Page 45 of Dusty and Dented
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The click of the doorclosing woke Andy.She didn’t open her eyes right away as she listened and tried to figure out if the door closing had been someone coming in or leaving.The rustle of fabric told her someone was in the room with her, moving around.But who?
There was no sound of footsteps, and she fought the urge to hold her breath, and instead forced herself to keep her breathing slow and even while her brain spun and searched for possibilities and clues.
When the bed beside her sank beneath someone’s weight, it was all she could do not to hold her breath.When a gentle hand smoothed over her cheek, brushing her hair off her face, she caught the scent of his skin and knew that wherever he’d been, it had been Dagger coming back that she’d heard.She opened her eyes and looked up at him, his face silhouetted in the dim light coming from the narrow window near the ceiling
“Hey,” she said, smiling up at him.
“Hey,” he said back.“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I don’t mind.Where were you all half-dressed?”She ran one finger along the front edge of his vest hoping he would take the hint and not make her say he seemed to have forgotten his shirt.
“I was trying to keep from waking you when I left.I even left my boots.”He tilted the top of his head toward the chair where he’d left them.
She twisted around and spotted them,
“Why?”She looked back at him with a frown.“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing is wrong, or at least nothing more, I just needed to talk to a couple of the guys.”He stared down at her, one hand smoothing her hair away from her face.After a moment she wasn’t sure if he was doing it to calm her or him.“I had to tell them.I know you probably didn’t want anyone to know, but I had to.”
Andy lay still watching Dagger and wondering what he would say next.No, she hadn’t wanted the whole club to know, and she wondered how long it would be before they started treating her like the women she’d seen downstairs.She’d seen tissues bigger than what they called skirts.Could she handle that?
She didn’t think she could take it if Dagger started treating her like one of the ...what had he called them?Mamas?If that happened, she would just find a way to not come around anymore, though she wasn’t sure how that might work
“No need to panic, there were only four of us there, and I was one of them.None of them blame you in any way and they’d never treat you any differently.”His hand never stopped petting her the whole time, as if he knew she needed the physical reassurance of his hand in her hair or on her skin.
“But why?”That was the past.She didn’t understand why they needed to know now.
“They needed to know that Montiglio isn’t the only threat.They needed to know so we could find them and make sure they never bother you again.”
She got the feeling there was something he wasn’t telling her, but she didn’t have the energy to fight, to argue and insist until he gave in and told her.He hadn’t told the whole club.He hadn’t done it to tell them how disgusted he was.He’d told only those he felt needed to know in order to protect her, to take care of her.She didn’t like people knowing what she’d survived, but she had a hard time stirring the ire to be mad about it.She wasn’t sure why, but she liked the way his hand kept smoothing across her cheek and down the length of her hair.She wiggled around on the bed, shifting until she could rest her head on Dagger’s thigh.She lay like that for a moment, ignoring the rough cotton under her cheek as he continued to run his hand down the length of her hair.
They stayed like that for quite a while, she didn’t care how much time had passed, she was comfortable and felt safe right here, right now and after the last several days, she’d take this as long as she could get it.
“I know you’re probably mad at me.I can’t blame you.I took something you told me privately and told others.All I can say is that I did what I felt like I had to, and I hope we can get past it.”He fell silent for a few minutes.
