Dangerous to Know & Love (14 page)

He wasn’t sure what she wanted to happen next, but he really hoped she’d let him sleep with her. Not today, perhaps, but soon. Wrapping his arms around her and feeling her head on his chest, knowing he had nothing to hide from her – that made his body feel light in a way he’d never known before.

And seeing her come – that had been pretty fucking amazing. She had no idea how sexy she looked, splayed out beneath him. Yeah, he really wanted some more of that. Did that mean she would be his girlfriend? Did he
want
a girlfriend? He definitely had no idea what she wanted either. Then he frowned: maybe she just wanted him for a fuck buddy – someone to get the pesky business of her virginity out of the way. She wouldn’t be the first woman who wanted his cum but not his conversation.

Distracting him from the dark direction of his thoughts, Lisanne stretched like a cat and leaned up on one arm so he could see her face.

“I feel all sort of disjointed… I don’t know… disconnected… sort of like I’m floating. It’s weird.”

“Good weird?”

She smiled. “Definitely good weird.” She kissed him quickly on the cheek. “I can see why you’ve got your reputation – it’s very well deserved.”

Daniel felt like she’d punched him.

Lisanne saw the softness disappear from his face, and he scowled at her. “What?”

She swallowed nervously as she saw the sudden anger on his face.

“Well, you’ve always got girls falling all over themselves to sleep with you. You don’t even have to
try
to get a girl. I’m just saying… I understand.”

Daniel rolled off of the bed and started pulling on his jeans. He couldn’t explain his anger even to himself. It wasn’t like she said anything that was untrue. But she had to understand that this had been more than a casual fuck to him. They were
friends
, for Chrissake.

“Where are you going?” said Lisanne nervously, then cursed herself for talking to his back again. It was unforgiveable that she kept forgetting.

She tapped him on the shoulder, but he wouldn’t turn around and look at her.

“I’ll get your clothes from the dryer,” he mumbled, and before she could think of what to say, he was gone.

She leaned against the headboard, wondering why he was so upset. What had she said to make him behave like that? She hadn’t made any demands of him. Even though she was desperate for him to say that they were exclusive, she didn’t want to sound needy or be unrealistic. He hadn’t asked her to throw herself at him.

She chewed on a fingernail nervously, feeling relieved when the door opened.

But it wasn’t Daniel. It was a man in his mid-twenties with sleeve tattoos covering both arms, multiple piercings, and a furious look on his face.

Lisanne pulled the sheet tightly around her, acutely aware that calling out for Daniel wouldn’t do any good.

“What did you do to him?” snarled the man.

Lisanne stared at him, her heart beating frantically.

“Answer me!” he shouted. “Why is my little brother looking like you just shot his fucking puppy?”

“I… I…”

“I am so sick of you bitches treating him like a fucking toy. He’s got feelings, for fuck’s sake! But maybe you don’t care about that.”

Lisanne was shocked into silence. She had no idea what had caused this outburst, and why Daniel’s older brother was looking at her murderously.

His eyes narrowed. “You’re
her
, aren’t you? The singer. I
told
him to stay away from you. I
told
him you’d rip his fucking heart out. You’re dangerous. Why can’t you just leave him alone?”

Lisanne felt tears prick her eyes, and she fisted the sheet in her hands, looking anxiously at the door, waiting for Daniel to come and tell his brother that he’d got it all wrong.

“I’m fucking warning you,” snarled Zef, “I’ll…”

But whatever he was going to threaten her with, his words ground to a halt when Daniel reappeared.

“What’s going on?” he said, seeing his brother’s anger and Lisanne’s fear.

Nobody answered.

“I said, what the fuck’s going on?” he repeated angrily, the volume rising.

Zef turned to face him.

“Just having a quiet chat to your little woman, bro. No biggie.”

Daniel looked at the scared girl on the bed. “Lisanne?”

“We were just talking,” she murmured, dropping her eyes to the sheets.

Daniel pulled a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Don’t do that!” he spat out. “Don’t treat me like a fucking moron!”

Zef laid a soothing hand on his shoulder but Daniel shrugged it off. Then he threw Lisanne’s dry clothes at her.

“Get dressed,” he commanded. “I’ll take you home.”

He walked out, leaving Zef and Lisanne staring at each other.

When Zef closed the door, Lisanne dressed quickly, wiping the tears from her eyes. The afternoon had been the best of her life until Daniel had suddenly gone all weird on her. And now his brother hated her, too. It was so confusing.

She tiptoed down the stairs, stepping over a man who appeared to be curled up asleep on the last step.

Daniel was zipping up his damp leather jacket. He didn’t even look at Lisanne, simply opening the front door and pulling his bike keys out of his pocket.

Ignoring the light drizzle that continued to darken the sky, Daniel swung his leg over the motorcycle. He still hadn’t looked at Lisanne, and simply waited until she climbed on behind him. She tentatively wrapped her arms around his waist, but he didn’t respond. This time, the roar of the engine wasn’t comforting; instead it was a punctuation mark to her distress.

Daniel drove with reckless speed toward the college, then stopped abruptly outside her dorm room and waited for her to dismount. She handed him her helmet and he dropped it into his saddlebag. She leaned in to kiss him goodbye, needing some sort of closeness, but he pulled away and drove off before she could speak.

“I wondered how long it would be before he realized you were an uptight bitch,” said a voice.

Lisanne turned around to see Shawna leaning against the wall, a smug expression on her face.

“Colton finally came to his senses, huh? Saw he could do better, right? Or maybe you’re just a lousy lay.”

Lisanne couldn’t reply, her brain and body overloaded with emotion. She ran back to her room with Shawna’s words echoing in her ears.

The room was dark, and when Lisanne turned on the light switch, the brightness dazzled her. Feeling dazed, she sat on her bed, her shoulders slumped. Then she saw that Kirsty had left a note saying that she’d be back at 8
PM
if Lisanne wanted to share pizza.

Pizza? As if she could even think about eating. She
had
to know what the matter was with Daniel. She
had
to know.

Feeling desperate, Lisanne pulled out her phone and sent him a text.

* What’s wrong? I don’t understand.

Text me, please. LA xx *

She waited and waited, but he didn’t reply.

Chapter 7

Daniel was going over 90mph when he caught the flicker of blue and red lights in his mirrors. He cursed loudly and colorfully as he pulled over to the curb. After fighting with Lisanne, his day didn’t show any signs of improving.

The cop got out of the cruiser, wearily shaking his head, and motioned for Daniel to take off his helmet.

“Do you know how fast you were going, son?”

“No, sir,” Daniel replied, truthfully.

“Well, my speed gun is telling me 91mph. That’s pretty reckless, don’t you think.”

Daniel nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“You want to tell me why you were going that fast?”

Forgetting all the advice that Zef had given him should he ever be arrested, Daniel said the first thing that came into his head.

“I had a fight with my girlfriend. I wasn’t thinking.”

The cop looked at him, sympathetically.

“Well, I can understand, but the speed limit here is 55mph. Now, I’m a nice guy, so I’m not going to arrest you, but you will be getting a speeding ticket, son. License and registration.”

Daniel pulled them out of his wallet and handed the documents to the officer, without speaking.

“Wait there,” instructed the police officer, as he ambled back to his cruiser and ran Daniel’s details through his computer. Whatever he saw made him frown.

He walked back to Daniel, scratching his head.

“According to my records there’s a Detective Dickinson who wants to speak with you at the station. I’m going to have to take you in.”

Daniel swallowed hard, a cool shiver rippling down his spine.

“What? What for? I’ve never heard of that guy?”

“Can’t tell you that, son, but you’re going to have to come with me. Look, I’m not arresting you, so just take it easy, okay?”

Daniel didn’t even try to argue. He knew there was no point.

The cop sighed – sometimes he hated his job. The kid really did look as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“That’s a nice bike you’ve got there. Sportster, huh? Rebuild?”

Daniel nodded.

“You do that work yourself, son?”

“Yes, sir. Took me two years.”

The cop held in another sigh.

“Well, we’ll just have to leave your motorcycle here for now. You won’t be at the station long, and you can call a friend to bring you back to pick it up. Or I could get it towed, but that would end up costing you more…”

Daniel shook his head, and the cop sighed again before helping him into the back of the cruiser. At least he hadn’t been handcuffed.

Daniel felt sick to his stomach. He could expect a hefty fucking fine, which there was no way he could pay right now – unless he sold his bike. The bike he’d worked on for two years. Or dip into his college fund. Either way, Zef would have his balls.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

And he only had his own stupid dumb ass to blame.

If things weren’t bad enough already, they got a whole lot worse when he arrived at the police station.

The nice cop wrote up his notes while a bastard fuckwit of a sergeant nearly turned cartwheels, when he learned that Daniel was Zef Colton’s brother.

“Well, isn’t this interesting. You’re the little brother, huh? About time we saw you in here. Your brother is on our Christmas List. Let’s try and make you welcome. We can find a nice, cozy cell with your name on it, and I think my colleague Detective Dickinson would like to talk to you.”

“I want to make a phone call.”

“I’m sure you do. You can wait.”

The sergeant looked back to the computer screen and typed something.

“Now empty out your pockets,” he said, still looking at the computer.

Unable to see the man’s face, Daniel just stood there.

“I said, empty your damn pockets!” shouted the cop, looking up.

“What for? I haven’t been arrested.”

“You’re pissing me off, Colton, which is pretty dumb. Watch your smart mouth or you’ll be arrested on suspicion of a DUI.”

God damn it – he was fucked.

“I want to make a phone call.”

“Later.”

The nice cop looked irritated, but Mr. Really Not Fucking Charming was the senior officer. Throwing Daniel a sympathetic look, the nice cop walked away, shaking his head.

Daniel put his smokes, lighter, wallet, keys, and change into the box in front of him. The contents were logged and tipped into a clear plastic bag.

“I need to text someone to go get my bike. I’ve left her…”

But his words trailed off as the officer pulled Daniel’s cellphone from his hand and shoved it into the bag with the rest of his belongings, then he was escorted into an interview room, by the man he assumed was Detective Dickinson.

The detective looked tired and crumpled, but his eyes were sharp, and his mouth curled with disgust as he stared at Daniel.

Roughly, Dickinson pushed him into a chair.

“Well, well, Zef Colton’s little brother. Another apple that didn’t fall too far from the tree, huh? Bet your mom and dad would be really proud.”

“Fuck you!” snarled Daniel.

“You’ve got a dirty mouth, kid. And you really don’t want to piss me off.”

“I want my phone call,” said Daniel, in a sullen tone.

“We can just have a little chat first,” said the detective in a bored voice. “It’ll be in your best interest to answer my questions. Of course, you’re free to walk out any time… but I really wouldn’t recommend it.”

Daniel really didn’t think it would be in his best interest to answer anything, but he was worried about the repercussions of just walking the hell out of there.

“Look, kid,” said the detective in a more conciliatory tone, “Answer a few questions and the speeding fine just disappears. I can make it go away. I’m not after your brother – I’m after the asshat who’s been flooding the streets with cheap crystal meth. Who’s your brother’s supplier?”

Daniel was silent. Zef had always told him that he just dealt in some weed and coke. He didn’t know whether or not to believe Dickinson, but he really didn’t want to.

“Come on, kid. You want that shit on the streets? I know you’re in school, trying to stay clean. It’s your brother who’s fucking things up for you.”

“You don’t know anything,” said Daniel, hotly.

Dickinson smiled. He could tell he had the boy rattled.

“Do you know how crank works?” asked the detective. “It destroys dopamine receptors in your brain, so you can’t feel pleasure. Then there’s psychotic behavior, paranoia, hallucinations, death. But before that happens, the blood vessels constrict, it cuts off the steady flow of blood to all parts of the body. Do you know what that means? Your body doesn’t heal right. It starts with bad acne, sores, that kind of thing. Maybe you’ve heard of ‘meth mouth’? The mouth’s acids eat away at the tooth enamel, so your teeth rot and fall out. Nice. You want to be responsible for that?”

Daniel closed his eyes, shutting out the words that made him want to vomit. He didn’t believe the shit that Dickinson was pissing in his ear, but he didn’t want to know any more either.

He jumped when Dickinson slapped his hands down hard on the back of Daniel’s chair.