Page 90 of In the Danger Zone
“Yeah. I know. It was bad. Really bad. The photos are even worse, obviously.”
“There arephotos?” I blurted out. “Of Daisy? From when… Why are you just telling me this now?”
“Kid, this Patrick guy is a whistleblower.” Murph gestured to the paper in my hand. “He told me he could lose his job and asked for confidentiality. No one was meant to know who sent me all this stuff, and that was to protect him from Asher’s family retaliating. I planned on keeping my promise until you outed yourself as an idiot. Besides, it wasn’t my place to show you photos of Daisy she may not have wanted you to see. Hell, she probably doesn’t wantmeseeing photos of the worst day of her life. I assumed Daisy told you about this incident with Asher. I thought youbelievedher.”
“I did!” I yelled. “But then Asher… Asher told me…”
“I don’t wanna show you any of the photos. Evan, Asher nearlykilledher that day.”
Dropping my helmet, I rubbed my face with my hands. “No, no. I saw… That can’t be right, because…” Because if that was right, then I just made the biggest mistake of my life. I just completely and utterly broke Daisy. I had looked her right in the eyes and said all that mean shit to her. Fuck, I stood by and let Asher say that shit about her stutter andlaughed. “Murph, you’ve gotta be fucking lying right now. Please tell me you’re lying.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Murph opened up the folder again, slowly pulling out a photo.
I felt twenty different emotions at the same time.
There Daisy was. Laying in a hospital bed. Bruised and fucking battered and looking like she had just spent the whole day getting thrown into the boards. Her eyes were closed as she laid in the hospital bed, her head bandaged up, her skin covered in bruises. A few machines surrounded her, her frail body hooked up to them. The pure, white blankets confirmed to me where the photo was taken.
My heart broke. Why didn’t anyone help her that day?
And then I felt rage. Rage at myself for believing Asher’s stupid, bullshit lies. But I was the problem too. I was the asshole who shoved her away from me, who humiliated her. I did to her exactly what everyone else had done to her. Was I innocent in this too? Not by a fucking longshot.
“I gotta go,” I muttered, voice rushed.
Murph called out to me, but I didn’t hear a thing he said. I was too busy getting into the locker room, yanking every bit of my gear off. Some of the guys came up to me. Tanner asked me if he wanted to hit the bar, but I didn’t have time for that shit. I didn’t have time for anyone who wasn’t Daisy.
As if she’d wanna fucking talk to me after what I did. God, I had fucked up so bad. I was an idiot and I didn’t even deserve to look her in the eyes.
“We going to that bar tonight, Evan?” Colton asked, giving me a friendly slap to the shoulder. “You finally ready to move on?”
“I’m not in the fucking mood,” I snapped, shoving Colton’s hand off me. He scurried off after that.
I got changed, not even bothering with a shower. My sweat-soaked hair would have to do. Not like that would even matter that much. Daisy was probably already disgusted with me and she had every right to slam the door in my face. But I needed to see her. I was willing to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness even though I was certain a second chance was something I wasn’t worthy of.
That photo flashed in my head. Daisy in that bed. Her skin all bruised. Her eyes shut, unconscious. All thanks to Asher. Fuck, I was gonna kill him. I was gonna rip his head off and end his fucking life. He was a fucking dead man.
But first I needed to see my girl.
Ex girl.
Chapter 40
EVAN
It took me just minutes to get to Daisy’s dorm. I slammed a fist to her door over and over, my head pressed to the wood when I got no response. If she was in there, she was ignoring me.
Knocking again, I waited. I waited for almost ten minutes, my need for her rising fast. How could I be so fucking dumb? What was wrong with me? I had made a promise to Daisy and then I went and broke it in the worst way possible.
“Daisy, please, if you’re in there… Please open up,” I begged. “Please. I’m sorry. I found out everything. Please. Please open the door. Just let me see you. Just let me—”
“Evan?”
My head turned fast. There she was. Sweet, innocent Daisy. She had never hurt anyone. But a lot of people had hurt her. Including me. Now I was on that list. And it was the worst place to be.
“Daisy.” I moved over to her quickly.
But she stepped back, arms quickly wrapping around herself. Her eyes were big and I could have sworn her lips trembled that tiny bit. Fuck, was she scared of me? I didn’t want her to be scared of me.
“Daisy, I’m sorry,” I whispered to her. “Murph told me. I don’t know how he knows, but he does, and he told me everything, and I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t listen to you. I should have believed you. Why would you lie to me? You have no reason to. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I said and what I did. I’m so, so sorry.”
