Saving Dallas 2 Making the Cut (4 page)

“I’ll call her. She can come over and fill me
in. I want you to leave. I want you out of my life and out of my
business. I know what you are going to say, but I don’t want to
hear it. I have had enough of this shit with you. I don’t need
anything else. I want my dog and you can leave the box that
contains my information. I don’t see where it’s any concern to you
anymore. You don’t have to tell Kirkley anything. I’ll call him
myself and fill him in. When Red comes, you can send my dog with
her.”

With that, I turned on my heel and headed to
my room, leaving Luke standing in my kitchen, his face
impassive.

“Dallas,” Luke started. I threw my hand up in
the air, letting him know this conversation was over. I walked in
my room and shut the door then lay down on my bed, smothering my
face in the comforter. I’m not sure how much time passed before I
heard the rumble of Luke’s pipes as he headed out. My stomach
twisted when the realization hit me that he was really gone. He
never tried to talk to me, other than saying my name. I would be
lying if I said I hadn’t expected him to come into my room and try
to talk to me. I would be a bigger liar if I said it wasn’t exactly
what I wanted. Oh well, sometimes life was a hard knock. I set my
emotions aside and went to get dressed. I could cry about life
later, right now, I had shit to do.

After my makeup was on, my hair was fixed and
I was dressed in a pair of black Armani palazzo pants with a sage
green, satin sleeveless top and a pair of black, thin heeled Jimmy
Choo’s, I located my purse and cell phone and called Dr.
Yarborough. He answered in a very cheerful voice, and I got an
eerie feeling that he knew who it was before he answered.

“Ms. Knox. How are you feeling?” he asked in
his smooth voice. Doctors had a way of making you feel extremely
inferior or comfortable. I was happy it was the latter.

“Call me Dallas, please. I am feeling much
better,” I said in my I’m-the-CEO
of-a-multimillion-dollar-corporation-and-I-think-my-shit-don’t-stink
voice.

“Well, that’s wonderful news. Were you just
calling to check in or can I help you with something?” he asked,
his voice turning silky and I could have sworn he was attempting to
flirt with me. Not a chance in hell, doc.

“Yes sir, actually, a little bit of both. I
was hoping to find out if you could narrow down the time for me, so
that I could re-cap my surroundings and see if I could get to the
bottom of what happened.”

“Well, everyone is different. Your body might
have processed it faster due to the alcohol you consumed with it.
The best I can give you is about an hour before you started feeling
the symptoms, at the most two.”

Fucking Tammy.

“Are you sure about that, doc? I mean, on a
scale from one to ten, ten being the most sure, where are you at?”
I was back to sounding like Dallas Knox, property of LLC. Fuck.

“I would give it a ten, Dallas. There is no
way it could have been in your system any longer and you not have
known. You could have begun feeling the symptoms immediately. But,
my professional opinion is at most, two hours before.”

I stared at my feet, my head in one hand and
my phone in the other. I was sitting in the living room and if I
were standing, I probably would have passed out. I hung up the
phone without saying goodbye and leaned back on the couch. My pulse
was quickening, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I thought
back on the events of that night. I had only had one drink with
Tammy. I had also had one drink with Stacy.

Bile rose in my throat as I reached for the
phone and called Luke. Maybe I had misunderstood him. Luke had
acted like he didn’t know who Stacy was when I told him I was going
to Tupelo and he worked there at the Abbey where I was staying.

“Dallas,” Luke’s clipped tone came through
the receiver and it was like another dagger to my heart. I sat
there for a second trying to remember why I called him in the first
place. For weeks, Luke had answered my phone call with a “babe” and
a smile in his voice. I never thought I would miss his endearments
so much. “Hello,” Luke repeated, sounding a little more anxious.
Maybe I should tell him I heard something so he would come back.
Shit! I was such a pathetic idiot!

“Luke,” I started, managing to find my voice
although it was a little more breathy than I intended. I cleared my
throat and continued, “Who did you say would get that land if
something happened to me?” I sat on the couch holding my
breath.

“Stacy,” Luke stated. I let out the breath I
had been holding and took another deep one.

“You acted like you didn’t know him when I
mentioned him working at the Abbey,” I said, still hoping that this
was all a misunderstanding.

“I don’t know him. I only know his name. I
assumed that he lived in Georgia.” I could tell Luke was getting
curious as to why I was asking.

“Okay, thanks,” I replied and quickly hung
up. I didn’t need him questioning me on this and his voice made me
quiver-in a way I had no business quivering.

I would deal with Stacy later. Next, I needed
to change the code on my gate. I grabbed the pamphlet from a drawer
in the kitchen and called the number on the back. The lady informed
me that I would just have to key in a generic code, and then key in
the code I wanted as my new one. They would cancel the old one,
letting the generic four zero code be the temporary password until
I programmed it myself. Step two-done.

As soon as I hung up, Red called letting me
know that she was on her way. That gave me about thirty minutes to
figure out what in the hell I was going to do about everything
else. My phone rang once again and I looked down to see Luke
calling. I started to not answer, but who was I kidding? I wanted
to hear his voice. I missed him already. Apparently my hard shell
had a few cracks in it. I answered the phone in the bitchiest voice
I could manage and with a simple, “Yeah.” Luke ignored my bitchy
response.

“Hey, babe. I was wondering if you wanted me
to send a couple guys over there to bury the rest of that barn. I
looked this morning and it seems there aren’t any lines running
under it. It shouldn’t be a problem and will only take a couple of
hours.” Fuck me. Why did he have to be so nice? And why was he
calling me babe? I walked to the back door and noticed that the
large heap of burnt tin and wood was a grotesque sight, and an even
worse reminder.

“That would be great,” I said, thoughts of
Frankie tying me up and touching me invading my thoughts and
causing me to involuntarily squint my eyes shut and steady my
breathing.

“You okay, darlin’?” Luke asked me softly.
All the fight in him seemed to be gone. I needed him, but I
wouldn’t succumb to this shit again. “I’m fine. Red will be here
soon. I’ll call you later if I have any questions.” I hung up the
phone on him, again, before he could respond. I took another look
outside, and this time my eyes were on the pool. What the hell. I
didn’t need an expensive outfit to express my bitch persona. A
bikini would do.

I changed into a black, barely there,
strapless bikini and wrapped a beach towel around my waist. I
grabbed some flip flops from the closet and headed out to the pool.
The October air was thick and humid and at noon, the temperature
was already in the eighties. The weather here was so unpredictable.
We could have a frost by the end of the week. I decided to take the
small hike down to the gate and re-program it.

As luck would have it, Red showed up at the
exact same time, and I was able to try it out on her. Of course, I
shielded it from her view-or so I thought. I jumped in the sleek,
black Mustang that Red drove and rode with her back to the house.
She hadn’t said anything other than, “Get in and I’ll give you a
ride.” Red looked stunning, as always, in a pair of cut-off shorts
and an orange tank top. I could see the strings of her bikini
peeking out the top of her shirt and I smiled to myself. Red was
planning to make herself at home and I liked it. I studied her
profile as she drove us down the winding driveway to the house. Her
long black lashes were curled perfectly around her large brown
eyes. Her red hair was piled high on her head in a messy bun and
her flawless, tanned skin seemed to glow in the sunlight.
Beautiful.

“What?” she asked, making me jump. I was so
engrossed in her looks that I didn’t even think about what an idiot
I looked like for gawking at her. “I mean, I know I look good and
all, but damn,” she said turning to smirk at me. She had been
around Luke too long.

“Thanks for coming,” I said looking at my
hands.

“Hey, no problem. I like being in the middle
of shit. Especially, when it’s Luke’s shit,” she said winking. I
smiled and shook my head. It would probably be best if I didn’t ask
her to elaborate.

She pulled the car under the porch and it was
then I realized that she didn’t have Neo.

“Where’s my dog?” I asked looking in the
backseat like he might be there.

“You think that I would put that thing in my
car?” she asked, looking at me like I was covered in warts.
“Besides, he’s taken a liking to the club house. The guys want to
nickname him, Devil.” Shit. Well, there goes my damn dog. Just like
a man.

I led Red into the house, stopping in the
kitchen to grab a drink. “You might as well mix us up something
with some alcohol,” Red said, throwing herself onto one of the bar
stools and thumbing through the box that Luke left. “The more I
drink, the better I remember shit and the more you drink, the
better you will handle it. I suggest vodka.”

I just stared at her with my practiced
impassive face. Fuck. This was going to suck. I pulled out the
bottle of vodka from the freezer, then located a couple of cans of
Red Bull and made us drinks.

“You wanna lay out?” I asked, gesturing with
my hand to her bikini straps peeking out the top of her tank.

Red looked to her shoulder, to see what I was
referring to and smiled, “I was hoping to.”

I smiled back and then walked out the back
door with her on my heels. For some reason this was slightly
awkward, yet Red seemed completely at ease. I guess she should,
considering it wasn’t her world that was about to come crashing
down.

The long, covered patio that ran the length
of the house was covered in potted plants, some hanging, some on
the floor in pots and some on tables that were scattered throughout
the porch. The concrete area around the pool was littered with lawn
chairs to suit anyone’s desire. Red chose a set of Balencia chaise
lounges with a side table in the middle of them. I took off my
towel and laid down, grabbing a pair of shades off the table and
placing them over my eyes. Not only would they shield the light,
but also help hide my feelings when she dropped the bomb.

“So, where do you want me to start?” I looked
at her, completely relaxed, lounging in a chair in a skimpy bikini
like she didn’t have a care in the world. That was the easiest
question that I had answered all day.

“From the beginning.”

Chapter 2

RED

I about shit my pants when Luke called me a
few hours ago and told me I was up. I knew this day would come. The
day that I would have to tell Dallas Knox the truth. I secretly
hoped that Luke would do it, but deep down I knew that Dallas
couldn’t handle the truth from him, nor would he be able to handle
her when she lost her shit. Now, here I sit, at her house, by her
pool, in my Victoria’s Secret bikini that Regg had yet to see me
in. On the outside, I knew I looked like I had it together. Dallas
was probably wondering why I was so at ease. Little did she know, I
was as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
This was not unusual though. I had managed to perfect this over the
years. Being an ol’ Lady in an MC taught you how to deal with shit.
No one ever knew what I was truly feeling. I didn’t want anyone
mistaking my nervousness for weakness and in the life I lived,
weakness could get your ass beat, or worse, take your pride. MC’s
had a way of making you a better person. I was lost before I met
Regg and with help from him and my MC family, I was better than I
had ever been. I loved this life, but at times like this-it fucking
sucked. I looked over at Dallas and I smiled to myself as I watched
her try, and fail, to be nonchalant about the situation. She was
the epitome of female perfection. Considering Luke was the epitome
of male perfection, they were perfect together. She was broken. I
knew it when I first saw her, but on the outside, she had her shit
together-that’s how I knew she could handle the truth and this
life. Her long brown hair was piled high on her head, much like
mine. Her skin was a golden tan-the color you get from sunning and
tanning beds, yet it was flawless without the slightest hint of it
ever being exposed to the sun. My skin was tan, but I had to work
hard to get it this way and use a bottle a week of moisturizer just
to keep from looking like leather. Lucky bitch. I would have to get
her secret. Everything about her was perfect. From her perfectly
shaped nose to her perfectly pedicured toes-she was gorgeous. I
hated her. Not really, but in a sense, it felt good to think.
Dallas had just informed me that she wanted me to start from the
beginning. Great. I drained my glass of vodka and Red Bull, which
was no easy task, and watched as Dallas followed suit, then stood
grabbing our glasses and headed inside. I didn’t need to ask. I
knew she was going for refills. I looked around the yard and over
to the area where the barn once stood. Luke chewed my ass for
letting her out of my sights, but I thought her burning it down was
good therapy. But, then again, I loved to burn shit myself. It gave
you a sense of power.

Dallas returned and I watched as she handed
me a full glass, sat down and took a deep breath. She was ready.
Damn. I had a plan though. With a little bit of luck and a whole
lot of vodka, maybe I could convince Dallas to follow my plan and
if she did, it would save her once again, and give Luke the
happiness he deserved.