Page 30 of Dusty and Dented
Chapter Twenty-One
Andy woke slowly.Theroom was quiet, and she remembered falling asleep while lying on Dagger, listening to a movie.She didn’t know if the movie had ended or if he’d turned it off after she’d dozed off.
She shifted and realized not only was Dagger gone, but the bed was cold—he’d been gone for a while.She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around.He wasn’t there, his boots were gone, and the TV was off.She didn’t know where he was, but he’d left her here alone.She didn’t know if he’d turned it off or if it had shut off on its own.Did it matter?Looking around, she hunted for a clock.When she finally found one she was surprised to find it was nearly 6:00 AM.
Dagger wouldn’t have gone far, not without telling her or leaving her a note, but she didn’t like it.Her stomach churned and she had to fight the urge to curl up in a ball and pull the blankets up around her.Instead, she glanced around the room, looking for the remote.She didn’t care what was on, only that she needed noise.She needed something to occupy her mind, or it would run away with all the possibilities and all the things that could be wrong.
She was still flipping through the options of what streaming service to pick, her eyes flicking periodically to the door, as if willing it to open and Dagger to come through it.When it opened and Dagger stepped in.
Her eyes went wide and she rolled her lips inward and bit them to keep from asking the questions rolling through her head.
“You’re awake.Good.We’ll go down and eat in a few minutes.I need to shower real quick first, though.”He didn’t bother to sit down to take off his boots but stood and bent over long enough to unlace them.He toed them off and set them outside the bedroom door, then he went straight to the bathroom and closed the door.
She was left still sitting in the middle of the bed, blinking and wondering where he’d been and what he’d been doing to be splattered with blood like that.At least she thought it was blood.It could have been red paint, she guessed, but she didn’t think so.Though, as she thought about it, she couldn’t say why she didn’t think it was paint.
Andy sat in the middle of the bed, biting one lip, when the bathroom door opened several minutes later.A puff of steam billowed out ahead of Dagger.She blinked and couldn’t look away for a moment before she realized she was staring and forced herself to turn her head.He had a towel wrapped around his waist, and while it met at the top, it gapped over one thigh, leaving more skin exposed than covered.
“Sorry.I forgot to grab clean clothes.”He went to the dresser, grabbed a few things and disappeared back into the bathroom before she could figure out how to respond.
Only a moment or two had passed before the door opened again.When she glanced his way, she found that this time he wore a pair of jeans but still had no shirt.He pulled another pair of boots from the closet and sat to pull on his socks and the boots, and she had a hard time looking away.There were a couple stray drops of water on one shoulder that she was tempted to move closer and lick off.
Where the hell had that thought come from?Why would she do something like that?
How would he react?Would he welcome it or turn her away?
Who was she kidding—what man would willingly turn down sex?Was sex what she wanted or did she want something more?Something less?She didn’t know.She needed to figure out what she did want before she gave in to that impulse.
Dagger finished with his boots, pulled his jeans down over the tops and stood.She watched as he went to the dresser and pulled out a clean white t-shirt and put it on.then pulled on his leather vest.
That was when she realized he hadn’t been wearing it when he’d come in.Instead, he’d carried it and set it on top of the dresser before pulling off his boots.
Once he was dressed, Dagger turned back to her.
“Ready?”
“For what?”
“To go downstairs and eat.Getting out of this room and being around people will do you good.Plus, you need food.You’ve been through a lot and your body will need the energy to heal.”
She stared at him for a moment then, realizing that she wasn’t going to talk him out of this, she sighed and looked down at herself.She couldn’t go downstairs, among all those men, without a bra or in her sleep shorts.
“I need to change.”
“No problem.I’ll step out into the hall to give you some privacy.”He went to the door and stepped out and pulled the door shut behind himself.
Andy pushed herself off the bed and quickly dressed.She hated the idea of anyone waiting on her.She pulled on a bra and another t-shirt, this one was still loose but not hanging off her shoulders like the one she’d been wearing.That one had been one of Travis’s that she’d stolen years ago.It was soft and her favorite to sleep in.Especially now.Next came a pair of cut offs.
After stepping into her running shoes and shoving her phone in the ass pocket on her shorts, she went to the door and opened it.At first, she thought Dagger might have given up on her for taking too long, as she didn’t see him, but as soon as she stepped into the hall, she spotted him.He’d been leaning against the wall next to the door, one foot propped against it and his arms folded across his chest as he waited.He was only missing the cowboy hat and cigarette to look like that old silhouette from advertisements.She remembered one Mom had pinned to the wall when Andy had been a kid.She’d wondered for years who it was and if it was someone her mother, or even she, knew.She’d been embarrassingly old when she discovered it had been an advertising mascot and not some friend or relative.
“Ready?”Dagger’s voice didn’t seem to have any irritation, so she decided not to ask if she’d taken too long.
