Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The time for truth was now. “Ainsley.” Dare dipped his chin and narrowed his eyes at her, willing her to come clean. “I need you to tell me what’s going on.”

She licked her lips, her shoulders curling inward. “It’s nothing, really. I?—”

“I know about Joel.”

She flinched slightly, her gaze dropping away. Still, she didn’t say a word, and the silence grated on Dare’s frayed nerves. “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

She needed help and, quite frankly, he didn’t give a damn if he hurt her feelings as long as she was safe. “Did he come after you? Is that why you came back here?”

With a heavy sigh, she turned back toward him and met his eyes. “I’m not sure.”

Her fingers curled into the hem of her shirt, nervously twisting the material as she spoke. “I never actually saw him, but… I have good reason to believe it was him.”

Striving for patience, Dare nodded slowly. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

“I…” She swallowed hard, her gaze dropping to the table. “We met in college. He got an offer in Minneapolis and… I followed him. After we moved, things changed. He didn’t want me to go to school or work. Wouldn’t let me have a car or cell phone. One day…”

Her breath hitched, and Dare’s hand curled into a fist.

Her gaze darted up to him before sliding away again, and she licked her lips. “I… couldn’t stand it anymore, and I left. Tess called an Uber for me, and I went to her place. That’s when she let me borrow her mother’s car.”

Her eyes glazed with tears at the mention of Tess, and she hastily swiped them away. “I couldn’t stay there. I didn’t want to put her at risk.”

Her voice cracked at that, sending a pang of regret through Dare’s chest. He was sorely tempted to stop her, but she continued. “I drove until I found a small town in the middle of nowhere. I asked around and found a bar looking for a waitress. Marv, the owner there, let me move into the apartment over the bar.”

Her expression tightened a fraction as she continued, “Everything was fine at first. Then I started having these feelings like I was being watched. That night at the bar… I knew he was there. I knew he’d found me. So I did the only thing I could think of and came here.”

Dare remained quiet, taking a moment to process everything. Where was the asshole now? And when would he show up? Because Dare had watched this same situation play out time and time again. It wasn’t a matter of whether Joel would come looking for her, but when.

Apparently he’d been quiet far too long, because she bit her lip and pushed back her chair.

“I’m really sorry.” She swallowed hard as she stood and threw an apologetic glance his way. “I’ll understand completely if you don’t want me to stay.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” It was evidently the wrong thing to say, because Ainsley’s eyes flared with fear and she pulled back a bit. He quickly amended his statement to allay her anxiety. “You’re safer here than you will be anywhere else. He didn’t follow you, did he?”

Ainsley shook her head and some of the tension melted from her body. “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t see any familiar cars behind me.”

“Is he dangerous?”

“He’s a little… protective.”

Dare raised an eyebrow at that. Typically, protective was code for possessive. Some men went crazy when their women left, taking a personal affront to it, and it sounded like her ex was just that type. The asshole was pissed that she’d left, and he’d resorted to intimidation tactics, hoping to scare her into coming back. Her behavior made complete sense now.

“Are your things still at his house?”

Ainsley shook her head. “I took what I needed. I don’t want anything else from him.”

“Ainsley—”

“No.” She drew in a deep breath. “He liked to buy me things. After… After we fought.”

Dare briefly closed his eyes as pure, unadulterated rage washed over him. Oblivious to his inner turmoil, Ainsley spoke, her voice soft. “I sold off some of the designer stuff and hid the money away. I did that for about a year and a half. I was so scared he’d find out, but I had to do it. It was better than the alternative. And it wasn’t much, maybe a couple thousand dollars. Just enough so that I could get away.”

A sudden calm descended over him. Those things were better left in the past. Dare would buy her whatever she needed, use every connection he’d ever made to ensure she never had to go through something like this ever again.

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to know the answer, but the words slipped out before he could stop them. “What made you leave?”

She was silent for so long he thought she might not answer him. Finally, she sighed. “The very last argument we had was over a pair of pants. He was looking for a specific pair of dress slacks, but they were still in the laundry. I was trying to hold off until I had a full load to wash so it wouldn’t be wasteful, but he would’ve been upset either way, I guess.”

She shrugged nonchalantly, but the torment in her eyes tore at his soul. “But that morning after breakfast he went upstairs to get dressed and couldn’t find them. He flipped out, started screaming and throwing things…”

Her voice trailed off, and Dare studied her as her gaze took on a faraway quality. Her hands ran briskly over her arms to ward off the goosebumps that had popped up at the memory. A wave of fury threatened to consume him, beaten back only by Ainsley’s soft voice as she continued.

“After he left, I cleaned up the mess and showered. I got dressed, packed a small bag of clothes, and reached out to Tess.”

She picked at her thumbnail. “I even made his favorite dinner before I left so he wouldn’t think anything was out of the ordinary when he got home. I wanted to put him off until the last possible moment. I thought I’d gotten away with it… Until I found the roses in the apartment.”

At Dare’s questioning glance, she elaborated. “He always brought home red roses after a fight.”

Dare barely repressed a groan. The roses. No fucking wonder she’d looked terrified when he’d shown up with them. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea. No wonder you threw them away.”

She blushed furiously. “I’m sorry. I?—”

“No need to apologize.” He held up a hand to stall her. “Lesson learned. No more roses.”

She offered a little smile, but it slipped away again almost immediately. “It was late when I finished my shift, around 3 or so, when I went up to the apartment and saw a huge bouquet sitting on the counter. I didn’t even go inside. I just hopped in the car, stopped at a WalMart on the way, and… came here.”

“You’ll be safe here, I promise. I won’t let him bother you.”

Ainsley searched his eyes as if weighing his words. Finally, she nodded. “Thanks.”

Dare nodded. “Speaking of, we should go back and get your stuff soon so you have it.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” she replied. “Marv will keep an eye on the place and let me know when it’s safe to come back and get my things.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “ We can go when you’re ready. You’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you go alone.”

She flushed. “You really don’t have to do all this. It’s… too much.”

The woman triggered every one of his protective instincts and Dare fought the urge to pull her into his arms. “No, Ainsley, I really do. You deserve to be taken care of, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”