Fifteen
When she entered the kitchen early the next morning, only Molly and Cara were there—well, and Warrant, who was stretched out in his favorite place under the table. Norah’s eyes darted to the empty chairs. “Charlie, Fifi, and Bennett aren’t back yet?”
“No.” Molly scowled, worry evident in the deep line between her brows.
She looked intensely tired, making Norah wonder if her sister had even gone to bed the night before. Feeling almost guilty that she’d slept like a baby after a blessedly Leifsen-free evening of researching Dash, she topped off her sisters’ mugs before getting her own coffee.
“Where are they now?” She hoped the information she’d pulled from the security video hadn’t sent them on a wild goose chase across the country. The house felt too quiet without them.
Molly made a face that was interrupted by a yawn. “Charlie gave the latest update last night, so all we know is that they’re safe somewhere in one of the Dakotas.”
“Well, they’re safe at least,” Cara said with forced optimism, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself. “You look like you’re dressed for a workout. Training with Dash?”
“The gym is still closed—” Norah started, but Molly interrupted before she could continue.
“Is it still a crime scene? What’s taking them so long?”
With a negative shake of her head, Norah said, “The police released the scene. Dash doesn’t think there’s any damage to the gym, but he can’t reopen until the insurance company checks it out.”
Cara leaned over as if trying to see through the kitchen doorway. “How do you know all this? Do you have Dash stashed away in your bedroom?”
With a snort, Molly attempted—poorly—to hide her smile behind her coffee mug. “Have you seen Dash? There’s no way he’d fit in Norah’s bedroom.”
“True.”
There was a lilting note to Cara’s voice that told Norah more teasing was coming, and she tried to control the blood rushing to her cheeks. Quickly, she shook her head. “He texted me this morning.”
Anything more Cara was going to say about the whole Dash topic was cut off by a glance at her phone. “Eep! Gotta go, or I’ll be late for class.” Shoving her laptop into her backpack, she flew toward the door to the garage.
“Be safe! Got your weapons?” Molly called after her.
“Yes!” Cara answered before the door closed behind her.
“Bye,” Norah said, but she doubted her sister heard her, since she’d already disappeared.
“No training session today then?” Molly picked up the conversational thread they’d dropped to tease her.
“No…I mean, kind of.” Norah’s dreaded blush was back. Talking about anything to do with Dash seemed to bring it on. “Not a regular session. We’re going to go for a trail run.”
Molly perked up, some of her tiredness seeming to fade. “That actually sounds good. With Fifi gone, I’ve been slacking, and I’m feeling like a blob. Mind if I come along?”
“Sure.” With all the time she’d been spending with Dash, Norah hadn’t seen her sister as much as she usually did, and she missed Molly. “He’s coming here, and then we’re going to run the main south trail loop.”
Molly stood just as her phone beeped with a text. Glancing down at her phone, she gave Norah a sheepish look. “John’s on his way over. Mind if he tags along?”
With both Molly and John there, that meant they would be divided into couples, which meant the run would feel a lot like a double date. Actually, Norah’s brain corrected her, Molly and John were family, so it would be more like a family get-together kind of run. Although Molly had met Dash before, John had not, and he could be a bit of a wild card. Norah liked Molly’s boyfriend, but the man had no brain-to-mouth filter and loved to tease. Who knew what he’d say to Dash. Norah’s stomach butterflies began swooping around again as sweat prickled along her hairline.
Molly must’ve misread her hesitation, since she started to tap on her phone. “It’s okay. I’ll tell him we’ll meet up later.”
“No, it’s fine.” When Molly paused, fingers poised over her phone screen, to look at her, Norah gave a firm nod, not letting any of her hesitation show. “It’ll be nice to spend some time with you and John.”
She was rewarded by a broad smile. “I’ll go get ready.”
Taking a last sip of coffee before switching to water, Norah tried not to fret about how their family run was going to go. It’d be fine. John wouldn’t act like an overprotective father figure, and Molly wouldn’t give Dash the third degree as Norah went all flustered and tongue-tied and red-faced— oh no .
Her head hit the table with a soft thunk . That was exactly how it was going to go.
Feeling penned in and claustrophobic in the kitchen as she came up with one disastrous scenario after another, Norah went out to the porch swing to wait. Warrant followed her, settling with a canine grunt in his dog bed next to the swing until John arrived. Popping up, Warrant ran down the steps to greet him and was rewarded with a thorough belly rub.
“Norah! My favorite sister!” He only called her that when none of her other non-Molly sisters were around, but it still made her smile. With Warrant following, he climbed the steps wearing his usual exuberant grin.
“Hey, John.” She gave him a little wave.
He leaned against one of the support posts holding up the porch roof. “So I hear you’ve found yourself a man.”
Her face flamed hot. She tried to respond, but nothing came out. So it begins…
“Don’t worry.” His voice softened a little, like he could see her mortification. “I’ll be gentle with him. Molly told me he knocked out a guy for you and then took the heat for it. I’m inclined to like him for that, but if he steps out of line, you need to tell me so I can hurt him.”
He delivered the last line with such a bouncy, happy cadence that it took a few moments to register.
“Um…Molly already called dibs on murdering him.” She worried that the way she’d phrased that made it sound like Dash had already done something wrong, so she hurried to clarify. “If he…only if he does something wrong, I mean.”
“He’s behaving himself then?” His tone was light, but she could tell he was watching her face carefully.
The question actually made her smile despite all her building anxiety. “Yes. He’s really into manners.”
That made him cock a quizzical brow. “A guy who can take a burglar down with a single punch and also knows what fork to use? Sounds like a winner.”
Although she was pretty sure the humor in his voice was just because he was John and thought life was consistently entertaining rather than because he was making fun of Dash, she hurried to correct him. “More like he opens car doors for me.” She almost added that he didn’t swear, but that was their inside joke. Other people might not understand why she found that quirk so endearing. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of any other examples with her thoughts churning like they were, so she ended with, “And other polite things. Not that he has bad table manners. He doesn’t. He’s just not hung up on proper fork usage or anything.”
“Good to know.” There was definitely a laugh trying to escape John now. “Not sure I have much fork-related conversation in me. There might’ve been an awkward lull.”
Norah was pretty sure there had never been an uncomfortable silence within ten feet of John. He was the very definition of an extrovert. “You could always talk about punching people. You’re both very good at that.”
He let out a big belly laugh as Dash’s SUV pulled up behind John’s car. Norah’s stomach butterflies, which had been smothered in a blanket of general anxiety up until this point, took flight, and she found herself smiling as he headed toward them.
Dash’s scowl was firmly in place, his gaze focused steadily on John.
“Hmm…” John murmured, still not losing his grin, although he’d straightened from his casual lean to a more ready position. “Not exactly what I expected. You’re a deep little pond, aren’t you, sis?”
Norah wasn’t sure what he meant by that or how to even begin to respond, so she stayed quiet. Watching the two of them as Dash approached, Norah was reminded of a wildlife documentary, two dominant males meeting for the first time. Warrant didn’t seem to share any of the men’s wariness, happily trundling over to greet the newcomer. Dash rubbed Warrant’s ears without dropping John’s gaze.
As Dash climbed the steps, John said, “You must be Dash.” He held out his hand.
After a microsecond of hesitation, Dash accepted it. From the way the men’s tendons stood out on their forearms, the shake was more of a strength contest than anything. She half expected to hear a clash of antlers.
“I’m John Carmondy, Molly’s boyfriend.”
Dash gave a tip of his chin as he released John’s hand.
“Hi,” Norah said, standing up from the swing and bringing Dash’s attention to her. His scowl immediately lightened, and his soft expression made the butterflies in her belly go wild. “Ready to go?”
“Sure.”
“Molly and John are coming along,” she said, wishing she’d texted him about their expanded group. Maybe if he’d been forewarned, the moment between him and John wouldn’t have been so charged. She immediately dismissed the idea though. Two bossy, protective guys were going to feel each other out. There wasn’t any way to avoid an initially tense meeting.
Dash looked at John again, assessing him for a long moment before finally saying, “That’s fine.”
“Sorry to hear about what happened to your place,” John said. Some of the tension eased from his posture, making Norah think Dash had passed the initial meeting.
“Thanks.” Dash shifted toward Norah, so close their bare arms brushed. “Just glad no one got seriously hurt.”
She frowned up at him, reminded that he’d nearly had his head bashed in. “ You were hurt pretty seriously. Are you feeling up to running?”
“I’m fine.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. “No headache even. How about you? Still sore?”
“Sore from what?” John asked quickly before she could answer. “I thought you weren’t injured.”
“I wasn’t hurt. I mean, I’m fine.” She wasn’t sure which question to answer first, so she kind of muddled them together. “Just some strained muscles yesterday.”
Neither man looked satisfied, so Norah was relieved when Molly bounced out the door, distracting them from questioning her further.
“Hey, sweetness.” Molly stood on her toes to kiss John. After an intense moment that was even more charged by the fact that Norah’s arm was touching Dash’s, Molly turned toward them. “Hey, Dash. Good to see you. Thanks for letting us join your run. Whenever Fifi’s not here to boss us, I tend to only run when I’m chasing a skip.”
He just gave her a chin lift, but it was somehow friendlier than the prickly one he’d offered John earlier. “Ready?”
“Just one sec.” Catching Warrant by the collar, Molly steered the reluctant dog back into the house and set the alarm. As she pulled the door shut and locked the dead bolt, John gave an exaggerated frown.
“Warrant can’t come?” he asked.
Dash tipped his head down to murmur, “Your dog’s name is Warrant?”
The feel of his breath on her ear made it hard to focus on his question. Dash had her so flustered and distracted she wasn’t sure what her dog’s name was. Clearing her throat, she made a desperate grab for some rationality. “Yes.”
He smiled, and that hard-won logic was gone, replaced only by the thought of how beautiful the man next to her was when he smiled.
“Of course not,” Molly answered John, pulling Norah’s attention away from Dash. “You want to actually run , right? Not slowly amble a few feet with frequent stops for sniffing?”
John looked like the second option didn’t sound so bad. Norah had to agree. She’d take a meandering dog walk over a run any day, but with all the enemies she and her family had acquired recently, running was an essential skill.
They made their way down the steps and across the yard, falling into pairs with Dash and Norah in front of the other two. As they moved toward the trailhead at a slow warm-up pace, Norah glanced at Mr. P’s house and noticed the blinds on one of his windows pushed aside slightly, just enough for her to see his accusing eyes glaring at them. Glancing at the side of Dash’s face, she realized why Mr. P’s stare was more venomous than usual and grimaced.
“What’s wrong?” Dash asked, apparently noticing her reaction even though his gaze had been focused forward.
“Mr. P’s watching.” She resisted the urge to look back at her neighbor’s window.
“Ugh,” Molly groaned. “You know he’s probably on the phone to the cops right now, letting them know he saw Dash with us. He probably has a whole conspiracy theory cooked up already.”
“A conspiracy theory?” John repeated thoughtfully. “Like one where his bounty hunter neighbors dragged an unconscious man to his porch and picked his lock in order to prevent the cops from searching their house again?”
“No,” Molly said. “He’ll think of a far more nefarious reason. He believes we’re the spawn of the devil.”
“Well,” Norah said. “That is a reasonable assumption for someone who knows Mom.”
Dash gave her a slightly startled look, but Molly started laughing. “Very true.”
They reached the start of the wide trail and increased their pace slightly before John asked, “How’s the search for Norah’s stalker going?”
She sensed Dash’s tension at the question, almost as if his muscles had swollen an extra two sizes instantly. “Which one?” she asked, which didn’t seem to settle the man on her right.
“How many do you have?” Although John sounded like he was amused, she heard the steel thread of anger in his words.
“Just two?”
“Three,” Dash corrected, his voice growlier than usual.
“Leifsen and Fridley…who’s the third?”
“Albee. The woman we’re going to meet tonight.”
That didn’t seem quite accurate. She frowned. “Can we really consider Laken a stalker?”
“Yes,” all three of the others chorused.
Norah supposed that following her around and popping up wherever she happened to be was rather stalker-like behavior. “Fridley isn’t strictly mine though. He’s more of a shared stalker.”
“Still counts,” Molly piped up as if she were the ultimate referee of stalker determination. “You have three stalkers, minimum.”
Dash rolled his head, and his neck popped audibly. “Three too many.”
The discussion seemed to be stressing him out, so Norah refocused on John’s original question. “We’re dealing with Laken tonight, and then we’ll look for Leifsen Saturday night.”
“What’s Saturday?” John asked.
“Chloe’s band is playing an outdoor show in the mountains west of Denver.” She got a happy jolt saying the words so casually, as if they were already friends. Even though she knew she might be setting herself up for disappointment if Chloe ended up being involved with Leifsen, she couldn’t help hoping Chloe was just as amazing as she seemed to be.
“Who’s Chloe?” John gave a frustrated-sounding grunt. “I leave town for one night and end up out of the loop.”
“Chloe’s a possible link to Leifsen.” Norah’s stomach twanged as she heard her own words out loud. It felt wrong to define Chloe so dismissively. “An old acquaintance. She seems really nice and not creepy or felonious at all. He showed up to her last gig, but that might’ve been because he followed me there.”
Dash grumbled under his breath.
“So we’re all going to see Chloe’s band on Saturday?” John asked, making Norah’s heart sink a little. That was supposed to be her and Dash’s fourth—fifth?—date. It was hard to keep track when each one kept going off the rails. If someone tried to kill them in the middle of it, did it still count as a date? Norah thought it did. After all, the intention to spend time together was still there, even if it ended up being interrupted by bottle-bomb-wielding sociopaths. In any case, having John and Molly along on a run in public was fine, but having her sister and pseudo brother along on an actual date would definitely put a damper on the kissing and…other activities.
“We can’t,” Molly said, and Norah tried not to look relieved. Dash sent her a funny sideways glance that made her think he was just as glad as she was that it hadn’t evolved into a family affair. “I’m helping you pick up that guy in Pueblo on Saturday. Even if everything goes according to plan—which it never does with you—there’s no way we’ll be back in time.”
“What are you saying?” John’s offended tone was spoiled by the laughter in his voice. “I follow plans beautifully.”
Molly snorted. “ Sure you do. Like when you tackled that guy on the boat and both of you ended up in the reservoir?”
“That was called improvising .” John drew out the last word. “Sometimes, you have to make a new plan in the middle of an old plan—”
“How is that following the plan?”
“I’m following the new plan! You just don’t know it yet, because I just came up with it.”
Dash gave a huff of quiet laughter. “They always like this?” he muttered.
“Always,” Norah said before adding for the sake of honesty, “Unless they’re making out.” Although her cheeks warmed a little, she was glad she’d said it when another soft chuckle escaped him.
While they’d been talking, they’d arrived at the fork in the trail that started the south loop. The popular trail was surprisingly quiet, with just a few other early morning runners sharing the path. Although Norah had worried when Dash had first suggested a run that she would struggle to keep up with him, they stayed shoulder to shoulder as they fell into an easy pace. She knew he had to be holding back for her sake, but it was surprisingly pleasant to run next to him like this, even with the affectionate bickering happening behind them. The sunshine filtered through the trees, dappling the trail in front of them, and leaves scattered over the rocky trail crunched satisfyingly underfoot. It smelled amazing, like pine and fall and Dash.
Another runner approached, and Norah shifted over automatically. As the man got closer and his features were easier to make out, she recognized him.
“Bruiser!” she said, the name just popping out of her mouth before she could stop it. “Uh…I mean… Hey, it’s Davies.” Her weak attempt to save herself embarrassment made Molly and John laugh so hard they stopped running. Norah glanced sideways at Dash, but she couldn’t read his expression. If she had to guess, she would’ve said he was torn between annoyance and reluctant amusement, but he went stone-faced before she had a chance to really examine him.
“Davies,” he greeted as the man slowed to a stop in front of them.
“Porter.” There was a suspicious redness darkening Davies’s cheekbones, and he seemed to be avoiding looking at Norah.
She immediately felt bad she’d embarrassed him. Of all people, she knew what that was like. “Sorry. For calling you Bruiser I mean. I just think of you as Bruiser now.” Dash grumbled something low in his chest, and Norah could feel the creeping heat of a flush warm her face. Great. Now Bruiser and I match. “Not that I think of you very often? I mean, just when I’m talking to Detective Mill, and he’s asking about us dating— pretend dating—not that Mill knows it was pretend. So…yeah.”
With a strangled-sounding cough, Davies gave a small upward jerk of his chin. Norah wasn’t sure if that was an acknowledgment of her apology or just a hello nod. He was definitely blushing though.
“Thank you for going along with that.” For some reason, words kept flowing out of her to this stranger who she’d pretended wasn’t a stranger. Normally, she couldn’t manage to say anything when she was in an awkward situation, and this was nothing if not awkward, but now she couldn’t manage to shut herself up. “It must’ve been a shock to learn we were dating when you didn’t even know who I was.”
“I knew,” he said gruffly, but even that interjection wasn’t enough to stop Norah’s once-in-a-lifetime unstoppable avalanche of words. She could feel the heat of Dash’s gaze, but she didn’t look at him, focusing instead on poor, uncomfortable Davies.
“Oh well, it was still probably an odd thing to suddenly learn you were fake dating me, so thank you anyway.” What was wrong with her? “Plus you had a brand-new nickname that made you sound like a cartoon character from the fifties. That can’t have been fun.”
“It’s…fine.” Davies was looking embarrassed and a little panicked at this point.
“It’s over now though,” she hurried to say, wanting to reassure him. “The detective knows we’re no longer together. We’ve fake broken up so I can fake date Dash now.”
“ Real date,” Dash corrected in a grumbly tone, making her gaze fly to meet his.
His interruption startled her enough to make her stop talking, and she was grateful to him and also a bit thrilled he’d announced their relationship in front of Molly, John, and even her fake ex.
“Right. Real date.” She couldn’t hold back a smile.
“Okay.” Davies, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, started backing away from their small group. “Uh…later.” With a final flustered lift of his chin, he skirted around them and took off down the trail at a rapid pace just short of a sprint.
“Oh, Norah…” Molly’s voice was still shaky with laughter. “I think you broke that poor man.”
Biting her lower lip, Norah watched the rapidly retreating figure. “I know. I feel bad. I just…couldn’t stop making it worse.”
“I was impressed.” John had stopped laughing, but he still wore an enormous grin. “I didn’t think there were that many words inside you, little sis.”
Norah could only manage a small groan in response.
A snort came from Dash that sounded like a muffled laugh. When she looked at him though, he’d regained his usual poker face. “C’mon,” he said, catching her hand in his in order to tug her forward. “Let’s go.”
Norah gave the distant Davies a final, regretful glance before picking up the pace next to Dash. He held her hand for several strides, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze before he released her. That small sign of affection settled her nerves, although she knew she’d replay every excruciating moment of the encounter as soon as she was alone.
A renewed chuckle came from Molly. “I’m so glad we got to meet your fake ex.”
This set John off again, although this time he managed to run and laugh at the same time. “Thanks for inviting us along on your run, Norah. I would’ve hated to have missed Bruiser.”
Norah shot them a look over her shoulder, making them burst into fresh laughter. Giving up on subduing their mirth, she peeked at Dash out of the corner of her eye. “Tell him I’m sorry next time you see him.” She was suddenly glad the gym was closed so her mortification had time to fade a little before she had to see Davies again.
“For what?” he asked, looking honestly puzzled.
“For… that .” She didn’t even know what to call it, so she just waved a hand behind her in the general direction Davies had run. “I didn’t mean to embarrass him.”
His chuckle wasn’t muffled this time. “Not your fault.” Before she could argue that it was very much her fault, he kept talking. “Davies gets flustered whenever he gets within six feet of a woman.”
“So it wasn’t just the Bruiser thing or the fake dating thing or my talking about both of those things way too much?” His words soothed the burn of her embarrassment, but she still had her doubts.
“Maybe a little, but mostly it’s just because you’re hot and you were talking to him.”
Norah studied the left side of his face—her preferred side, since it was less perfect than the other—looking for any sign he was hedging the truth in order to make her feel better. Then she realized this was Dash . He never skirted the truth just to spare her feelings. That was why she’d liked him immediately when she’d met him and a big part of why she liked him even more now.
“Okay,” she finally said, her anxiety calming as she settled into a steady pace.
Molly and John were chatting behind her about the skip they were planning to pick up in Pueblo, and their voices merged into a steady background noise as Norah got lost in the regular beat of her feet hitting the ground and the warmth of the dappled sun on her skin. Running had never been her strong suit, but the man next to her somehow made it enjoyable. He made her feel comfortable yet amped at the same time, and she shifted slightly closer to him.
He gave her one of his crooked, one-sided smiles that she returned with a beam. It didn’t matter if one or more of her multiple stalkers were watching her, plotting something dastardly. For now, she was happy to just be alive with Dash at her side.