Page 24 of In the Danger Zone
I took a step back. All I could do was listen to her. She didn’t want me near her because she couldn’t trust me. She didn’t even know me.
If that was how she felt, then I couldn’t do anything about it. It wasn’t something I could hate her for. That wasn’t fair. And she was right. Reading a few books didn’t change a thing. If she didn’t trust me, then she didn’t trust me. And if she didn’t want me around her, then I wasn’t going to force my way into her life.
“I’ll… I’ll leave you alone,” I finally said.
Daisy let out a long breath. I watched her closely as she walked away from me, making her way to her next class. Daisy found it so easy to not trust people. She had a past I knew nothing about, but it was obvious someone had done something bad. But what was it? What happened? Why did she look at me and see nothing but a guy who was gonna hurt her? What had they said to her that made her so scared to trust others?
What the fuck had Asher done to her?
Chapter 12
DAISY
Evan had done it on purpose. I was sure of it. Because ever since he came up to me, all happy and excited about the little fun facts he had learned about stuttering, all I could do was think of him. That was yesterday and he was still there in my head.
He had seemed so proud during our conversation, like he really did want to impress me. But guys like Evan didn’t eventhinkabout girls like me. Not usually...
The glorious sun on my skin wasn’t even helping to brighten me up. Evan was stuck in my brain. So far, he had been nothing but warm and kind. He was stupidly handsome too. He loomed right over me, standing well over six feet tall. His dark brown locks always looked good enough to just run your fingers through the strands. And those piercing eyes…
God, why did he have to be so good looking for?
I usually didn’t ever get crushes on guys. Most of the guys I knew were just ones I went to school with. They had all hated me and pushed me around and made sure to never forget that I was a loser. There was no onetocrush on.
But Evan seemed kind. Truly kind. Either that, or Asher had put him up to all of it. Maybe Evan was just a really good actor. That must have been it. It was a lie. A well thought out scheme to get me to let my guard down, and then Asher would pounce. Because there was no way Evan was being honest. Not completely.
My phone went off on the table and I gave it a long once over. My mom had sent me a message.
How has everything been lately? Is everything okay? Your dad and I miss you!
There was a little smile on my face as I read the words. Sometimes I needed a reminder that therewerepeople on my side. I knew I had a bad habit of relying on that reminder.
“You have no one to sit with, huh?” a voice suddenly asked.
Looking up, I was met with Brie’s smiling face. She seemed weirdly happy to see me. We weren’t friends. Especially after what she had done to me the other night. The pure humiliation hit me again. That night had been rather disastrous.
“That makes sense,” Brie continued. “You’re probably wondering why I came over here. It’s not ‘cause I wanna be your friend or anything.”
“I’m shocked,” I let out.
“Mhm. Asher wanted me to ask you something.”
My eyes widened, looking around the open space so I could search for Asher. It had been a mistake to come outside by myself. I quickly analyzed face after face, but I couldn’t spot him. Where the hell was Asher?
“Calm down. He’s not here.” She rolled her eyes. “You look like you’re about to start crying.”
“I don’t wanna hear it, B-Brie.”
“He wanted to know if you cried as hard as you did back in high school when you ran away the other night.” She grinned at me, arms crossed over her chest. “I mean, I know we didn’t know each other back then, but youdolook like the type who spent a lot of her time crying.”
God, I really picked the worst college to attend. “Can you just leave m-me alone?”
“But it’s so fun making you sad. Now I know why Asher did what he did the other night. You lookedsoupset, Daisy.”
“B-Brie, I’m n-not—”
“Have you always had that stutter?” she asked, voice all cold.
My eye shut for a second. “Can you just—”
