trying to hold in my tears. “I just wanna go home.” I look over at the officer who looks surprised by my fight with Dash. “Am I done here?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he says with a head nod, and I don’t wait. I walk through the hallway to the front doors and shove them open. I take the front steps two at a time and almost fall flat on my face once I realize I’m still in heels. I stop in the parking lot once I realize I didn’t drive. “Shit,” I curse out loud. I reach into my clutch to call Jackie, but she comes running out the front door of the police station and rushes down the stairs. “Sorry,” she says, as she passes me. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

I shake my head quickly. “No.” I sniff and quickly brush the tears from my face. “I don’t wanna go there.” I don’t wanna be in that house alone.

“Wanna come stay with me?” she asks with a small smile.

“Thanks, but will you take me to my parents’ house?” I question, wrapping my arms around myself. I can lock myself in my room and be left alone there, but not really be alone. If that makes sense.

She nods her head and continues to walk to her car.

I thank her as we pull up to my parents’ house and I make my way into the house. I shut the door quietly and walk down the long hallway that passes my father’s office. Then up the stairs before walking into my bedroom. I shut the door. I kick off my heels and leave them where they fall to the floor. I continue to walk through my bedroom and into my attached bathroom as I reach down and grab the hem of my dress. I rip it off and hiss in a breath as I get an ache in my side. I avoid the mirror as I turn on the bathtub and pour some bubbles into it. I remove my panties and bra and then place my hair up in a high clippie to get it out of my way. I get into the tub and very slowly lower my body into the hot water. I close my eyes and allow myself to relax, even though my back stings from the carpet burn I got. Today could have been very different if I had given in to Rodger. I don’t know what he and I would be doing right now, but I do know that it wasn’t all bad. He wasn’t always bossing me around. There were times that he was very sweet. But there were just times where he would just give me this look, as if he was about to lay his hands on me. I had never been in that type of relationship before, and it was terrifying. Therefore, I did whatever he wanted me to do.

I sigh heavily as I lower more of my body into the scalding water and try to clear my head. I don’t wanna think about Rodger. As scary as his father is, I believed him when he said I had seen the last of Rodger. Their family hates defeat and the fact that he got himself arrested is just unacceptable. Plus, it was all over the news. I had seen the headlines on the news when I was in the hospital. Public humiliation is another thing he can check off because of me.

I place my hands in the water, pushing away the bubbles to cup some water in my hands. I splash my face with it and then my hands drop to the water again. I really don’t wanna think about Dash either, but what he said keeps going through my mind. I was just doing what I was told. I don’t believe that. Why should I? He’s lied several times to me now, and I hate to be taken advantage of. I refuse to be that woman who is with a man and is blind to everything he is doing wrong when the rest of the town knows. If he had been honest and upfront about what was going on, then maybe this could be something that we could work through. But even thinking that sounds crazy.

Then he told me he quit. He quit his dream because of me. God, that makes me feel fucking low. Has anyone ever given up a dream for you? It hurts to know that you took something from someone that they wanted before you were ever even in their life. Now I’ll never see him again. A part of me was thankful that I would still see Dash at the races and around my parents’ house every now and then. Now, he’s gone for good.

I sigh heavily as I close my eyes tightly and wrap my arms around myself. My life is officially over. I filed a restraining order tonight up at the police station, which I think means that I can’t go to school tomorrow. I doubt Rodger will be there, but I sure as hell don’t even want to risk it. I feel like my life has officially taken a turn for the worse.

I jump back and water splashes over the side of the tub and onto the tile of the floor when my bathroom door comes flying open.

“Oh, my God,” my mother says dramatically as she comes tearing into my bathroom. She falls to her knees by my tub as her hands reach out and grab the side of my head. She kneels in a puddle of water in her three thousand dollar suit.

“Mom,” I say breathlessly, trying to calm my racing heartbeat. “You just scared the shit out of me,” I say as my chest rises and falls quickly. “What are you doing here?” I ask trying to cover my chest.

Her brown brows pull together and her beautiful lips turn down into a pout. “Why wouldn’t I be here?” she questions softly. “Your father called me when he was on the way to meet you at the hospital. I told him to send me the jet.”

I drop my eyes to what’s left of my bubbles in my water, which I lost half of when I shifted so quickly. “You shouldn’t have come home, Mom. I’m okay.”

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