dash

“Don’t move,” she whispers, her voice coming out in a playful whine when I shift below her. “You’re going to ruin everything in my life.”

“I gotta go to work, babe,” I sigh, kissing her hair and moving out from under her, smirking at her annoyed expression.

I’d managed to calm her nerves enough to get her back to my place. We talked a little more, but what she needed more than anything was a distraction from everything.

I’m always more than happy to be her distraction.

“Work sounds awful,” she says, pulling my attention back to her as she begins stretching out. The sight of her bare on my couch, her hair still crazy from our midday romp, has me seriously considering calling in sick. “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks for the pep talk,” I chuckle as I make my way into the kitchen for a bottle of water before returning to her and take a seat beside her on the edge of the couch. “Are you going to hang out here before we meet up with Mason or do you want to ride with me?”

“Can I stay here for a little while?” she asks, taking the bottle I’m holding out for her. “I promise I’ll be there before he shows up, but right now, I kinda don’t want to move.”

“Okay,” I shrug, bending to give her a kiss.

“Are you sure? I don’t have a key to lock the door when I leave. I’d ask if you have a spare, but I don’t want to send you into another panic attack.”

“You’re an ass,” I chuckle against her lips. “You can borrow mine.”

“So generous,” she shakes her head, making me laugh as I head toward the bedroom. “Are you sure you’re ready for that? I don’t want you to over-extend yourself.”

“Nothing but the best for you, little monster,” I call out with a smirk.

I don’t have to see her to know she’s flipping me off.

I dress quickly, moving toward the bathroom and groaning when I see how bloodshot my heavy eyes still look.

“Fuck, I hope I’ve got Visine,” I whisper, pulling the medicine cabinet open, knocking a couple of things into the sink, freezing in place when I see her pink toothbrush sitting beside mine in the glass.

Shaking my head clear, I push away the childish thoughts.

“It’s just a toothbrush, dude. It doesn’t mean anything,” I remind myself as I replace the fallen items onto the shelf and crouch low to look for the eye drops in the cabinet below. “It just means you’re fucking a girl with nice breath. That’s all it… shit,” I blurt, cutting myself off as I catch a glimpse of the box of tampons she’d stashed under the sink. “Why? Why would…”

“Are you okay?” she asks from behind me, her voice making me jump.

“Jesus!” I shout, gripping my chest before I twist around to face her, my face likely frozen in horror. “Why the hell would you sneak up on me like that?”

“I heard a crash, so I came to check on you, freak,” she says, balking at me as I stand and arching her eyebrow as she takes in my dramatic behavior. “What’s with you?”

“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head clear. “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” she asks, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yeah, I just…” I start, releasing a deep breath. “I gotta get out of here,” I manage, shaking my head clear and twisting passed her in the doorway, the sound of her footsteps behind me making mine move faster. “Baby, are you sure you don’t want to leave?”

“What?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I say anxiously as I continue my quick steps, nervously tugging at the collar of the work shirt that’s beginning to asphyxiate me. “I just mean, are you sure you don’t want to, ya know… get out?” Chill, dude. It’s a box of tampons and a toothbrush. “Er… I meant, are you sure you don’t want to get out of the apartment for a while? Clear your head?”

“No, I’m good,” she shrugs, smirking from her place against the doorframe when she sees my expression. “Do you want me to leave?” she asks, her eyebrows raised once more. “I mean, if it’s weird for me to be here while you’re not, you can just say that, Dash. You don’t have to be all… whatever you’re being right now.”

“What?” I manage, releasing a nervous laugh before reaching for my keys, finding she’s already taken my apartment key and attached it to her keyring, which is now hanging on the hook over mine. Oh, my God. “I mean, where would you even go? All your stuff is in my apartment…” I mumble, pulling my boots on quickly, not bothering to tie the laces in my hurry. “Shit, I have to leave. I have to um… I gotta go to work.”

“Dash?” she starts, giving me a crazy look as she takes in my odd behavior. “You okay, baby? Your voice is really high right now.”

“I’m great!” I say, much louder than needed, making both of us jump. “Everything’s just uh… it’s all coming together, ya know?”

I clear my throat, wiping the sweat from my brow.

What the fuck?

“I uh… I’m so glad you’re here,” I choke out, running my palm over my beard again. “God, it’s really fuckin’ warm in here, isn’t it?”

I never should have smoked that weed with her.

“I feel fine,” she shrugs, eyes narrowing. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

I knew she was up to something, that sneaky little shit.

“Uh huh,” I nod quickly, rubbing my eyes clear. “Yep, I’m good.”

“Okay…” she says, dragging the word out as her eyes dart to the maniacal grin before she glances back up at me. “I’ll see you at the bar in a couple of hours, okay?”

Tampons. So many tampons.

“Mhmm,” I hum, grabbing my phone and cramming my wallet into my back pocket.

I could go to Mexico…

“Okay,” she shrugs, leaning up to stroke my beard before pressing her lips to mine. “I love you.”

“Okay… you,” I manage, the feel of sweat beading on my brow pulling me away from her as I ignore the way she tilts her head as she takes in my odd behavior. “You… uh… take care there, pretty lady.”

Oh, sweet infant baby Jesus.

I gotta get the fuck outta here.

“Did you just…?”

“Alright, I’ll see ya!” I call back, pulling the door shut and taking the stairs two at a time.

When I make it to my truck, I finally release the breath I hadn’t known I was holding, resting my forehead against the warm steering wheel. As I drive to the bar, I replay the last few minutes in my mind and I can’t help but release a long, low groan.

She’s never going to let me hear the end of this shit.

***

“Hey, you,” I hear across the bar two hours later, pulling my eyes from the onslaught of orders to the blue eyes dancing in annoyed amusement across from me.

I knew she’d come for me.

I glance over my shoulder, making sure we’re still alone before I turn to face her again.

“Hey, babe,” I say, my head more level than it had been when I left.

“Tsk tsk,” she shakes her head. “That’s pretty lady to you.”

“Evie…”

“Would you please just make me a drink?” she cuts me off. “I swear to God and I’m not even kidding when I tell you that I’m about two seconds away from puking,” she announces as she hoists herself onto the seat across from me, pulling out a mirror and examining her red lips. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this stupid bullshit.”

“Ahh, there she is,” I smirk as she lowers the compact and shifts her unamused gaze to mine. “My darling little ray of sunshine.”

“Ugh,” she groans, returning her attention to her makeup and reapplying the crimson kryptonite to her mouth, making my dick swell. That fuckin’ lipstick is gonna be the death of me. “Why don’t you eat me?”

“Oh, I intend to,” I husk, doing my best to distract her from the ass chewing I know she practiced the whole way here. I can’t help the smirk of victory on my lips when I see her cheeks flush to match her lips. “The second I get your cranky little ass out of here, I’m gonna fix you up real nice. Don’t you worry about that, baby.”

“You’re such a jerk,” she narrows her eyes, grinning. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” I feign ignorance.

“Get me all worked up right before we’re marched to our deaths,” she blushes, making me smirk.

“Hey, you started it. It ain’t my fault if you can’t have a two second conversation without thinking about mounting the man of steel,” I shrug indifferently, grinning wide when she flips me off.

“Oh, shut up,” she shakes her head as she drops her mirror and lipstick back into her bag and faces me, her smirk vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Dammit. “And don’t think for a second that I don’t know what you’re doing. You’re trying to distract me, but it isn’t going to work.”

Can’t blame a guy for trying.

“Babe…”

“You’re a real piece of work, do you know that?” she cuts me off again, making me bite the inside of my cheek and right my expression, facing her once more.

“So I’ve heard.”

“Really?” she asks, leaning forward to watch me, smirking when I glance up beneath raised eyebrows. “I mean, you’ve always had a gift for showing your ass, but I think you’ve really outdone yourself this time.”

“Fuck my life…” I whisper, moving toward the glass rack to start her victory drink, the sensation of my face flushing with humiliation a unique feeling I couldn’t hate more.

“What happened to this Mr. Adrenaline I’ve heard so much about, Dash?” she continues mockingly, shrugging as she makes a show of looking around in deep search before her eyes eventually come back to mine. “I mean, you keep telling me how you’ve jumped from cliffs, a glorified rubber band the only thing keeping you from plunging to your untimely demise. I’ve watched you fight men twice your size in this very establishment…” she continues, gesturing dramatically toward my two regulars on the other side of the bar. “Hell, just a couple days ago, I had to listen to you go on and on about how invigorating it was to jump out of a freaking airplane,” she says, facing me as she leans forward onto the bar. “Yet, a single box of tampons was all I needed to take you down.”

“Wait a second… you planted them?” I stare back at her, my face stuck somewhere between judgement and horror until she rolls her eyes and narrows them back at me.

“No, I didn’t plant them, you moron! I’m an art student, not a freaking secret agent with a grudge,” she shakes her head. “I put them down there because all this stress has my period going all batshit and-”

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” I say too loud as I spin around, facing her. “You back the fuck up. What do you mean your period is going batshit, Evie? What the fuck does that mean? Are you fucking kidding-?”

“Calm down!” she cuts me off this time. “I just thought I might need a fucking tampon, you spaz. Jesus!”

“Oh, my God. I think my whole life just flashed before my eyes,” I pant, leaning down to rest my hands on my knees to catch my breath. “Jesus Christ, Evie. Don’t fuckin’ scare me like that.”

“Anyway,” she rolls her eyes dramatically. “Had I known you were going to freak and pull some kind of cracked-out disappearing act on me, I might have brought it up, but I had no idea I was sleeping with The Great Houdini!”

“Okay, Evie, I get it,” I admit, trying my best to keep my voice low as I slide the drink over the bar toward her. “I completely overreacted, but in my defense…”

“You think you actually have a defense right now?” she balks, her voice just above a whisper as her eyes grow wide in disbelief. “Even if we completely ignore your performance here,” she gestures dramatically once more. “The fact remains that I told you I loved you…”

“Evie…”

“And your response was, ‘take care there, pretty lady?’” she replies, ignoring me. 

“I know you’re upset…”

“Tip. Of the fucking. Iceberg. Dash,” she grounds out, glaring at me over her drink.

“Fine,” I sigh. “But your brother is going to walk in here any fucking second. Is this really how you want to make our big reveal?” I counter. “By showing your ass in the middle of the bar because you decided to stash a box of tampons under my sink without warning me?”

“Oh no,” she shakes her head, her voice not as quiet as it had been, her ass rising slightly from the seat in her frustration. “You’re not turning this around on-!”

“Do we really have to do this here? Right now?” I insist, cutting her off. “Right this very fucking instant, Evie?”

“Yes!” she demands. “Yes, we’re doing this right here, right now, right this very fucking instant, Dash!”

“Fine!” I shake my head with a low grumble of annoyance.

“Where the hell are you going?”

“I’m taking your crazy ass into the hallway,” I explain, taking a quick second to lock the register before I gesture for her to follow me. “Now, come on.”

She tosses the straw away, tipping the dark liquid back as she holds my eyes and sets it down roughly onto the bar.

“Are you actually going to talk to me this time?” she grates. “Or can I look forward to another of your disappearing acts?”

“Get your ass in the hall, you nutcase,” I roll my eyes, clenching my jaw in annoyance.

“Wonderful,” she sneers, shooting daggers at me before sliding down from the stool, stomping into the darkness behind me.

Fuck, this is getting exhausting.

I make my way around the corner, raking my palm over my beard as I turn to face her. She’s already pacing the width of the hallway, ready to let me have it.

“What an honor,” she deadpans. “The Great Santini actually revealed himself.”

“This is fucking stupid,” I grumble under my breath as I shake my head, yanking the door open on the same cramped coat closet we’d defiled a few months before. “Go!”

She’s spinning to face me as I pull the door shut, ready to rip me a new asshole when I stop her, pulling her lips to mine.

She resists at first, only halfway kissing me back until I cradle her jaw with one hand and rest the other on her waist. Her hands are bunched up in my shirt, gripping furiously as she fights the urge to let go of the anger and hurt I can tell is coursing through her small frame. Eventually, though, her lips begin to soften and move with mine until they part slightly, letting me dip my tongue in to taste hers.

When I pull away, we’re both panting, breathless with a combination between need and exhaustion.

I glance down toward her to find her eyes fluttering slightly, one hand still gripping my shirt while the other stays wrapped around the wrist I’m cradling her neck with.

“I’m sorry,” I manage, swallowing hard past the vulnerable feeling in my chest. “I just… I panicked. I’m not good with shit like this, Evie.”

“Shit like what?” she asks, her voice calming slightly. “Tampons? Sharing your space? Relationships? Which one is it, Da-?”

“All of it,” I blurt, forcing my gaze to hers. “Before you and me, women weren’t at my place. I didn’t date, much less do the relationship thing. That apartment is the only place I’ve ever had that’s just for me,” I sigh, shaking my head as I take her in. “I don’t… I don’t know how to be with someone,” I admit. “I know how to fuck and I know how to leave.”

“I know,” she admits quietly, although there’s no malice in her words as she smooths her hands over my chest. “Listen, I get that this is weird for you,” she relents, meeting my eyes. “You don’t know how to act in a serious relationship because you’ve never had one, right?” she asks, pulling a nod from me as I gently brush her hair away from her face.

“Right.”

“Well, like it or not, you’re in one now, so toughen the hell up,” she says, her soft expression hardening slightly as she stares up at me. “You don’t get to hurt my feelings, Dash.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“I know,” she sighs. “I’ve decided to let you live.”

“Thanks,” I chuckle, watching her eyes dance in amusement beneath the dim bulb hanging over us. “We good? Or are you hell-bent on torturing me with this for the rest of the week?”

“Yes,” she nods again, her lips twisting into a mischievous grin. “To both.”

“Fair enough,” I smirk, squeezing her side affectionately. “Okay, I better get back out there. You comin’ home with me after we talk to Mason?”

“Obviously. I mean, now that part two of my evil plan is complete, I’ve gotta get to all my stuff, don’t I?” she shrugs. “What other motive would I have to basically move in and tie you down for all eternity?”

“Cute,” I deadpan. “Okay, Mason should be here any minute. You ready to get this done?”

“Yeah, I’m super excited about it,” she says dryly. “Nothing says romance like a suicide mission.”

Now that her anger has dissolved, I can see her nerves returning to her. If I’m being honest, I’ve got my own, but I also can’t deny how ready I am to get this over with.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I promise, leaning forward to give her a kiss. “I love you.’

“Aww,” she smirks, patting my face as she pushes the door open. “Take care, you.”