Run (20 page)

It was only when he pulled Aya into his arms did she whimper, as if even on a self-conscience level she was afraid of him. He’d known the exact moment when the fight had gone out of Aya Smith. She stood up to him when he’d made the offer for her in the first place. She stood up to him when everything began to fall apart around her. She’d defied him even during The Run and even maintained her spirit no matter how many ways he’d used and degraded her. The fire was always there. But as he had pounded into her body tonight, demanding she claim her allegiance to him, the spark in those beautiful brown eyes had slowly died.
You win. I have nothing left
. That admission should have made him happy but instead, it had infuriated him and he didn’t know why. It had been what he’d wanted after all.

Now, he felt nothing but regret.

He eased her off the bed and cradled her against his body as he carried her to the bathroom. Dare punched in the coordinates on the panel on the wall. The middle of the floor opened and a large soaking tub appeared. The water started to pour from the faucet and bath salts poured from an opening in the side. He rocked her against him while the tub filled up. He wasn’t sure what these feelings meant and if he liked them, but they were something he’d have to eventually deal with.

When the water shut off, he stepped into the bath tub and lowered himself and Aya into the hot water until they were both sitting down. She was limp against him but he grabbed a soap infused sponge, wet it, and gently washed her body. He took extra care as he washed between her legs and bottom. He’d never attended to anyone like his before but with Aya it felt right, and it was the least he could do after what he’d just subjected her to.

He placed the sponge aside and wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him. “When I first saw you, I didn’t realize it was actually you.” Dare wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to tell her this which didn’t make much sense considering she wasn’t conscious. But he felt compelled to say it right now or forever lose this moment. “I mean, I didn’t expect to see you again. I saw you across the street and there were several people standing around as I recall but you’re the one who caught my attention. But, of course, you were the one getting arrested,” he chuckled. “But, it wasn’t just that. You would have stood out in a crowd anywhere, like you did tonight. You looked so beautiful and I could see the people wanting you and some wanting to be you.”

He sighed pressing his forehead against the crook of her shoulder. “When I saw you at your uncle’s bar, I knew it wasn’t a mistake that you had initially caught my eye and like a man who is used to having his way, I wanted you. I wanted to capture that spark I saw when you smiled at your customers. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you, but I pretended this disinterest that has become my mask over the years. I didn’t want you to know how badly I wanted you because as I said, no one tells me ‘no’ and I didn’t expect you to, either. So when your uncle kicked me out of his bar, I was surprised and your actions compounded it.”

As Dare recounted how he’d felt, that shame that he was still so unfamiliar to him squeezed his insides, almost making it too hard to breathe. “My reaction to your rejection was extreme. I wanted to make you pay for not falling in line with my plans, but mainly, if I’m being completely honest, it was because you didn’t want me back. I thought…when we met there was a spark but you in no uncertain terms showed your disgust of me and my pride was wounded. So there you have it, I destroyed everything around you without an ounce remorse, until now. I’m not sure what these other feelings are… I’ve never felt them before. All I do know is that I want to make things right for you. But…” He squeezed her tighter, his chest tightening at the very thought of what had just crossed his mind.

“I’ll do anything to make things better for you, Aya, except…let you go. I just can’t do it.”

By late morning, Dare was on his third cup of coffee. He hadn’t slept a wink the night before. After getting out of the bathtub and drying himself and Aya off, he gave her a painkiller injection to ease any ache that she might feel. Afterwards, he tucked her back into bed. He sat by her side all night as his penance. Every time her body twitched, he’d flinch. At one point, he checked her vitals chip to ensure she was all right. It had read exhaustion. He’d taken her body to its breaking point. She was still fast asleep and he doubted she would be up anytime soon.

Normally, he’d take the opportunity to get work done during this lull but he wouldn’t have been able to give it his full attention, not until Aya was responsive. He was confident Ronald could handle anything in his absence. It was what he was paid for after all. The buzzer went off and his penthouse’s voice activation system kicked in. “Mr. O’Shaughnessy, you have a visitor. Mr. Foster Graham is here to see you.”

Foster.

He’d forgotten about the spectacle he’d made of himself in front of everyone and that he’d punched his friend. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t used his fists before, but Foster was the only person Dare had ever called friend and he probably blew that. “Let him in.”

He placed his coffee cup on the night stand and scooted off the bed. He only wore his pajama bottoms. He walked into the closet and found an undershirt to throw on. He wasn’t sure what he would say to his friend to smooth things over, but apparently, Foster didn’t have talking in mind when he entered the living room.

“Foster—”

The blond man advanced on him and threw his fist which connected with the side of Dare’s face. “You son of a bitch! What the fuck has gotten in to you?”

Dare’s head snapped back from the impact. While he certainly expected Foster to be upset over what had happened, he was surprised it was to this extent. Foster was, normally, one of the most laid back people he knew. It took Dare by surprise to witness this level of rage in Foster.

Instinct told Dare to retaliate and he even balled his fists at his sides but then unclenched them with a sigh. His friend deserved this bit of revenge. He winced as he touched his face. He’d have to apply some healing balm soon or he’d develop a very noticeable black eye. “I don’t know.” He plopped down on the nearest chair and raked his fingers through his hair with a frustrated sigh.

“Well, you better fucking know!” Foster stormed over to Dare with fists raised.

“I allowed you the first one because I had that coming, but if you try it again, I will retaliate.”

“Then stand up and let’s do this,” Foster goaded.

“Foster, I don’t want to fight you and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to fight me, either.”

“Like hell I don’t. You made a fool of me at the ball by blind-siding me and storming off before I could get back on my feet. You’ve been acting like a major asshole lately, more so than you usually do and I’ve had enough. Now get up so we can settle this!”

“Would it make any difference if I said…if I said I was sorry?” He was so out of practice apologizing that the word seemed foreign on his tongue.

His apology seemed to catch Foster off guard. “What?”

“I said, ‘I’m sorry’. I was out of line for what I did and you have every right to want to beat me to a pulp. I’d do the same if our roles were reversed. I saw you flirting with her and the way you held her, I just lost it.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. We were just dancing in a room full of people. What exactly did you think would happen?”

“When one acts irrationally, there is no room for rational thinking.” Dare fingered the side of his face again and grimaced. “Are you going to keep hovering over me or are you going to have a seat?”

Foster scowled. “I should kick your ass.”

“But you won’t.” Already Foster had lost some of the rage that had fueled his initial attack.

“Fuck you.”

“I’ll pass.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Since you’ve gone through the trouble of tracking me down here, you might as well have a seat. It’s kind of early but if you’d like, I can fix you a drink.”

Foster shot him another glare before taking a seat on the sofa across from where Dare sat. “You better get something for that eye. It’s starting to swell,” he noted, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction.

“Yes, I will. You don’t seem much worse for the wear.”

Foster shrugged. “I got medical attention right away. My lip was pretty swollen and you broke my tooth. Going to get it fixed early in the morning wasn’t fun. Still aches a bit.”

“Foster, I’m sorry.”

A dark blond brow shot up. “Who are you and what have you done with Alasdair O’Shaughnessy? The Dare I know, never apologizes.”

“I deserved that. I’m not exactly proud of what I did. I’m not exactly happy with my conduct of late at all.”

“At the risk of another attack, is it because of Aya?”

The sound of her name on another man’s lips had Dare ready to jump out of his chair, but that was the kind of behavior that had gotten him to his point in the first place. “There’s been nothing but her since I saw her. I wanted her but she rejected me, so I took her anyway.”

“Why did you make her go through The Run? You rigged it, didn’t you? I’ve been trying to figure out how you’d gotten to her before anyone else had.”

Dare nodded. “I did, but you know how the game works. You’ve gotten coordinates on girls you’ve wanted before. But that part doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

“I guess not, which brings me back to the question. Why did you do this to her?”

“To punish her. I felt…helpless. There she was, a Dreg, telling me no, saying I couldn’t have her as if she had all the power and I had none. So I wanted to show her and I did. The strong always prevail over the weak. But turns out, she wasn’t so weak.”

“You have it bad for her, don’t you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where is she now? You didn’t hurt her did you?”

Dare cupped his hands over his forehead. He wanted to be offended that his friend thought him physically capable of abusing someone much smaller than him. But he’d done so many other bad things, he couldn’t exactly blame him. “Not in the way you think.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s still sleeping. She’ll probably be out for another few hours.”

Foster frowned. “What did you do to her?”

“None of your damn business. But she’s still intact, if that’s what you’re wondering, at least physically she is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’ve really fucked things up and for once, I’m not sure how to fix it.”

“I see.” The way he said it suggested he didn’t understand at all, but thankfully, he didn’t pursue that line of questioning. “Dare, I guess it’s my turn to confess. I saw how you couldn’t tear your eyes away from her when you danced together, but who could blame you? She’s a beautiful woman. But I got the sense that there was more to it than that, and I kind of wanted to get back at you for the way you’ve been acting lately, so I knew exactly what I was doing when I took her on the dance floor.”

“I knew you were goading me. It’s partially why I hit you.”

“I shouldn’t have done it. Look, we’ve danced around the subject but you have refused to talk about it. I think it’s time.”

Dare immediately knew where this conversation was headed and he didn’t like it one bit. He stood up. “No. You’re not going to do this to me today.”

“It’s time you talked about it. You can’t pretend he never existed.”

It was pretty hard to pretend that son of a bitch never existed when he still haunted Dare every single day of his life but that didn’t mean he wanted to talk about it. “Drop it, Foster. I don’t need you delving into my past.”

“I’m your friend and, even though you don’t deserve it most of the time, I do actually care. Your father—”

“I said I didn’t fucking want to talk about it,” Dare roared.

Foster jumped to his feet as well. “Tough! He’s the reason why you have this bullshit weak versus strong mentality. It’s why you treat people like shit, because you think it makes you weak to appear human. It’s why you destroyed Aya’s life because you couldn’t get your way. It’s okay to admit that you’re not perfect, that you have flaws. You can’t be strong all the time.”

“Yes, I can!” Dare closed the gap between them and grabbed Foster by the collar. “How can you stand here and talk like you fucking know what I went through based on a few incidents you happened to observe? That was only the tip of the iceberg. That son of a bitch took everything away from me. He would have taken you away if it weren’t for your father’s business connections to him. If I showed an interest in anything, he destroyed it because he could. But now, I’m on top and if I don’t want to fucking talk about it then I won’t!“

Foster threw Dare off of him. “Why? Are you scared that if you talk about it, that somehow reflects on you that he was unstable? Is that what it is? Do you think people will start whispering about your mental health like they did his?”

“I said enough!” He pushed Foster.

Foster pushed him back. “No! I have been silent for years. I’ve watched you push yourself. You built on your father’s empire, tripled it. You own most of this town, but it still isn’t enough for you. You need people to be scared of you because you don’t want them to think you’re crazy like him. But guess what? They already do. They’re just too scared to say anything about it to you because they’re afraid you’ll destroy their lives just like you did that poor woman’s.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the bedroom and froze.

Rage simmered at the surface threatening to boil over, but the look in Foster’s eyes prevented Dare from acting on it. He turned to see what Foster was staring at. Standing in the doorway of the bedroom wrapped in nothing but a sheet was Aya. Her eyes widened as soon as their gazes met but, she turned around and disappeared in the room.

Now she knew.

“I’m sorry, Dare. I didn’t know she’d wake up.”

Dare could have been punched in the gut and it wouldn’t have deflated him like seeing that look of fear in her eyes. “Yes, but you pushed the issue anyway.”

“Maybe you’re right. This probably wasn’t the most appropriate time to bring it up and I apologize for that but it doesn’t mean that you don’t eventually have to deal with it yourself. And you better do something about it fast before you let it consume you…and her.”

Aya rushed back into the room and rolled back onto the bed. She surprisingly didn’t feel the pain she thought she would after what she’d gone through the night before. Aya did, however, still feel a little sore between her legs. To her surprise, she didn’t feel sticky or wet between her legs as she expected she would. He must have cleaned her up when she was sleeping.

She didn’t mean to eavesdrop on the intense conversation that was going on but when she woke up, her throat was so dry it was hard to swallow and it ached. She needed water.

Was Dare mentally unstable? He didn’t seem like it but maybe he was good at pretending he was okay. There were moments last night when she thought he was indeed insane. And then, there was the moment when he’d taken exception to her calling him crazy. It was quite possible she’d hit a nerve, but she couldn’t imagine why it would be a source of shame for him. It was something most people hid, because once it was even implied that someone in her class was mentally unstable, they were considered unemployable and then shunned. Most of them ended up homeless or taking a suicide pill causing their lifeless bodies to be found in the streets.

Aya wasn’t sure how it worked among the Elite because they had access to the drugs and care needed to monitor their conditions. Even with the proper medical treatment, Aya could imagine it still couldn’t be easy.