28. Chapter 28 – Peyton
Chapter 28 – Peyton
“ W hat the hell happened?” Olivia’s angry voice snapped at me through the phone the next morning.
I blindly made a cup of coffee as my tired brain tried to catch up. It was just after five in the morning, and I had barely gone to sleep before three.
I was dead on my feet.
And also incredibly at peace.
Dane had that effect on me.
I reached for the cup and saw the shiny gold bracelet on my wrist and smiled to myself, remembering the way it made me feel to watch him lock it on me.
It felt final. Like it wasn’t something he could take back.
“Peyton!” Olivia snapped, “What the hell is going on?”
“What are you talking about?” I sighed, “I’m not even awake.”
“Tyson called mom and dad a half an hour ago.” She urged on, and my blood ran cold. “With some wild tale about getting assaulted by a thug at Hartington Estate. ”
“What?” I shook my head.
“He told them he showed up to surprise you with dinner reservations and caught you cheating on him and then he got beat up by one of the multiple men you were with!” She shrieked, “Now, I’m one hundred percent in support of you sleeping with whoever the fuck you want to, and however many at a time. But mom and dad aren’t so impressed by your wild activities.”
“Olivia.” I interrupted her tirade, “I’m not sleeping around. There were no multiple men, Jesus Christ. I never even answered the door.”
She paused, and I could almost hear her disappointment after dispelling her tale. “Then how’d he get beat up?”
Flashbacks assaulted me of hiding in my bathroom as Dane ‘took care of him’ last night. But he never even left my guest house either, I was sure of it.
“Did you actually see evidence of a beating?” I asked, “You know how over the top Ty is.”
She hesitated again, “Well no, but he sounded like he was talking around a mouth full of cotton.” She sighed, “But he did show up? What happened?”
“Uh,” I cracked my neck, trying to figure out what exactly to tell my sister. As much as I loved her, she had a tendency to over involve herself in my business sometimes. And I wasn’t ready to let her opinion darken my happiness now that I was finally living for myself and putting my happiness first.
“Peyton,” She groaned, “It was the hacker guy, wasn’t it?”
I popped my bottom lip from between my teeth, “What do you mean?”
“The one who put the ghost track on your computer. He was the one who beat Ty up.”
“No, he wasn’t.” I groaned .
“How do you know?” She fired, “He’s willing to invade your privacy, I’m sure he knew Ty showed up and probably wanted to keep you all to himself, so he attacked him. Not that Ty doesn’t deserve a good ego burst—”
“Olivia!” I yelled, stopping her tirade. “He didn’t touch Ty.”
“How. Do. You. Know?” She argued. “P, hackers are known to be mentally unstable.”
“You’re a hacker.” I droned.
“Exactly.” She fired back instantly, “And I’m crazy.”
I rolled my eyes, ignoring her self-deprecating humor. “I know Dane didn’t touch him, because he was with me when Ty showed up. Neither of us ever left the house.”
There was a long pause and then a low whistle, “Look at you fucking the psycho. Get it, girl.”
“Oh, my god.” I threw myself down onto the couch, already tired of her shit. “He’s not a psycho.”
“He’s not sane either, is he?”
I hesitated, because the answer was easy. “No. Not exactly.”
“Those guys are always the best in bed.” She snorted, “Far better than frat boy Tyson, I’m sure.”
I snorted, “How would you know how insane men are in bed?”
My sweet innocent little sister chuckled, “Because you’re not the only one who likes to invite monsters into bed.”
“Come again?” I stuttered. Olivia had always kept things casual with men, choosing to keep them at a distance and use them for the fun she wanted and then move on. She never settled down with anyone specific, so to hear her say there was one in her life caught me off guard.
“I usually do.” She snorted and then chuckled. “It’s nothing serious, but it’s fun.”
“Is he sane?” I questioned, not that I could judge her if he wasn’t .
“Mostly.” She admitted. “But we’re getting off topic. Back to Tyson.”
“Ew.” I cringed, “Even hearing his name makes my skin crawl. How did I date him for years?”
“Because you were doing it for everyone else but yourself.”
I sighed, “Yeah well, I think I’m done living like that.”
“What are you going to tell our parents?” She asked, “They’re going to want answers as to why the answer to their prayers was beaten to a pulp by their perfect daughter’s new boyfriend.”
“I’ll have to get back to you on that one.” I took a sip of coffee, “Because I don’t know if telling them the truth about Tyson or telling them the truth about me will hurt them more.”
“Tell them the truth about Ty.” Olivia replied instantly. “You deserve to let yourself off that hook. He’s not the one for you.”
“I know.” I looked at the clock in my kitchen and groaned, “I have to get ready for work.”
“How’s that going, by the way? We’ve talked about your personal life more than the one that took you to the middle of nowhere to begin with. Is the old billionaire nice at least?”
I hesitated, remembering the way Lincoln cooked me breakfast the other morning after breaking into my space, guns blazing, to protect me. “I think he’s as nice as he knows how to be.”
“Oof,” She cringed, “He’s one of those types then? The kind that is so used to being alone, he doesn’t know how to let the sweet, sexy woman he’s trapped with, past his sky high walls and protections around his heart?”
I snorted, “You’ve watched too many Disney fairytales, kid.”
“Beauty and the Beast always was your favorite.” She hummed, “There was something you loved about the big, unlovable monster worming his way into her heart. So misunderstood by everyone else but her.”
I stared off into the distance as she spoke and realized that Lincoln Bryce was exactly like the Beast. He was guarded, angry, and full of misunderstood motives and mystery.
And I was just like Belle, ready to face him on to prove he was just a big fluffy kitty under that fur.
I just wasn’t sure where he fit in, with my own dark and dangerous shadow, who actually was a monster, lurking around every corner.
Wouldn’t it be a fucking wild world if I could somehow have them both?
I eyed my phone on my two-hour break in the middle of the day and squinted in disbelief. Not one mean or threatening text, email, DM, or phone call had come through all day.
Tyson was silent.
Which was terrifying. My ex boyfriend was many things over the length of our relationship, but silent was never one of them. And I still wasn’t sure what happened exactly to get him to leave, considering Dane refused to even speak about him after his interruption. But the longer his silence stretched, the more worried I got .
And then there was the awkward conversation with my mom that I had right after Olivia’s call, explaining that Ty and I were no longer together and anything he said was probably just out of spite.
I shuddered remembering the barrage of questions she threw my way before six in the morning about my future, my eggs, and my internal clock. Ick, I was only twenty-nine after all.
Olivia’s words fluttered back into my brain as I took a bite of my sandwich.
Ty claimed someone beat him up when he came over last night. But Dane was with me the whole time.
My body froze as I imagined Lincoln coming out, like he had the other night when his brother showed up unexpectedly. What if Lincoln Bryce beat up Tyson?
“Holy shit.” I whispered, suddenly wet at the idea of him once again defending my honor physically.
I expected that kind of behavior from Dane, yet I had made him promise not to leave the house.
Which left only Lincoln.
And Dane had told me that Lincoln had a state-of-the-art security system, with cameras included. What if he got a security warning and beat the shit out of Ty, thinking he was trying to rob the place or break in?
“Dane?” I called out, picking my phone up and laying it against my bottle of water so I could see the black screen. “Hello?”
“Puppet.” His deep vibratory voice echoed a moment later, “Miss me?”
“Are you blocking Tyson from reaching out to me?”
There was an annoyed sigh as I waited for his response, “Why?”
“Because he’s radio silent.” I stated plainly, treading carefully with my volatile man. “And that’s scary. ”
“You don’t have to worry about him. He can’t hurt you.”
“Not physically,” I mused, setting my sandwich down, “You proved that last night.”
“Then why are you worried?”
Sighing, I tried to explain. “Because he’s a vindictive man who won’t just move on silently.”
“Meaning?” He prodded.
“Meaning he’ll try to ruin my life if he doesn’t get his way. And he has the tools to do that.”
“Explain that to me, Puppet.”
I opened my mouth to divert and brush it off, but I stopped myself. Since the first time I met Tyson Lane, I had covered for his behavior and made excuses for the dynamic between us. But I was so tired of it.
“Puppet . Tell me what he has over you.”
I swallowed and then tipped my phone down so I wouldn’t have to see my pathetic reflection in the screen as I bared my most embarrassing secrets and failures.
“The same thing you have over me.” I whispered and closed my eyes, hating the similarities between Dane and Tyson. “Videos.”
There was a long pause, and my anxiety grew with each long second of time. “Did you know he took them?”
“Not at the time.” I replied, “I wasn’t—” I stared up at the ceiling, fighting through the shame. “Completely conscious.”
“You were drunk?” He asked, “Or--?”
“I don’t know.” I whispered, feeling that same disgraceful burn in my chest. “I don’t know how it happened. All I know is we were at his friend’s birthday party, where I only had one drink, and then I woke up the next morning with only fuzzy snippets of the night.”
It didn’t take a wise man to figure out what kinds of things could happen to a girl at a party when she was passed out. Or drugged .
I’d never spoken about that night out loud before. Yet after breaking that seal, a part of me wanted to scream all the other horrors I’d endured at Tyson’s hand to anyone who’d listen.
Dane brought me back, “I’m going to make him pay.” I opened my mouth to tell him no, but no words would come and he could tell. “Aren’t you going to tell me not to? Aren’t you going to beg me to spare him, Puppet?”
I shook my head as a tear broke over the line of my lashes and rolled down my cheek. “No. Because I think I know what happened.” I sniffed, wiping away at the trail, “And I wish I could do it myself.”
“I’ll get the videos back for you.” He vowed, “And I’ll make him pay for what he did. Whatever it was.”
“Promise me you won’t watch them.” I took a shuddered breath, “I can’t stand the thought of you watching any of them.”
“I’ll get the videos back, Puppet.” He growled. “The nightmare will die there.”
I didn’t ask if he meant the blackmail or Tyson. That wasn’t something I needed verbal confirmation of. I didn’t even care as long as he eliminated the secrets Tyson held over my head.
Tyson had made his bed. And Dane was going to make sure that he laid in it.