Gavin settled down. “Can’t have my new tenant crying all the time. Guess we’re going to pay him a visit. Anyone know where he lives?”
Dillon spun in his seat and raised a brow at Gavin. All that talk of avoiding human affairs, and now Gavin suddenly wanted to help?
Erik grabbed his phone from the center console and tossed it back to Gavin. “We don’t know, but I’m one hundred percent sure Evangeline will rat him out. Give her a call.”
Dillon hadn’t expected the solidarity that these two would offer. He’d always thought that the one that would be there for him would be Casey, but he hadn’t been around as much lately. Erik and Gavin were the ones who were always around.
This wasn’t about Dillon, though. They weren’t there to help him. They wanted to keep Isabella safe and make sure the local humans stayed away from their cabin, so the fire incident never repeated itself.
Erik gave Evangeline a call. Just like they’d thought, she quickly gave up Tommy’s address. She also told them that Casey would meet them there. Four dragon men would surely do the trick this time.
The address turned out to be a trailer. When Dillon took in the front porch’s rotting wood and the dangerous slant to it, rage crept up from the fire in the pit of his gut. He felt it sear the roof of his mouth but kept it in check as he got out of the truck. Was this how Tommy had forced Isabella to live?
He dreaded seeing the inside of the trailer because he knew it would only piss him off more. This man hadn’t deserved her. Tommy had kept her by making her believe she could have nothing else.
Dillon slammed on the front door and felt the entire building quake under his fist. He wanted to watch it come down around Tommy’s ears. Another truck pulled up, and Casey jogged to join them. When Tommy finally opened the door, he came face to face with a row of unhappy men.
Tommy audibly swallowed. Dillon felt a twinge of satisfaction when Tommy had to look up at him. Over Dillon’s entire life, he’d fought to hide his menacing nature. Now, he leaned into it. He squared his shoulders and let his beast closer to the surface until heat poured off him in waves.
Tommy backed up. “Whoa. What’s all this about?”
“Your payment is late,” Erik said. His lips split into a grin that was more threat than welcome. “We’ve come to collect.”
Tommy’s gaze bounced from Dillon to Erik, from Gavin to Casey. The human man must have realized he was outmatched. He raised his hands in an attempt to placate them.
“I don’t have any money. How can I pay if I have no money?”
Dillon didn’t like the tone of Tommy’s voice. Something about it said that Tommy knew he could weasel out of this. So, Dillon pushed past Tommy.
“That’s trespassing! I didn’t invite you inside,” Tommy cried out.
Erik followed. “We aren’t vampires, man.”
Dillon would not leave until Tommy gave him what he’d come for. Isabella could not move on if Tommy’s debt hung over her head. The beast inside Dillon knew that they could not wait forever. He needed her more than he’d ever needed anything else.
Isabella was so much more than she gave herself credit for. She would realize that once she was free of her past.
“Pay up and we’ll leave,” Casey said.
Gavin picked up a stained pillow from the futon. He gripped it in both hands and tore it in half, stuffing falling to the floor like censored guts. “If you don’t, then we’ll just have to look for the money ourselves.”
Dillon glanced around. He would make sure Isabella’s life never felt like this again. He would give her sunshine and happiness, not these dank shadows and musty smells. He would give her the world, and that started with what Tommy owed her.
27
Isabella clutched her phone tight. “They went where?”
Evangeline cackled on the other end. “Casey left to meet up with them, too. Tommy is going to shit his pants.”
“Why would they do this?” Isabella ran her hand through her hair and tugged. Her stomach rolled. “They’re just going to piss him off! I know what Trevor did. What if Tommy gets it in his head to do the same?”
“Honey, I’m sorry, but your ex is a baby compared to Trevor.”
Isabella paused. “What does that mean?”
“Tommy kept you afraid so he wouldn’t have to do any more work than that. Trevor used to talk shit about him all the time, but Tommy never lifted a hand.” Evangeline’s voice had become somber, as if she were delivering bad news.
It might as well have been. “You’re telling me I’m scared of…of a de-clawed kitten?”
“I mean…that’s not what I’m saying, but that’s also what I’m saying.”
Isabella hung up. Fury roiled in her gut. She rushed to the bathroom, convinced she would puke. When nothing came up, she sighed and shuffled over to the vanity.
Why hadn’t anyone told her this before? Why had they let her rot in Tommy’s clutches for so long? All these questions flew through her mind, turning her bitter and angry. She had to remind herself that Evangeline only recently escaped her own horrible relationship.
Nellie…well, Nellie hid away from the world. She turned a blind eye to nearly everything. When Nellie helped Evangeline and the clan, Isabella had been astonished.
While it felt like no one had helped her before, it seemed that everyone had rallied behind her now. She couldn’t figure out what had triggered the sudden change. They weren’t doing this for her. That didn’t make any sense.
Was it for her baby?
Isabella scowled at her reflection in the window and wished she could catch up to the truck full of men and beg them to stop. This wasn’t necessary. If she cancelled the card and paid the bill, then she could move on with her life. Confronting Tommy would only drag the issue out and make her suffer longer.
“Don’t worry, Bel,” Evangeline said over the phone.
But Isabella worried about everything. She worried about her ex, about her new home, about the guys’ safety. She couldn’t stop worrying.
Her stomach grumbled. She’d been waiting for another book payment to go through so she could buy groceries. Hungrier than ever, she’d already blown through her own food reserve and was hesitant to break into the cupboards here. Her nerves exhausted her and made her gut clench with pangs of hunger until she could barely stand it. Making a silent promise to replace the box, she grabbed a container of chicken flavored crackers and went to settle on the couch.
She nervously nibbled the edges of every cracker, listening for the sound of the guys’ return. The food settled her stomach and helped her drift off to sleep. When the familiar roar of Erik’s truck growled up the side of the mountain, she lurched upright.
A bit of spittle had dried on her cheek. She wiped at it with the back of her hand, not wanting anyone to see what kind of a mess she was. She blinked at the glare coming through the window from the light shining down on Erik’s truck. Considering that the truck was more rust than metal, she was surprised there was a glare at all.
Their voices drifted toward her as they piled out of the truck. She ungracefully fumbled off the couch and went to the door. Casey, Erik, and Gavin each clapped Dillon on the back before they started to disperse.
“Did you see him cry?” Erik asked, a bite in his voice.
Dillon didn’t answer, but his smile said enough.
Casey shook his head and turned away. Gavin followed him. Isabella wanted to call them back and demand to know what went on.
“He could press charges against every one of you,” she cried out before she could stop herself.
No one stopped.
Dillon approached her but kept his space. He reached out and hooked his pinky with hers, the only contact between their bodies, and yet it sparked a wildfire that climbed up her arm and into her core.
“Tommy isn’t going to bother you.”
She pressed her lips into a firm line because she was unconvinced. Evangeline had called Tommy meek. Isabella had never though
t of him that way, but maybe her friend was right.
Dillon used his free hand to dig through his pockets. He came out with a wad of folded bills and lifted her hand so he could give it to her. After a heartbeat, he added two diamond earrings to her palm as well.
“Now, we know the problem is taken care of.”
Her throat tightened. Dillon didn’t have to do this for her. He and the other dragon men weren’t her family or her friends…No. She was lying to herself. These were her family. She might not share blood with any of them, but they’d treated her kinder than any family she’d had in the past.
Isabella counted the bills and found more than enough to take care of the late credit bill. She would deposit the cash into her bank account the next day and have them transfer the payment to her credit card company. The late bill would be taken care of, and she would never have to worry about it again.
“Let’s go watch a movie,” Dillon suggested. “Maybe it will attract the others and we can call it a movie night.”
Isabella didn’t fight her smile. “I’ll make some popcorn.”
She pocketed the earrings. They would make a great investment in her child’s future. Besides, keeping them gave her a small amount of satisfaction. Tommy didn’t know he had a child, and he never would, but he’d helped in a small way.
28
Dillon wanted to do something nice for Isabella. She seemed tired and distant the past few days. He began to worry that he and the other guys were putting too much strain on her. She made every meal and did a lot of the laundry, even though no one had asked her to do it.
He approached her while she was cleaning up the dishes from breakfast. She glanced up at him without stopping what she was doing.
He turned his phone toward her to show her a receipt. Her brows came together, confusion clouding her bright eyes.
“I don’t get it,” she said, looking up at him.
He swiped across the screen. “I booked you a spa day in town. You deserve a break after everything you’ve done around here.”
He didn’t expect her to shut down. Her brow flattened as her spine stiffened. She took a step back. He tried to say something, but Isabella shook her head before he could get a word out.
“I’m not taking your charity and that is final,” she said.
He jerked back. “Charity and gifts are two very different things.”
“They are not. I owe everyone here for the roof over my head. That’s why I do everything I can around here. I can’t take this from you. I’m already indebted to you as it is.”
“Indebted?” Dillon wasn’t sure what Isabella was trying to say.
She shook her head again. “Get a refund. I can’t…I don’t want…”
He turned the phone around and pretended to search for a refund option while he did nothing but scroll up and down. “No refunds,” he lied.
Her jaw dropped, but she quickly pulled it up. Anger turned her face into a mask of rigid determination. “Then I’m not going. I can’t. Have fun.”
She threw her hands into the air and marched down the hall. Dillon chased after her, but she slammed her door in his face. He stepped back and scowled at it.
What was there to be mad at? He didn’t understand how he’d gone wrong. Isabella deserved kindness, but she seemed determined to push him back at every turn. It was only a day at the spa. It wasn’t like Dillon wanted to give her everything he owned.
Couldn’t she tell that this was an act of kindness?
“I could break this lock,” he informed her. “But I respect your privacy, so I won’t. Could you come out here and talk to me?”
Dillon heard silence. No, he heard the squeak of her mattress. He imagined her climbing onto it and folding her arms over her chest so she could glare at the door. For someone so bright and soft, she had a core of steel.
He couldn’t help but grin as a strange sense of pride came over him. If the door hadn’t stood between them, he would have pulled her into a tight hug. He’d been so worried about bothering her or putting too much weight on her, but Isabella was made of tougher stuff.
She wouldn’t break. He didn’t know if she could. Sure, there were moments when tears and worry got the best of her, but everyone went through days like that. Isabella wasn’t weak. She was her own kind of force.
One to be reckoned with.
Which meant, to get this door open, he needed to call another force to be reckoned with.
Evangeline answered her phone with a question, “So, have you and Isabella made it official yet?”
“I told her I’d give her time,” he said. “I’m ready whenever she is.”
He heard the scratch of pencil against paper. “So, what did you call me for?”
“Your friend locked herself in her room. I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m going to need to hear this story from her perspective. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Tell Gavin to put on coffee for when I get there.”
Dillon grunted. “You can tell him that yourself.”
She laughed and hung up. Dillon shoved his phone in his pocket, let his back hit the wall, and slid to the floor, so he could wait for Evangeline. He didn’t say anything more, afraid that he would mess this up.
The night after he and the guys had gotten Tommy to pay the credit card bill, Dillon and Isabella had cuddled on the couch. She’d picked a long movie and snuggled into him, which made him think they were taking steps forward. Today felt like a lunge backwards.
He would never claim to understand Isabella, but he could be patient for her. That was far easier than tracking down Gavin or wrestling Erik into submission. This didn’t leave Dillon so empty that the hollow spaces would howl when the wind blew. Instead, he felt a fount of hope starting to fill the spaces.
* * *
Isabella couldn’t believe Dillon!
He didn’t need to try to buy her like that. She’d thought he understood, and then he went and did something like that. To her, Dillon had already given her everything she needed. She was the one who needed to do more for him. She needed to help him more, to make herself better for him, to be exactly what he needed.
His gift put an unfair imbalance on their relationship. How could she repay him for this? The answer was that she couldn’t. She would always feel in debt to his kindness because she couldn’t give much, if anything, back.
Couldn’t he see that?
Dillon had to hunt down her ex and bully money out of him because Isabella didn’t even have that. Before that, he’d touched her so kindly and gently to show her how it should feel when with a man, and then he’d refused any kind of return. She could do nothing to give back, and it weighed on her.
A tap tap on the window made Isabella jump. Heart racing, she slowly spun toward the source of the sound and saw Evangeline’s mint green hair dancing in the wind, held down by a thin beanie. Evangeline waved. She wore a wicked grin as Isabella opened the window.
“Your man told me that you locked your door, so I thought I would bypass him and the door,” Evangeline said as she climbed into the room.
Isabella peered outside once Evangeline had both feet on the floor. A ladder leaned against the cabin’s exterior. The sight of it made Isabella smother a bubbling laugh.
Evangeline wiped the dust from her band t-shirt and her ripped jeans before heading to Persimmon’s cage. “So, what’s all this about?”
Isabella knew her friend wasn’t asking the rabbit. “Dillon thinks he can buy my affection!”
Evangeline turned a look of disbelief on her friend.
Isabella didn’t back down. “He bought me a spa day. How is that not trying to win me with money?”
Again, Evangeline gave her friend a knowing look. “You and I fell in with the wrong crowd for the longest time. We took shit from awful men, and now everything we know about relationships is kind of messed up. Dillon isn’t trying to buy you. He’s just acting how a man should.”
At first, Isabella wanted to argue th
at his purchase still made no sense, but she knew that was only because Evangeline’s words hadn’t truly sunk in yet. Once they did, and Isabella could think a little clearer, she still scowled.
“What am I supposed to do to repay him?” she asked in a small voice.
Evangeline gathered her friend into her arms. “You dolt. Dillon is the one repaying you. Girl you have been working too hard, and a good guy like Dillon can tell. You don’t have to feel bad about him doing something nice.
“Believe me, when Casey was nice to me, I kept thinking he had some other motive. It took me the longest time to realize that I had some really jaded expectations of the world.”
If Dillon was outside the door, he would have heard everything. Embarrassment warmed her cheeks. She ducked her head but knew she couldn’t hide forever.
“Do you think he’s the one?” Evangeline asked before Isabella could turn toward the door.
With Evangeline, Isabella knew that meant mate. The word held more weight than just husband material. For the dragon men, mate meant forever. Isabella had feelings for Dillon that ran deeper and deeper with each passing day, but she knew she wasn’t fit to be loved in return yet.
“He doesn’t want to raise someone else’s child,” Isabella said instead.
“I would raise that child like it was my own!” Dillon shouted through the door.
Her stomach dropped to her feet. She’d suspected that Dillon had been listening, but she hadn’t expected a response like that. Her view of the world and the people around her had made her assume that no one wanted anything to do with her and her child. It seemed she was wrong on all accounts.
She opened the door to find Dillon sitting on the hall floor. He grinned up at her before getting to his feet. He took her hands in his.
“Put my name on the birth certificate,” Dillon said. “That way your ex will never have any say over you or your child. Even if you decide you want to leave and fall for someone else, I’ll pay my child support.”
Rogue Dragons Series: Box Set Books 1-5 Page 23
