Thief(17)

“Excellent,” he says then reaches over and touches my thigh. “Tell me everything about your life, from the moment your car drove away to right now.”

“Why don’t we first address the two elephants in the room, one named Vanessa,” I say, looking down at his hand on my thigh. “Because I’m really f*cking confused right now. And the second, being the whole losing contact thing.

He removes his hand and winces. “I broke up with her on Saturday night. She cried, a lot, which is why I didn’t come back. She cried on Sunday too, and was making a big deal about it, so I was trying to calm her down.”

My eyes widen at that. “Why did you tell her you wanted to break up with her?”

I don’t really know how to take this information. Am I happy he’s single? Yes. Do I necessarily like that he saw me then dumped his girlfriend that same night and possibly broke her heart? No. Can Dash win in this situation? No.

“We weren’t serious or anything,” he explains, fingers tightening on the steering wheel. “That was the first night she’d even met any of my friends, and we’d only been seeing each other a few months. What are the chances the one night I decide to let her meet my friends, you show up?”

“Pretty low,” I reply, cringing. “What a clusterf*ck.”

“I don’t care, Vi. What’s the point of me being with her, when as soon as I saw you, I knew I had to be with you? No one compares. Staying with her would have just hurt her more in the long run,” he says, returning his hand to my thigh. “And as for the losing contact thing, yeah, I guess I’m slightly f*cking pissed, because it felt like you didn’t give a shit.”

“Of course I gave a shit,” I say quickly. “I’ve never stopped caring about you, Dash.”

He looks straight ahead and says, “After we lost Max, you let me go as well. Almost like you wanted a fresh start, and I was just a reminder of what life was like when we had Max with us. You just f*cking let go, Vi. I get Max was everything to you, but I should have meant something to you too.”

Is that what I did?

I consider his words and realise there might be an ounce of truth to them, even if that’s not what I set out to do. Maybe subconsciously I made the decision to do that as a coping mechanism?

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Dash, and I’m sorry. I didn’t even realise that’s what I did until you just said it.” I pause, swallowing hard. “You always meant something to me. You still do, and you always will.”

“You need to tell me what’s going on in that head of yours. I know we’re both different people now, but at the same time, I feel like I still know you, like not that much time has passed. I just know you, Vi. And I want you.”

“I want you too,” I admit, putting my hand over his. “Everything else is just details.”

He glances at me before looking back to the road. “I think that’s the best thing you could have said.”

“We don’t have to rush into anything,” I say quickly. “I mean, maybe we could go on a few dates and see—”

“I won’t push you, Vi. We can take things slowly. I’m just happy to have you back in my life; you have no idea,” he says, jaw tightening. “It’s just me, you know? The guy you thought was yelling at his girlfriend on the first day back at school for wearing a short dress.”

I laugh at that, remembering that day like it was yesterday. “It was a short skirt, not a short dress. You were an * to me at the start.”

“I’d never met anyone like you,” he says, shaking his head. “I didn’t know how to handle it. You were getting to me so much, but I had no idea why. It took me a little while to figure out it was because I liked you.”

“Well, I’m glad you finally figured it out,” I say, squeezing his hand. “Don’t you think it’s weird how comfortable it feels between us? You were right when you said it feels like no time has passed.”

He parks the car and turns to face me. “I know, and I don’t want to freak you out, but I really want to kiss you right now.”

I wanted to kiss him too, yet it did feel weird, considering he only just broke up with his girlfriend.

“Can we wait?” I ask him, shifting in my seat. “You only just broke up with her, and it’s just...”

“I get it,” he says, cupping my cheek. “I said I wouldn’t push you, and I won’t. I’m just f*cking greedy for you.” He smirks. “But I can control myself. Don’t move.”

He gets out of the car and opens my door.

“Thank you,” I tell him. “But it’s not necessary, Dash. I can open my own door.”

“And now she’s complaining about me being a gentleman,” he mutters, sounding amused.

He takes my hand in his, lacing our fingers as we walk into the restaurant.





Chapter Eleven


“That’s not how I remember this story at all,” I say to Dash, laughing so hard that people are starting to stare. “I came over to drop your homework off. The teacher asked me; I didn’t volunteer. And how was I meant to know you’d open the door half naked?”

“I was so stressed out that day,” he admits. “The twins were sick and extremely grumpy. I’d had a fight with my mum over me having to miss school because she couldn’t miss work. It was just a really shit day. And then you come in, sort the twins out, feed us all, and get them to sleep without a fuss.” He reaches over and takes my hand. “It was probably one of the nicest things anyone had done for me. And you didn’t even want anything in return.”