Page 23 of In the Danger Zone
Holding her book close to her chest, Daisy rolled her eyes. “Do you have to?”
“Did you know that Winston Churchill had a stutter?” was what I said instead of answering her question.
She raised her eyebrows up at me. “I am aware of that.”
“Charlie Darwin also had one.”
“You m-mean Charles Darwin?”
“Yeah, that guy.” I nodded at her. “Bill Walton has one too.”
She shook her head, a look of confusion on her face. “Who’s that?”
“A basketball player.”
Daisy rolled her eyes, taking slow steps that I kept up with. “Did you google people who have stutters this m-morning or something?”
“Nope. Did my research old school and read a few books about stuttering. Did you know that more than eighty million people all around the world stutter?” I asked her. “That sounds like a big number, I guess, but it’s not. ‘Cause apparently that’s only, like, one percent of the population. That includes you. And that means you’re pretty unique, right? I think it does.”
Waiting to see Daisy’s response, I could have sworn I saw her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink. I had to see more of that. Maybe have her in my lap as I kissed at her deep and hard, my hands all over her perfect body. Would she blush then?
I just shook the beautiful thought out of my head.
“You read up on stuttering?” she asked shyly. “Why?”
“I wanted to learn more about you. And you’re so mysterious,” I laughed. “You said people had been picking on you for your stutter your whole life. I hate that. Doesn’t make sense that people give you hell for something you can’t control.”
“Well, it’s always b-been like that.” Daisy shrugged. “I’m used to it. People don’t care if Winston Churchill had a stutter.”
She kept her eyes ahead of her, and I couldn’t work out if it was because she was so shy or because she justreallydidn’t like me.
“I kinda wanted to impress you as well,” I told her. “If that wasn’t obvious.
That was when she stopped in her tracks and finally looked at me, giving me a chance to stare at her big, brown eyes. Fuck, they were pretty.
“What does that m-mean?” she asked softly.
I shrugged at her. “I wanted to show you that I’m not some dumb jock. Not completely, anyway. I mean… I know I’m not as smart as you or anything. Hell, the only reason I’m here is to play hockey. I won’t pretend like that’s not the truth. But… Look, when I saw you at that party the other night, all I could feel was… I don’t know, a connection to you. Maybe that sounds weird, but it’s the truth. That was why I followed you out of the house that night. I couldn’t let you walk away from me…”
Daisy let out a loud sigh. “I don’t trust you.”
“But—”
“Did you think reading a few b-books would change m-my mind?” she asked sternly.
“No, of course not. I just—”
“I know what guys like you are like,” she grumbled.
“Guys like me?” I pointed at my chest.
“Popular guys. Guys who have n-never had to work for anything in their life. Guys who walk all over others. Guys who have everything handed to them. Guys who are friends with people like A-Asher.” She said his name like it was venom. “I can’t trust you. I can’t trust any part of you. And after everything that’s happened, I just want to b-be left alone. Can you please do that?”
Daisy was staring right at me when she asked me that – to leave her alone. She was being serious. That shy, little sweet side had gone away. At least a little of it did. I was still towering over her, her small form nothing on mine. But in that moment, I felt like I was one foot tall. I felt embarrassed. And that was a new thing for me, because Inevergot embarrassed. There I stood, trying to walk a girl to class, and I was getting completely shut down. Rejection fucking hurt.
“You really don’t want me around you?” I mumbled.
Daisy nodded.
