Okay, I hope they just look exactly like him.
Summer comes to collect me to draw the raffle and to hand out the prizes. After I’m finished, I head to the bathroom, where I bump into Vanessa. I knew this would happen eventually, but I really couldn’t control my bladder any longer.
“He’s going to get sick of you,” she says, her pinched face scowling. “He will do to you exactly what he did to me.”
I blink. “You need a hobby or something to keep you occupied.”
She huffs, “Make a joke of it all you want, but you know it’s the truth. By the way, Riley is amazing in bed, isn’t he?”
I shrug and consider her words. “He’s all right. Nowhere near as amazing as Dash. Riley isn’t very good at going down on a girl. It’s almost like he thinks he’s eating corn on a cob, you know? Just kind of chews at your box. It’s pretty fucking painful actually.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “Good luck with that, though. Enjoy my sloppy seconds.”
“Enjoy mine,” she snarls back.
I smirk and look her dead in the eye. “Dash was mine long before he was yours, or anyone else’s, and he’ll be mine long after.”
I turn my back on her and walk back to the table, back to Dash.
This bitch isn’t going to rain on my parade.
When I see Riley at the bar, I change my course and walk right up to him. “What are you doing here?”
“On a date,” he says, chewing on an ice cube. “With a beautiful woman. Nice to see you, Viola. Run away from any grooms lately?”
“No,” I say in a dry tone. “That was just for you, Riley. Now, I repeat, what the fuck are you doing here?”
“Vanessa found me, said you’d ruined her life. I said you’d ruined mine too, so we kind of bonded over that.”
“I ruined her life? Dramatic much?” I groan, looking around to see how long I had until Dash saw me. “You know one of the owners of this bar is an MMA fighter, right? Plus, Dash could kick your ass any day, and this is a charity event, so we don’t need any drama. Couldn’t you pick a normal Saturday night to be a nosy bastard?”
His blue eyes narrow and he opens his mouth to reply, but then I’m suddenly pulled back against a hard chest, and I know my time to tell Riley to leave me alone has come to an end.
“Vi,” Dash growls, staring at Riley over my head. “Summer wants you.”
Oh, hell no, I’m not about to leave these two alone.
“Does she really?” I ask, suspicion lacing my tone. “Are you sure?”
“Vi.”
“All right,” I say, reluctantly stepping away and looking for Summer. I find her sitting at the table next to Reid, her eyes already on me as I walk toward her.
“This is better than a soap opera,” she says, patting the seat next to her. “Tell me everything I’ve missed.”
“I’m sure the peanut gallery has filled you in,” I reply, glancing toward Ryan, who just winks at me. I sit down and look at Dash, who is now talking to Vanessa and Riley.
This can’t end well.
“What did you want me for, Summer?” I ask her, eyes on Dash.
“Huh?” she says, giving me all the answer I need.
I return to his side in time to hear Riley say the one thing I didn’t want him to say. “Do you know why she bailed on our wedding? She said it was because she’d never love anyone the way she loved Max. If he was here today, it wouldn’t be you she’d be with. She will never love anyone more than him.”
Bullet one: aimed and fired.
Dash’s expression doesn’t change, but I know that bullet reached its mark.
“You left me for someone who can never even love you fully,” Vanessa adds, scoffing. “And does she know about all the times we spent alone since you’ve been with her? At your work, in your car? Or did you hide all that from her?”
I look at Dash to see if he denies it, but he says nothing.
Riley smirks in my direction.
Bullet two: aimed and fired.
Bullseye.
He spent time with her alone and didn’t mention it to me?
She was at his work?
“You’re going to be miserable for the rest of your life, Vanessa,” I say then look to Riley. “It was years ago, Riley. Get over it. And don’t act like you didn’t fuck the stripper at your bachelor party.”
I head for the door, because I’ve had enough drama for one night, thank you very much. Remembering Dash drove and I’ve had a few drinks, I walk across the road to the cab bay and get into the first one. I give the driver my address and watch Dash in the car park, looking around for me.
I hate that Vanessa and Riley won in the end, but they did.
Because now Dash and I have some talking to do.
*****
“You don’t just leave, Vi, so I’m left wondering where the hell you are!” he yells, pacing up and down my room.
“I just wanted to get out of there,” I say, watching him from my bed. “I sent you a message, and Summer too.”
He stops and looks at me. “Did you really say that about Max?”
I nod. “I did, but…”
But not in that context, and not in those exact words. Riley obviously twisted it, when that wasn’t what I’d meant at all.
“Did you really see Vanessa alone and not tell me about it?” I fire back at him, daring him to deny it.
“A few times, yes,” he admits, wincing. “She would show up at places, Vi. She came to my work; she came to my gym…it was all her. Only once I told her I’d meet her, because she was crying on the phone and I felt guilty as fuck that I don’t even give a shit about her!”
“You should have told me, Dash. Why didn’t you tell me about it? It makes it seem like you were hiding something,” I try to explain.
“Really, coming from Miss ‘I Was Engaged’? That’s rich. It’s always nice to hear your woman was almost married at the same time as everyone else in my life,” he growls, crossing his arms over his chest. “Real great communication skills we have here.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s not exactly my proudest moment,” I admit, hugging myself. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Let’s just go to bed,” he says, sliding in and facing away from me.
“I don’t want to go to bed angry,” I say into the darkness after he turns the side lamp off.
“Go to sleep,” he says, voice emotionless. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
I don’t sleep.
And we don’t talk in the morning.
Chapter Twenty
Dash
I wake up before Vi, feeling like a total dickhead over our fight. I was just so angry, and to be honest, a little worried that the things Riley said were true. If Max were here, would she have realised she loved him in a different way? Were they meant to be together? It shouldn’t matter, because he’s not here, but I want to be the one she chooses over anyone else, just like she is for me. I head out to buy some apology flowers and some breakfast for her, wanting to make things right.
Fuck Vanessa and Riley and their games.
I walk through the shopping centre, heading for the florist, when I see the store Vi always shops at. I casually glance in, thinking that maybe I could buy her a gift too, when I see him.
I freeze.
What the actual fuck?
The guy at the counter could be Max’s twin.
I stand there in shock for a few moments, taking in this man who looks so much like the friend I lost all that time ago.
It brings back old hurt, old memories, as I take in his every visible feature.
And then it all hits me.
The reason why she comes here multiple fucking times a week, just to be around a man who looks like her deceased best friend. She’s obsessed with him, and she always has been. Instead of entering the florist, I leave, my heart in my throat.
I will never be everything to her that she is to me.
Never.
*****
Viola