Plot Twist(71)

“A woman named @craftycindy messaged me.” She held up her phone for him, and he saw the avatar of Cindy, along with a stream of messages. But Sophie pulled the phone back before he had time to read them. “Is that you? Are you @tokcrafty2me?”

He weighed his options, which weren’t many: tell Sophie the truth, or lie. “Yes, that’s me.”

Sophie cleared her throat and held the phone to her chest. Her gaze fell to the pavers at their feet, cracked from the overhead sun. Her lashes were thick and heavy against her cheek. Dash wanted so desperately to pull her to him, but he sensed she wouldn’t be open to that.

“What did she tell you?” Now he was starting to get worried.

“She told me that you’re in a relationship with her and paid her hush money not to talk about it.”

Dash guffawed and took a step closer to her, but she held up a warning hand. “She’s lying.”

“But you lied to me. You were playing me. You have this whole other life I didn’t even know about. I know you and I aren’t a thing, really. We’re just fooling around, or whatever.” She swallowed and tucked the photo of Richard Gere closer to her chest. How very unfair that he got to be pressed up against her, and not Dash. “But this makes me feel like garbage, like you don’t even care about me.”

“What? Soph, no, please. I care about you. I do care about you, very deeply.” He was about to reach for her, but a sudden jolt caused him to trip backward. Sophie took a step back, too, nearly falling.

“Was that...” She glanced around but, as she did, another ripple from the ground caused Dash to lose his balance. Then the ground began to sway. Sophie balanced from one foot, then to the next, as she crouched low and tried to stay upright.

“Earthquake!” Her voice was almost a piercing shriek.

He reached for her, and they both toppled to the grass. The earth beneath them shook, and the soil rippled like a wave. He brought her in as tightly as he could, then curled himself around her until he was a protective shield. Dash held Sophie for what felt like several minutes until the earth stopped moving.

Car alarms blared from the nearby street, and there was the distant sound of dogs barking. A siren screamed, and Sophie shook in his arms. He wrapped her up tighter against him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt one that big,” she said. “And don’t you dare make a dirty joke out of that right now.”

He let out a chuckle. “I usually sleep through them.”

“I spent the walk home watching your videos. Dash...”

He clenched his jaw, unable to control the fact that the way she said his name still affected him.

“You used to make some truly terrible pieces. That giraffe mug, specifically.”

And he laughed, so loudly that it hurt his chest. “I had to start somewhere, didn’t I?”

“Yes, at the bottom, apparently.” Sophie softly smiled at her own joke, which made a flutter of relief fill him. “You’ve been commenting on all of my posts.”

“I have,” he quietly said.

“And saying these very insightful, helpful, and sweet things.”

He smirked in acknowledgment. “Yes.”

“I thought it was just some very random but wise TikTok teenager living in their parents’ house,” she quickly said.

“I’m thirty-six.” Dash stood and extended a hand to her, which she took and pulled herself up. “Can we go talk?”

Sophie smoothed her dress down and looked toward her place. “I need to check on Rain Boots. He hates earthquakes.”

Dash knew when Sophie was avoiding something, and she clearly wanted to avoid this conversation. “I need to tell you about Cindy. She’s not who you think she is.”

“I’ll give you five minutes.” She put her hands on her hips and eyed him, then beckoned for Dash to follow her. He tried to fight back the urge to reach for her hand.

Rain Boots was, as Sophie had promised, a bit of a hard-ass. The fish stared indignantly back as Dash waved to him with a warm smile.

“He’s really playing hardball today.” Sophie held her hand up to the fish’s bowl, and Rain Boots seemed to touch his nose to the glass. “Or maybe he can sense my unease.”

Dash turned to face Sophie and reached for her hand. She reluctantly let him take it. He knew she was mad, but he just had to explain the situation. “I don’t know exactly what Cindy told you, but she’s got a warped perception of me, to say the least. She’s been stalking me and figured out who I was just by watching my videos.”

Sophie’s hand dropped from his, and he instantly burned to reach for her again. “She had all these screenshots of flirty messages back and forth. I don’t want to sound jealous, but you told me you hadn’t been with anyone else.”

“I haven’t.” Dash suddenly felt like the tables had completely turned, and he now understood the fervor from Cindy as she tried to explain that she hadn’t sold him out to the press. How could he make Sophie believe him? “I did flirt with her online for a long time before you and I got together. But as soon as you and I kissed, I stopped. I told her I was with someone.”

“Why does she have a photo of you?” Sophie turned her phone screen to him, and he saw a shot from the restaurant where he’d met Cindy. He bit his lip and looked up to the ceiling. He hadn’t known she’d taken a photo at all, but here it was.