Page 91 of In the Danger Zone
“… Can you go?” was all she said.
I blinked at her. “You want me to leave?”
“I don’t wanna see you.” She shook her head at me.
“But… Baby, I’m here to say sorry.” I kept my distance, wanting so badly to get close to her, but I knew she needed the space even though my arms were craving to hold her close. “And to beg for another chance. I know I don’t deserve one. God, I don’t even deserve you. You’re the sweetest fucking girl. But please... I thought… God, I don’t know what I thought.”
“You thought I was lying,” Daisy said, a definite edge to her voice. “And you b-believed him over m-me.”
I rubbed at my forehead. “I shouldn’t have done that. He showed me… He showed me some stuff. That video… It made it look like… Fuck, he really knew what he was doing.”
“I m-made a lot of m-mistakes.” Daisy tucked some hair behind her ear. “There were things I kept to myself, b-because I didn’t think you’d understand. And then those lies just got b-bigger and b-bigger. I’ll take responsibility for that. The b-bakery… The b-bakery has been shut for a little while n-now. I was ashamed, I guess. And I’ve b-been m-made to feel ashamed about… everything.”
“I don’t care if your parents don’t have money, Daisy.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “You didn’t have to keep that to yourself. I wouldn’t have judged you for that.”
Daisy still kept her distance from me. “Either way, I shouldn’t have lied. I m-messed up by doing that. B-But you come from m-money and I come from n-nothing, and I didn’t know what else to do. I’m sorry for all of the lies. I’m sorry for keeping so m-much to m-myself when you deserved the truth. I’m used to b-being embarrassed about everything. M-My whole life, really.”
“Daisy,” I sighed. “I don’t want you to feel like that. Please don’t.”
“And you n-never knew about m-my scholarship. I don’t know if A-Asher told you, b-but the only way I’ve b-been able to afford to come to this school is ‘cause of m-my scholarship. And it’s n-not even some ‘you’re-so-smart’ one,” Daisy told me with a bitter laugh. “Iliterallyonly got it b-because I’m poor. That’s it. V-Very cool, right?”
“I don’t… Daisy, that doesn’t bother me. None of that does. I don’t care about money. I never have.”
“Well, that’s n-not true, is it?” Her pretty, brown eyes went all dark as she looked at me. “You cared when you thought I cashed that stupid check that I didn’t even ask for.”
I cleared my throat. “I did. And I jumped to conclusions like an idiot. I fucked up. I’m sorry for fucking up as bad as I did.”
“He told m-me he’d do this,” Daisy said softly. “That he’d hurt m-me in the worst way possible. And he was right. He did just that. Isn’t he lucky? He gets to get away with n-nearly killing m-me and making you hate m-me. He m-must b-be so happy.”
“I don’t hate you.” The pain in my heart was throbbing and nothing could fix it. Nothing but Daisy. “I hate him. I hate that prick for hurting you. I saw the photo—"
Daisy frowned, her eyes narrowed. “W-What photo?”
“Of you. At the hospital. That day.”
She took a quick step forward. “W-Where did you get it?” Her voice sounded panicked suddenly.
“Murph,” I explained. “He took me into his office. I played like shit today and he noticed. When I told him that we broke up, he showed me. There was a medical report too. Someone sent them to him. I don’t know who. It doesn’t matter. But I saw the photo and I saw what he did to you, and Daisy, Christ, I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
“You weren’t supposed to see them!” she cried out. “They were… The only reason those photos were taken was so people could know what A-Asher did to m-me that day!”
“Murph said nobody would touch the story, that—”
“Yes, I told you that! I told you all of it and you still chose A-Asher over m-me! B-Because you’re just like him!” There was so much pain in her voice. So muchdistrust.
I stepped closer to Daisy, needing to hold her so bad. But she moved back again like she didn’t want a single thing to do with me. “I’m not like him. I would never do that to you. I’d never lay a fucking finger on you. I swear. And I’m gonna make sure he fucking pays for this. Next time I see him, I’m gonna kill him, I swear to God.”
“Do you think hurting him will m-make m-me take you b-back?” she asked with a frown. “That getting revenge will m-make m-me love you again?”
“Again?” I repeated the word. Did that mean she loved me? Before this? Before I went and fucked it all up? Because I was more than fucking sure that I loved her too. “You mean…?”
“There’s n-nothing you can do that will m-make this pain go away. When you picked him over m-me, when you b-believed him over m-me.” Daisy looked down at the floor, her head shaking. “When… When you let A-Asher say what he said that day… About… About m-my stutter. You stood there andlaughed.”
There were tears in Daisy’s eyes. She was quick to wipe at them but I had definitely seen them. And they were in her pretty eyes because of me. It was me who was the fuck up, it was me who had caused her that pain. And all I wanted to do was hold her and take that pain away. But as I inched closer to her, just that little bit, she took yet another a step away from me. God, that hurt.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Shame hit me. I was not some jock, bully asshole. That wasn’t the kind of guy I was, but Asher had got into my head and made sure I turned into the type of person I had never been. “That was unfair. And it was… You know I’m not normally like that. I shouldn’t have done it. I thought it was all a lie. Everything. Asher made it seem like you were only with me to get back at him. I thought I was a fucking joke to you. I was so hurt and I wanted to hurt you back, and I wanted to do it in the worst way possible. God, you should hurt me back. You’ve earned that opportunity. I’m so sorry I did that, Daisy. I’m sorry.”
Daisy rubbed her fingers against her eyes, finally looking at me. There was so much pain on her face. Pain I was responsible for. It was my fault. Asher might have messed with my head, but I was the dumb fuck who fell for his stupid lies.
