Page 95 of In the Danger Zone
Tanner’s eyes darkened. “Shit. Why didn’t you say anything? I would have helped you.”
“So Coach Murphy was right to kick him off the team,” Hudson mumbled. “Not a surprise he doesn’t tolerate that kind of stuff. Really, you should have said something. I would have had fun kicking his ass.”
I said nothing. I shut my eyes, remembering the sight of Asher in pain. I needed my brain to replace that photo of Daisy laying there in that hospital bed with the vision of Asher looking half dead.
Why didn’t anyone help her? She was all alone that day. And every day. And maybe she thought she wasn’t so alone when she met me.
I had destroyed that.
“I just want Daisy back.” My eyes were closed tight, and it was so easy for me to imagine her pretty face. “She hates me and I don’t blame her for hating me. But fuck, ithurts. I just want my girl back. I saw her tonight and tried to say sorry. She wants nothing to do with me.”
“You gotta give her time, man,” Tanner offered. “Keep saying sorry and show her that you mean it.”
“Idomean it.”
“Yeah, but you fucked up big time, and she needs time to realize that you mean it,” continued Tanner. “She’s not gonna forgive you overnight.”
“I fucking messed everything up,” I mumbled. “And things were so good. They wereperfect. I love her. I love her so much it hurts. What the hell was I thinking believing Asher? Fuck, I’m an idiot.”
“Keep apologizing,” Hudson said. “Like Tanner said, show her that you mean it. Time is gonna fix this. No big, grand gesture is gonna help. Daisy needs time, Evan. Give her that. Let her know you’re there for her, that you still care about her. But you need to understand that she’s not just gonna suddenly move on from what you did.”
“Agreed. Be patient. You gotta wait this one out,” said Tanner. “Daisy needs time. You can’t hold that against her. Just… Just give her time.”
My eyes opened and I turned to look out the windows. All I saw were stars. Like that first night I took her out to Shell Beach. When I kissed her. God, I wanted to go back to that so bad.
“I just want her back,” I muttered, eyes still stuck on the sky. I prayed for a shooting star. For some kind of magic that could make me reverse time.
I needed a miracle.
Chapter 42
DAISY
It was better to be alone. Being alone meant never getting hurt.
My head was pounding and my heart ached and truthfully, it felt like my whole body was burning with heartbreak. Evan had said sorry. Helookedsorry. That furious side of him had gone away, but how could I ever forget the way he looked at me and talked to me?
Maybe I had a bit of an inferiority complex. I couldn’t ever let go of what happened to me. Abuse, cruelty,nearly dying. I had a right to feel distrustful of Evan after I had given him my everything. Putting my heart on the line wasn’t something I did because I knew how bad people could be. Getting me to open up and be honest was a hard task. Evan had completed that task. And then he went and ruined it all.
I couldn’t even sleep properly. My once healthy sleep schedule was a thing of the past lately. It was easier to stay up all night, pushing myself to the early hours of the morning where my eyes just couldn’t stand to keep themselves open anymore. And then my body would just give out and force myself to shut down for at least a little while. I had been busying myself with essays and readings and pointless tasks too, pushing myself every chance I could. Going to bed early meant laying there andthinking.
And I didn’t want to think too much. Distractions were necessary.
A knock at the door pulled me away from my thoughts, and I looked at the wood hesitantly. When I pulled the door open, I saw a wary looking Leena.
“Morning,” she said, a small smile on her face. “You ready for class?”
“N-Not really,” I confessed. “B-But I can’t stay in here all day.”
“Exactly. Let’s go. And stop thinking about him.”
“He showed up here on Friday night.” I shut my door behind me. “It’s kinda hard n-not to think about him when he shows up like that.”
Leena stopped in her tracks. “Oh, God. Did he come here to rub salt in the wound? What’s his problem?”
“N-No. He… I don’t know what happened exactly, b-but he found out it wasn’t a lie. That A-Asher really did what I said he did. Apparently someone sent his coach photos from when I was at the hospital…”
“Wait, what?” She gasped. “Where’d they even come from?”
