It was a beautiful house from the outside, even if it was chaos on the inside. Smaller than the one they’d grown up in, yes, but when Dash had bought it, he’d only had Rose and their future family in mind. Maybe a couple of kids, but definitely not a family of eight, the way they’d grown up. None of them had had any way of knowing the way their lives would turn out. Change.
Dash had no way of knowing what change was coming his way now. None of them did.
Oliver had been standing in front of Dash’s house for ten minutes, at the very least, his phone dead and his comms abandoned in his car. He had no way of contacting Dash since he’d left Cassie, told her he needed to go home and that this wasn’t her fault and that he just wanted to sleep. But now he was staring at Dash’s front door, his stomach churning at the thought of having to knock. What would he say? How would he say it?
What had Lily done? Why couldn’t Oliver remember anything beyond what life had been beyond the last twelve hours?
He was spared the further questioning of how to go about this when the front door opened, Dash bounding out of the house and down the steps, his arms outstretched, relief etched all over his face.
A hug, Oliver thought. His brother wanted a hug.
“Stop,” he said weakly. His head starting to pound. He could hear Dash’s heartbeat. Blood. Fresh, sweet blood, the metallic taste appearing again as his gums started throbbing. “Don’t come any closer..”