Lass Ride: Crossroads

Chapter 11

One of the downsides of travelling by motorcycle was the noise. Even if you wore ear protection, the rumble of the bike crept up through your bones, making it difficult to hear someone who was within arm's reach. Even when Renee had been riding behind him on his bike and not on Becky's abandoned one, Dean could rarely make out what she was saying.

But curses could also be blessings. For the ride back to their rental, the forced silence was a small reprieve, because Dean knew his friends were itching to tear him apart. He made sure he was the first to stop, first into the house, and when the others finally stomped in, he started yelling, hoping speed and volume would help disguise the fact that his voice was shaking. "I'm only saying this once, so listen!" He yanked his helmet off so quickly he nearly snagged his ear. "None of you get to judge her. None of you. Not for leaving, not for signing with them, not for what she said tonight. None of it. I told her to tell you guys that I knew. If you want to be pissed at someone, take it out on me. Fine. I don't care. But don't be mad at her." By the end of his tirade, he was bouncing from foot to foot and he forced himself to stop, gripping the back of an armchair to force himself to stay still.

"You let us worry about her for weeks. . . ," Charlotte seethed, eyes still gleaming with tears.

Renee was crying too, but she still stepped between her fiancé and the others. "You kept in touch with her by phone, right? Texting? Do you still have that phone?" Anguish twisted her tone, but he could tell she was trying to smooth it out into something less accusatory.

Dean jammed his hands in his pockets. "I'm not helping you guys guilt-trip her," he said flatly. "I erased all the messages and the app I used."

"But you still have the number, right? Her number? And you haven't disconnected yours?" Renee turned to Roman then, her jaw tightening. "You used to give him a rough time about calling me when I was still with WWE, so he had a separate phone. I guess we all owe you a thank you for being a tyrant, huh?"

Roman steeled his jaw too, but said nothing, sinking down onto a chair and looking like he was either about to scream or vomit. The three remaining members of the Four Horsewomen clustered together on the couch, a grieving bundle of clasped hands and angry tears, so Seth stayed standing. "I know I'm probably the last person who has the right to say this, especially right now, but yelling and blaming isn't going to get any of us anywhere. We all fucked up, some more than others. Can we just . . . try talking about it?"

Renee hastily wiped at her face. "I was getting there, Rollins." Then she turned back to her fiancé and took a step closer. "Do you still have your phone?" she asked again. "Is your number still active?"

Dean glanced around at every stricken face before nodding. "For now. After what Becky said, though," he added, "I can't imagine Hunter won't ask to look at her phone, so I doubt hers will be active for long."

"That means there's still a chance." Renee closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly. When she went on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, some of her tears spread across his cheek. "We could each send her a little message. No guilt trips, nothing negative," she added quickly when Dean's arms twitched around her. "And since it's Dean's phone, he would get to read the messages before they were sent. . . ."

"Why can't we just call?" Sasha interjected. "Why can't we talk to her rather than sending stupid little text messages that could be from anybody?"

Charlotte's glare was sharp enough to cut bone. "And what if we want to say something that's private?"

Roman opened his mouth but shut it soon after, bowing his head until Renee came over and tapped his shoulder. "We all could have been better. Any one of us could have spoken up." Glancing around at the stricken faces, Renee added, "Blank slate sound good to everyone?"