CHAPTER FOURTEEN TABATHA

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TABATHA

My heart pounds in my chest and my body trembles. I gasp, trying to catch my breath.

"You sure know how to stroke a man's ego," Dash's voice whispers into my ear as his hand slides between our bodies and his fingers find my clit. I gasp as he starts to massage it. He chuckles as he buries his face deeper into my neck.

I arch my back, allowing him better access, as I suck in another breath. "You're the one doing all the work," I pant as his body lies on top of mine.

I feel him smile against my neck. I let out a shriek as he rolls over and pulls me on top of him. He looks up at me with a smirk on his face. A few strands of dark hair stick to his slick forehead. "You can have all the control you want, darling." I'm momentarily paralyzed as his light gray eyes stare up into mine. The morning light coming in through the window makes them sparkle. The smirk grows across his face as he places his hands behind his head. Arrogant bastard. He knows what he does to me when he looks at me like that. Like I'm the only woman in the world. Like neither one of us has a past. Like we're not hiding from the present. I don't know what our future holds, but at this moment, it goes on forever.

I run my hands up his smooth and hard chest, the sweat from our bodies making it slippery. I want to taste him in every way. To the point that it may make me sound somewhat insane. Leaning down, I place my lips on his chest and give him a soft kiss. I continue giving him soft kisses as I slide my body down his.

He lifts his hips and he lets out a deep growl as I wrap my fingers around the base of his dick. I wet my lips and lower my mouth over him as his hands find their way into my hair. So much for being in charge. I don't mind it, though. He can have all the control over me that he wants.

He moans as I pull him to the back of my throat. I let out a noise of my own when I taste myself on him. As I go to pull up, his hands in my hair grip me tighter and he lifts his hips, pushing deeper into my mouth. I try to fight the urge to pull back, to fight his control. He's not Rodger, I tell myself.

"Fuck…Oh…" I run my eyes up his body lying on the white sheets. His stomach muscles clench and his chest rises and falls quickly. His head is thrown back, his jaw tight, as he sucks in breaths through clenched teeth. It's a sight to see—how I allow him to take pleasure from me the way he wants. I relax, allowing him to have his way with my mouth as I just allowed him to have my body.

I take him as deep and as fast as he wants to go. And he wants it fast. He doesn't let up. My jaw is sore and my cheeks hurt, but it's worth it. Anything is worth hearing that man come with my name on his lips.

Once he's finished, he releases my hair and I pull away from him with a satisfied smile on my face. He grabs me by the shoulders and throws me down beside him. "You're amazing," he breathes as he pushes some hair off my face.

I take a deep breath. "Not so bad yourself," I tease.

His smile widens. "So much for stroking my ego," he mumbles.

I arch an eyebrow. "I think I've stroked enough," I respond, as his bedroom fills with his laughter.

I open my eyes and look at myself in the mirror. I have streaks running down my face from the tears I've cried in the last hour. It's crazy how that memory was from just this morning. We were lying in his bed laughing as we were getting ready for round two. Now I'm standing in the restroom at the hospital waiting to see if he's gonna be okay.

Dash crashed! It happened so fast that it didn't register at first. He was riding along on the track after our talk. I had almost left him. I was so pissed at the fact that he was keeping some serious secrets from me. Hell, I thought that Valerie was telling the truth and that she was indeed his girlfriend. My father even believed her and acted like he knew her. But after talking to him, I believed him. He wanted to explain and I needed to know the truth. So, he jumped back on his bike and went to finish his practice run.

"Where were you?" my father asks as I walk back up to him and Valerie standing by the track. He's not being nosy just truly wondering where I had disappeared off to for the last few minutes.

"I was looking for something in my car," I lie not taking my eyes off the track.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

I pull my eyes away from the track to look over at Valerie. Her voice was hard and somewhat sarcastic. "Yes, I did," I reply with a bitchy smile. Her jaw tightens, and she huffs out a puff of air. I would give anything to look her in the eyes right now, but we both have on sunglasses.

"We'll see about that," she mumbles.

"Excuse me?" I ask taking a step toward her. She goes to open her mouth, but that's when I hear it. A sound you can't miss. A sound of metal and plastic skidding across asphalt.

As I turn to look over the track, my father takes off running. My eyes catch sight of Dash picking himself up off the ground. He stumbles around as he takes off his helmet. Then my heart stops as he falls to his knees, then lies down on the track.

The door opens to the bathroom, and I wipe the tears from my face. I don't wanna face my father like this. I need to look concerned for Dash but not over-the-top, bawling-my-eyes-out girlfriend status. That would send up red flags.

I take a deep breath and try to calm my shaking hands before I walk out of the bathroom. I straighten my DASH shirt and pull down my jean shorts. Have you ever noticed how freaking loud a hospital is? I mean, you have machines beeping, and you have nurses and doctors paged over the intercom. It's crazy busy. And cold as ice.

I wrap my arms around myself as I make my way back to the waiting room. I come to an abrupt stop when I see Dash's ex, Valerie, hugging an older woman while an equally older man shakes my father's hand.

"What happened?" the woman asks as she pulls away from Valerie. Although she asks about him, her voice is calm and holds no concern.

Valerie wipes the black from her eyes before she responds. "We don't know. He just wrecked," she cries before the lady takes her back in her arms once again.

"Now. Now," she coos as she rubs her back. "It's gonna be okay." She pulls away and looks down to give her a soft smile. "You know how many times Erik has had to go to the hospital?"

It sounds weird for someone to call him Erik. He hates that name.

"I told him this was going to be dangerous," the older man says as he shakes his head looking down at the floor. Is this man his father?

The woman turns to him and gently places her hand on his shoulder. "He's a big boy, honey."

Big boy? Boy does that contradict itself.

Valerie looks up and notices me. I swear she actually smiles as she remembers that I'm here. "Mom," she says getting the woman's attention, "this is Tabatha."

Great! Her mother is here. She turns around to face me. She looks like a million bucks. No wrinkles. No blemishes. She reminds me of Rodger's mother, and I immediately don't like her. You can have work done and still be beautiful, but I know this type of woman. They're fake on the inside as well—cold and heartless.

"Hello, Tabatha," she says with a kind smile. She reaches out to shake my hand, but the smile drops off her face once her eyes land on DASH written in silver glitter across my shirt. "Where did you get that?" she asks pointing to my chest.

I stand there confused as everyone stares at me like I'm on trial. "I made it," I say barely above a whisper.

Her eyes narrow on me and her pouty lips thin. "Tabatha is my daughter," my father announces with a proud smile. He is totally oblivious to what is going on here, but I'm not. Does her mother think that Dash and Valerie are still together as well? God, this is gonna kill me.

"I see…" she mumbles before she turns, giving me her back, and speaks to Valerie. "Erik will be fine," she assures.

I bite my bottom lip; this is so awkward. "I called his parents," she announces to my father.

"Great. Are they on their way?" he asks.

She shakes her head. "I told them no need."

"Mother," Valerie admonishes.

She looks down at her daughter. "They are on a business trip. I told them that I would keep them informed once I know something."

Wow. And they said okay? What kind of parents doesn't come when their child is in the hospital? I don't care how old he is. He could be dying, for all we know.

Valerie's mother turns around to look at me once again and gives me a chilling smile. "I told them that he can stay with us."

I try to keep my face blank. This woman has already clued in to my feelings for Dash, and I don't want another problem for us.

"And they were okay with that?" my father asks, sounding just as surprised as I feel.

"Yes," the man answers him. "He stays with us all the time. It will be no different now."

I'm gonna puke! How much has Dash lied about? Stays with them all the time? He also knew that Dash was racing for my father. The guy has to be joking, right? He has to be.

"Tabatha?" I spin around when I hear my name shouted. I open up my arms the moment that I see Jackie running toward me with Blake by her side.

She clutches me in a death grip. "Oh, Tabatha. Is he gonna be okay?" Jackie cries.

"I think so," I say trying to be positive. But I'm not as optimistic as the bitch standing behind me. She didn't see it. And at this point, none of us know anything.

"What happened?" Blake asks as he pulls Jackie away from me.

I take a deep breath before I rehash the event that I saw take place in front of my eyes.