“What?”
Dagmar tapped the side of her neck, trying to avoid the bruises. Brittany’s eyes went round when she saw them.
“My God. What on earth happened?”
“Your ex attacked me at work.”
“Luke did? What were you doing with him?”
“Not by choice. He was a patient Steve and I went to. He put his hands on me because Susie told him I was the one who told on her.” Dagmar bit her lip, trying to fight back the tears again. “David saw the bruises and went mad. Went into the hospital and attacked Luke. How he didn’t get caught, I have no idea.”
As she spoke, Dagmar saw Brittany’s eyes getting wider and wider. The younger woman sat back in stunned amazement.
“Jesus. I’ve seen his protective streak but I’ve never realized he would go that far for anyone, not even his own family.”
“Have his family not done that before?”
“I’m pretty sure Robson has done something like that before but never David.” Brittany shook her head. “David’s done a lot of stupid things but nothing like that.”
That didn’t make Dagmar feel any better. She sat forward, rubbing her hands over her face.
“I’ll have to keep my distance from now on,” she said sadly. “Maybe cut contact altogether. This could hurt me big time. And I don’t want either of us to get hurt by this.”
“If they find out David did it, he’s going to be arrested, never mind hurt.”
“He’ll have an alibi. He’s rich enough for that.”
“I don’t think he meant anything bad towards you, Dagmar.”
“I know that. And I know it’s going to hurt to be away from him.” Dagmar shook her head. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. “This wasn’t meant to happen.”
“What?”
“I…” Dagmar closed her eyes. “I wasn’t meant to fall in love with the bastard.”
She could feel the shock coming from Brittany. It was as if Brittany had deflated.
“Oh. You’re…in love with him.”
Dagmar had no idea why she had admitted that, to Brittany of all people. With her crush on David, that was something Dagmar should have kept from her until she could admit it gently. But Dagmar was too upset to care right now.
“It was just meant to be sex. Neither of us were looking for anything beyond sex. I told myself not to fall in love with a rogue billionaire who doesn’t do love. My feelings were supposed to be out of it.” She dragged her hands through her hair. “And I got that badly wrong.”
Brittany shifted off the couch. Dagmar watched her move around the back of the couch and pad across the floor. She thought the woman was going to the bathroom. But then Brittany spoke from behind the couch.
“Does David know about this?”
“No, and he can’t know.” Dagmar glowered at her reflection in her TV. A TV David had brought for her with protest from Dagmar. “He’ll think I’m a gold digger, much like everyone else who’s come across him. I can’t admit my feelings to a man who doesn’t do love; he’ll turn away from me and that will break me.” Dagmar rubbed at her eyes. They were feeling incredibly sore. “Maybe I should just go away. Get a new job elsewhere. My cousins work in Mount-Sinai Hospital in New York City. They would know somewhere that I could get work and I would have somewhere to stay.”
“Going away sounds like a good idea.” Brittany sounded wooden, almost hopeful. “Get rid of the problems.”
“Exactly.” Dagmar smiled. “I’m glad someone agrees with me.”
“There’s just the problem of you coming back. We can’t have that, can we?”
Now Dagmar was confused. What was she talking about? She turned around.
“Brittany, what do you…?”
She didn’t get any further before something hit her in the face. Then everything went black.
*****
David couldn’t stay at home when Dagmar wasn’t there. Every room he walked into he could see her. Her scent was in the air.
And that made him feel even worse. Seeing her walk away from him had been painful and infuriating. No woman walked away from David. But there was never any pain involved before.
Dagmar had practically run away from him. And David could feel his heart breaking as she left.
He couldn’t stay where he was. So, David went to his office. It would be locked but David had a key. Whenever he was frustrated about something, he would go to his office. The way things were in his building, where everything was in its place and very particular, was a haven for him when David needed time alone. It calmed his emotions down and got him thinking rationally.
Perhaps he should have done this instead of going to the hospital. At least, this way he wouldn’t have lost Dagmar. David would have been able to go home a little calmer, take Dagmar to bed and give her the attention and comfort she wanted. But it didn’t work out like that and David had lost Dagmar.
For how long, he had no idea. But David wanted Dagmar back. And soon. He was already feeling the loss of her and she had only left him an hour ago.
David was pacing around his office, trying to think of something else to calm himself down with, when his office phone rang. David stared at it. What was going on? Who would be calling at this time of night?
Thinking it was one of his colleagues abroad, David scooped up the phone.
“David Mach.”
“I had a feeling you’d be at the office.”
David took the receiver away from his ear and stared at it. Then he put it back and put the phone on loudspeaker.
“Mom. What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with Rachelle or Melanie?”
“No, of course not. Nick told your father and I that you’d called him. You and Dagmar had a fight?”
David grunted.
“You could call it that, if you like. How did you know where I was?”
“Well, whenever you’re agitated, you often end up going to the office to take your mind off things.”
David sighed.
“You’re far too perspective, Mom.”
Chapter 12
“What happened?”
David knew he was going to get a bollocking from his mother. She may have been the matriarch of her husband’s MC bikers but she wasn’t one who ruled with an iron fist. One look from her was enough to have even the toughest of men running the other way. And David was one of them.
He told her everything. Leaving anything out would make it worse later. When he finished, Renee sighed heavily. She didn’t sound happy.
“You do realize what you did was incredibly foolish. You should’ve waited until he got out of hospital.”
“I couldn’t wait that long.” David’s hands curled into fists on the table. “He touched Dagmar, Mom. You don’t think Dad would walk away if you’d been hurt.”
“He wouldn’t be stupid enough to go into a busy hospital and attack a patient,” Renee shot back. She huffed. “And I guess you mean to say that you got into a rage because someone touched your girl. You just had to go macho.”
“Yes.” David gritted his teeth. “And it went wrong.”
“With you or with Dagmar?”
“Both.”
Renee snorted.
“Well, being a bull-headed thug isn’t endearing to a lot of people. Dagmar is one of those who doesn’t find it endearing. You probably did the opposite of what she wanted.”
“The complete opposite. She told me so.”
“Oh, dear.” Renee sighed. “I just hope you haven’t screwed everything between you two. Robson and I love her. Your dad even said he wouldn’t object if you came to him asking for his blessing.”
“His blessing?”
“To marry Dagmar.”
David felt the heavy lead in his stomach. That image of Dagmar becoming his wife and going further and further away.
“I don’t think I’ll get Dagmar’s blessing anymore, Mom.”
“You do love her, don’t you?”
David nodded be
fore he realized his mother couldn’t see him.
“Yes. Yes, I do.” He hung his head. “Is that pathetic?”
“For being in love? Of course not.”
“I mean pathetic that I’m in love with someone who doesn’t deserve me.”
“Says the man who has all the money but can’t get the girls.”
“That’s not funny, Mom.” David straightened up and ran his hands through his hair. “Dagmar’s not like everyone else. The first person who actually cares for me and not the money.”
“What about me and your father?”
“You know what I mean, Mom. I mean a woman I could love who actually gives a damn about me and actually fights about using my money on her.”
Renee laughed.
“That’s because you finally managed to pick a good girl who’s not into the material side of life.”
David hadn’t thought he would get that lucky. He was starting to prepare himself for a life without a constant companion. That had changed with Dagmar. And now he had no idea where she was or if she was going to stay in Houston.
Knowing that he could never see her again frightened him.
“I did wonder a few years ago if you would end up with Brittany,” Renee carried on. “But she then got with Nick so I guess I was wrong about her.”
“Brittany? Why would I get with her?”
“Well, she’s had a crush on you since the two of you met. I thought you knew. She didn’t care about the money, either.”
David knew about that. But the idea of getting together with someone Nick had declared would be his as soon as he laid eyes on her hadn’t settled well with him.
“I thought she was crazy for Nick. They’ve been together all this time, they have a kid. What she’s got for me is a harmless but uncomfortable crush.”
“Is that why you refuse to be in a room alone with her?”
David sat in his chair with a sardonic grunt.
“You noticed, huh?”
“I notice everything. I may be old but I haven’t lost my sight.”
“I don’t think of you as old, Mom.”
“Sweet boy.”
David rolled his eyes.
“The day Rachelle got hurt, Brittany kissed my cheek in thanks for me offering to let her use my lawyer if Susie went for custody of Melanie. Then she tried to kiss me for real. If Nick hadn’t turned up, she would have caught me.”
“Caught you?”
“She chased me around the kitchen.”
“Oh, dear.” Renee sounded unsure. “I hadn’t realized it had got that bad. I thought now you had a girl in your life she would have backed off. But clearly not.”
David was starting to agree with her when he realized what she had just said.
“What do you mean, she hasn’t backed off?”
“She keeps a diary, didn’t you know?”
“No, I…” Then David realized what his mother had just said. He stared at the phone. “Mom, what are you doing looking through someone else’s journal? I thought you wouldn’t do that?”
“It was face up at the kitchen table with Melanie seated right next to it. I didn’t realize what it was until I saw Dagmar’s name written over and over and what she called her.”
David didn’t like the way this was going. He had a feeling he was going to hear something he wouldn’t like.
But he had to know. He sat up.
“What did she call Dagmar, Mom?”
*****
Dagmar’s head really hurt. It felt like someone had split it open. The pain went right between the eyes.
She tried to raise her hands to her head but found that she couldn’t. Her arms were behind her back and they were twisted in a way that made Dagmar’s body scream. Dagmar tugged but she was stopped by the pain in her shoulders. From the sharp stickiness, her wrists were bound by duct tape. So were her ankles. They were wrapped so tightly that her ankle bones were rubbing sharply together.
What the hell was going on?
Then it all came back to Dagmar. She had let Brittany into the house. She had been talking to David’s sister-in-law. What had happened to her? Was she tied up as well?
But when Dagmar managed to open her eyes without too much pain, she saw Brittany sitting on the couch. She was nursing a glass of wine, her feet up on the couch as if she lived there. Dagmar stared at her.
“Brittany? What’s going on?”
“What does it look like?” Brittany took a sip of the wine and smacked her lips afterwards. “I’m just having a drink before I deal with you. Get you out of David’s life permanently.”
“What? I…” Dagmar had no idea what was going on. “I don’t understand.”
Brittany looked down at her. She had a look on her face that made Dagmar shrink back. The hatred in her eyes was startling. Dagmar had never known that Brittany was capable of that type of hatred.
“No, you don’t,” Brittany sneered. “You never understand. You don’t understand that you got between me and David.”
Between her and David? David had made it clear he saw Brittany as a little sister, made a point of not being alone with her. Had she read David wrong?
Or had Brittany seen something that wasn’t really there?
“But…you’re with Nick. You have a kid with him.”
“And every time I was with Nick I pretended he was David.” Brittany sat up, leaning over Dagmar. “I pretended that Rachelle was David’s daughter. Nick doesn’t suspect a thing. At least, he didn’t until I accidentally called out David’s name during sex. Do you know when you imagine someone else on top of the person having sex with you that it makes it more intense when you come?”
Dagmar’s stomach rolled.
“That’s just sick.” She tried to sick up but her hip screamed at her. “How do you think Nick will feel if he knew you did this? I’m his friend.”
“He won’t know about this at all.” Brittany smirked. “And once I’m done with you, you won’t feel anything, either.”
She chucked the rest of her glass into Dagmar’s face. Then she kicked Dagmar onto her back, crushing her hands. Dagmar cried out as her hands got wedged under her back, rolling over onto her belly. Brittany stood and went into the kitchen, placing the glass on the counter. As she went, she spoke as if she was having a conversation about the weather.
“I’ve always wanted David. Even before I got with Nick. One look at him in that nightclub and I knew he was the one for me. I didn’t want anyone else but he wouldn’t give me the time of day. But Nick did and that was second best. I could take that for now. And it meant that Melanie and I didn’t have a home in a shelter. It also meant I could be closer to David. He and Nick are very close.” Dagmar could see Brittany opening the drawers at a leisurely pace, looking through each one before shutting it and moving onto the next one. “I hoped after a while David would realize I was the girl for him. But he didn’t even look at me like that. If anything, he refused to be alone with me. He wouldn’t give me a fucking chance to show my true feelings.” Brittany snorted. “He’s got the reputation of a bad boy, a man who goes through women like he drinks water, and he wouldn’t take me to bed.”
“He doesn’t fuck his brother’s girls,” Dagmar said, rolling onto her back. She gritted her teeth and managed to do a sit-up to get into a sitting position. “Even David has limits.”
“I thought I was getting through to him.” From the way Brittany spoke and the way she didn’t stop looking through drawers, she hadn’t heard Dagmar at all. “And he endears himself to me by protecting Rachelle against Susie. But you had to get in the way.” Her voice hardened but she didn’t turn around. “And I saw the way he looked at you. It was awful seeing you two together. I knew before you guys left the barbecue the other week that you were going to be in his bed. But I didn’t realize that you and David were going to last this long.”
“Neither did I,” Dagmar muttered.
It was clear that Brittany wasn’t going to listen to her now. She ha
d to get out of there.
Then Dagmar’s heart nearly stopped when she saw the front door opening a crack. She saw David appear in the crack, his eyes widening when he saw her. Dagmar pointedly looked towards the kitchen and David nodded. He raised a finger to his lips.
He wanted her to be quiet? Why wasn’t he running in to grab Brittany?
Then Dagmar saw Brittany go over to her knife rack. Her fingers danced over the handles.
“Now you’ve gone and fallen in love with him. That’s bad. Even if he doesn’t love you back, it means you’re not going anywhere. And I can’t have that. David is mine, Dagmar. No one is going to have him.” She selected the biggest knife and drew it out. “You didn’t take the hints the last time so I’m going to have to get creative.”
“Hints?” Then Dagmar’s mind clicked. “You were the one who shot me? And you trashed my apartment?”
Brittany turned with a smirk. She looked very pleased with herself.
“I also called Jeremy, both the night Rachelle was hurt and the night you went to David’s house. I was the one who told him where you’d be. I thought he might be able to convince you to go back to him. But that didn’t work.” She scowled. “Clearly, you can’t take a hint. So, I’m going to make it a big hint that you can’t miss.”
Dagmar glanced at David, who had moved the door open wider. Then she saw Robson behind his son. At least he wasn’t alone. Brittany didn’t even notice them move slowly into the room. She was focused on Dagmar as she stalked across the apartment.
“So, what are you going to do? Kill me?”
Brittany stopped. She raised her eyebrows.
“If you’d done as you were told, I wouldn’t be going down this route. I’ll just say you left and went to live with your cousins. You’re going to start over and have a clean slate. No contact with anyone down here.”
“Even Callie?” Dagmar demanded. “Even if I cut off the Mach family, I wouldn’t cut off my sister. She was suspect something’s wrong.”
“A clean slate, I said. And they’ll be looking in completely the other direction.”
“Really? And how are you going to do that?”
Brittany giggled. She sounded like she was becoming more and more unhinged.
“Now, that would be telling. But I’ll think of something.” She knelt before Dagmar, waving the knife in her face. “Now, let’s get this party started. Maybe I should put some more duct tape on your mouth, make sure you’re not screaming.”
Fallen For A Biker_BWWM Romance Page 13