Discipline (8 page)

“I want you to meet Mrs. Lockman, Nina. She
owns a
lovely
gallery in the city and they need an intern!”
Mom said brightly, trying not to look flustered as she combed my
hair back with one hand and straightened my dress with the other. I
looked up at Ms. Lockman, who stared at me with a stiff smile, no
doubt uncomfortable with the fact that I appeared a post-coital
mess. Despite the awkwardness, I managed polite small talk with her
— at least until the topic broached Ben. Mom swiftly took over to
make up for my sudden silence, giving me the time to glance at the
person I could feel staring at me through my peripheral vision.

Daniel.

He was at my house. Standing on my deck in a
light blue shirt with the first two buttons undone, he looked
handsome in a way that would’ve riled me up had Ben not just turned
my stomach. There was a frown in his blue eyes as they tried to
read my expression, but when our gaze locked for too long, he
turned away like he did on the football field, resuming his
conversation with Mr. Davies as if he hadn’t seen me at all. I
couldn’t linger on my hurt because Mom’s shrill chirp disrupted my
thoughts.

“Speak of the devil!”

I turned to see what she was looking at, my
face falling to the floor when I spotted Ben strolling our way.
He didn’t fucking leave?
I glared, amazed at his nerve. I
could see Daniel watching me again, but my seething eyes were
decidedly fixed on Ben and his shit-eating grin. He was delighted
with himself as he came over, lowering his mouth to my ear.

“You’re gonna finish me off later,” he
whispered before kissing Mom on the cheek and making introductions.
Beyond sick to my stomach, I turned on my heel and speed-walked
away, prompting the collective “
aww
” of disappointment from
Mom and her friends.

“She gets embarrassed when I show him off!”
I heard her say as I stormed back into the house through the
kitchen, praying like hell that the footsteps behind me didn’t
belong to Ben.

“Don’t be a bitch, Nina. Come here.”

They did.

“Get away from me, loser.” Profanity didn’t
get to Ben, but that dumb word always did. His footsteps instantly
halted. The two servers in the room barely looked up before rushing
the hell out with their trays of crostini. He spoke the moment they
were gone.

“Watch your fucking mouth, Nina.”

“No.” That word got to him too.

“Then how about I shut it for you with
this?”

I didn’t have to turn to know that he was
grabbing his dick. His footsteps started up again, prompting mine
to move faster. But since my pride forbade me to look frightened
and run, he soon had me by the arm.

“You don’t walk away from me,” he said
evenly, as if it were a basic fact of life. While his tone was
cool, he squeezed me hard, yanking me back when I dared to keep
walking.

But when the patio door opened, he quickly
released. I cursed him, rubbing the burning from my arm as I spun
around, freezing when I saw whom it was coming through the door.
Daniel. His eyes fixed intently on me as he let himself in, his
brows rising in a silent question.
Are you okay?
I gave a
small nod though it was an obvious lie. Ben peered over his
shoulder, laughing with bitter disbelief at the intrusion.

“What’s up, buddy,” he said, though it might
as well have been, “Fuck off, asshole.” When Daniel didn’t
immediately make himself scarce, Ben shot him an incredulous look
before nodding out the doorway. “We’ll talk upstairs, Nina.”

“No, we won’t.”

Ben’s head cocked threateningly, fire
immediately burning in his eyes. They asked me if I was sure I
wanted to do this – embarrass him in front of another guy. It was
just about what he hated most. When I stayed put, his hard gaze
floated away from me and his hand wiped a smirk onto his
face.  I rolled my eyes at his signature reaction to an
ego bruise, waiting for his customary chuckle to convey how
entertaining he found me.

But instead of that, I got his hand grabbing
me by the same spot as before, hard enough that I felt his fingers
on my bone. “
Ben
!” Everything below his grip quickly tingled
with numbness, my hand feeling as if it were starting to swell. The
pain only spread when he let go and it took me a second to register
the low, snarling mutter I heard –
from Daniel
.

I looked up, horrified to see their faces a
mere inch apart, Ben on the tips of his toes as Daniel held him by
the front of his shirt, veins bulging from his neck and forearms,
every muscle flexing under the cotton of his blue button-up. Ben’s
lip curled, indignant as he heard his own grunts and snorts of
resistance. Feet skidding and squeaking on the floor, he still
attempted a haughty sneer.

“I swear to fucking
God
, you little
shit, you do not want to fuck with me. I will fucking make you
pay
, you – ”

“Do it,” Daniel challenged through gritted
teeth, his eyes ablaze. “Let’s see you do something besides put
your hands on her. Show me, asshole.” His voice was merciless,
unrecognizable as he continued to hold Ben in a way that rendered
him completely useless, his sleeves twisted too hard for his arms
to move let alone swing.

“What, you fucking her?” Ben’s nostrils
flared as he was reduced to accusations – they were all he had left
with Daniel so easily subduing him, unflinching despite his
threats. “You fucking her, huh? How about this… you touch my fiancé
and I’ll fucking kill you, you piece of shit.”

“Okay,
enough
! Just stop it!” My
frantic pleading for them to stop went ignored – either that or it
didn’t come out of my throat at all. In my breathless panic, I
could hardly tell. At one point I had been shoving Ben but now I
was tugging on Daniel’s arm. Everything felt like a blur.

Including Mr. Davies coming through the
door. It wasn’t until he spoke that I snapped out of my fog.

“
What in God’s name is going on in
here
?” he bellowed, using very much his teacher voice as his
old eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
Shit
. Daniel
promptly released Ben, who stumbled backward before regaining his
composure, his first instinct to straighten the wrinkles on his
linen Brioni shirt. It was silent as the three of us stared at Mr.
Davies. He looked close to a heart attack, which was probably why
even Ben remained frozen.

“Does anyone care to explain what just
happened in here?” Mr. Davies finally asked, relieving me. I’d been
convinced for a second that he was going to collapse. No one could
answer the question though, because a tipsy trill soon came from
behind him.

“What do we have here?” Mom poked her head
in through the door, a big smile on her face before a she gave a
sharp gasp. “Oh my
goodness
… all my favorite people in one
room!”

She waltzed in, breezy and clueless with an
hors d’oeuvre in one hand and champagne in the other. Now, it was
the four of us staring as a gaggle of her equally oblivious friends
streamed in. I saw Daniel exchange a look with his fellow wrestling
coach and immediately, my shoulders eased with relief.

Mr. Davies cleared his throat. “Nothin’
going on in here, Marilyn, besides the party you just brought in!”
he said good-naturedly, recovering remarkably well from his
outrage.

“Well, well. I see.” Mom sashayed towards
Ben. “Everyone getting to know each other, hm? Ben, sweetie, did
you get a chance to meet these lovely gentlemen?” She gestured to
Mr. Davies. “This is John Davies, he’s been coaching Jake since
sixth grade, can you believe it?”

“Ah.” Wearing his big, phony smile, Ben held
out his hand to Mr. Davies, whose mouth twitched as he shook
it.

“And
this
is the famous Daniel Cole.”
Mom winked at Daniel before continuing. “He coached Jake for all
four years in high school and he had Nina for English senior
year!”

Fuck
.

I watched Ben’s eyebrows rise with genuine
interest. And delight. “Really.” He turned to face Daniel. “So
you’re a teacher… and you had my girlfriend,” he repeated Mom’s
words, though they sounded a whole other way coming from his mouth.
A vicious guilt tore at my stomach as I realized that I’d just put
Daniel on the ridiculous, vindictive radar that Ben often bragged
about. Before I met him, he’d apparently gotten a bouncer fired for
refusing his attempt to buy entry to a club, and in front of work
associates. But he didn’t stop there, eventually getting the guy
arrested after digging up outstanding warrants for marijuana
possession.

My only comfort was that Daniel had nothing
for Ben to use against him.

Besides me.

“You still teach at the high school?” Ben
asked Daniel, his eyes bright with curiosity.

“Yes.”

“Nice.” Ben nodded, a smile spreading his
lips when he got his answer. And then he turned to Mom with a story
about why he had to suddenly go – some work-related lie that I’d
heard a thousand times. As she protested, I eyed Daniel. He was
already looking at me.
I’m so sorry
, I mouthed. He simply
shook his head in response, his cold eyes returning to Ben as he
approached me to say goodbye.

“When’d you say you were coming back to the
city, babe?” His voice dripped with phony sweetness and there was a
smirk in his eye as he brushed hair from my face. I said nothing.
After waiting a few more seconds for my answer, Ben chuckled and
let his hand fall to my backside, giving my ass a hard squeeze
while watching my jaw tighten. Mom’s friends politely averted their
gaze, completely oblivious to my utter revulsion. Avoiding Ben’s
eyes, mine went to Daniel, whose body was rigid as he watched Ben
hold the nape of my neck and pull my face close. He pressed a long,
hard kiss onto my lips before murmuring into my hair. “I know you
hate when I have to leave early, babe. But I’ll see you really
soon.”

CHAPTER 5

“Okay, we need to talk. I have so many
stories. But first off, why are you wearing that?”

Kelsey’s silent treatment broke ten minutes
into the bus ride. I had a feeling it would end sometime during the
trip back to the city, and probably so she could ask about the
blouse I was wearing. It was floral with a big, rolled collar that
looked like a cat food bowl around my neck.

“For a job interview. At some art gallery in
the Upper East Side. I have the job, essentially. I think this is
meeting’s just a formality.”

“What? You’re quitting Todos Santos again?”
Kelsey pouted. “No more free food? Or parties? Or Aussie Harry and
his gorgeous ass?”

I shrugged, though I was genuinely sad about
the prospect of quitting again. “My mom wants me to. She set up the
interview and,” I plucked at my truly hideous top, “gave me this to
wear.”

“When did all this happen?”

“After Jake’s party.” I’d been so
overwhelmed by the fight between Daniel and Ben that I could hardly
stand up against Mom’s demands. Somehow, I’d promised to quit Todos
Santos and take the gallery internship offered by Mrs. Lockman.
“One of the people from the party owns the place. It apparently
doesn’t pay much and I’ll basically be spackling walls all day, but
I have to check it out.”

“You
have
to? Nina, you can disobey
your mom for once in your life,” Kelsey said. “I mean, I’m no
badass but I’d choose this moment to rebel ‘cause I’d
much
rather make a ton of cash every night while staring at hot Aussie
bartenders instead of get my two hundred dollar paycheck taxed like
crazy, and all for spending my days in a stuffy white room with a
bunch of old people and a bunch of old oil paintings.” She pouted.
“Please don’t leave Todos. Visiting you there is like, the
highlight of my week. Why are you just letting your mom take away
the fun from both our lives?”

I heaved a sigh. “Because I’m dropping the
bombshell about Ben soon and it’s going to destroy her mood for at
least the next few months. And then Jake and my dad will have to
suffer through her tantrums all summer. So I’m just waiting for the
right time to tell her. Probably sometime next week, when she comes
down from the high of the graduation party.”

“Oh…” Kelsey squinted and puckered her lips.
“So, pretending to be her good little daughter in the meantime?”
she snorted. “Kidding. You are a good daughter. And a good cousin
for putting up with me when you’re already stressed out. Which
reminds me that I need to apologize for acting all PMS-y this whole
weekend.”

I laughed. “Okay.”

“Basically my period’s coming but it’s being
all late so I have all the symptoms but they won’t go away. And
don’t make a joke that maybe I’m pregnant because you have to have
sex to get pregnant and we all know that it’s been like, closed for
business down there since the beginning of time. Which is less sad
to me lately because turns out Reesa from my textiles class is a
virgin! And she’s so pretty, so whattayaknow.”

“Ooh, really.”

All I could do was nod and kind of smile. I
had just mustered up the courage to send a text that I’d somehow
spent fifteen minutes composing, and I couldn’t stop reading it
over and over.

Daniel, I’m so sorry about what happened
yesterday. I can’t apologize enough for it — I didn’t mean to drag
you into this and I wish I could thank you in person for what you
did.

I couldn’t stop obsessing over “thank you in
person.” I hoped that it didn’t sound desperate, though I was in
fact desperate to see him again. After confessing my history with
Daniel to Linh, she helped me get his cell number from Mike. I
wasn’t about to raise suspicion and ask anyone for it, especially
since the whole kitchen scuffle had drawn a witness. Following that
whole mess, Daniel had stayed at the party for just long enough to
know that Ben wasn’t coming back. I had planned to slip an apology
in before he left, but I couldn’t with Mr. Davies glued nosily to
his side, even as he walked to his car.