“Huh?” she says, giving me all the answer I need.

I return to his side in time to hear Riley say the one thing I didn’t want him to say. “Do you know why she bailed on our wedding? She said it was because she’d never love anyone the way she loved Max. If he was here today, it wouldn’t be you she’d be with. She will never love anyone more than him.”

Bullet one: aimed and fired.

Dash’s expression doesn’t change, but I know that bullet reached its mark.

“You left me for someone who can never even love you fully,” Vanessa adds, scoffing. “And does she know about all the times we spent alone since you’ve been with her? At your work, in your car? Or did you hide all that from her?”

I look at Dash to see if he denies it, but he says nothing.

Riley smirks in my direction.

Bullet two: aimed and fired.

Bullseye.

He spent time with her alone and didn’t mention it to me?

She was at his work?

“You’re going to be miserable for the rest of your life, Vanessa,” I say then look to Riley. “It was years ago, Riley. Get over it. And don’t act like you didn’t fuck the stripper at your bachelor party.”

I head for the door, because I’ve had enough drama for one night, thank you very much. Remembering Dash drove and I’ve had a few drinks, I walk across the road to the cab bay and get into the first one. I give the driver my address and watch Dash in the car park, looking around for me.

I hate that Vanessa and Riley won in the end, but they did.

Because now Dash and I have some talking to do.

*****

“You don’t just leave, Vi, so I’m left wondering where the hell you are!” he yells, pacing up and down my room.

“I just wanted to get out of there,” I say, watching him from my bed. “I sent you a message, and Summer too.”

He stops and looks at me. “Did you really say that about Max?”

I nod. “I did, but…”

But not in that context, and not in those exact words. Riley obviously twisted it, when that wasn’t what I’d meant at all.

“Did you really see Vanessa alone and not tell me about it?” I fire back at him, daring him to deny it.

“A few times, yes,” he admits, wincing. “She would show up at places, Vi. She came to my work; she came to my gym…it was all her. Only once I told her I’d meet her, because she was crying on the phone and I felt guilty as fuck that I don’t even give a shit about her!”

“You should have told me, Dash. Why didn’t you tell me about it? It makes it seem like you were hiding something,” I try to explain.

“Really, coming from Miss ‘I Was Engaged’? That’s rich. It’s always nice to hear your woman was almost married at the same time as everyone else in my life,” he growls, crossing his arms over his chest. “Real great communication skills we have here.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s not exactly my proudest moment,” I admit, hugging myself. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Let’s just go to bed,” he says, sliding in and facing away from me.

“I don’t want to go to bed angry,” I say into the darkness after he turns the side lamp off.

“Go to sleep,” he says, voice emotionless. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

I don’t sleep.

And we don’t talk in the morning.

Chapter Twenty

Dash

I wake up before Vi, feeling like a total dickhead over our fight. I was just so angry, and to be honest, a little worried that the things Riley said were true. If Max were here, would she have realised she loved him in a different way? Were they meant to be together? It shouldn’t matter, because he’s not here, but I want to be the one she chooses over anyone else, just like she is for me. I head out to buy some apology flowers and some breakfast for her, wanting to make things right.

Fuck Vanessa and Riley and their games.

I walk through the shopping centre, heading for the florist, when I see the store Vi always shops at. I casually glance in, thinking that maybe I could buy her a gift too, when I see him.

I freeze.

What the actual fuck?

The guy at the counter could be Max’s twin.

I stand there in shock for a few moments, taking in this man who looks so much like the friend I lost all that time ago.

It brings back old hurt, old memories, as I take in his every visible feature.

And then it all hits me.

The reason why she comes here multiple fucking times a week, just to be around a man who looks like her deceased best friend. She’s obsessed with him, and she always has been. Instead of entering the florist, I leave, my heart in my throat.

I will never be everything to her that she is to me.

Never.

*****

Viola

Dash doesn’t come back to my house, and his silence speaks louder than any action could.

He’s done with us, or he wants some time.

Either way, it hurts so damn much.

I spend the first day crying into a tub of ice-cream, the second cursing the day Vanessa and Riley were born. The third day, I cave and ring his phone, but it goes straight to voicemail.

Yeah, he doesn’t want to talk to me.

Dash stole my heart with one look into my eyes that day in the school hallways, and now, he is handing it back.

Without a word.

He’s just cutting me out.

Going ghost on me.

I couldn’t believe it.

I ring Sierra, who tells me Dash is fine, that he just needs some time.

Yeah, I had to hear it from his sister.

He’s right; our communication skills do need a shitload of work.

I bury myself in work as a distraction.

I keep my phone on me twenty-four seven.

After a week, still nothing.

My hope turns to bitterness.

He doesn’t want me? I’m not worth an explanation? After the amount of attention he gave Vanessa when he hurt her? She got all that, and I get nothing? Not even a courtesy phone call?

I’m not worth that to him?

Fine.

I was fine before him, and I’ll be fine without him now.

He may have stolen my heart like a thief in the night, but only I can reclaim it.

And I will.

*****

Our weekend getaway is in one week.

I don’t know what to do, because we already paid for everything. Should I just go alone? What if he doesn’t show up? What if he does?

When did everything get so complicated?

Summer, Taiya, Clara, and Trillian come to visit me, bringing wine and food.

I call Dash again.

Nothing.

*****

Dash

It’s two days before I’m meant to go away with Vi.

I sit at the bar, drinking scotch and listening to the jukebox as everyone talks around me.

“You’re an idiot,” Summer says, looking at me with a scowl on her face. “And a coward. You don’t just leave a woman with no explanation, Dash. I can’t believe you’d do something like this to the woman who is meant to be the love of your life!”

“If I wanted a lecture, Sum, I’d go visit my sisters,” I say, pretending that her low opinion of me doesn’t hurt. “She’ll never love me entirely. I’m going to be the next groom left at the aisle, because I’m not Max.”

Because no one is.

Summer rests her hand on my forearm. “Don’t go by other people’s words, Dash. Go by her actions. I didn’t know her before, but I do know from the moment she laid her eyes on you again, she’s looked at you the same way I look at Reid, like you hold the answer to everything. You’re my family, Dash, and I love you. I wouldn’t want you to be with a woman I didn’t think could make you happy, but lately, you’ve been the happiest I’ve ever seen you until now. Don’t lose that over some shit.” I swallow a mouthful of my drink and look Summer in the eye. “Do you love her?”

I nod. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then the rest is just details. You’re going to lose her, Dash. You need to go and talk to her, now.”