Page 81 of In the Danger Zone
Fuck.
Turning around, I darted into the locker room with Asher right behind me. I yanked off my gloves and zipped open my duffel bag, pulling out my phone. There were some messages from my dad, but I always kept all my other notifications turned off. I got too many and I didn’t want to deal with them most of the time.
I gave Asher a quick look before I opened up my banking app. I barely fucking checked it. Most of the time, I didn’t need to. Cash wasn’t ever a problem for me. That was why I gave Daisy that money. Because I really thought she needed it and that she’d give it to her parents.
I scrolled through my recent purchases. Nothing that special had been bought over the last few days. Coffee, food, phone bill.
But then I got to the notification that told me some money had been taken out of my account. Ten thousand bucks was gone. It had been taken out a few days after I gave Daisy that check.Andbefore she got that laptop.
Asher saw my phone and squeezed my shoulder. “Fucking told you so.”
“She told me they couldn’t pay rent,” I mumbled, eyes on the floor.
“Bet you she’s gonna try and take you down next. She’s not gonna stop at ten thousand dollars. No way. Bet she’ll find out a way to get more out of you,” Asher spat out. “Last time I was the bully, even though I never looked twice at her. This time it’s gonna be you. This time next week she’ll be crying to Murph about how you fucked with her or something. You’re not that special, Evan. Murph already took me off the team without hesitating. You think she won’t do the same thing to you?”
I let my helmet hit the floor.
“I fucking told you not to trust her, didn’t I?” Asher mumbled at me. “If she’s lying about the bakery being shut, about not using your money… Then what else would she lie about?”
I kept quiet for a long moment, still not truly believing what was happening. “She told me you tried to kill her.”
“If I did that, why the fuck would she choose to come to this school then?” he asked. “Huh?” He shoved me when I didn’t give an answer.
“I don’t know!” I pushed his hands away from me. “I fucking never thought about that.” That was something I had never asked Daisy. Asher made a good point. And that was the last thing I wanted.
“You google my name and fuckingeverythingabout me comes up. Videos, stats, the fucking team I play for. She knew I’d be here. How couldn’t she? She picked this school on purpose so she could get to me.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No, that’s… She told me what you fucking did. How you hurt her. How you nearly fuckin’ killed her.”
“And where’s the proof of that?” Asher asked with gritted teeth. “Her dad tried to hurt me. You saw the video. He put his fucking hands on me. I was, like, eighteen. I was akid. She took what happened to me and made it seem likeIdid that toher. You already know she lied about the money, Evan. She lied about me hurting her too. And you fucking fell for it, just like she wanted. All she wanted was to get back at me, and she used you to do it. She got a nice, little payout as her reward since she couldn’t get it out of me back home.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” I snapped. “Why’d you wait this long?”
“You started giving me shit all the time. You got intofightswith me over her, man. What happened to being my friend?” Asher pointed at his chest. “You fucking picked her over me. I didn’t think you’d believe me. It didn’t take you long to start hating me.”
How the fuck did I get conned into Daisy’s bullshit? That whole sweet, innocent, good girl act was a lie from the fucking start. And I was the dumbass who fell for it. I wasn’t the smartest guy – I knew that – but how the hell had I been so caught up in her that I didn’t see her for what she really was? It made sense why she was so secretive about some things. The phone calls, the letters.
Her parents couldn’t get their hands on Asher and his money, so they were coming after me. The betrayal absolutely stung. It was all an act. A fuckinglie. Maybe I was an idiot, but Daisy had been a fucking good actress, because I had bought every stupid lie she told me. I had picked a girl over someone I had known almost my whole life.
“… What the fuck do I do?” I asked, my breathing getting heavy. The rage was coming. I could feel it. It was taking over my body, and the other guys on the ice were gonna have to deal with it.
“Fucking end it,” snapped Asher. “Hurt her the way she’s tryna hurt me. Break her heart the way she’s trying to break this team up. What happens when she can’t get another cent outta you? She’s moving on to the next guy. Probably fucking Tanner or something.”
Nodding slowly at him, I decided then and there that I needed to come up with a plan.
“What about Murph?” I asked. “You gotta tell him this shit. You shouldn’t get kicked off the team because Daisy’s a good fucking liar.”
Asher shrugged. “You think I didn’t try? I did. He still told me to get fucked.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I know that. That’s why you have to get back at her. Look, Holden doesn’t want me here, but he won’t see me in the crowd. I’ll hang around there until the game is over. But that’s when you get her in here. When Holden leaves for the night, that’s when I’ll show up,” Asher said, eyes darkening. “You fucking corner her. Tell her how much you fucking hate her. I wanna watch you break her heart.”
I took in his words. He was right.
Chapter 36
DAISY
