Pool of Crimson (15 page)

Suddenly
Danny became uncomplicated, and for a brief moment, everything inside me was tranquil, like I belonged somewhere.

He pulled me into his arms like he hadn’t seen me in weeks. I stumbled across the threshold as he caught me in an embrace. He hugged me tightly, pressing my body against his firm solid mass of warmth.

He breathed deeply into my hair and said softly, “I’m so glad to see you.” I relaxed into his embrace without hesitation. I believed him. The soft voice in the back of my mind hummed in acceptance. I wrapped by arms around him like they belonged there. I was safe. The world couldn’t touch me while I was in Danny’s arms.

I breathed in his scent. Underneath the detergent and old spice was something uniquely Danny. He smelled of moss on a warm day, bark from an aging maple tree, and the slight hint of male behind all of that.

He slid his hands slowly down my arms until he had my palms clasped firmly in his. He pulled me through the door to the porch, almost carrying me away with him.

I tugged on his arm to stop him from dragging me away, then laughed as I managed to slip out of his grasp. It felt good to laugh. Still, I couldn’t trust this feeling.

“I have to lock my house.” I slipped the key into the lock. The soft tapping of his hard-soled loafers on the wooden slats of my porch made the corners of my lips turn up in a quirky little smile. I turned. He crossed his arms over his chest in a demanding posture I hadn’t seen since my younger brother was eight years old. Danny was very impatient and very cute as he pouted on my porch.

Don’t fall for this. You can’t believe any of it. Get a grip.

I laughed as Danny tried to fish his golf ball out with his club, making a mess of his clothing and sending water splashing everywhere. His foot had slipped into the tiny stream as he flung his club into the water in an attempt to pull the ball back from the water current. The bottom had been slippery and he lost his footing quickly. He fell in the stream to his knee. With all the sloshing and splashing around he did to try and get the ball and himself out of the stream, Danny was wet clear up to his elbow. He’d managed to soak most of his clothing and the green turf surrounding the hole.

“You can’t make that shot,” I said, doubled over with laughter.

Danny positioned himself to hit the miniature golf ball straight over the four foot, pink turf ravine to the opposite landing. He’d gotten stuck in the ravine three times.
I
took the time to line the ball up and make par. He was already at bogey.

“The hell I can’t,” he said with a self-assured smile. “That hole is mocking me.”

I laughed harder and shook my head as he lined up the putt. He pulled the putter back much too far and prepared to swing.

I looked out over the sixth hole to the parking lot beyond and twenty or so cars sitting innocently in the parking lot.

“I don’t think so,” I said, with the first sign of apprehension in my voice.

“You just watch me.” He brought the putter around. That little blue ball sailed over the ravine, over the hole, over the fiberglass mountain the course was laid out on, and over the fence as it bounced off the roof of a Ford Mustang. The car alarm wailed, filling the evening with the shrill sound of a repetitive siren. Danny stared at me with wide, surprised eyes, as if that outcome had never occurred to him. We heard a resounding thud of ball against metal. He’d definitely left a dent.

“Uhh . . .” I stood frozen with my mouth open and my eyes wide.

He grabbed my hand quickly in a firm grip, then took off, pulling me behind him.

“Come on. We gotta go,” he said with a throaty laugh that rumbled deep in his chest.

My body tingled with delight at that sound. I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh with him as we raced through the course. When we got to the kid behind the kiosk at the bottom, we tossed our clubs and my little yellow ball at him. All I could do in light of the poor kid’s confused expression was shrug my shoulders and smile apologetically. We jumped into the Durango and peeled out. I sat back in my seat and breathed a sigh of contentment.

After the initial adrenaline rush from the miniature golf escapade had died away, I found myself searching for something to say that wasn’t an accusation. I wanted to confront him and ask how he could act so normal when he was connected to someone who’d tried to kill me. I couldn’t make the two sides of the coin add up in my head.

As we sat across from each other at Shinto, a sushi restaurant in Grandview, I picked at my tempura roll, while he inhaled his nigiri. An uncomfortable wall of silence descended between us like storm clouds moving in. I kept shifting in my seat and glancing around the room, looking for something, anything, to draw our attention away from the tension that sat heavy as a rock between us.

The tables were arranged in sets of two and extremely close together. So close together, I had to move the table itself to get to my seat. A private conversation was impossible. I could hear the woman next to me chewing. Candles provided the main source of light, giving the entire restaurant a romantic glow.

The ambiance was wasted on the two of us.

I looked around, waiting for something to happen.
I’m always the one to step up and do what needs to be done so what’s stopping me now? Just do it.

I took a deep breath, resigned and started the conversation I’d been dreading since Danny had stepped out into the afternoon sunlight and gotten into Candace Capeloni’s white Charger.

“We have to talk,” I said, a sharp-edged tone I hadn’t intended. I put down my chopsticks and stared at him, determination stiff in my shoulders.

He turned warm hazel eyes up to me and raised a brow. He must have seen something in my face because he lowered his gaze to the linen tablecloth and said something in a clipped tone I couldn’t quite make out.

“What?”

“Nothing.” he said.

He had an uncharacteristically sour tone to his voice and his nostrils flared as he pushed back into his chair. He braced his shoulders, pushing them flush against the back of the chair as he crossed his arms over his chest, making the muscles bulge as his body stiffened.

He’d closed himself off, appearing more formidable, more in charge ... just more.

His eyes narrowed as he watched a woman enter the restaurant. He didn’t acknowledge her, but I noticed just the same.

Hello ... Candace.

Danny’s face gave nothing away, but I saw an awareness flash in his eyes that set my teeth on edge. He knew her all too well and that made my blood boil. I wanted to step in front of him, protect him. My territory,
mine
.

“Who is that woman?” I turned slightly to my right and watched as she moved effortlessly to our table, weaving in between the close-knit tables like a slalom skier. She never hesitated a step or looked away from Danny as she approached. She didn’t even glance my way. I never once doubted that she’d seen me, though.

I already wanted to hit her and she hadn’t even opened her mouth yet. She’d ruined Jade’s car and almost killed us both. She’d put that tension in Danny’s shoulders and the grim line across his lips. That now familiar soft voice in the back of my head kept whispering,
you can’t do that to him. He belongs to us.

Who the hell is US?

Candace finally looked down at me and smiled a cocky, arrogant smile that ignited my rage. I wanted to smack that smile off her face.

“Hi, Danny,” she said, sugary sweet with a manipulative glint in her eyes and a saucy cock of her hip. There was an undertone of damsel-in-distress in her voice I didn’t like and couldn’t respect. She ran her hand along his shoulders and back, like she had a right to touch him. She didn’t.

Danny sat motionless. His shoulders tensed at her touch and his eyes focused forward, but he didn’t appear to be seeing anything. Candace moved smoothly to his side of the table, saddling up beside him like they were a couple. She pressed her elephantine ass against his side. Revulsion danced briefly across his expression before he chased the last remnants of his emotion from his face. His posture remained rigid and screamed discomfort, but he didn’t ask her to leave. In fact, he never looked up at her, or me. He sat like stone, his jaw like granite and his eyes hard and obedient.

“Candace,” he said formally, an edge of scorn to his voice. The tone sounded foreign and unnatural coming from him. “I didn’t expect to see
you
this evening. Who told you I was out?” he asked with a soft growl in his voice. His jaw clenched tightly and the muscles along his jaw pulsed. His eyes narrowed into menacing slits as he stared at the wall behind me.

“Who’s your friend?” Candace asked, clearly avoiding his question.

I stood, making sure my spine was straight and shoulders back. The height disparity was enormous. The fact I towered over her by almost a foot didn’t seem to faze her at all as she looked up at me.

My height usually made people nervous, at the very least take a step back. At my full height of 5’10”, I could appear quite threatening, and I used that to my advantage.

Candace seemed unimpressed. She stared up at me with a knowing smirk.

I smiled and held out my hand. “My name is Dahlia.”

“I’m Candy,” she said curtly before turning her attention back to Danny, ignoring my outstretched hand.

BITCH!

Danny sat still as a stone. He didn’t blink as she moved her hand across his back again.

“If you’ll excuse us,” she said to me, as if I were the one intruding.

I narrowed my eyes on her and balled my hands into tight fists at my side. I thought really hard about punching her in the face right there in front of everyone. I could do it. I could make it quick before anyone even noticed that I’d broken her nose. She deserved that and worse.

Danny’s eyes were as hard as steel but unfocused. He nodded once in resignation.

I ripped my bag from the back of my chair and slung it over my shoulder with a huff of indignation. “With pleasure.” A sudden flash of pain swept across his features as his brows knit together and his jaw tightened. His hazel eyes disappeared for a split second and flashed amber.

“You can walk out at any time, Danny,” I snapped at him in disgust.
Like I needed to tell him that.
I was pissed. My cheeks went hot with the rage coursing through my system like fire. I wanted to kill something. I wanted to rip that dark-haired bitch apart, tear her limb from fucking limb. I needed to draw blood to relieve my rage.

I stormed across the restaurant. On the stone floor, my boots filled the restaurant with heavy, sure footfalls.

I got about halfway down the block before I felt a heavy, warm hand grab my arm from behind. I turned quickly and took an instinctual swing with my right fist.

Danny caught my hand about an inch away from his jaw. He brought my clenched fist back down to my side gently, fighting the tension in my arm as he lowered it. I shook fiercely in my rage, tears streaming down my face. I was so mad I could have spit in his face. I thought about it, too. I, however, am too much of a lady.

“I’m so sorry.” His pathetic tone didn’t make me feel any better. I wanted to hit him and her and then him again. Actually, I wanted to kill her. The pressing need in the back of my brain to spill her blood made me nervous. She was human for Christ’s sakes, and there was one thing I wasn’t ... a murderer.

“Sorry for what?” I asked curtly. “Dismissing me on our date like I meant nothing?” I almost shouted. “Or are you sorry for fucking a bitch?” My words were cutting, but then again, I’d meant them to be. I had no doubt in my mind by the way she’d touched him that they’d been together. The thought of her touching him set rage burning through me again.

Mine!
roared through my brain in a growl that was more ferocious than I’d ever thought myself capable. That one word was bloodthirsty and primal, and it scared me shitless. Danny shook his head frantically, and his hands tightened around my fingers to almost a crushing pressure. He pulled both my hands into his much larger ones as I shook with anger.

“You don’t understand. Candace has ... power over me.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I snapped. My tone was sharp and cruel. I couldn’t decide why or with whom I was actually angry. I was angry at the bitch, of course. I was also angry at Danny for letting me walk away. Mostly, I was angry with myself for letting both of them get to me. Somewhere along the way, I’d lost my perspective. That bitch had tried to kill me, and I’d forgotten that in my jealous rampage.

“I can’t say no to her.”

“She’s that good in bed, huh?” I bit out as I yanked my hands away. I hugged myself to keep him from touching me and to keep myself from drawing the knife in my boot. I was too mad to be cold and too filled with fury for good judgment.

Danny’s jaw tightened again and the muscles of his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth. His hazel eyes flashed amber, and I pushed my shoulders back, rolling them slowly in preparation for a fight. His expression softened as he looked down at me. A tiny smile lit his face.

“Dahlia,” he asked with an expression filled with wonder and hope. “What are you?”

My eyes went wide and my mouth opened slightly as I gasped in surprise. I tried to take a step back, but his hand clasped onto my bicep and held me firm. My blood pumped through my veins in fear, like a caged beast. My heart pounded in my chest, beating a strong tympani rhythm. I tugged against his grip. I didn’t want him touching me. I needed my arm free to protect myself, to discipline him.

“Let go of me,” I almost snarled through clenched teeth.

He wavered for a moment, as if he couldn’t decide what to do. His fingers loosened around my bicep, and I started to pull away. Only a little bit more and I would be able to yank my arm away. I could be gone before something really bad happened.

“No,” he said forcefully and tightened his grip around my arm. There was caution in his voice.

“Danny, if you don’t—”

“Dahlia, what are you?” His nostrils flared and his eyes flashed amber again.