Alex's Destiny (Racing To Love) (10 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Over the last couple of years, Levi had been mistaken several times for Jake Owen. He’d always just laughed it off, but now he was grateful for the longer hair that afforded him coverage as he sneaked glances at the three people standing on the other side of the large marble kitchen island. Their heartfelt conversation was an insight to
Dallas’s place in Alex’s life.

Levi thought the world of her as a person once he’d gotten to know her. Listening to the conviction of the tortured man her parents were consoling, Levi knew the love Alex had written about was most definitely two-sided.

Out of protection for her, he considered her heart first. Levi had developed a deep friendship for Alex based on admiration and love on a different level, but she and Dallas were linked together more dramatically—by their souls.

Hearing her parent‘s acceptance of their relationship on a deeper more intimate level, Levi swallowed down the last drops of the coffee her mother had insisted on him having. He had come to see if he could coax Alex out of her self-imposed fortress, instead he studied
Dallas. The man Alex loved was falling apart. Chewing the inside of his cheek, Levi reached out, for Alex’s sake. “Dallas, I don’t mean to interrupt, but…well, if you have a few minutes, do you want to come with me? I’d like to show you something.”

The glassy stare he received back was haunting. Much like the prison Alex had locked herself into,
Dallas’s hell was just as painful to watch. The lines of his face twisted in agony, the marks of many sleepless nights taking a toll. The man’s guilt was working him into an early grave.

“Go with Levi, son. I know your dad said he and your mom were going to follow you to the airport. Both of them are concerned about you. Luckily as far as the race goes, you’re on the west coast, so you’ll have the time change in your favor.” Carter said as he grabbed
Dallas in what appeared to Levi as a very practiced and fatherly hug.

“
Dallas, you promise me something, sweetheart”—Molly laid her palm against his cheek—“please don’t get on a bike until you’re in a safer state to race. I’m worried sick about the thought of you on a bike right now—like this. I mean it. No race is worth what could happen. I just…God, Dallas.”

“I promise, Aunt Mol.” He said, hugging her tight and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “That—” Levi watched the lines deepen across
Dallas’s face as he paused mid-sentence, the words stuck. “Huh…it sort of sounds weird to…to call you that now.” His voice drifted off.

“It’ll all work out, trust me. In the meantime, you go with Levi and call me the minute you land, okay?”

Dallas only nodded.

~~~

Dallas
followed the mechanic out to his car while trying to shake off the embarrassment of breaking down in front of him. It was bad enough he’d lost it in front of Carter and Molly, but he’d forgotten all about the other man being in the room. That was then, now his jealousy was starting to bubble back up again. Stopping at Levi’s car, they both stood on opposite sides, staring at each other across the roof. Levi spoke first.

“Look, I get it now. I’ll admit I didn’t before—but I do now.”

Dallas’s mind halted, with no clue as to what Levi was talking about. “What?”

Levi took his time, swallowing and pulling in a deep breath, but
Dallas waited him out. “From the moment I met Alex, I’d heard from the other guys she was madly in love with another man. I can respect that, she’s a sweet girl, a hell of a trainer, and I really enjoy her company.

But—that’s where I’ve left it—until a couple of weeks ago.”

His heart dropped to his stomach and Dallas’s jaw worked overtime, his teeth grinding away as he tried to keep a lid on his anger. “Uh-huh?” He asked, leading the other man on.

“You hurt her”—Levi’s chin jerked—“badly. She didn’t ever speak negatively of you. She never threatened any of your body parts, or anything else like some women do. But she was devastated.  I get it now. I get why you did what you did, and that you thought you were doing the right thing. She loves you. And in there”—he waved a hand toward the house—“well…you love her too.”

With that he pulled open his car door and Dallas had no choice but to follow suit as he processed the admission. He’d never been good with feelings, unless it pertained to winning, but he’d been so preoccupied with hiding what he felt for Alex it left him unable to let down his guard. Yet Levi had laid it out cold. With his legs stretched out as best as he could in the sports car, from the corner of his eye, he watched the smooth movement as Levi shifted the manual car into reverse. Once he was turned around in the driveway and headed toward the road, Dallas let out a breath. “Why? I don’t get…I mean, how can you understand this…and know what
I
feel?” Okay, that couldn’t have sounded more stupid if he had tried. So many questions were on the tip of his tongue, and his confusion was only adding to the growing pile of anxiety. His new habit had him shifting in his seat, allowing him to pull out the familiar roll of medicine from the front pocket of his jeans.

Levi slowed to a stop in front of the academy, shifting into first he turned the car off and pulled the emergency brake up. It took him several minutes, but he finally looked up at
Dallas with his brow tightly knitted in obvious pain.

“I’m sorry—I didn’t mean it like that.”
Dallas rushed out.

Shaking his head, Levi glanced back at the building they were parked in front of. “It’s a fair question. It’s because she’s hurting, and I’ll do whatever I can to help make that stop.”

“You really like her don’t you?” Dallas didn’t want to hear the answer, but the need to know was voiced before he had a chance to think it through. The list of dumb things he’d done and said was accumulating rapidly, something he desperately needed to get a handle on.

“Yeah…but not like you think.  I love her like a sister.  You
love
her—right?” Levi asked with a narrowed eye.

For the first time,
Dallas was put to a test, maybe not on purpose, but Alex deserved honesty. “Yes.”

“Come on then. You need to do something for her.”

Once again, Levi left Dallas with no choice but to follow. This time though, he knew where they were going, and his stomach was on fire, the pain real and gut-wrenching. Hell couldn’t be any scarier of a place than walking into the scene in which Alex had been so brutally attacked. Dallas had mental pictures, but he hadn’t been able to force himself to see it firsthand. Levi’s words played through his head with every step closer to the door. This was for Alex...he could do it for her.

Levi pulled open the glass door and the familiar smells came back to
Dallas. Cleaners and exhaust fumes mixed with the scent of a cinnamon candle, it never failed to remind him that this was home, equal to the homes spread out on the Noland property, but it was this building, the bike shop and most of all the track that it faced that saved his life, this was his home. Normally he’d say it with a smile, especially since his dad and he had spent many a night in sleeping bags on the dirt tabletop under the stars when he was younger. Looking back, he wished he’d never asked that of his father, but back then, he didn’t realize just how much it hurt his dad’s back, even after the second surgery. And knowing Eli like he did, the man wouldn’t have ever complained in a million years nor would he have ever turned down anything Dallas asked of him.

However, being in the building today—shook him to the core.

The police tape was gone, as was all the furniture except for her desk. Years ago Molly had framed signed posters and hung them on the wall when the office was hers. Seeing the missing one, Dallas’s heart pounded. He knew one had fallen, and it was the glass that had shattered and left a gash in Alex’s head…but he hadn’t known that it was his poster, the fifth one Molly had added to her collection had been the one to cut her. Below the empty space on the wall were spatters of blood, and more on the carpet from where she fell into the glass.

“James is gutting the room, wants it completely redone and redecorated differently before Alex steps foot back in here. I think it’s his way of trying to do something—anything. He…he saw her, that night I mean, before I got her covered up. He’s taking this all very hard. You know how close they are, and he was just feet away. He feels responsible.”

Dallas could barely process the words Levi was saying, the pulse rushing through his body was deafening as he scanned the office, taking in every inch of it. “Grandpa isn’t responsible. Not in any way.”

“He heard her. She’d managed to dial his number and…and he had to listen to her cries for him as he was running down here.”

James Noland was the rock, the heart and the soul of the family. He was a well-respected business man, and his designs had made him famous, but it was his honesty and willingness to do everything in his power to protect his family that made him a force unlike any other. Every employee involved with the academy was extended that same loyalty, and they returned it—whole-heartedly. It was easy to see the sickened glaze come over Levi as he told pieces of the story Dallas hadn’t heard yet—statements that had his stomach rolling. He placed a hand over his mouth just in case, and although Dallas hadn’t eaten the total of a full meal in days, that didn’t stop his system from trying to reject what little was in it. “Oh my God.”

Being in her office, made the nightmare he pictured
real
, especially after seeing the evidence for himself. The blood of the woman he loved made her tragedy visible.

“We won’t be here long. I just need to grab something before they pull out her desk and I can’t get to it.”

Dallas watched Levi go straight to the drawers on the right side of the desk. Even though from where he was standing Dallas couldn’t see which drawer, it was plain to see Levi knew her well. Forcing a deep breath, he tried to remind himself they’d already aired their comments.

“I put this in here that night. I knew she wouldn’t want it out for anyone to read. I meant to come back the next day, but we weren’t allowed in by the police, yet. Then, well…” Levi pulled in a deep breath, his shoulders rising. “To be honest, I didn’t want to come here alone. I guess…I don’t know. I can’t sleep and I keep having nightmares, but I knew I needed to get this.” Levi held up an aged leather notebook, the brown cover was marked, scratched, and well-loved.

Dallas had seen it thrown in her purse a thousand times over the years, but he’d never guessed it was anything other than a planner of sorts. Looking back, she always kept her calendar on her phone. A pang of jealousy struck again as he realized Levi knew Alex in a way he didn’t. Suddenly, he felt another layer of guilt form on the already growing walls around him. Levi brushed his finger over the cover with his eyes closed.

“Here.” He said, holding the notebook out to
Dallas. “Take this to her before you leave. It’ll help her.”

“Help her?”

Levi paused, shaking his head. Shock and regret filled his expression. “You don’t know anything about it, do you?”

Dallas
already had the leather notebook in hand, but Levi suddenly looked ashamed. Clasping his fingers behind his head, he looked at the floor. “I shouldn’t have said anything, damn it.” He pulled in a long breath and dropped his arms as he rolled his eyes. “I just assumed she’d shared that with you.”

Dallas
glanced at what he was holding, almost afraid to open it. “Is it…a diary?”

“No.” Levi answered quickly. “She”—he pulled in a deep breath—“she writes songs. Well, she didn’t realize they were songs at first, until I caught her in here late one night after she’d had a bad day. I talked her into showing me what she was doing and as soon as I saw the words—I had to tell her.
She wasn’t even aware of it, and even then I had to prove it to her. She is an amazing, gifted song writer. I’ve taken two of them and written music to go with the lyrics. Th-that’s what I was coming back to do that night. I’d forgotten my guitar at home, and I…God, I’m sorry. I must sound like an emotional basket-case. I just can’t get that night out of my head—”

“So, you were coming back to work on a song and…and that fucker was on her?”

“Yeah.”

The one word left Levi on a forced breath, as if it hurt him to say it.

Dallas gripped the leather notebook to his chest, the smell of it reminding him of the black leather jacket he’d helped her put on more times than he could count over the years. Her smell, her perfume touched it lightly, probably as she’d held it tight to her own chest on more than one occasion.

The remnants of his anger and jealousy toward Levi fell away instantly, the man was a wreck. Devastated by what he’d walked in on, haunted by what he’d seen, and just as powerless as the rest of them. He’d stopped a monster with his bare fists. If it had been him who walked through her office door,
Dallas knew without a doubt he would have beat the guy to a bloody pulp, just as Levi had. The guy was lucky, because he wouldn’t have stopped until he bastard wasn’t breathing any longer. Dallas understood how his grandfather worked. Levi christened himself as one of the family the night he’d saved Alex.

There was a clear picture in his mind of a little girl in white bows, whisking him up the stone staircase of her grandparent‘s front porch. As tight as her little hand held him that day, she held tighter to his heart, and without a word ever spoken
Dallas had appointed himself her protector. Sure she had a large, tight-knit family, but for some reason Alex had always belonged to him.  For the first time, he was truly taken-aback, because he knew their world that had always seemed so small and safe—wasn’t. Not anymore. Added to that, he knew for a fact he wasn’t as invincible as he once thought he was.