Page 70 of Dash

My lungs feel tight, like nothing is getting past the knot in my throat. I don’t dare look at Dash to see if he’s pissed. If he’s debating leaving and never looking back.

I wouldn’t blame him. I don’t even want to deal with my mother, and I have no choice.

“Dayna. No.” She looks at him again like she’s evaluating what species he is.

I risk glancing over my shoulder. I need to know if he’s done. If she’s ruined this for me.

But Dash… is smirking.

What the fuck?

He wipes the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand deliberately, as if he’s trying to pour accelerant on the fire already burning beneath him.

My mother’s eye twitches, and that gives me strength. For the first time in my life, I don’t flinch. I don’t apologise and I don’t shrink.

Instead, I hook my fingers into his tool belt and pull him towards me, possessively.

“Seriously, did you need something because we’re kind of busy?”

Evelyn’s face contorts into an ugly mask. “She’s not with you because she wants you,” she says to Dash. He stiffens at my side. “She’s only doing this to get back at me. My daughter has always been rebellious. And she knows I would find this,” she waves a hand in his direction, her mouth turned down at the corners, “disappointing.”

I snap. I feel the moment it happens. It’s as if all that tightness in my chest is released.

“Do you know what’s disappointing? Having a mother more concerned with appearances than her daughter’s happiness.”

His fingers flex on my waist in silent approval.

Her expression is sour. “Who knows about this? Maybe I can do some damage control before James finds out?—”

“Who the fuck is James?” Dash cuts her off.

“A polyester polo shirt wearing snob,” I say to him, my gaze locked on Evelyn. “And I don’t know how many ways I can tell you I am not interested in James fucking Critchlow. I’m not interested in any of it. I moved out on my own because I was so sick of you trying to make me be someone I’m not.”

She tosses her head like a prized fucking horse. “You’re being ridiculous.”

Of course, she would say that rather than actually listen to the words coming out of my mouth.

“Do you know what is ridiculous, Evelyn? Thinking you can control my life just because you’re my mother.” I lean into Dash’s side, my hand resting on his chest. “This is Dash—Rhys. He’s my boyfriend and has been for a while now. He treats me like I matter. He takes care of me when I can’t care for myself. He adores me for who I am, not who he wants me to be. Which is more than you’ve ever done.”

She splutters, as if I’ve offended her so deeply, she’ll never recover. Her hand presses to her chest like she’s trying to hold her heart behind her ribs. “After everything I’ve done for you?—”

“Don’t!” I snap. “Don’t you dare stand there and say I need to give up the things that are important to me because of what you’ve done for me. You’re my parent. You’re supposed to do things for me. It doesn’t mean you get to come into my life and insult the one good thing I’ve got. So, unless you have something nice to say, something, I don’t know, congratulatory, you can show yourself out.”

I walk into my flat, my heart thundering so fast I feel lightheaded. I head straight for the bathroom, my stomach twisting.

I’ve never stood up to her like that before. I’ve pushed back, sure, but that was a full-frontal assault.

I lock the bathroom door, leaning on the sink and sucking in breaths that don’t quite reach my lungs.

After a moment, there is a soft knock on the door. “Dayna?”

I close my eyes, not sure I want to open it and face him. At the moment, things between us are fine, normal, but if I open that door, I know what I’m going to see.

Regret.

Disappointment.

The look that says he’s got one foot out the door already.

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