Saving Dallas Forever (Saving Dallas 3)

“I sent Joanna and Kylie to lunch. I hope you don’t mind.” I shook my head, watching, as he slowly made his way to stand directly in front of my desk. He was too close. I could feel the anger emanating from him as I breathed deeply through my nose, trying to control my racing heart. He smelled like leather, and dirt, and Luke.

“Wh-what brings you here?” I stuttered, mentally cursing myself for being so easily intimidated. Maybe he just missed me and was pissed because Joanna had come on to him or something.

“I just wanted to see how you were doing. I wanted to make sure you were staying out of trouble.” His eyes widened and his breath quickened as he spoke. Luke was fucking livid, and it was taking everything he had to keep himself in check.

“I’m good. You know, just work and stuff. Same ol’ shit, just a different day,” I said, with a small laugh, trying to convince him that I had been here since he had been gone.

“Really?” he asked, letting me know that he didn’t believe a word I was saying. I didn’t care. I would deny it to the bitter end.

“Mmm hmm.” I couldn’t speak. Hell, I couldn’t move in fear that he would snap my neck if I spoke the wrong words.

“So, that couldn’t have possibly been you that was seen boarding Charlie Lott’s plane yesterday evening?” Motherfucker. I was as good as dead.

“Uh-uh,” I responded, knowing I had been caught red-handed. Fuck, shit, dammit all to hell. I noticed the hold Luke had on each chair as he stood between them. His knuckles had turned white, and I was sure the expensive leather wouldn’t survive much longer under his grip. In a flash, Luke grabbed one of the chairs and threw it across the room, as he let out a deafening roar. I screamed and jumped back in my chair, gripping its arms, and sliding back until I hit the wall behind me, watching as the sheetrock crumbled under the weight of the heavy chair that Luke had thrown as if it weighed nothing.

“Why the fuck would you go to him?” Luke yelled loudly enough that I was sure the windows would shatter from the boom of his thunderous voice. I shook my head, scared of what would happen if Luke didn’t get his temper under control. Speak, Dallas! Say something! My subconscious screamed at me, but I couldn’t find my voice. “After every fucking thing he has done, you are just going to hop on a plane and fly across the country to see him?” Luke asked, or more like screamed, at me. He was now leaning over my desk, shouting at me, his voice coming out as a snarl.

“He gave his word,” I said weakly, wishing I had chosen to keep my mouth shut.

“I don’t give a fuck about his word!” Luke barked in my face, sending the papers flying off my desk with a flick of his hand. He came round closer, and I cringed under his approach.

“Luke, you are scaring me,” I said, trying to force my chair back further, but going nowhere.

“You need to be scared,” he said, his voice a low growl, as he gripped the arms of my chair and brought his face frighteningly close to mine. His deep breaths flowed from his flaring nostrils. He looked and sounded like a bull ready to attack, and I was the matador dressed in red. “I made a four-hour ride in less than two to get here to give you a piece of my mind, and you are going to listen. I don’t care what your problem is, if you need something, you call me. Not Regg, not Red, not Maddie, and definitely not Charlie fucking Lott. Now, you are going to tell me exactly what the fuck was said while you were there, and so help me God, Dallas, if you leave anything out I will tear this whole fucking office to pieces and lock you in my house until I get back. Now, start. Fucking. Talking.” Oh fuck. I was too scared to tell the truth, and too scared to lie. Maybe if I kept my mouth shut he would leave me alone. “Talk!” he snapped in my face, and although I might not have shit my pants, I suddenly had diarrhea of the mouth.

“When I was in Tupelo I didn’t have the flu. I was poisoned. I thought it was Stacy. Charlie found out it was Frankie who paid the waiter with drugs to put arsenic in my drink. He messed up, and didn’t put in enough to kill me, just make me sick. I didn’t want to bother you and Charlie said he owed me a favor, but I had to see him in person ‘cause he refuses to talk on a phone that doesn’t belong to him.”