She swallowed a whimper. Tommy should have paid this by now.
She’d managed to save enough for a security deposit on her own place. Either she paid the bill and cleared her credit, or she could save her money and pray that a landlord wouldn’t require a credit check. Her credit had been great until now, until Tommy decided to get payback.
Isabella shuffled over to the steps and put her head between her knees. Her first thought was that she shouldn’t have even left him, but she couldn’t forget that she had another soul dependent on her now. She would never put her child through the nightmare she’d endured.
Leaving Tommy had been the right decision. That wasn’t up for debate.
She stared down at the bill and tried to figure out her options. She didn’t want to leave the cabin at all, but she knew Erik and Gavin would hate having a baby around. Maybe if she brought it up to them and showed them the bill, they would allow her to stay longer. She could save up a bit more money and pay them to help her move when she was too pregnant to do it all on her own.
That seemed like a lot to ask of them. She wasn’t like Evangeline. Isabella wasn’t mated to any of the dragon men. While Evangeline had become family, Isabella was merely their roommate.
Though, she couldn’t forget what she and Dillon had done in her bed. Her cheeks warmed. She wanted more of that with him. She even wished he was beside her now. She ached to feel his comforting warmth.
“What’s wrong?”
Her head snapped up. When she saw Dillon looking down at her, she quickly wiped away stray tears with the back of her hand. He moved his weight from one foot to the other and put his hands on his hips, like he wanted to do something but had to direct that energy into fidgeting.
She crumpled the late notice in her fist. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Hadn’t she just reasoned with herself to tell everyone about this? Why was she holding back? She didn’t understand herself or why she was doing any of this. The urge to keep this hidden overcame her like she’d been caught doing something wrong.
This late bill wasn’t her fault.
Yet, if she’d kept a better eye on her credit card while leaving, then this wouldn’t have happened. If she’d checked her account instead of batting her lashes at Dillon, then she wouldn’t have such a large bill. Somehow, she managed to place everything onto her own shoulders.
Dillon crouched and sat on the step beside her. His gaze trailed from her to her fist. She pulled her arms into her middle, mostly to hide the bill. This wasn’t Dillon’s concern. He didn’t have to deal with Tommy ever again.
“You’re a horrible liar,” Dillon said softly.
A horrible liar. A horrible person. Completely useless, she told herself.
Dillon touched her chin. She dragged her attention up to him and tried not to sniffle. The way his features softened as he looked at her sparked warmth in her chest. It was as if the sight of her relieved him, though she couldn’t understand why anyone would want her around.
“Meeting you was the best thing to ever happen to me,” Dillon told her.
Her lips parted and her arms shifted away from her middle. Dillon used the opportunity to snatch the late bill from her grasp. She tried to get it back, but Dillon was too fast and had already gotten to his feet and stepped away from her.
As she watched, his playful demeanor hardened, his brows furrowing as he read the letter.
“He didn’t pay it,” Dillon said finally.
She wrapped her arms around herself. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”
Dillon shook his head. He marched past Isabella and into the house. She watched, stunned and rather confused.
***
Dillon kicked Erik’s chair. “Get up.”
Erik flapped his arms, trying to balance himself before the chair tipped. When all four legs landed on the floor again, Erik snatched his sunglasses and fixed Dillon with an annoyed glare.
“I need you.” Dillon didn’t bother to explain. He tossed Erik’s keys at him instead.
Erik caught the flying keys without taking his eyes off Dillon. His hand clenched around the keys, his knuckles going a soft white.
Dillon didn’t break eye contact. For once, he needed the help of his clan. He didn’t think it’d be this hard to ask.
“Are we going to beat some ass?” Erik asked, finally.
“Don’t think we have to,” Dillon said. “Met the guy once before. If we all go together, he might piss himself.”
He expected Erik to display a devious grin like usual, but his lips remained in a firm line. Holding back his sigh, Dillon wondered if Erik was still mad at him for the fight in town the other day. What was he supposed to do? Kiss his ass?
That wasn’t going to happen. No one had helped Dillon clean his wounds after dealing with Erik’s monstrous beast. No one had asked him if he was okay or if he wanted to switch shifts. Not since Casey shacked up with Evangeline, at least.
“It’s about time that we do something together that doesn’t involve shoving my head up my own ass,” Erik grumbled. “This for Bel?”
Everything Dillon did now was for Isabella. The beast just under his skin growled on her behalf, ready to tear into Tommy and teach him a lesson for all he’d done. He leashed the beast so he could breathe.
Like a slap across the face, Dillon realized where he’d gone wrong. Recent events had spread Dillon so thin that he felt thin and empty. He hadn’t been paying attention to the signs.
Dillon shrugged. “Isabella needed help and I couldn’t think of anyone else I would rather do this with.”
Slowly, the annoyance carved into the man’s face softened and lifted into excitement. Erik nodded.
“Alright, man. Let me put my shoes on. I’m going to need them if I’m going to shove a foot up someone’s ass.”
Glad that Erik read the situation correctly, Dillon went outside to wait. He paced back and forth while his beast thrashed under his skin. Seeing Isabella not only devastated, but terrified had left him enraged. He was going to pay a visit to whoever had taught her to react like that. He would make that man suffer unimaginable pain. Dillon knew he had it in him.
He hadn’t wanted anything so strongly before in his life. Erik must have noticed, too, because the man asked no questions before starting the truck.
Though, five minutes into the drive, Erik looked like he was about to burst.
“Man, I haven’t heard you say half as many words to us since we started our own clan. You like this girl. Don’t you?” Erik cut sidelong glances at Dillon.
The truck trembled beneath them, threatening to fall to pieces. Dillon had been waiting for the day an axle decided to go its own way. With his rage simmering just beneath his skin, Dillon couldn’t have cared less about whatever the truck did. He would fly the rest of the way to Isabella’s ex.
He’d assumed that was who’d stolen Isabella’s credit card and put so many charges on it.
“Fuck,” Dillon cursed all of a sudden. “I don’t know where the dick-bag lives.”
“Well, there’s a dick-bag that lives with us, but I get the sense that you’re not talking about Gavin.”
The truck shuddered just as a dull thud resonated from the truck bed. Dillon twisted to peer out the back window.