Page 84 of In the Danger Zone
“Y-You know why he did what he did.” I focused on Evan’s face. Why did he look so heartbroken? He had no right to feel that way when I was the one being attacked. “Evan, m-my dad did that b-because A-Asher came into the b-bakery looking for a fight. That was a couple m-months after he attacked m-me. A-Asher knew what he was doing going in there. He was just trying to start something and m-my dad… Yes, m-my dad got v-violent b-but he was angry and upset that I was hurt. A-Asher tried to kill me. The whole town was treating it like a joke. M-My dad m-messed up b-but he had good intentions. He shouldn’t have put his hands on anyone b-but he was angry about b-being provoked. That’s all it was.”
Evan let out a long breath. For a second, it felt like I had got through to him. That he understood. But then he just shrugged. “It makes sense why you were so fucking sneaky all the time. Why you’d end your calls so quickly when you were on the phone with them. Why you’d hide those letters from me. Why you kept asking question after question about my family.”
Evan stepped closer. They were slow steps that made me look over my shoulder, making sure I wasn’t about to be trapped between him and something else. Asher moved slowly as well. That smirk on his face told me he was enjoying every bit of my pain. He had well and truly won again.
“Where did you go to school? Where are you from? What do your parents do?” Evan mimicked the questions I had asked him in the past.
“Do you want m-me to say sorry for getting to know you?” My head shook slowly. “For wanting to know about your past, about your family?”
“You’re a good actress.” Evan let out a casual laugh, pointing a finger at me. “I’ll give you that.”
“She’s not that good,” Asher muttered. “No one believed her when she said I tried to kill her back home. That was a sad, little attempt from your greedy fucking family to get some cash outtamyhard-working family.”
“You’re a b-bad person,” I said to Asher. It may have been a futile attempt to defend myself. But I wanted him to know that there wasn’t even the tiniest bit of good in his body.
“He’s not a fucking liar like you,” Evan shot out at me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything,” I murmured. “I am. B-But I didn’t tell you the whole story for a reason.”
“Yeah, I know that,” Evan laughed sarcastically. “I know what the whole story is now. You fucking used me to get back at Asher. You got close to me so that you could get close to Murph so then you could lie to him as well. None of this meant a fucking thing to you.”
“That’s not true!” I tried. “You m-mean everything to m-me, Evan. I would n-never use you. I wouldn’t. I p-promise you that this is all a lie. This is a m-misunderstanding. I n-need you to b-believe m-me. P-Please just b-believe m-me, b-because n-no one else ever does. Please.”
It was pathetic and I was begging and pleading and craving some compassion on Evan’s part. I looked right into his eyes, hoping he could read my mind. All I needed was for him to believe me. But that darkness on his face wouldn’t go away. He just gave me a lazy shrug, like I was stupid for even trying.
“What do you want me to say?” Evan asked, his voice uncomfortably harsh. “I’m fuckinggenerousand hand over ten thousand bucks for your family. And what doyoudo? You go out and spend that shit on yourself.”
“I did n-not spend your m-money!” I let out, my voice faltering. My stutter was getting the best of me and the overwhelming feeling of shame was very much present. “And I especially didn’t spend any of that m-money on m-myself!”
“Where’d that shiny, new laptop come from?” Evan asked.
My hands rubbed at my eyes as I tried to make sense of what was happening. There was too much going on at the same time. And I needed to talk to Evanalone.
“I…” I let out. “I k-know I said—"
“You said it was from your parents who… arestrugglingto get by?” Evan’s voice was dripping with suspicion. “Five seconds ago life was hard for them. How’d they get the money for that shit if they’re having problems, Daisy?”
God, he didn’t get it. Of course he didn’t. And I knew I had messed up with my lies. I should have told Evan from the get go that the bakery had shut. But he came from money. He came from so much money that he wrote me a ten thousand dollar check like it was nothing. Maybe I was more ashamed of my family’s money struggles than I realized.
“O-Okay, that wasn’t the truth,” I admitted. “The laptop wasn’t from them.”
“Where’d you get it then?” Evan asked me fast and hard.
Pure panic was all I felt. It looked bad. I knew it did.
“Look… This… I get how this m-must look… B-But you n-need… You n-need to let m-me explain, Evan. Can we… C-Can we just… Can… Can we talk about this privately?” I finally managed to let out. “P-Please… Please… N-Not in front of everyone… Please… I can explain all of this… If you... If you just gave me a m-minute to—"
“You need more than a fucking minute.” Asher scoffed, giving me a sharp nod. “You can barely get a fucking s-s-sentence out right now.”
ThatI was used to. Asher’s cruelty was common. The laughter coming from Evan’s teammates – minus Hudson, who looked incredibly stoic – was something I had been anticipating as well.
But I hadn’t been expecting to see Evan’s eyes darken as he joined in, a deep chuckle falling from his lips. It wasn’t the kind of laugh I had become used to hearing from him. The sound was usually so bright, so beautiful, so enchanting. But the laugh Evan was letting out was cruel and harsh. It felt like a blaring, red warning.
It was the worst thing I had ever heard in my life.
I didn’t even blink. I just stared right at him, trying to make sure that I was really looking at Evan Wentworth, that he was the guy that I had fallen for. Because the guy standing in front of me had suddenly turned into the worst kind of person: the one who cornered me at school and hurt me and made sure I went home hating myself.
I looked for any sign of regret on Evan’s face. I saw none. Not one, little bit. The words he had said earlier fell from his lips with ease. His voice wasn’t strained. There were no wavering words, no hesitation to not laugh at Asher’s cruel remark.
