Page 30 of Dash

And maybe I would have if she hadn’t told me she isn’t worth caring about. She didn’t say it for attention. I’m not even sure she intended to let it slip, but fuck, it sits in my chest like a weight.

And then there was that fucking message. I would have given up if it wasn’t for that. The apology wrapped in a vulnerability that I don’t know how to ease.

“You fucked her, didn’t you?” Riot covers the baby’s ears as he says it, as if Seren isn’t already hearing this shit all day long.

I glare at him and he shakes his head. “Brother, we warned you. That girl is crazy.”

Anger snaps through me like a rubber band pulled too tight, but my words are quiet and sharp. “Don’t call her that. She’s not crazy.”

I don’t know why I’m defending her. I don’t owe her shit, and yet I want to deflect those wounds from her because they’re the ones she seems to keep in her heart.

Worthless.

Crazy.

Hysterical.

Pathetic.

It pisses me off that she believes those things.

Ivy glares at him. “Yeah, don’t call her that. She’s not crazy, Nate. She’s a good person.” Ivy turns to me. “Tread carefully with her, Dash. Dayna puts up this wall to protect herself, but she’s not what she seems.”

“I’m getting that,” I mutter.

“She likes you.”

This time it’s my brow lifting. “Trust me when I tell you she’s not interested in me.”

“Let me guess, she pushed you away like you had some sort of flesh-eating disease and hid behind outrageous and poorly timed humour?” I don’t say anything. My silence speaks for itself. “Dayna’s been hurt.”

That has me squaring my shoulders. She flinched when I went to touch her, as if she thought I was going to hit her. Thethought that someone may have laid hands on her has my blood boiling. “What happened?” I growl.

Ivy’s smile is sad she rolls her mug between her hands. “That’s not my story to tell. Just… Don’t give up on her. Not yet.”

I try to focus on the conversation as it moves on to other things, but Dayna consumes my thoughts. There is a limit to how much shit I will take—that’s the case for everyone—but I think she’s banking on that. The more she pushes me, the more she hopes I’ll disappear.

And I probably should.

But the problem is she’s in my head, and under my skin. I shouldn’t be in this deep already, but there’s something there, between us, a spark, an ember.

Hope of something.

And that’s already too fucking much.

Too dangerous.

Too hard to ignore.

My phone buzzes, and I drag it out of my pocket. The name on the screen surprises me. Dayna. I open the message, not sure what to expect, and read it once, twice.

Then stand.

It’s an olive branch, a bloodied hand between us. And fuck, I want to take it. I shouldn’t. She’s fucking heartbreak and pain dressed in a sassy mouth, but then I remember the way her voice trembled when she told me she wasn’t worth it. And I’m fucking gone.

“I got to run.” I drain the last of my coffee, sliding the mug back on the table. “Thanks for the drink, Ivy.”

“Problem?” Riot asks, his eyes sharp.

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