Next to Always: Shattered Innocence Trilogy Book Two (2 page)

“She has a new number. She knew you would try to contact her so she got rid of her cell and got a new one. You really did a number on her. She would kill me if I told you where she was. I gotta go.” Lilly was ready to hang up when she heard Rade’s confession.

“I didn’t know. I never should have taken her there. I knew it was a mistake. She threatened to find someone else to take her if I wouldn’t. I couldn’t let that happen. I’m doing everything I can to find out who did this to her. Please, Lilly, tell me where she is.”

“Sorry, Rade, I can’t, but I can tell you this much, she’s safe. She asked that I leave the cell you bought for her at the front desk. Goodbye, Rade.” Lilly hung up before Rade could say any more.

After talking with Lilly, Rade was pretty certain Dylan would have gone to her dad’s home. It was the only other place she would have felt safe. He just didn’t know where that was.

*****

Dylan wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Even though it had been a week since her ordeal, she was still unable to eat and sleep. She thought that by getting out of New York, she would be able to get over what happened. She was wrong. Not only was she continually having nightmares, she remembered the look on Rade’s face when she told him she never wanted to see him again. She thought staying with her dad for a while would help, but all it did was raise questions. Her dad kept at her constantly, trying to figure out what happened to her. The only thing she could tell him was that she had a bad breakup with a guy she had been seeing. Dylan was pretty sure her dad didn’t buy her story, but this was the one she was going to stick with. The last thing she needed was for him to find out the truth about what really happened. It would kill him to know his daughter was bound and beaten in a private BDSM club.

It was Monday and her dad had left earlier than usual to get to work. A few of his co-workers were let go, so the rest of the crew had to put in extra hours to cover the extra workload. It would only be for a short while, until more people could be hired. Even though Dylan’s dad was working long hours, she was thankful for the alone time. The last thing she wanted was for her dad to catch her crying or question her about what really happened between her and Rade. When Dylan wasn’t crying or thinking about Rade, she spent her time searching the net for potential jobs. There was a couple in the city that fit her qualifications. The problem was most of the offices were located near Rade’s office building.

While surfing the job listings, she came across one that would fit her qualifications.

Financial assistant - responsible for analyzing corporate spreadsheets while assisting management teams with budgeting and expense planning . Must be comfortable analyzing monthly cash flow projections while maintaining financial databases and account reconciliation. Must have a Masters Degree in accounting or Business.

Salary will be based on experience with a starting base of $50,000 to $75,000 per year.

When Dylan saw this, she got excited, then withdrawn. She didn’t want to be in the same predicament again as she was with Northgate. She decided it would be best to Google the company just to make sure there was no affiliation to Rade or his companies. As she typed
BlackStone Industries,
she added
Rade Matheson
to the search engine. As the company’s information came up, she was relieved to find that no matter how she changed the wording of her search, there was no affiliation between the two. Nor were there any affiliation hits to
Northgate
or
RIM Global.
Blackstone Industries was owned by two men, Keeve Black and Mason Stone. It was then that Dylan decided to give it a go. She filled out the online application as best she could. Even though she didn’t have the three years’ experience they required, she hoped that her high academic achievements would give her the edge she needed to at least get an interview. Her next step would be to find a new place to live. Even though she loved staying with Lilly, she needed her own space. Working at Northgate allowed her to save enough money so she could afford to rent a secure apartment. She just needed to make sure that she would be able to afford it without depleting her savings.
“Job first, apartment second,”
she subconsciously said to herself.

Just as Dylan hit the send button to submit her application, her cell phone began to ring. There were only two people who had her new cell phone number, her dad and Lilly. Looking down at the screen, Dylan saw it was Lilly calling her.

“Hey, Lilly, what’s up?” Dylan questioned as she waited for Lilly to respond.

“How are you doing, girlfriend? I didn’t hear from you yesterday and I got a little worried,” Lilly said with a hint of concern in her voice.

“I’m okay. At least when I don’t think about what happened or Rade. It just really hurts, you know.”

Lilly could hear the sadness in Dylan’s voice. She wasn’t sure if she should tell Dylan about Rade. “I know, sweetie. Give it time. It will get better, I promise.”

“I know. So why did you call?” Dylan could tell there was something else on her friend's mind.

“I was calling to let you know that Rade stopped by yesterday. He was insistent on talking to you. I told him you weren’t here and that you were safe.” Lilly hesitated before she continued. “Dylan, you know how I feel about him… but he seemed really concerned when I talked to him. I hate to say this, but I don’t think he knew about what was happening to you that night. He said he would find out who did this to you. Anyway, I didn’t let him know where you were.” Lilly hoped telling Dylan about Rade wasn’t going to make things worse for her.

“Thanks, Lilly. I know I can’t hide at my dad’s forever. I need to get my life back. I put in an application in online, maybe the gods will be good to me and give me another chance. I’ll let you know for sure when I’m coming home.” Dylan ended her call with Lilly. If she could pull her life together, maybe she would be able to get over Rade.

CHAPTER TWO

It had been three weeks since Dylan had seen Rade. It was time she went home. Each day without him was getting easier. The only time she cried was at night. She missed having him near her. Remembered how he held her close to him at night. How secure she felt in his arms. The way he caressed her body when they were together in the tub or on the couch while watching a stupid movie. Everything she had with him was gone. She would never be able to get it back. The memories of that night still haunted her. Even sleeping was becoming nonexistent. All she could see was the monster with no face.

Dylan was packing the last of her things when her dad entered her room. Dylan looked up as he walked in. She could tell that he was sad to see her go. No matter how much she wished she could stay with her dad, she knew she needed to get back and face what was waiting for her.

“Are you all packed, pumpkin?” her dad asked as he walked closer to where she was standing.

“Yeah, I think so,” Dylan said as she lifted her tote bag off the bed.

“Let me take that for you.” Her dad took her tote and slung it over his shoulder.

As they headed out of her room, tears began to form in Dylan’s eyes. She was going to miss her dad. She didn’t know what she would have done if she didn’t have him.

When they arrived at the airport, the check-in line was short. It had taken only a few minutes for Dylan to check her bag and get her boarding pass.
Why do goodbyes always have to be so hard?
Dylan gave her dad a long and extra tight hug as they said their goodbyes.

“I love you, Daddy,” Dylan said as her tears began to fall, full of sadness.

“I love you too, pumpkin. Call me when you land.” Her dad kissed the top of her head as he pulled away from her embrace.

The flight home allowed Dylan to think about what she needed to do once she landed. It was all too clear she needed a job, an apartment, a car. It seemed like she was reliving the same scenario from three months ago. Who knew that her life would lead to where it was now? She wasn’t going to let the turn of events get her down. She had been down that road with Michael and she wasn’t going back there.

Lilly was waiting for Dylan outside the terminal. Even though it had only been a couple of weeks since she saw her friend, Dylan missed her terribly. Once they set eyes on each other, they couldn’t help but hug and cry, and then cry and hug some more. Lilly helped Dylan with her bag as they walked to Lilly’s car. With Dylan’s bag loaded in the trunk, they headed out onto Belt Parkway to I-678. The traffic was horrendous. Dylan had thought about taking a red-eye flight to avoid the traffic, but she decided on an earlier flight to save her friend from driving in the dark.

As they turned onto the highway, John Legend’s “
All of Me”
began playing on the radio. The lyrics kept running through Dylan’s mind. Tears began forming in her eyes as she looked out the window. She thought there were no more tears to shed, but she was wrong. Lilly looked over and saw how torn up Dylan had been by the song. She reached over to the dial and scanned for another station with an upbeat song. Worried about her friend, Lilly gently took Dylan’s hand and gently squeezed it.

“Everything will work out, Dylan. You can stay with me as long as you need to,” Lilly reassured Dylan as she moved her eyes from the road to Dylan.

“I know you’re right. I just want the hurt to go away,” Dylan replied as she brushed away her tears.

“I almost forgot. I brought you a letter you got in the mail yesterday. It’s in my purse,” Lilly said as she pointed to the back seat.

Dylan grabbed Lilly’s purse and tugged it between their seats. “Jesus Christ, Lilly, what all do you have in here?”

Lilly rolled her eyes as Dylan began looking for the letter. Once she located the envelope she read
BlackStone Industries
as the sender.

“Oh my God, Lilly, this is the company I applied to online.” Dylan explained as she ripped open the envelope. “It says they received my application and are interested in meeting with me. They want me to call them to set up a time.”

“Well… that’s good news, right?” Lilly said as she patted Dylan’s leg. “This could be what you need, Dylan.”

Dylan was so excited about the possible interview that she momentarily forgot about Rade. That lasted all of fifteen minutes, until they drove past the Northgate Financial building. Her high just tumbled like a ton of bricks on her heart. Even though this was what she wanted, she still wished her time with Northgate wasn’t over. She knew there was no other choice for her if she wanted to get over Rade.

Lilly parked her car in the parking garage to her building and helped Dylan grab her bag from the trunk. Once they got to Lilly’s apartment, Dylan took her bag and headed to the office/bedroom. Lilly was kind enough to make room in the office closet so that Dylan could hang up her clothes. The items that didn’t require a hanger she stowed away in plastic storage drawers that they picked up before she left for her dad’s. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it worked for her. As she put her things away, she thought about the space she had in her old apartment, which brought her back to her room at Rade’s penthouse, which brought her back to thoughts of Rade. It didn’t matter what she did, everything reminded her of him. She was beginning to think she was never going to get over him.

There was one thing she could do, make a call to BlackStone Industries and schedule a meeting with them. Since it was Saturday, she hoped she would be able to get in touch with someone who could arrange that for her. As the phone rang, she searched for a pen and paper in case she needed something to write about. There was a slight pause before someone greeted her.

“BlackStone Industries. How can I help you?” a female voice answered on the other end.

“Um… Hi,” Dylan began. “My name is Dylan Adams. I received a letter from BlackStone Industries stating they wanted me to come in for an interview. I was wondering if I could set that up today or if I needed to wait until Monday.”

“I can help you with that, Ms. Adams. Let me check the schedule. Mr. Black and Mr. Stone always like to meet with potential employees themselves. I just need to check their schedules. Can you please hold for a moment?” the girl asked.

“Yes, that would be great,” Dylan replied, trying to hide her excitement.

Five minutes later, Dylan had an appointment set for Tuesday at two o’clock to meet with Mr. Black and Mr. Stone. She was happy that someone was there to make the appointment. She also wondered if it was like that every Saturday and if she would also be working Saturdays if she got hired. At this point she didn’t care. She would even agree to work holidays if it meant she would get the job.

Even though it was early evening, Dylan was exhausted. She decided she would take a quick shower and head to bed. Leaving her room, Lilly passed her as she stepped into the hallway.

“Hey, girlfriend, I just opened a bottle of wine if you want some,” Lilly said as she headed to her own room.

“Thanks, Lilly, that sounds good. I’m going to shower and head to bed. I’m exhausted.” Dylan wanted to make sure Lilly knew she was all right, just a little beat from the trip.

Dylan headed to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine before she showered and turned in. There was a buzz on the intercom just as she was leaving the kitchen. She back stepped to the kitchen to answer the intercom.