“No. I mean—will he kill me?”
“Not and get a payday, and he likes money. But you know what, he was going to kill you. I’m going to kill him. I want to.” He glances at what I believe to be a Rolex and then eyes me. “I better fly this joint. Tell the police the truth, but leave me out of it. He was attacking you. Someone shot him from behind. He died. You didn’t see who did it. I killed the cameras, and the forensics will match up.” He starts to turn and shifts back to me. “You’re not going to keep him from writing, are you?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I was an editor. I love his books. I love how he writes you.”
“Has he written the new book?”
“He just finished.”
“Have you read it?”
“Part of it. You’re gonna love it.”
“Hmm. We’ll see. You know, I’ve decided I like the idea of you. Tell him to write me a woman, someone like you, all soft and sweet, but somehow tough enough to handle my shit. He’ll figure it out.” He points at me. “Stay out of trouble, Allie. I might not be here to save you next time and then we’re all fucked.” He turns and runs up the stairs.
I watch him leave and then my gaze goes to the hole in the back of Jack’s head, the blood pouring out onto the floor and I start to tremble all over. I can’t stop trembling and tears are streaming down my face. Suddenly, Dash is there, cupping my face, kissing me, and then scooping me up and carrying me up the stairs.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
I snuggle into Dash’s chest and shut my eyes, blocking out everything but him rescuing me, him walking with me in his arms. I don’t know what happens, though. I’m suddenly on my feet and Dash’s voice is breaking through the white noise.
“Allie. Allie, are you okay?”
“How are you here?” I ask, trying to get a grip on reality.
“Ghost called me.”
“He saved my life.” I grab his wrist, where his hand still touches my face, trying to stabilize myself as memories crash into me—Jack, Ghost, the letters Allison wrote to the police, and to Mary. “Dash, he saved my life.”
“What scares the shit out of me is how damn easily he could have taken it.”
“Jack called someone to kill me. Ghost killed Jack and he’s killing that someone because he took the job. For you. He saved me for you.”
All of a sudden, police and EMS swarm us and my head is spinning. I’m aware of the medical staff checking my vitals and I’m just present enough to be pretty sure I’m in shock. As if reading my mind, the EMS tech, a man with dark hair, says, “You’re experiencing shock. I’m going to give you a sedative.”
I grab his hand. “No. I have to be able to tell people what happened. I need to tell people—” I look around in desperation. “Dash?”
“I’m here, baby,” he says, and only then do I even realize that I’m on a chair and he’s on his knees in front of me.
“I need to talk to you,” I say. “I need to talk to you now.”
He glances at the EMS tech. “Give us a minute.”
“I need to ensure she’s stable,” the tech says. “And then the police want to talk to her.”
“Give us a minute,” Dash says, his tone sharp.
The man gives a quick nod and backs away. The minute I’m alone with Dash again, if you can call being surrounded by emergency crews alone, I say, “Jack was going to have me killed,” I say and oddly as I say the words, I start to come back to me again, to what happened. “He called for someone, someone like Ghost to kill me. But Ghost said he’s handling it. And there are letters in the safe from Allison. He tried to rape her and she was going to expose him. He was on top of me trying to rape me when—when Ghost shot him.”
“If he hadn’t killed him, I would have, but you can’t mention him to the police. He can find us, but no one can ever find him. He’s a better friend than enemy.”
“Yes. Yes, but even as a friend he scares me.”
“One day he’ll let down his guard and it will be the end of him, but today isn’t that day. Okay?”
“Yes. Yes, okay. We have to call Tyler. She’s dead. Allison is dead and so is his father.”
“And we will. Can you talk to the police and get this over with so I can take you home?”
“Yes.” A thought hits me. “Neil. Is he okay?”
“Pissed at you for coming inside without him, but yes, he’s fine. He got here after me. He’s locked out of the crime scene. Let’s get the police over with.”