Author's Note: I'm so sorry to have left this hanging for so long – while real life got in the way, I also have to admit that I hit a bit of a road block.

Much as I love my OC Dallas, I wanted to make sure I kept the balance between her story and the threads with the actual inmates I realise you know and love. That got difficult to juggle, which was annoying because I do know where this is all headed and just needed to get round this hurdle. Hopefully you won't mind some Dallas-centric moments, as there will be more ahead with lots of familiar faces.

Thanks so much for reading and, as always, I'd love to know hear your thoughts. T x

15. Prior Engagement

"So … you're engaged. Um, call me old-fashioned, but shouldn't that probably be a bigger barrier to future relationships than company policy on co-workers dating?"

"I'm not engaged," Dallas sighed, rolling her eyes at the protest from the doorway.

"She damn well is," the unexpected visitor declared, shouldering his way past Luschek to confront her. "But seriously, you blow me off to spend the night with this guy? Really? This is your idea of payback? And what the hell happened to your face?"

The sneering only made Dallas grit her teeth in frustration. And over a host of issues that hit her all at once – from the arrogance of his misplaced possessiveness and his simultaneous dismissiveness towards her friend, to the automatic assumption about her sex life and the total failure to see that wasn't his business. Not anymore.

Because, okay, yeah, she was Ryan North's fiancée. Was being the key word.

"I can't blow you off when I didn't agree to see you, Ryan," she bit out, glaring at the dark-haired man she had effectively and unwittingly ended up wasting three years of her life on. "And it's none of your damn business what I do, or who I spend time with. Why are you even here? I've got nothing left to say to you."

"Nothing to say? We're getting married in five months! But really, your face-"

"The hell we are!" she exclaimed, beyond frustrated that the message didn't seem to be getting through. "Are you serious right now? When are you going to realise-"

Having hovered uncomfortably in the hallway, Luschek cleared his throat to get her attention and then jerked his head towards the door. "I, uh, should probably go …"

"You don't have to-" Dallas started, reaching out to touch a hand to his arm. She was suddenly feeling bad for having let him get caught up in the middle of this, realising it was a pretty awkward position to be put in. But she also couldn't help resenting that her ex's presence was now dictating her friend's actions - only for the culprit himself to dare to cut across her.

"Yeah, buddy, I'd make tracks if I was you," Ryan advised. "I'm guessing she didn't get around to telling you about me, but then bringing up the man you're going to marry is probably a bit of a mood killer."

"Would you stop saying that?! I am not marrying you!" she raged, rounding on him furiously. "But by all means, let me introduce you. Joel, this is Ryan North. Ryan is, uh, let's see … thirty-seven going on seventeen, originally from Washington DC, a lawyer… Oh, and he can't seem to help sleeping with his clients …"

"Jesus Christ, that was one mistake!"

"Forgetting date night's a mistake. Losing your wallet's a mistake. Tripped and fell on your dick, did she?"

"I already told you, it wasn't how it looked," he hissed, clearly uncomfortable with having this out, especially in front of an audience.

"Oh really? Because it looked a lot like you nailing that bitch in our bed!" Dallas shouted, catching the way Luschek's jaw dropped, even as her voice cracked and she was horrified to find herself on the verge of tears.

Anger she could handle. Tears were another story.

"Wait, you were engaged to her and you seriously still screwed around?" Luschek couldn't seem to help checking, disbelief that almost bordered on bemusement written all over his face. "Duuude, unless you were banging Megan Fox, what the fuck were you thinking?"

Ryan glared at him. "Okay, could you get the hell out and let us talk?"

"Excuse me, don't order my friend out of my house!" Dallas interrupted, incredulous at his sheer arrogance.

"Dallas, for god's sake," he tried, raking a hand through his slicked back dark hair before reaching into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and producing an unmistakable little blue box. "Come on, you know I'm sorry," he urged, opening it to reveal the impressive diamond ring inside. "Just take this back and we can-"

"No."

"We can work this out, sweetheart – I know we can …"

"No."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, his jaw clenched tight with tension. "No. Just like that? No. You're not even giving me a chance."

"See, here's the thing - that's what no means. No. Not convince me," she said. "But you're hardly the first man not to know the difference. Get out, Ryan. Go back to Veronica."

"Vanessa," he corrected dully.

"Like I give a shit."

"Hey."

Silence. Nothing but a dark, sulky look. Nothing new, but it still rankled. It always did. At first, she'd tried to persist and then her own stubborn streak had kicked in. She wasn't going to be treated like the shit on someone's shoe and keep going back for more. So she'd kept her distance. Kept her head down and her nose out of trouble. So much for that.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

That sulky look again, arms folding across the chest. Classic defence mechanism. "Ain't no one asking you to."

Gloria snorted at that. "Shows what you know."

Taking the silence that followed as an opening, the older woman sighed and parked herself down on the edge of the bench that looked out onto the exercise yard. "Saw your mother earlier."

"She's here?"

There was no denying the spark of interest and, knowing Aleida's track record, Gloria couldn't blame the girl for her assumption. Lord knows she was surprised too that the fiery Latina was apparently managing to keep herself, if not quite on the straight and narrow, then at least outside prison walls.

"Visitation," she clarified. "She wants to see you."

"Yeah, right," Dayanara scowled, the sullenness quickly returning. "What's she want?"

"Did I stutter?" Gloria said, her threadbare patience unravelling fast. "To see you."

"But why? Why now? Why at all?"

"Because she's still your mother, Daya."

"She weren't ever that," came that harsh response, unwittingly echoing the very words Aleida had used and making Gloria shake her head, realising – not for the first time - that the pair were more alike than either of them cared to admit.

Daya turned away, lips pursed, tucking a blonde streak of her otherwise chocolate coloured hair back behind her ear. It was a clear signal their brief conversation was over. But Gloria wasn't having that. Not this time.

"Now, you listen to me," she started, waving off any attempt to shut her up. "No, you will at least hear me out. I know Aleida, and I ain't here to play it like she's perfect. Hell, she'd tell you herself she ain't no good at being a parent. But I know you too, Daya, and I see how shit's going in this place. You need someone on your side."

"I already got that-"

"No. No, you don't. You think you do, but you don't got shit. You got a bunch of bad bitches using you to do their dirty work. They're setting you up for a fall and, honey, they ain't gonna be there to catch your ass."

For a moment, seeing the younger woman's hesitation, Gloria thought she'd actually managed to get through to her. That she'd maybe confirmed something she already knew, or at least suspected. Then that face hardened and Daya rose to her feet, squaring off as if preparing for a fight.

"I got somewhere to be."

"Daya …"

"I don't need her and I don't need you interfering, all right? I'm calling the shots now. Me. And if you can't handle that …"

Gloria had to admit it might have worked, on a newcomer. She, on the other hand, was not prepared to be intimidated. Not by the soft-hearted, sometimes soft-headed girl she had treated like family.

"What? What you gonna do, huh? Thinking you're so badass. You're a silly little girl if you can't see what's happening here."

"I see you thinking you couldn't control your own kids, so now you gotta get all up in my face," Daya snapped. "Stay the hell away from me and stay away from my crew!"

"Your crew? Oh no, you ain't that stupid. Those bitches ain't no crew, Daya. Daya!"

But she was already storming off, leaving Gloria to watch her go and then tilt her face up to the clouds in defeat. "Ay, dios mío."

"Jesus Christ," Dallas mumbled, mostly to herself, as she sank down right there on the front doorstep to watch Ryan's flash car peel away with an ill-tempered roar of the engine and screeching tyres. "Like getting stabbed in the face wasn't bad enough …"

"Yeah, that's, uh, quite the week you're having," Luschek said, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck.

"And it's not even Hump Day yet," she groaned, tilting her head back in despair and raking her hands through her hair before shooting him a wry glance. "Have I shattered your illusion yet? Of me?"

He laughed at that and sat down beside her to bump his shoulder lightly against hers. "Oh yeah, totally. I mean, finding out the stone-cold fox has some handsome hot-shot lawyer asshole pining for her? I'm shook."

She raised an eyebrow at his little description of her ex and Luschek, reading her reaction right, shrugged. "Hey, the guy's a dick, but even I can't deny he looks the part. That your type, huh? All smoulder and Armani?"

"Do you need a minute?" Dallas asked, something between a laugh and a glare threatening on her face. "Because it's starting to sound like maybe you should marry him."

"So there's definitely a vacancy there?"

The counsellor glanced at him, a little frown knitting her brow at his too-casual question. "What, you think I'm some neurotic mess, overreacting and then just holding out on him or something? Making him sweat before I go running back? He cheated on me, Joel."

"Hey, no, I get that. You just wouldn't be the first chick to … forgive and forget … I mean, fuck, I get attached and I ain't even come close to marrying anyone. You must have … I dunno … loved him and shit."

"Yeah, well, turns out and shit just about sums up our relationship. I loved him and he shit all over that. Don't get me wrong, I believe in second chances, broadly speaking - but I'm not a fucking mug. He might mean it when he says it was a mistake, but this wasn't some one-off like he's making out. He'd been screwing around for months. And I don't even think she was the first," Dallas sighed, breaking off to look at him again as they sat side by side on the steps of her front porch and managing a little smile. "I can practically see your brain working."

He shrugged at that. "I don't normally get credit for having one, so I guess that's good to know. So, what am I thinking then, Little Miss Mind-Reader?"

She met his gaze head on. "You're wondering if this explains it. If I'm some emotional mess, latching onto you because I'm on the rebound."

Luschek didn't try to deny it, glancing away and giving another little shrug. "Can you blame me?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light as he recalled his conversation with Nicky on the subject. "I mean, know your catchment, right?"

Dallas leaned back on her one good hand, long denim-clad legs stretching out in front of her as she seemed to consider what he was saying. "You do realise, for someone who's been all about kinda putting me on some kind of pedestal, you're pretty much just calling me a shallow bitch now?"

"What?! I'm not saying that-"

"Aren't you?" she asked, eyebrows raised, although there was humour in her green eyes at his apparent alarm. "Come on, Joel, you're clearly comparing yourself to Ryan and putting yourself down, but it works the other way too. If you think I couldn't be interested in you because you're not like him, then it's like you're saying I'm just swayed by the slick suits, the flash car, the high-flying job. But, d'ya know what? I loved him and he hurt me. He broke my trust and he really, really hurt me. And none of that shit made up for it."

"I … I never meant …"

She smiled as she leaned in and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, like a little reassurance they were okay. "I know. Now, go to work - before they fire you for bunking off. Lawyers might not impress me much, but unemployed bum's not a great look either."

She stood and dusted down her jeans before making to go inside, calling back over her shoulder as he clambered to his feet and stopping him in his tracks.

"Oh, and Joel? You don't have to worry about all that girl-on-the-rebound crap. It's been six months since I left Ryan – I already got that out of the way over a dirty weekend with a wholly inappropriate guy I met in a bar. What can I say? Irish silver fox with a silver tongue to match … I'll see you at work."

Left staring at the door after it closed behind her, Luschek could only blink as he tried to process that, her parting naughty smirk seared on his brain. If his mind hadn't already been made up, that sealed it.

Ryan North – or Mr Sleazy Fuckbag, as he was going to refer to him in his own head – may have been a high-flying lawyer, but he was also a weapons-grade idiot.

Unquestionably.

To be continued ...