“You stay the fuck away from her,” my rescuer growls out, rage dripping in his tone. “You don’t touch her, you don’t even fucking look at her. Got it?” The person lets go of Ian and he scrambles to his feet, bloody and bruised.
“Fine, you can fucking have her. Jeez,” Hicks says as he stumbles away.
My rescuer steps closer and a hand finds its way to my cheek, and I startle at the contact. “Shh it’s okay, it’s me, Reg.” Wait, I know that voice. I open my eyes as thumbs wipe away my tears, and my vision clears—Dean.
My Dean.
He’s the one who saved me. We’re still working through our shit, and he stepped in when it mattered most.
“It’s okay. I’m here, he’s gone,” he says, his voice so gentle.
I throw myself into his warm chest and wrap my arms around his waist. Safe. I'm safe. Here in his arms—I’m safe.
It takes him a second, then he wraps his arms around me and brings the side of his face against the crown of my head. He gives me a kiss, and I melt further into him, not wanting to let go. I don’t care what Ian said about the blackmail, all that doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s here.
“Thank you,” I say into his chest. I look up at him, his green eyes full of warmth. “How did you know…” I trail off, looking over my shoulder toward the party, where no one noticed anything was wrong or heard me scream.
“I didn’t. I went down the wrong way and saw Hicks and you and…” He stops and takes a shaky breath. “I saw red, and before I knew it, I was punching him in the face.”
“If it hadn’t been for you, I don’t know what would’ve happened.” Looking down at my shoes, my whole body begins to tremble, coming down from the adrenaline.
“Come on, I’ll walk you back to your place.” He laces his fingers through mine and leads me down the row. I keep replaying everything that happened. Feeling so helpless as Hicks had me pinned, how he touched me, Dean stepping in. It’s a lot to process, and I don’t want Dad to see me like this.
I freeze in my tracks, pulling on Dean’s hand to make him stop walking. He seems confused as to why I’ve stopped.
“What is it? You okay?”
“No. No, I’m not. Can we go back to your place? I can’t face my dad right now.”
“Of course.” Without hesitation, he leads me back to his small RV. When he closes the door, I sit at the dinette, and he hands me a bottle of water. I try my best to open it to take a sip, but my hands are shaking too much.
Dean takes my hand again and sits next to me. “It’s okay, you’re safe now. Nothing can happen to you.” His tone is soft. The tears build back up behind my eyes and fall down my cheeks. Pulling me into his chest and wrapping his arms around me, he allows me to just cry, to feel all the emotions without judgement. I cry and wail until I have no tears left. I pull away and notice I’ve left a wet spot on his shirt.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry all over you.” Dean hands me a tissue to help wipe away the remaining tears.
“It’s okay. You can cry on me all you want.”
I sniff and grab another tissue. “I think everyone knows.”
Dean’s brows knit together. “Everyone knows what?”
“That we are, well,were,sleeping together. That’s what Ian implied, anyway. And that he was blackmailing you to keep the secret that Taylor screwed up for him. He said he ‘wanted in on the action’. That he would take it easy on me, like you, so I can get into Cup.”
Dean’s fists clench into a ball and then he releases them,fingers still twitching slightly. This is part of what I wanted to avoid in the first place. Being discredited for my talents because of who my dad is or who I’m sleeping with. I want to be seen just like any other racecar driver, for my talent. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Can I still have that and be with Dean?
“Regan, look at me.” He takes my quivering chin in his hand so I can look at him. “I didn’t tell anyone anything. I think people have been able to put the pieces together. I did tell Chase, but I know he won’t say anything. What Hicks said isn’t true, about me racing you differently. I have to fight twice as hard to even be in the realm of your talent.” I sniff again, wiping my nose with a tissue, taking in his words, his truth. My heart is swelling so much inside my chest, I fear it may burst at his confession.
“Let people who are jealous of you think whatever the fuck they want. Prove your skill out on that track every fucking time. Know that they will never come close to matching you.”
Casting his eyes down, he takes another breath before speaking again. I want to cut in, but it seems he needs to get all of this out before he combusts.
“As for the blackmail, that part is true. I was still so scared to have you find out about that mistake that I let Ian take advantage of it. I’m still so sorry that I didn’t tell you. I should have, and that’s on me. And as much as I want a second chance, a second chance at us, I’d understand if you didn’t want to give me one.”
More tears flow and he just continues to wipe them from my cheeks. This time, it isn’t from sadness or fear, but gratitude. And by the look in his perfect green eyes, he truly believes it with every fiber of his being. That he’d be willing to let me go if that’s what I wanted, even if it tore him apart.
“You really believe all that,” I say. A statement, not a question. “Then why fight with me all this time? Why feed into your playboy image?”
“Because I knew I was never going to be as good as you, and wanted to make you an enemy and not a friend. I liked that lifestyle at first, then after Daniel’s death, it was a way to keep everyone at arm’s length. Now…”
