Page 42 of In the Danger Zone
DAISY
“You just couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut, huh?”
My heart stopped when I saw who had just sat across from me in the library. Asher seemed to be mostly calm as he stared at me. There didn’t appear to be anyobvioussigns of aggression. But I knew what Asher’s masks looked like. He had one on as he leaned across the table.
His eye was bruised. That must have been what Evan was talking about the other day. I had spent so many days going to school with a similar look thanks to Asher. There I sat, not a single purple mark on my own face. Funny.
“I d-don’t know what you’re talking about.” I stared down at my notebook. The pen in my hand shook and I did my best to hold the flimsy plastic with a steady grip.
“You’re a shitty fucking liar.”
“Can you leave?”
“You think you and Evan are gonna get married now or something?” Asher snorted. “You think helikesyou? Really likes you?”
My eyes shut. “I don’t… I don’t want to talk to you, A-Asher. I told you if you stayed away from m-me, then—”
“One of my best friends hit me in the fucking face and your name was mentioned. You brought this on yourself. Just like you brought everything else on yourself. What did you say to him?”
“I didn’t tell him about… About that day.” My eyes slowly opened up, hoping that Asher would suddenly be far away from me.
“Then why the hell did he hit me?” Asher asked, teeth gritted. “Me and Evan are friends for fuckingyears, and then all of a sudden you show up with your little stutter and he loses his shit. What did you say to him?”
“I told him you used to give m-me a hard time at school,” I said, my voice rushed. “That’s it. I didn’t tell him to hurt you.”
“Bullshit.”
“He doesn’t know the whole story,” I insisted. “I know you’re worried I’ll tell him about that.”
Snorting, Asher shook his head at me. “I’ve known Evan for a long, long time. He’d pick me over you. Normally he would, at least, but it seems you’ve fucking brainwashed him.”
I hadn’t realized just how dramatic Asher had gotten since high school. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I just looked back down at my notebook.
“Evan m-makes his own decisions,” I mumbled.
“I wonder what decision he’d make if I showed him that video of your dad losing it and hitting me.”
I stared at the lines of my notebook. No one in Oregon would have known about the story. But that video of my dad and Asher went viral all around Great Falls. It was talked about for weeks.
“Should I show him?” Asher asked. “Huh?”
Looking into Asher’s eyes, I frowned. “Why haven’t you shown him it already?”
Asher stayed quiet, his lips firmly pressed together. For a second, I saw his fist flinch. If we were back home, he wouldn’t have hesitated to hit me. But the library of UWO was different.
“You’d have to explain why m-my dad put his hands on you in the first place,” I mumbled. “And you don’t want anyone here knowing that.”
“I was a sweet, innocent kid, Daisy.”
“You knew what you were doing.”
“No one would fucking believe you anyway,” murmured Asher. “Just like no one believed you back home. How many newspapers did you try and get to print that story? No one would touch it. And you know why?” Asher leaned in further. “Because nobody gives a fuck about you.”
“Someone tried.” I shifted in my seat, very much aware of the fact that Asher was staring daggers right at me. “One cared.”
Asher let out a snort. “Who? That Samantha bitch?”
“She’s n-not a b-bitch,” I snapped. Sam might have been twice my age, but back home, it felt like she was the only friend I had. She had tried her hardest to let Great Falls know the truth about Asher, but she was a small-time journalist and the Callaway name was just too powerful.
