Page 45 of Off Limits (Alpha Billionaire)

“Jessica!” Dylan called after me.

It was all I could do to shake my head. He had to let me go. He had to let me do this for him.

21

DYLAN

Ryan dragged Jessica away. I stood there frozen, helpless. When he basically threw her forward and she stumbled, I started after him. He spun around and pointed at me. I stopped in my tracks.

“Don’t follow or the deal is off. Go play with your kid before I decide to take him with me too,” Ryan snarled.

“Ryan, no!” Jessica called out.

I stepped back until I was close to Max. He was crying. I turned and scooped him. I couldn’t begin to comprehend what he must think about what had just happened. With Max in my arms, I ran along the walkway that led out to the parking lot. There was a car out on the road. That could have been them, could have been someone else.

“Let’s get this off,” I said as I pulled the inflated tube from around his middle.

Max was crying, but I didn’t have time for that. I needed to find out where Ryan was taking Jessica.

I buckled Max into his car seat, tossing everything Jessica had handed me onto the floor. Jumping behind the wheel, I sped out of the lot. The road the hotel was on wound halfway up the side of the hills that formed the valley. I took hairpin curves entirely too fast and kept my car in the middle of the narrow road. I couldn’t see the car I had seen leaving earlier. They were always somewhere up ahead, around another curve before I caught up. When I got to Carmel Valley Road, I had a fifty-fifty chance of making a wrong turn.

“Left or right? Ah, fuck it.” I headed east, into the valley, and floored the gas. It didn’t take me very long to realize my efforts were futile. Max screamed with sobs in the back. One look in the rearview mirror at his red tear-streaked face, and I realized I had seriously fucked up.

“What the hell do I think I’m doing?”

As soon as there was space to pull the car off the road, I skidded to a halt and pulled Max from his car seat and held him close.

He put his little arms around my neck and held on tightly. His tiny body was racked with sobs as he struggled to get air around his crying. I stroked his wet hair and made soothing noises. I tried to comfort him. He didn’t know what was going on. The adults had been yelling and crying. And then I was driving like a madman with my child screaming in the back seat.

“I’ve got you, Max. I’ve got you.”

I was such a moron. In my panic for Jessica and anger for Ryan, I had disregarded common sense and put my own child in danger. I had been reckless. Stupid wasn’t strong enough of a word for what I had done, and I had traumatized my frightened child by trying to play spy with some kind of car chase.

I held onto him until he stopped crying. He still didn’t want to let go.

“Should we go back to the hotel? I’ve got pizza,” I mentioned.

He shook his head and still wouldn’t let go. I was turning into a crap father. Carefully, I peeled back his arms. I ran my hands down his arms, both to reassure him and to keep him from grabbing onto my neck again.

“Let’s get you back in the car seat. We can go home.”

“Can I still have pizza if we go home?” His voice was so small and quiet.

“Of course you can still have pizza if we go home. I do need to stop at the hotel and get the rest of your things. Can you do that with me?”

It was a struggle to be calm. I fought the urge to get back behind the steering wheel and start cruising the streets of Carmel, looking for any sign of Jessica. It was a foolish thought, but I was desperate.

Hell, for all I knew, Ryan could have headed straight out of town. They could be well on their way to San Francisco. There was more than one way in and out of the valley.

I tried to call Jessica’s phone. It went to voicemail immediately. I tried again.

“If you try to call her again, I swear I’ll throw this thing out the window,” Ryan said before he disconnected.

I drove back to the hotel. He didn’t even ask if he could go swimming again. Max stayed in my arms the entire time. He did not want to be put down. I felt horrible that a fun day ofswimming was ruined. I gathered the things he and Jessica had brought with them and turned the key in.

“The room is already paid for the entire night,” the desk clerk said.

“I know. I’m not asking for a discount. I’m just turning the key in since we aren’t staying. Something came up.”

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