Awkward Meet Normal

Chapter Thirty-Five

Annabelle:

One moment I was at dinner, and then the next, I was at dinner and getting machine gun texted.

Not one or two text messages, but maybe even a hundred.

My phone was left on loud. That was my mistake; Dash had not been removed from notifications going off.

The text tone goes off one after another. Ryan and Roman looked down at my phone on the table. Thankfully it had been on one side down, so they did not see the contact texting me or the texts coming through.

I stood, grabbing my phone.

"I am so sorry. Let me take care of this."

I left the dinner and walked outside instead of
toward the bathroom. At first, I thought it was my family, and something had happened to my father. But instead, it was Dash. One after another. He didn't even take a second to stop.

Ryan found me outside.

"Is it your dad?" He asked, worry on his face.

It was too late; he had seen the open screen and the text messages still coming in.

"What the hell?" He asked, taking the phone out of my hand.

"Hey. Give it back." I said, jumping and trying to get the cell phone from him. But it was too late; he was looking through them.

"You broke him," Ryan said.

The phone was now vibing in his hand. I had turned my phone on silent.

What the hell could he be texting me now?

"Anna. This is crazy." Ryan said, looking at the texts. "And a little concerning."

I swallowed. There had to be an explanation. This weekend was fantastic. It was everything I had wanted. Dash was everything I had wanted. Everything I want.

I nod my head, not knowing what to say. I felt like crying. And I was not a crier.

"Tell Roman it was a family thing. And Annabelle forget about Dash. He is a creep."

"But he's not," I whispered; he just didn't hear me.

The texts kept on coming through dinner. Most of them didn't even make sense. Some did.

I miss you.
Why didn't you come?
Sad emoji face
I want you.

It was too peculiar. But then, by the end of the night. While I was preparing for bed, the text messages turned about Roman.

Did he send them because I was at a dinner meeting with Roman's Sports? Fly Lead had let an intern leak a dick pic to their Twitter account. We kind of needed to wine and dine them. Out of anyone, Dash should know what that means.

But then I realized he doesn't. Most likely, Dash is the one getting wined and dined by his vendors. He owned the Yankees. He didn't know what it was like stressing over a commission. Some days I was not too fond of commission. Somedays, I wanted a typical job where the pay stayed steady. And then I remembered Fancy Feast and the pay bump I would take once that project officially started.

Dash had me for a weekend, and one night away made him a text stalker.

I couldn't look at him at the meeting. Beforehand I reacted and went to Marcus. He had told me if I needed to remove myself, I could. And I believed I needed to remove myself. Hell, I didn't think there could be Dash and Annabelle. And if there could be, then it was going to be messy, and it was better if I didn't work with him. Keep it separated.