Page 65 of In the Danger Zone
“Why not?” Evan asked bluntly, pulling his jeans on.
“There’s a r-reason why he’s still playing hockey,” I quickly let out.
Evan looked at me, in the middle of securing his belt. “Yeah, because I haven’t had the chance to fucking kill him yet. Fuckingprick. I swear to God I’m gonna fucking kick his head in.”
I whimpered when Evan said that. That day flashed in my mind. The day I nearly died.The Incident. Evan noticed and stepped over to me, his hands on my arms again. But he was being gentle with me – the opposite to what he was saying. His strong hands felt calm on my skin.
“D-Don’t say that,” I whispered. “P-Please.”
“You should have told me, Daisy,” Evan said with a frown. “Why didn’t you fucking tell me?”
“B-Because…” I blinked, my eyes filled with too many tears for my liking. “It’s n-not as e-easy as you think!”
“What’s not easy? I find him. I punch him in the face. I kick his head in. I leave. Everyone’s happy.”
“S-Stop saying that!”
“Why?!”
“That’s exactly what he did to m-me!” I cried out. “He’d hit m-me every day and m-make m-me cry and m-make fun of m-my stutter or…anything. Literally anything I did m-made him hate m-me. I don’t know why. I don’t know what I did to m-make him hate m-me so m-much! He’d hurt m-me all the time. I got used to it. B-But one day… One day one of m-my teachers saw what A-Asher did. He tried really hard to get A-Asher punished. He was the only teacher who seemed to care about m-my safety. And A-Asher…” I took in a long breath, doing everything I could to prepare myself for what I was about to say. “A-Asher found out and he lost it and he followed m-me home one day after school. He hit m-me… Had m-me on the ground… That wasn’t anything n-new. I was used to that. B-But then he did exactly what you wanna do to him. All it took was one kick. Justone kickfrom him to the head. And then… I was out. I was done. I b-blacked out right then and there. He had hit m-me so m-many times b-before, b-but that was the first time he tried to…” I sucked in a shaky breath. “That was the first time he tried to kill m-me. The first time he attacked m-me like that. Someone found m-me eventually and took m-me to the hospital. I was there for three weeks. I was lucky I didn’t d-die that day…”
Looking up at Evan, I noticed how silent he was being. He just watched me, staring straight into my eyes. I wanted to crawl into his head and know what he was thinking. Evan usually just blurted out whatever was on his mind.
His eyes stayed clouded with darkness. I had never seen anyone look so furious. God, even Asher didn’t look at me like that – even that day he nearly killed me.
Evan slowly shook his head, finally parting his lips. “He’s a fucking dead man,” he muttered.
Evan snatched his shirt off the ground, moving to the door, but I had to hurry and stand in front of him. My hands were on Evan’s still bare chest, shaking my head wildly at him.
“You can’t keep t-touching him!” I pleaded.
“Why not?” Evan snapped.
I flinched at the harshness in his voice.
Evan breathed in with a hiss. “Daisy.” His voice was so much lower suddenly. “I’m not letting that prick get away with this. I’m not. He put his hands on you. He tried to fuckingkillyou! You think I’m gonna let him just walk free? No. Fuck no. Anyone who puts their fucking hands on you needs to pay.”
“Remember what I said?” I asked, voice all frenzied. “That there’s a reason why he’s still playing hockey?”
Evan frowned. “Yeah.”
“M-My parents tried to do what they could. They did their b-best. B-But I don’t come from the richest of families. M-My parents always struggled to get b-by and they still do,” I explained. “They don’t make a lot of m-money. We were b-barely getting b-by then and it’s still the same. We couldn’t afford some fancy, expensive lawyer. And A-Asher’s dad had connections. He still does. We were n-never gonna get anywhere.”
“Yeah, well, karma is a fucking bitch and I’m gonna make him see that. I don’t give a shit who is daddy is.”
“I m-made m-my parents drop the case,” I explained. “It wasn’t just the m-money. Everyone was turning against us. N-No one was going to the b-bakery once they found out m-my parents wanted A-Asher to get punished. We couldn’t afford rent. We couldn’t afford to buy food, Evan. A-Asher’s family knew what they were doing. They were teaching us a lesson. That he can do whatever he wants.”
“Not anymore,” Evan said with gritted teeth. “Daisy, just let me do this. Please. I need to fucking do this.”
“You think hurting him will m-make you feel better,” I said with wet eyes. “I get it. And m-maybe it will for a m-minute. But A-Asher told m-me loud and clear the other day—”
“He fucking came near you?” Evan exploded. His eyes shut for a second as he took in a long breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t mean to cut you off, butfuck, did he come up to you? After I fucking told him to leave you alone?”
I wrapped my arms around myself. It didn’t feel as good as Evan’s arms. “It’s okay. And yeah. He did.”
“Why didn’t you say anything? I told that asshole to keep away from you!”
“He told m-me if you touch him again, he’s gonna m-make sure m-my parents suffer first,” I whispered. “If you hurt him he’s gonna hurt them. They already struggle to get by. Life is so hard for them, Evan. Having m-me as their daughter has already m-made it harder. I don’t want to m-make it even worse. The entire town already hates them. I just… I just want people to leave them alone.”
