Page 73 of Dash

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We walk into Tabatha’s house after dinner, and I follow her up to her bedroom. I was hoping to avoid any question regarding my parents, but I know it’s not gonna happen.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

I sigh. “Not really,” I say pulling my shirt up over my head.

She undoes her shorts, and I watch carefully as she shakes her hips side to side as she pushes them down her tan legs.

“Come on,” she continues as she walks over to her side of the bed. “You looked uncomfortable the entire time we were there. Maybe talking about it will help you.”

I undo my pants quickly, ready to release my achingly hard cock. “Just nervous about the race.”

“You’re lying,” she says matter-of-fact, and I laugh. She knows me too well. Or maybe I’m just that easy to read.

“What do you wanna know?” I ask her as I climb in beside her. Maybe if she asks the questions then I won’t have to give certain details.

She cuddles up next to me and places her warm palm on my chest. She softly runs her fingertips soothingly in little circle as she takes a deep breath. “You guys aren’t close.”

If she meant it as a question, then that is not how it came out. It was clear that she saw the distance that I have put between my parents and myself.

“No,” I say simply.

“Why not?”

I sigh. We’ve decided to go all in. I’ve lied enough so I’m going to be honest with her. That’s what this relationship is all about, after all. “My parents never wanted a child. They married young, but they had big goals. They wanted to travel the world—spend a few years at a time in other countries. My parents had only been married for six months when they realized my mom was pregnant with me.” I swallow and catch my breath. “I guess my grandmother, my dad’s mother, had found out that they were expecting and was beyond the moon excited to be getting a grandchild. They felt obligated to keep me.”

She sits up quickly and looks down at me. Her long brown hair falls down the left side of her face and softly touches my bare chest. “Oh, my God, Dash. They were going to…”

“Give me up for adoption,” I finish before her mind wanders too much. Her bug eyes start to fill with tears, and I hate that she pities the life that I might have had. And I hate the odds that I might not have found her if my parents would have had their way.

“Is that why you are the way you are?” I frown, confused by her question. Her eyes drop down to my chest, and she whispers as if she’s ashamed to say what she is thinking out loud. “Do your own thing. Never abide by authority?”

I actually give her a soft smile. “A child knows when they are not wanted,” I say truthfully. As a young child, I remember all the fights my parents had over me. “My grandfather and grandma—my father’s parents—pretty much raised me until I was ten. They are in all of my childhood memories.”

“What happened?” she asks, and I reach up to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“It was a week before my tenth birthday…I remember sitting at my grandparents’ house eating breakfast before school. And the phone rang. I sat there and watched my grandma’s face turn white, and I knew it was bad. She started crying and then hung up the phone. She never said one word. She didn’t have to. I knew what the phone call had been about.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “My grandfather was big into oil. He owned a ton of offshore rigs around the world. I mean, the guy was a billionaire. He loved what he did, but it also cost him his life.”

“I’m so sorry,” Her voice breaks, and that’s when I notice the tears running down her flawless face. “You and your poor grandmother.” She hangs her head. “I can’t even imagine what that must have felt like.”

“I can’t even begin how to explain what it felt like,” I say truthfully. “She was never the same after that day.”

“Do you still see her?”

“She died shortly after he passed away.” She sniffs and more tears runs down her face. “It was like she just gave up. Like she wasn’t strong enough to go on without him.”

She lies down on my chest and wraps her arms around my neck. “I’m so sorry,” she cries into my neck.

“It’s okay.” I push her hair out of the way and rub her back.

She sits up quickly and wipes her eyes. “Then what happened?”

“My grandfather left my grandma everything. But then she passed and she had split what he had left her between my parents and myself.”

Her eyes widen. “I bet that pissed them off.”

I shrug as well as I can lying down. “They already had money. My parents are in real estate and have always made more than enough.”

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