“I never talk about her.”
“Exactly. It’s why you never learned how to hide the truth.”
“What do you want?”
“My gut is telling me to kill you, but I don’t know if it’s instincts or the slave driving me to the conclusion.”
“So what happens now?”
“I warn you.”
“I thought you didn’t kill without reason.”
“I don’t… so tread carefully, Willow.”
He left me standing alone, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t shook.
“He’ll do it.” Dash’s voice pulled me out of my funk. “He’s serious. You know that.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” I lied.
“That’s the problem. You should be.”
“Just because you are—”
Dash shook his head and looked away. “I’m not afraid of him.”
“Then why do you follow him?”
He barked a laugh. “Is that what you think? I’m Keiran’s friend because he needs me. Maybe more than I need him. But what I am afraid of is losing our friendship.”
“Why?”
“Because if he hurt you, I’d kill him.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You wouldn’t do that.” I denied it, but the look in his eyes suggested it was true.
He shrugged. “He would do the same for Lake.”
“Would he?”
“In a heartbeat.”
I rested my head against the bathroom door to ease the spinning. “Then your friendship is no friendship.”
“I’ve been friends with Keiran for a long time. In the beginning, I tolerated, overlooked and made excuses for everything he’d do until I realized why he needed me and why I felt I had to be friends with someone so troubled. He needed a moral compass. A conscience. Someone to tell him to ease back. I couldn’t stop him, but I figured out he listens… sometimes.”
“Big help you were. Where were you with your super power when he tormented my friend?”
“Keeping him from literally killing her.”
“So what happens now?”
“I protect you both.”
*
There was no way we could take the long drive back to Six Forks so we camped out at Keiran and Lake’s for the night. Kennedy had been left with Sheldon’s parents so they stayed as well. There was only one extra bedroom open, the other occupied as Keiran’s office, so Keenan and Sheldon took the bedroom and we took the living room.
I watched Dash make a pallet on the floor from my perch on the couch. There was enough room on the couch to fit the both of us so it completely took me by surprise when he didn’t insist. The hard look on his face told me it had nothing to do with chivalry.
He didn’t want to be close to me.
I should have been grateful or relieved. Instead, I felt slighted.
When he finished and lay down, he looked completely out of place for someone who wore thousand dollar suits. He’d shed his jacket and shirt and crossed his arms behind his head, making his impressive chest and abs even more prominent.
“So are you sleeping on the floor because of your fiancé?” I waited, but he didn’t respond. The muscles of his jaw clenched, telling me he was awake. “I have to say it’s pretty pathetic. You weren’t concerned with her feelings before I knew about her.” I waited and got nothing. Not even a twitch this time. I didn’t stop to consider the consequences of baiting him. “I wonder how many times you’ve cheated on her.”
“Her? Or do you mean you?”
“Why would I mean me? I’m nothing to you.”
“If you believe that, then why are you upset I’m not up there with you? Is it because you want me to touch you?”
“Get over yourself.”
“Or would you rather touch me?”
“I would rather swallow nails than touch you.”
“Fine.”
When he brought his hands down to his pants, I suddenly felt as if I hadn’t had a drop of water to drink for centuries. “What are you doing?”
“What you’re too afraid to do.” I swallowed hard at the sound of his zipper lowering. It was dark with only the moonlight streaming through the windows.