Page 96 of Distortion
‘I need to talk to you.’
I snort. ‘About what?’
‘About Daisy.’
My eyes narrow. ‘You’re the friend I heard about.’
‘Lu,’ she nods. ‘I work with her at Grinder.’
I take my hands out of my pockets and fold them over my chest. ‘What about her? You have a problem with her, or something?’
She shakes her head. ‘No, of course not. She’s great.’
It seems like this girl really is Daisy’s friend.
‘What is it then?’
‘Have you heard what people say about her? The rumors about the thing that happened? She told me?—’
So that’s what this is about.
‘Look,’ I interrupt, ‘everyone knows already. It was a decade ago. I’m not about to be blackmailed for?—’
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ she asks, looking genuinely perplexed. ‘I’m trying to tell you if you’ll shut up for a minute that I think your step-sister is in danger.’
My laugh is immediate and she scowls.
‘That’s really good,’ I say with a chuckle. ‘Your acting skills are on-point, but, come on, Daisy’s indanger? From what? Being bludgeoned with a foam axe?’
Lu crosses her arms over her axe and regards me with a stare until I stop laughing.
‘I’m not kidding. People say nasty shit to her every day, but that’s not all. Did you know that someone yelled that she was a killer and threw hot coffee all over her the other week?’
‘No,’ I say a little stiffly.
‘There have been other things, too. She came in for hershift today covered in bloody scrapes. She said she fell, but I don’t believe her.’
‘She might have just fallen like she said,’ I tell Lu. ‘She can be really clumsy.’
I step closer. ‘You know it’s all true, right? The rumors. She killed a kid. Did she tell you?’
Lu’s scoffs at me. ‘Wow. With family like you, who’d need enemies, right? Yeah, she did tell me, actually. But she was a kid, too and she paid her debt. She’s my friend and I’m trying to look out for her. Look, Shade, everybody here knows your family is into some shifty shit. You need to make sure she’s okay. You didn’t see her when she came in after she fell. She was scared, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen her like that. It’s getting worse. They put notes in at the coffee shop. Threats. Be a fucking brother, or whatever you are to her and make sure she has protection.’
‘Fine,’ I grate out. ‘I’ll look into it.’
Lu gives me one final, scathing look and walks off in the direction of the Quad.
I stare after her, more concerned than I should be considering I was the one who divulged Daisy’s past to Laurie and told her to spread it around.
I message the pledges as I walk to my car, telling them to meet me in the games room later. If the stuff Lu said is true, then they will have seen it happening, since we require them to trail around after Daisy as part of their hazing duties. I think Blake even made them a spreadsheet to log her movements, but I haven’t looked at it.
I leave the campus, driving the twenty minutes over to the club, located in the heart of Richmond proper. I park down the alley where my usual spot is and go in through the side door.
It’s closed until ten, so it’s quiet when I slip inside. Thestaff are restocking the bar and getting stuff ready for tonight, but we don’t open for a few hours yet.
I go upstairs and sit at the desk in the office to go over the revenues. It’s easier to do it here where there aren’t so many distractions ... mostly in the form of my stepsister.
I’ve beenat this for hours. I can’t concentrate. All I can think about is Daisy, and what Lu said was happening.
