Page 16 of Dash

He fixes his tie and straightens his back. “Please?” he asks through gritted teeth. He doesn’t believe in asking permission. To him, a man should receive whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Like every man on Earth is a god, and women are just little slaves. Just that thought has me wanting to slam his hand in the door.

“No,” I say again more firmly. “It’s over, Rodger. Go away.” I slam the door in his face and head toward my bedroom. He ruined my dream for nothing. I look up at my clock and sigh. I have three hours before class.

I start to walk to my bathroom but come to a stop when a thought crosses my mind. I’m on Spring Break! I don’t have to be anywhere today. I crawl back in bed, and as soon as I pull the covers up and over my head, my house phone rings.

“Ugh!” I say throwing the covers off my face. “What now?” I snap reaching over to grab the phone off my dresser.

“Good morning, sweet pea. Hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Hey, Dad,” I say with a smile. I hate how much time I have missed with him and my mother over the last year. My parents really liked Rodger, so when I had to call and cancel a dinner date or birthday party for them with some lame ass excuse Rodger had made up, they believed me. Believed that I was just too busy with my ‘grown-up life’, as they would say.

“How about joining me for dinner tonight?” he asks happily.

“That sounds great,” I say, lying back down on the bed with a comfortable sigh.

“You can bring Rodger,” he offers, and my shoulders slump. “I haven’t seen him in forever.” I bite on my lip as I try to come up with an excuse as to why Rodger can’t come, when he continues, “How about at the Gardens, say seven thirty?”

“See you there. I love you.”

“Love you too, sweet pea.”

I hang up the phone and close my eyes, getting back to my dirty dream with Dash.

***

I spent the day in bed daydreaming about Dash. Well, up until Jackie showed up to drag me out of bed to go to some stupid yoga class and then to the mall to do some shopping.

I pull up to the Gardens and leave my car with the valet. The waitress smiles as I walk in smoothing down my black dress. I chose something simple yet elegant. It’s tight fitting on my chest and has a red belt that circles high on my waist. Then the pleated skirt flares out. It might be a tad short for dinner with my dad, but I bought it today and wanted to wear it out as soon as possible.

“Good evening, Ms. Knight.” The hostess greets me.

“Good evening.” I smile back.

“They are right this way.” She turns and walks away from her station.

I follow behind her frowning. They? Who is my dad here with? Maybe my mother is coming as well. Not likely, though. That woman is busier than my father is most days.

The hostess walks us up to the table as my father stands. “Hello, sweet pea.” He hugs me tightly then releases me. I turn to see Dash sitting there with a smug smile on his face.

“Can I get you anything?” the hostess asks as she places her hand on his shoulder. I have to hold back my eye roll as she eyes him like she would love to have him served on a silver platter.

“No. Thank you, though,” he answers keeping his eyes on me.

I sit down, looking at him but speaking to my father. “I didn’t know he was coming.”

“Well, I knew you were coming.” Dash smirks, and I can’t help but remember what those lips did to me just a few days ago.

“Where is Rodger, sweet pea?” my father asks, and my eyes shoot to Dash. He rolls his shoulders.

I gulp down some of my water before I reply to him. “I don’t know.” I turn to him. “We broke up.”

He frowns “Why? I thought that you two were in love?”

I sigh. “No. We were not in love, Dad.” I was in love. I was an idiot who let my heart get the best of me!

“What happened?” he asks, still frowning. He wouldn’t understand. To him, Rodger was a great guy who was ambitious and was going to one day rule the world. If I told him that our breakup started over me not wanting him to transfer to another college—he would side with Rodger. Not to be mean or unfair to me, but because he believes in doing whatever necessary to achieve your dreams. My father isn’t selfish like Rodger, though. He actually cares for people.

“It just ran its course.” That was a lame excuse, but it was the best I could come up with. Guess I should have prepared myself for this conversation.

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