Chapter 16
Tyler
In the passenger seat of my car, Dixie trembled, her hood up to hide her blonde hair, and her arms wrapped around herself while she peered out into the dark night at the warehouse we’d parked in the shadows of.
I buried my struggles over bringing her back, the secrets that couldn’t be hidden, faking calm for her sake.
This was important to her. The warehouse was a safe space.
There were crowds of people around the front, but the staff entrance was quiet.
We could get inside without incident, and she could do what she needed to do.
Including leave me.
If she wanted, she could push me away in safety. My crew would force me to accept it. My obsession would be caged, and she’d still be safe.
Still, I couldn’t stop my words. “Sure about this? Say the word and I’ll get us out of here.”
“One hundred percent. I just need a minute.”
“Then we’ll take as long as ye need.”
My phone buzzed with a message. I read the screen.
Arran: Don’t keep us waiting. Get inside.
I exhaled. “Arran’s getting stressed.”
“He knows we’re here?”
“I ordered him to clear the main corridor so randoms didn’t see ye.”
Dixie took a shaky breath and shivered. “I’m not feeling so brave anymore.”
My heart hurt. “We do this however ye want. I’ll shield ye. I’ll do the talking until you’re ready.”
“We’re sticking with my excuse that I came to you, right? That’s how we’re together?”
“Your choice. I won’t stop ye from telling the truth.”
Dixie huddled deeper in her seat. “Free pass. Ask me anything. One thing.”
I didn’t hesitate. I wanted it all, from the beginning. “Talk me through the night ye ran from the warehouse.”
“You’re wondering why I didn’t find Manny. Or you.”
“Aye. I don’t blame ye, but I need to know.”
Dixie kept her gaze on the red-brick building.
“I was already a wreck. Cassie’s job wasn’t working out for me, and I felt like a failure.
Trying to get back into sex work was my attempt to return to myself, and that crashed out as well.
Then when I was already heading home, I heard Mila’s name.
It was the final straw. I made a clean break.
” She rolled her shoulders. “If I think about it now, I can see I was spiralling. Probably from this happening.” She touched her throat and the scar she’d spent time blending out with a makeup brush earlier.
“How are ye feeling now?”
“Weirdly invincible. That’s because of you, hun.”
It shouldn’t have bolstered me so much. I was a kidnapper. Her stalker. But the fact I’d helped her went straight to my head.
Almost desperately, I wanted to touch her. I didn’t. Every time I crossed that line, it cost me control. If I was hands-off, I could convince myself I was doing good. “Later, if you’re feeling up to it, it would be good to go over each of the people who might want to harm ye. For my piece of mind.”
She laughed softly. “You mean so you can go on more raids and take them out.”
No use in denying that. “Are we still going back to the ridge once this is over?”
Even in the dark, I picked out a flush on her cheeks. “Yes. I mean, I just unpacked and all.”
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
“There’s my psycho stalker. So considerate.”
She’d said it lightly. The words still thudded into my chest like arrows piercing a thick and scarred target.
Dixie took a fast breath and twisted in her seat. “Don’t leave me tonight. The things Mila might ask are going to dig up memories. Ones as bad as Sullivan. Maybe worse. I need to know you’re not far away.”
“Then I won’t be.”
“Take me inside.”
I rounded to her side of the car. Opened the door. Tucked her into my coat, the dark material swallowing her. At the back door, a guard opened it without comment, and we made our way to the central corridor.
Dixie kept her head down, cuddling into me. She didn’t peek at the wide-eyed people who dared to look too closely. Only the core team, but it was enough. Mila with her hands clasped to her mouth, Convict holding her close. Lovelyn already tearful, Kane stony, Cassie outraged. Arran…suspicious.
Shade met my gaze with unhidden concern.
It was good that all were here. They were her people. They cared.
We stopped by the lift.
“Listen up.” I didn’t need to raise my voice. “Aye, Dixie is back. She’s unharmed and ready to talk. If ye rush her, we’re leaving. We’re going upstairs to my apartment and will invite people in one by one.”
“Ty—” Cassie started.
I cut her off. “No. You’ll wait. We’re doing this Dixie’s way or not at all.”
She folded her arms and scowled until the lift doors shut her out.
We travelled up.
At last, Dixie straightened from where she’d been glued to my side. “Thanks, hun. I thought I would die walking in the door. You made that a cinch.”
The tremble in her hands told a different story.
At the seventh floor, we exited.
I paused outside my apartment. “There’s something else I need to tell ye. In line with being a psycho stalker.”
“Lay it on me. I can take anything you’ve got.”
I opened the door, revealing the space, decorated like a city pad version of my cabin. A smarter leather sofa I’d never used. Boxes everywhere, atop furniture Dixie would know well.
Another liberty I hadn’t asked permission for.
It had all come from her flat.