Chapter 33
DASH
“Iassume you saw your girl?” Jimmy asks as a greeting.
“I did.”
“She still hasn’t answered your calls or texts?” he asks.
“None of them,” I say flatly.
“What are you planning, Dash?”
“I’m not planning anything,” I lie through my mostly straight teeth.
Well, it’s not a total lie. I have no exact plan other than to camp out and wait for her to roll back into town. Because after that race, she’ll be back. She outed herself to anyone paying attention. And we all know he’s certainly paying very close attention to her.
The media is in a frenzy over this which means the guy lurking behind this chaos must be too.
When you turn up the heat like she just did, they’ll feel the pressure and mess up. And when he does, I’ll be waiting.
“Dash, I don’t know how many times I can say this, but don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
I smile at his interesting choice of words. Usually it’s “don’t do anything stupid.” But making this sick jerk pay is something I won’t regret…ever.
“I wouldn’t dare,” I say.
“Dash, damn it. You know what I mean. I don’t want to arrest you,” he says.
“I wouldn’t want that either,” I reply calmly.
“Call me before you do whatever you’ve got up your sleeve, Dash. I mean it.”
Without another word, he ends the call.
Tomorrow, I’ll be staking out Tyler Motorsports. My gut says it’s where this started and where it’ll end. She was in Nashville tonight, so she won’t be back before tomorrow.
In the meantime, as I rewatch the video of her impromptu race tonight, I can’t help but smile at the way she handled herself out there on the track. She never missed a beat, and it makes me so damn proud.
But when I see the interview with Vincent Rossi holding her at his side, I can tell she’s hurting. She’s leaning on him for support, and try as she might, her lips give away her physical pain. I can see the light sheen of sweat on her face.
That can only mean she powered through the pain like the Valkyrie she is.
I’ve been watching Tyler Motorsports because I had a feeling she’d come here. I don’t see anything at first, but then I spot her GTO as I make a pass behind the track.
Then, as I try to find a way in, I notice Dillan’s car out front.
I circle the building, but I’m unable to make entry without setting off all the alarms which would surely call the police.
That’s when I see in through a window. Jackson has his hands on her and he’s pressed up against her.
I can’t hear anything, but I know my girl and she’s strung tighter than a guitar string.
The next thing I know, they start to struggle with one another, and I can’t take it anymore. Lincoln may hate me, but I’m driving through his building to get to her. Now. I hate to take my eyes off her for even a moment, but I’ve got to so I can get to my truck.
Only, when I get in my truck, I see her race car burst through the garage door and onto the track, and barely a moment later, Jackson’s car follows. I watch as her driving seems to be a bit off from what I watched last night which could mean she’s pushed herself too far or she’s already injured.
My truck is bigger than his car. I’m going to take him out the same way he did her and London the night we all lost everything. But then Lennon must spot me, and she pulls a handbrake drift and comes to a stop in front of Jackson as he barrels toward her at full speed.
I’m not going to make it to her in time! “No, no!” I shout as he clips her, sending her careening toward me in an out-of-control spin. But the impact causes his car to roll end over end.
I shift into reverse, never taking my gaze off her car, backing away so she doesn’t collide with me. When she finally stops moving, I jump out and run to her car.
“Lennon!” I scream her name from the depths of my soul.
When I reach the car, Lennon’s head is lying against the door, but she doesn’t look up at me.
“Lennon, baby, open your eyes for me, please,” I beg.
She remains unmoving, so I reach in and check for a pulse…the entire time holding my own breath.
I let out a sigh of relief when I feel one fluttering under my fingertips. I don’t know what kind of injuries she might have, so as much as I want to pull her out of the car, I know I can’t. She could have a spine or neck injury. For now, knowing she’s got a pulse is enough.
I glance over the top of her car searching for any sign of Jackson as I pull my cell phone from my pocket and call Jimmy.
He answers just as I hear someone behind me call my name.
I turn and spot Dillan walking toward me with a gash under his eye and his cheek is completely covered in what looks like his own blood.
Jimmy shouts in my ear when I don’t answer him. “Dash! What’s wrong?” he asks because he already knows something is if I’m calling him.
“Jimmy, I need you at Tyler Motorsports now. And probably two ambulances minimum. Hurry,” I say as I end the call.
I don’t really know Dillan’s involvement, so I’m very cautious.
“Dillan, what happened, man?” I ask.
He touches under his eye and winces as he reaches me, and when he spots Lennon behind me, limp in her car, he focuses on me.
“Is London okay? What the hell, dude? What’s going on?” he asks as his gaze then lands on Jackson’s car several yards away.
“She’s alive,” I say not stopping to correct him about her name.
He swallows hard and he seems stunned.
“She hit me. She was talking some kind of crazy stuff about a stalker and then accused me of being one. I had just stopped by to grab a tire iron to help a friend who had a flat outside of town. Then, I heard movement in the garage and found her there. She was all worked up and seemed strung tight,” he explains.
“You weren’t, were you?” I ask firmly.
“Weren’t what?” he asks, not understanding what I’m referring to.
“Stalking her.”
His eyes widen. “No. That’s crazy, man. I hardly know her.”
No, but he knows Lennon. “Right, you hardly knew London, but what about Lennon? Were you stalking her?” I ask.
“Hell no, Dash. Why?” he asks.
“Because someone was…and still has been,” I explain.
He blinks a few times, still seeming a bit disoriented himself.
“You mean, she had a stalker who killed her?” he asks.
I move closer to him so I can search his eyes for a genuine reaction when I drop the truth bomb on him that she’s still alive.
“They didn’t succeed. But they tried again tonight,” I explain.
His eyes get impossibly wider and his lips part in shock.
“You mean, she’s Lennon?” he asks.
“That’s exactly what I mean, Dillan.”
“But…I don’t understand,” he says.
“Why don’t you sit down. It’s a lot to process, but it’s true,” I tell him as I help him sit down beside the track.
“Where’s London, then?” he asks as his gaze pings from where Lennon sits unconscious to me.
“She’s dead. He killed her.”
“Who?” he demands sounding upset.
“It looks like it was one of your best friends. Jackson.”
“What?” he says as he shakes his head.
“Stay here. I need to see if he’s okay,” I say through gritted teeth.
I want him to be okay so I can look him in the eye and find out why. I need him to pay for what he’s done to all of us, but especially to Lennon. He took everything from her, including her twin sister.
As I round his car, he’s lying outside the driver’s door and his chest rises and falls, so he’s breathing. But his legs are trapped under the car like he was thrown out.
He turns his head as he hears me approaching.
“D-Dash. Should’ve known you’d sh-show up,” he says as his teeth chatter.
“Of course, I did. I love her,” I say matter-of-factly as I near his side.
He grins and his teeth are covered in blood from where it looks like he hit his mouth or nose or maybe both on something.
“Are you going to fi-finish me off? You could, you know. N-no one would know, they’d just assume I succumbed to my injuries.”
I crouch beside him. “Unlike you, I won’t tamper with an accident scene. And killing you would be too easy. You deserve to pay for everything you’ve done. You get to look Lincoln in the eye and explain yourself all the while knowing your life is over. You’ll live. I’ll see to it.”
Sirens and lights fill the track as emergency personnel arrive on scene. Hendrix is with them, and I flag him over. He runs to me with a medical bag slung over his shoulder.
“This is the guy responsible for destroying our lives. He looks like he could go into shock at any time. I haven’t touched him, I swear.”
Hendrix exchanges a look with me which conveys he’ll take care of him so he’ll live to face the consequences.
Before I turn to head back to Lennon’s car, he grabs my arm. “Where is she?” he asks with his brows drawn together in concern.
“She’s still in her car with a steady pulse.
I didn’t touch her either because I’m afraid she’s got a spinal injury this time.
She wasn’t buckled and he hit her at full speed.
At the very least, a serious case of whiplash.
I’m no doctor, but it can’t be good for her brain to get jarred so soon after her other accident,” I say as panic starts to choke me.
He puts a steadying hand on my shoulder. “I’ll get this guy stabilized and then I’ll be there. When I heard the call to come out here, I just had to come. I knew it was her,” he says as his gaze catches on something behind me and it softens.
I turn to find a team of paramedics lifting her out of her car, trying to keep her as stable as possible. She’s wearing a neck brace.
It feels like an hour has passed when, in reality, it can’t be more than ten minutes since the crash happened. But I stand there, numb, as I watch them load her onto a stretcher, and then into a waiting ambulance. And as the doors close, I watch them carry away my heart.
And from the look in Hendrix’s eyes, what’s left of his heart too.
Jackson made sure no one’s would be left intact.