“Yes.”
The hurt in his eyes turns to anger.
He grabs his jacket and his keys.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“Dex, please, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
He stops at the doorway for a second, and I think he might turn around, but he doesn’t.
“I need to think. Tell Stephen to close up.”
Then he’s gone, the door shutting behind him as everything inside me gives out at once, and I collapse to the floor, barely registering the hands on my shoulders or the voices around me until I look up and find Penny, Cas, Summer, and Ethan there, and the embarrassment hits so hard it steals what little breath I have left.
“I’m so sorry,” I choke out.
Penny pulls me into a hug.
“You were running from someone?”
“I w was.”
“I never wanted to pull Dex into this, I swear…”
“Hey,” Penny says softly as she cups my face. “You were scared. You didn’t know who to trust. I get that. I’ve been there.”
“I’msosorry.”
Ethan pulls me into a hug.
“He’ll come back. You’ll figure it out.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I need to leave.”
They all go still.
“Russel Marks, my stepfather, he’s the president of the Black Nemesis MC.”
“Michael’s Legion’s biggest enemies,” Cas finishes.
I nod.
“I need to go. If they find me here, they’ll kill Dex.”
Cas’s expression hardens. “Your mother going to tell?”
“Yes.”
The word hurts.
“Come stay with us tonight,” Cas says. “We’ll figure it out.”
“I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“We can handle it,” Summer says.
