Page 1 of In the Danger Zone
Prologue
DAISY
I had never been a good runner and that was going to be the reason for my death.
My legs were too short and my throat got dry easily, forcing me to get all choked up the more I moved. Running just wasn’t my thing, even though I had spent a good chunk of my life with a certain someone always watching and waiting and ready to pounce.
But I was doing my best to push myself despite the pain. The absolute fear pumping through my body was spurring me on, anyway.
My palms were sweaty as I moved up the hill, absolutely furious at my parents for choosing to live in a place that had so many draining inclines. My already aching legs just made the whole thing worse.
My parents couldn’t be blamed, though. I had made it home earlier, had made it to safety. But I had lost the goddamn key to my own house. Who knew where it was?
I usually kept it safe – right there in the little zipped pocket of my backpack. But when I arrived home in my state of pure terror, it was nowhere to be seen. I knew none of the neighbors would help. Not when the town’s golden boy was after me. He was just so easy to love.
There had been no choice but to run.
The noises behind me made me move that tiny bit quicker. The heavy footsteps. The grunts.The voice. The mean, cruel voice of the boy who just wouldnotleave me alone. No matter what I said, no matter what I did, Asher Callaway just seemed to hate me more and more with each day that passed.
“Daisy, you little bitch. You really think you’re fucking faster than me?”
Asher’s voice was as loud as ever. It was laced with complete and utter malice. I knew what he was thinking. He wanted to get his hands on me. He wanted me to feel nothing but pain.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw a flash of his usually neatly styled blond hair looking all messy. That was enough to make me turn right back around. Panic took over my body and I felt tears quickly well up in my eyes. My throat was getting painfully dry, making it so much harder to breathe. All I wanted to do was get away from him. I needed more distance. I needed to be home: where I at least had four walls to keep him away from me, because at school, there was no safe space at all.
But the pain in my legs was going to be my downfall. I just couldn’t keep moving. I had been running since I left school, since the bell for last period rang. Asher had been after me since then and he wasn’t going to back down. Backing down wasn’t something he did.
“You stupid, little cunt!” he spat out at me. His voice was louder. That meant he was closer.
Too close. I let out a cry, fully understanding how pathetic I sounded. No one was around to help. The hill was close to empty. There were only two people on it: me and the boy who wanted me dead. My house – my haven, the only place I was safe – was where I needed to be.
I suddenly felt hands tugging at my long, brown locks. Then I was down on the ground with a sharp thud, breathing hard and heavy. My eyes were wide open, looking up to see Asher glaring down at me, his eyes narrowed. The anger on his face was enough to make me tremble.
“A-Asher… Please… J-Just let m-me…” That was all I could get out. I couldn’t get control over my stutter. Not then, not in that moment. It was always there, anyway. The countless sessions of speech therapy my parents had paid for had been beneficial to a certain point.
My therapist had been patient and kind and helped me to go from having a severe stutter to a fairly moderate one. But even my therapist – the sympathetic and gentle Ms. Swanson – told me I’d still have a stutter, especially when I was excited or stressed. Or afraid.
And never in my life had I been so afraid.
Asher looked at me with an undeniable rage in his blue eyes. He was furious. I knew that. He hated me already, but Mr. Greene getting involved in Asher’s business had pushed Asher over the edge.
Maybe I could plead with him. “A-Asher, p-please, d-don’t, just—"
But a heavy kick to my stomach made me stop mid-sentence. I gasped, hands at my abdomen – as if that would take away the pain. Asher kicked me again. Then again. Then again. Each and every time, he aimed right at my stomach, and the tears in my eyes quickly started to fall. Not just from the pain, but from thehumiliation.
Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? I had never done anything to him. Not a thing.
“I told you to keep your mouth shut, didn’t I?” he barked out. “But you had to go and tell the fucking principal. Why couldn’t you just keep that big mouth shut, huh? Then I wouldn’t have to fucking teach you a lesson. Ialwayshave to teach you a fucking lesson, Daisy.”
I knew what he was talking about. Last week Asher had cornered me against my locker after class. He was only a year older than me but he was stupidly powerful for his age. That day I had left school with a bruise on my shoulder the size of his fist.
A teacher had spotted it all. Mr. Greene. He meant well. I knew he did. Mr. Greene didn’t care that Asher came from money. He didn’t care that Asher was the most skilled hockey player in school – hell, probably in the whole city. None of that concerned my favorite English teacher.
Mr. Greene didn’t seem to realize that making me tell the principal the next day about what happened would result in a punishment forme.
Principal Walker did nothing to help. Of course he didn’t. He loved Asher. He probably called Asher into his office so they could have a good laugh about what Asher had done to me. But that didn’t mean Asher wouldn’t still come after me for even daring to go against him – even though I never wanted to do that in the first place.
“P-Please,” I managed to let out. “I didn’t… I w-wasn’t doing it to get you i-into t-trouble, I was j-just—”
