Page 7

Chapter Seven

Chelsea

Frost grabbed my hand before I skidded on the pool deck.

He didn't tell me to slow down, or make a joke about running beside the pool. Instead, he kept me upright and trotted with me into the change area.

My heart in my throat, I pushed the door open.

Atlas and Storm crouched beside Dallas, who sat slumped on the floor in the corner. His face was covered in blood, his hazel eyes staring without seeing.

"Is he—" Frost started.

"He's alive," Storm said. "I'm not a doctor, but I think he's in shock."

I stepped over carefully and knelt down in front of him. "Dallas? Are you okay?"

Slowly, slowly he lifted his head and looked at me. At first, his eyes were vacant. Gradually, recognition dawned.

He launched himself at me, wrapping his arms around my neck. His whole body shook.

I clung on to him, trying to keep from being pushed over backwards. He was heavy and his grip was desperate. I hung on until his trembling started to abate. Keeping him close and occasionally whispering soft, soothing words.

"Chelsea," he groaned.

"I'm right here." I ran a hand up and down his back. "It's okay. Are you all right? What happened?"

"Chelsea," he said again. "She came at me."

"Who came at you?" I asked gently.

I could have been talking to a child who accidentally did something wrong and was terrified of being punished for it. I reminded myself he was anything but a child. Whatever happened, we'd deal with it.

He leaned back just enough to look me in the eyes. Close enough our noses were almost touching.

"Ramsey told me to talk to India," he whispered. "To pretend I was working with him and Otis Skinner." He frowned. "I don't think he's working with Otis Skinner." He seemed confused.

"He's not," I said, as reassuring as I could. "You made it to Flirts then?"

"Yeah." His expression and tone were vague, like he couldn't quite recall if he had or not. "I did. I was supposed to go to the animal shelter." He looked slightly frantic now, like he realised he was running late and was about to get up and bolt for the door.

"It's okay, we took care of it," I said quickly. "The PR is done."

"Oh." He relaxed a fraction. "I'm sorry, I should have been there."

"Why weren't you?" Atlas asked. "What did India say?"

Dallas tipped his head back to look up at him.

"She agreed to tell Otis I was there, and that Ramsey gave us both a job to do," Dallas said slowly. "Then—" He shook his head, brushing the tip of his nose over mine.

"Then what?" I gripped his back and held him carefully, silently telling him I'd support him no matter what he had to say.

"She thought I left," he said. "But there was something about her. It seemed… Off. I was going to leave, but I stayed to listen. She was talking to someone else."

"Who?" Atlas asked.

Dallas' frown deepened. "I don't know, I couldn't hear. She told them about me and said she was going to tell Otis Skinner everything I said to her. She was going to confirm his suspicions that Ramsey isn't working with him."

"She was working with Skinner," I concluded softly. I didn't want to believe it, but I trusted Dallas. If that was what he overheard, then it was true.

"I thought maybe she was saying those things to put Skinner off," Dallas said. "She was supposed to be pretending to work with him. I—" He swallowed hard. "I went back in to talk to her. She was still on the phone. She ended the call." His eyes were glazed again as he thought back, trying to get his thoughts and memories straight.

"I confronted her. Asked her whose side she was on. She laughed it off and said she was on the same side as me. But then I told her I was working with Otis Skinner and Dominic King. She seemed surprised, but she said she was too. They paid her well to stay loyal. She said she was going to get out of stripping because they paid her so much money. Then she asked about someone I've never heard of. It was a test. If I was really working for them, I'd know. I tried to pretend, but she saw right through me. Then she grabbed up a knife and she came at me."

He closed his eyes. "She took me by surprise, but I overpowered her. I got the knife from her and then… I don't know what happened next. One minute she was staring at the knife in my hand, and the next she screamed. She lunged for the knife. Then she was dead."

"Fuck," Storm whispered.

"Yeah," Frost agreed. He put a hand on Dallas' bicep. "It happens so quickly, you don't even know it's happening until it's done. And then you wonder… What the fuck do I do next?"

Dallas opened red rimmed eyes and looked over at him. "Yeah. I panicked. I ran. Threw the knife in the first rubbish bin I found, and ran. I didn't know where I was going, but I ended up here."

"I'm glad you did," I said. "We were worried about you. You didn't answer your phone."

He blinked a couple of times, confused again. "I don't know where it is. I lost it… Somewhere. I don't remember if I had it after I ran. Everything is blank."

"Don't push yourself," I said. "It'll come back to you. We should find that knife though. In case the police find it first."

"I'll tell Ice," Frost said. "He'll know how to deal with it."

"We need to let Ramsey know," Atlas said. "He went to see Otis Skinner. He might be walking into something. Whoever India was talking to, might have gone to him when she didn't."

"I'll call him," Storm said. He rose to his feet and took a few steps away.

"Do you remember the name of the person India asked you about?" I asked Dallas. "They could be important."

He thought for a moment. "I think it was… Nile Fox?"

I pressed my lips together, trying to figure out why that name rang a vague bell. Whatever it was, it didn't come to me. Nothing more than that I heard it before. Ramsey or my brother might have a better idea who they were.

"Ramsey is on his way back," Storm said. "It seems Otis Skinner is pissed off because someone killed his minion."

Dallas flinched.

"She would have killed you," I said. "She came at you with a knife, you did what you had to do." He was a big guy, he might have overpowered her, but if she was desperate, who knows what she might have done. She could have had another knife, or a gun. She could have waited until he turned his back before using it.

When it came down to it, did it matter? She was dead and he wasn't. If she was working for Dominic King and Otis Skinner, then she would have ended up dead sooner or later anyway. If not by us, then by someone else.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I tried talking to her, but she wouldn't listen. I could have called for help. Or tied her up, or… something."

"Either way, she'd still be dead," I said. "If you hesitated and hadn’t bolted, they might have seen you. There's a greater chance they would have known who killed her. They'd be hunting for you as we speak. Right now, they have no idea it was you."

"I suppose." He put his hand on the back of my head and pulled me in closer, until our noses were touching again, and his breath was on my mouth. "I should hate myself for killing her. But I don't."

"You shouldn't hate yourself," I assured him. "You survived. That was all you could do."

"Dallas?" Frost crept in closer. "Did you enjoy it? Is that what got you freaked out?"

Dallas huffed out a warm breath that tickled my cheek. "I didn't want to."

"Neither did I when I killed Ivy," Frost said. "But I did. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous of you. I bet Atlas is too. He didn't seem to hate killing Bruce Fergus."

In the corner of my eye, Atlas shifted uncomfortably. "I prefer not to kill women.” He huffed out a breath. “Chelsea is right, you did what you had to do. To protect yourself and all of us. If she spoke to Otis Skinner, we'd all be fucked right now. We're not, because of you.”

He took a couple of steps closer and crouched down. “I can tell you, killing for the first time, that's the hardest one. It gets easier after that. Eventually, you stop thinking about them as people and they just become jobs. It's you or it's them. If you think any harder than that, you'll drive yourself crazy."

"I think it might be too late for that," Dallas said, his voice small.

"You're not crazy." I kissed his mouth softly. "You've had a difficult afternoon, that's all." I wished I'd known how close we were to him when we were at Flirts. We could have saved him from a couple of hours of self torment.

"Why did you come here specifically?" Atlas asked. "Why the change room in the pool area?"

Dallas frowned at him. "I don't know. I don't know how I got in here." He glanced around himself.

"You must have let yourself in with the key card," Storm said.

"I suppose so," Dallas said. "I don't remember anything after I threw the knife away."

"Did you drive?" I asked. "Storm said your car wasn't in the car park." The idea of him driving in the state he was in was terrifying. For him and for anyone else on the road.

Dallas' mouth opened and closed a couple of times. "I don't remember. I don't think so. I wasn't in a fit state to drive."

"We better find your car," Frost said. "And bring it back here before someone realises it's anywhere near Flirts."

I winced. "Good idea. We don't want anything leading anyone here." Which reminded me of earlier when I’d thought we were being watched. Had they seen him leave the club with a knife? Was there anyone there in the first place? Or was my paranoia getting the better of me?

"I'm sorry," Dallas whispered. "I've fucked all of this up." He sounded devastated. Full of self-loathing.

I brushed a hand over his temple. "You didn't fuck anything up. If you hadn't stayed to listen to India, you wouldn't have known what she was up to. If you hadn't done what you did, she would have run off and told what she knew. She would have exposed you and Ramsey, and the rest of us. You listened to your gut."

"Some might say you're a hero," Frost said.

"I hate to admit it," Storm crouched down again, "if it was me, I would have said what Ramsey told me I should say, then left. It wouldn't have crossed my mind that she'd do something behind my back. I would have gone off and cuddled puppies without a fucking clue."

"Me too," Frost said. "But you didn't. I think you're fucking epic." He pulled Dallas in for a hug.

"Frost is right, you're epic." I waited until Frost let him go before giving Dallas a hug too. He wasn't trembling anymore. His body felt firm and strong, buoyed by our confidence in him.

"Thank you," he said, looking around at all of us. "Anyone else in the world would have said I was a complete fuck up."

"If they say that to you, they can answer to my fist," Storm growled.

"Mine too," Frost agreed.

"And mine," Atlas said.

"Mine too," Jay said over Atlas' shoulder.

"I'm not sure if I'd use a fist, but they'd answer to me too," I said. "I guess we better find out who Nile Fox is."

Hopefully by then they would have found the knife and Dallas' car, and covered any tracks he left behind.