Spring Secrets - Allie Boniface Page 0,72

hadn’t seen any of it, hadn’t thought he was anything except a guy with a few bad breaks who was trying to get better.

“What’s this?” Jason touched her wrist in the spot where a bruise had bloomed. “Did he hurt you?”

“No.” Her other hand flew to cover the bruise. Actually, he helped me. If she hadn’t known how to get away from Al, things in the school parking lot might have ended a lot worse. Dash had saved her, at least in that way. He’d taught her how to stand up for herself, how to think through panic, how to trust her instincts and act without fear.

But that just made her heart ache even more.

DASH SAT IN THE SINGLE cell at the police station with his hands clasped between his knees. He stared at the cracks and stains in the floor and rehashed the last three hours until his head hurt. He’d waived any phone calls, having no one to talk to. According to Ernie, he’d stay here overnight, then be transferred to the county jail in Silver Valley in the morning. If he’d simply violated his parole, then he probably would’ve been released until a future court date, but theft of narcotics, possession and intent to sell were new charges. He wouldn’t see the inside of his house or his gym anytime soon.

In a minute I’m gonna wake up from this. He’d blink, roll over in his bed, and it would all be a nightmare.

But he didn’t. He made a fist and released it, over and over again. When it came right down to it, he didn’t care that he’d covered for Sienna’s kid brother. Louie had his whole life ahead of him. If he was smart, he’d take this as a warning and straighten up before he turned eighteen. He didn’t need a police record, sealed as a minor or not, and he didn’t need to be expelled from school. The others would be, and then good luck getting an equivalency diploma. Dash had done time before. He could do it again. The thing that killed him would be losing the gym, his clients, all the people who’d trusted him and believed in him.

Then he readjusted that thought as he scraped one tennis shoe along the ground. The thing that killed him the most was knowing he’d disappointed Sienna. We had something. His jaw ached from clenching it, from holding back the anguish of hurting her. He’d been thirty minutes away from taking her to dinner, sweeping her off her feet, telling her he’d never felt this way about anyone.

And just like that, the universe snapped its fingers and took it all away.

If his mother was still alive, she’d say it was a rash decision. She’d say he should’ve turned them all in, including the sixteen year-old kid brother of the woman he was falling for. But Dash lived rashly. He knew that. He’d tried to improve over the years, tried to resist acting in the heat of the moment, but it simply wasn’t in his nature. At least this time his actions had saved someone else. Maybe that was a sign of improvement.

He sighed. It was done now. For Louie, for Sienna, to protect her family, he’d do it all again.

Chapter Thirty-Three

“It’s right around the corner from my flat,” Max said. “We can literally walk to each other’s doorstep in under five minutes.”

Sienna propped her tablet on the dresser in her bedroom. Clothes, books, boxes and suitcases covered every unoccupied inch of space. She’d spent two days after Dash got arrested feeling sorry for herself. On the third day, she’d gone to the police and reported Al Halloran’s assault.

“I know I should’ve come in sooner,” she said, “but I did take pictures.” She showed the chief her phone, with the photos of her arm all black and blue. He’d taken down her information, tsked under his breath a few times, and put out an arrest warrant.

“Ain’t promising anything,” he said. “I got a feeling Al’s probably long gone. But we’ll do our best.”

She nodded and left, wanting to ask about Dash but not knowing how.

Now her focus was on finishing school and planning for her move to England. She still had two months, but with any luck she could move up her departure date. No reason to stay in town after school finished in mid-June. Max was apartment hunting for her now, and Sienna had emailed the headmaster at the preschool to ask if she might start