Danni to Pieces: Book One: Forced

by L. T. Varner

  “What are you doing with Daniel?” he asked, looking like he was fighting an internal battle, attempting to restrain himself from beating the crap out of poor Daniel.

  I explained the situation with Mike and Mark, and it finally dawned on me what he probably thought.

  “Do you think I’m here to have sex with Daniel?” I asked, with a shocked look on my face.

  He asked Daniel if he could see him alone in the hall for a moment and they both walked out of the room, pulling the door shut behind them.

  Well, this will sober someone up real quick. After another ten minutes, Daniel walked back into the room carrying a light blue T-shirt and threw it at me.

  “I need my shirt back?” he said, trying to contain his laughter.

  I asked, “Why exactly?”

  “When you finally get it, it will make sense.”

  “Whose shirt is this then?”

  He said, “Collin’s, and by the way, it’s his favorite shirt. He wears it all the damn time.”

  “I don’t understand anything going on,” I grumbled as I changed into Collin’s shirt.

  Daniel just laughed and lay on the bed, turning on the flatscreen. I crawled into the other bed, curled up, and was asleep before I knew what hit me.

  Chapter 13

  I get it

  During the next couple of weeks, the schoolhouse demanded my constant attention. From cabinets, tile, paint color, to wood floors, molding, and fixtures. I couldn’t get away from it. My contractor was constantly asking me things I had never thought of before. Trying to find things to restore the school as close to its original form as possible became a full-time job. Mike and Dad helped as much as they could.

  Dad was in the process of building his house and going back and forth to Texas to work at his ranch. Mike and Mark were planning on going to Mark’s family cabin in Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with his family. They would be gone a week, which meant that I had to work at the bar every night. It was going to be the first week in a long time I was going to be alone, and I was okay with it.

  Finally, Mike, Mark, and Dad all left town on their trips and I was excited that after work I could go home and be alone. I just had to make it through work first. That would be easy enough if I closed early.

  Since we had gone clubbing, Daniel and I had been in constant contact. He had come to be more like a naughty little brother to me, and he knew I would tell him what I thought about some of the things he did, usually him being a jackass to some poor girl. He hadn’t brought up Collin once since that night, and neither did I. I hadn’t received one call or text from Collin, and I hadn’t sent him anything either. I didn’t know what to say to him now.

  Time went by quickly at the bar, considering I felt like all I did was text Daniel and Mike most of the night. Finally, at 8:30, I kicked out my last two customers. We had the bar cleaned up by nine, and the new waitress left. I decided to finish my paperwork so I wouldn’t have to take it home. I turned on the stereo, thinking it would keep me motivated, and it did.

  An hour later it was snowing when I looked outside, putting on my coat and eager to get home. I had parked out front earlier since snow drifts in the back of the garage had prevented me from getting in. After reading a quick text from Daniel telling me to call him when I got home, I texted him back saying I was just leaving the bar and would be home in twenty minutes. He wanted to tell me about his video ideas for their next song. I shook my head, knowing Daniel, he will have naked women mud wrestling in it, or something ridiculous like that. I gathered my stuff and headed outside noticing how quiet it was with all the snow.

  The streets were empty, and my SUV was the only one left as I started it with the remote. I walked carefully across the road, my headlights shining on me as I crossed the icy street. Stepping onto the sidewalk, through the snow drift left by the snow plow, one of my headlights darkened. Complete panic set in as I felt a presence. With the keys in my hand, I started walking when I noticed too many footsteps around me. I froze, as my purse, laptop, and bank bag crashed onto the snowy sidewalk. Feeling a warm hand grasp my throat, I stayed still, praying it wasn’t what I thought.

  It was. He spoke very slowly and calmly, as I heard the familiar voice from my nightmares behind me.

  “Did you miss me?”

  I tried to turn around to see the monster’s face as he shoved me up against my car, my head hitting the back door window. The sound of shattering glass that rang in my ears was incredibly loud against the insulation of the snow. I was trying to think what to do when he yanked me backward by my hair. My mind woke up, shouting at me not to let this happen. I won’t let it. He opened the driver’s door and started trying to push me inside. I was not about to get in a small space with him. I started grabbing ahold of anything that I could get a grip on. He shoved me up against the seat trying to hold onto me. My back was to his front when he pressed up against me.

  “Stop fighting or I’ll kill you this time,” he said close to my ear, as the smell of alcohol and grease reached my nose.

  I kept fighting back, knowing the worst he could do was kill me. As both of us kept fighting for control, I remembered my keys in my hand. With fumbling fingers, I started hitting all the buttons until I found the panic button. The horn started going off, and the lights were flashing.

  “Now, why couldn’t you just play nice with me? Like we did last time? It was so much fun,” he said through his heavy breathing with a bit of excitement in his voice.

  He grabbed my hair, yanked back, and said, “Too bad, maybe next time.”

  Something sharp crashed into the back of my head before everything went dark.

  I woke up with a freight train running through my head. Judging from the commotion around me, I had a feeling I was in the hospital. Opening my eyes, I saw I was right. An older woman in pink scrubs was standing over me. I couldn’t tell what hurt worse, the front or back of my head.

  “What happened?” I moaned, hoping I had just had a new nightmare.

  She replied after she hit a button on a flashing machine, “Honey, I think you were robbed.”

  I hope that’s all they think. Maybe keeping as much to myself as possible was a smarter way to play this. I was so light-headed and suddenly felt like I was going to get sick, so I sucked in a deep breath. I was furious. Mostly mad at myself for not killing him when I had the chance. I stayed still trying to catch my breath; I didn’t want to do anything stupid.

  After ten minutes my temper got the best of me. To hell with this. I’m leaving. I was in a hospital gown and that made me angrier as the nurse came back with a tray of unpleasant looking instruments.

  “I want my fucking clothes back now!” I shouted at her. It didn’t seem to faze her at all.

  “You need to calm down and just relax,” she said with nothing but calmness in her tone.

  I roared back, “Get my clothes now.”

  I felt blood running down my face, and realized that this can’t be a good sign. The very calm nurse was putting something in my IV, and before I even had a chance to pull it out of my arm, the darkness found me once again.

  I woke a couple of hours later and tried to get up, but quickly understood that I couldn’t move my hands. Really? I’m the one that is assaulted, but I am the one restrained. How ironic, I mumbled to myself seeing the restraints that attached my wrists to the bed rails.

  A different nurse came around this time looking more serious than the last one. He was trying to be funny and charming at the same time. It wasn’t working. He joked that they would remove the restraints if I would behave this time. I assured him it wouldn’t be a problem. After freeing me, he asked me to try to sit up and drink some water. I thought back to what the nurse had told me last time I was in the hospital. The sooner I got up and walked around, the sooner I could go home. He helped me sit up. I didn’t feel so light-headed this time, which I knew was a good sign.

  The bandages covered half my eye as I questioned the nurse endlessly if they we
re necessary. He assured me they were, much to my dismay. They had just finished stitching up my forehead and the back of my head, mentioning I would probably have a headache for a couple of days.

  I asked, “Are the cops here?”

  “Yes, they’re outside waiting to talk to you,” he said, moving the bed into a more comfortable upright position.

  Casually trying to do what I seem to do best, I played it down, “What exactly happened?”

  “They think you were robbed. Is that what you remember?”

  I decided at that moment that that was all they needed to know. I was going to leave out the fact it had been the same man who had assaulted me. It was a moot point, and I wasn’t going to touch on it anymore for anyone.

  Oh, goody. The same two detectives from my first assault stood by my bed asking endless questions. I only answered vaguely, telling them he had just wanted money. Next, they asked me if I had had a purse or anything with me. I replied that I had my purse, laptop, and bank deposit bag with me. They hadn’t found any of it, I wasn’t surprised. I remembered that I had put my phone in my coat pocket.

  “Wait, do you have my phone?” I asked, hopeful that they did.

  “Yes, that is the only thing we found in your coat. Also, we haven’t been able to locate your keys, any ideas?” The older detective asked.

  “I had them in my hand. That’s how I was able to hit the panic button. Can I have my phone back?” I snapped at them, calling them idiots in my head.

  They knew I wasn’t telling them everything, judging by the looks on their faces.

  “We called the last number that contacted you, a gentleman named Daniel answered. We explained that you had been robbed and were being taken care of here at the hospital,” he said, handing me back my phone and yet another one of their cards before they finally left.

  I had a collection of their cards from all of their previous drop-ins to see if I had remembered anything more yet. I remembered lots of things, but nothing I was sharing with anyone.

  Wow, I thought, looking at my phone. Twenty-four missed calls, tons of text messages, and I had no desire to look through any of them. I called the only person I could think of at the time.

  “Hello,” he said in a sleepy voice.

  “Can you come get me, James? I need a ride home,” I said, trying not to choke the nurse still pestering me that I should stay another day.

  “Danni, why do you need a ride home at six in the morning? Are you okay?” he asked, sounding more awake now.

  “I’m at the hospital. They don’t think I’m fit to drive. They took my ride as well, so can you help me out?” I mumbled as the nurse gave up and left.

  “I will be right there.”

  Twenty minutes later the nurse came in with all the discharge papers and an irritated look on his face. He explained I had an appointment in two days for a follow-up. He also ran down all the instructions they said I needed to follow. A concussion seems to have a lot of directions, and I had no idea how they thought I could remember all of them.

  I saw James running down the hall towards me, and I couldn’t help but climb out of my wheelchair. He put his arms around me, and I told him I wanted to go home.

  “Are you okay?” he asked in a very shaky voice. I nodded.

  We walked inside my quiet home, and I collapsed on the couch feeling overwhelmed with dizziness. We sat there for a while as James had his arms around me whispering that it would be okay.

  Opening my eyes, I saw the way-too-bright sunlight filling the room and sat up, wondering if it had all been a dream. Major head rush. The room started spinning, and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. After a couple of minutes of deep breaths, I slowly stood up. Black spots filled my vision, and I started to fall forward as my head became fuzzy. I suddenly found myself a little steadier on my feet. Not crashing into the coffee table, I realized I had two people holding me up, one on each side. I sat back down mumbling that I was sleepy.

  I woke up a little later with lots of body heat under me as I was sweating. I must be lying on someone’s chest. I slowly opened my eyes hoping the dizziness was done.

  The first thing I saw was Daniel sitting across from me in the chair, grinning at me.

  “Good afternoon, sleepy head. How are you feeling?” he asked as I felt movement below me.

  Whose chest am I lying on? I started pulling myself up and saw it was Collin.

  “What are you two doing here?” I asked in an exhausted voice.

  Daniel looked at me and said, “You didn’t call me back. I want to tell you my idea for the video.” His voice was full of sarcasm, but he had a look of concern on his face.

  Collin sat up with me and tried to hold onto me so I wouldn’t fall over. I just looked at him and could tell that he was very worried. I was too tired to ask any questions as I gripped his upper arms. We sat there and looked at each other as if nothing else in the world mattered. He cupped my cheek gently with his hand and sighed when I leaned into his palm. Tears streamed down my face, and I whispered, “It was him.”

  I watched his eyes water before a tear ran down his cheek and he nodded at me before pulling me in for a tight hug.

  Later that evening they both helped me upstairs as the room wouldn’t quit spinning. Daniel left and shut the door behind him, leaving me alone with Collin. Neither of us had anything to say. He sat down on the bed with me as I leaned into him, feeling his warmth.

  “I’ll start a hot shower for you. Danni, promise me you’re okay?” He breathed close to my ear as I noticed his hands shaking.

  I nodded, pulling his shaking hand to my mouth as I gently kissed it, fighting my urge to cry. After twenty more minutes of trying to console each other, I finally managed to get in the shower as he stayed right outside the door, saying he wasn’t going to leave me alone in case I fell or something.

  As I was pulling my wet curly hair up in a bun, he stepped back into the bathroom after I kicked him out so I could get dressed. I stood there in my bra and underwear as he looked at me in the mirror and, as he came to stand behind me, our eyes found each others. Neither of us spoke.

  Gently he touched the scars on my chest and stomach from the first assault. This was the first time I let anyone other than a doctor touch them. He looked at me, and I nodded that he could touch. As his fingertips ran over the two pink scars on my chest, then to the three on my stomach, I didn’t feel panic. I felt alive and beautiful after a year of hiding them from the world. His face looked more than concerned; lust and passion are what I saw. What this man did to me was unlike anything I had ever felt before.

  “You take my breath away. You are so beautiful, Danni,” he whispered before he planted a sensual kiss on my shoulder. He stepped back and left the room quietly.

  My heart was pounding; the way he made me feel was everything I was trying not to feel. But, he was not giving me a choice when he touched me or looked at me with lust all over his face. I was sure my face showed him I felt it as much as he did.

  I grabbed a T-shirt and a pair of sweats, got dressed, and went back into the bedroom when there was a knock on my bedroom door.

  “Come in,” I said as I pulled on socks.

  “You up for some dinner?” Collin asked as he sat on my bed next to me.

  “That would be great. I’m starving.”

  I looked at him and asked, “You alright?”

  He gave me a half-smile and said, “I just have a lot of things on my mind. Just need some time to work through them. Don’t worry about me.”

  Being the smartass I am, I replied, “Well, if you need to talk, I am a pretty good listener.”

  Wearing his sly smile, he asked, “Where is my shirt that I gave you to wear?”

  I played dumb saying, “What shirt? Oh, that shirt. It’s on the dresser. I was just waiting to see you to give it back.” I knew he wasn’t buying it.

  The truth was, it had become my favorite night shirt, and I had no intentions of giving it back. He found it on the dre
sser and threw it at me to put on instead of the one I had on, and I did.

  When we got to the kitchen, I was completely ready to order dinner. I was shocked when the table was set, and they had made hamburgers. It was a great meal. They even did the dishes while I watched from the table. Collin asked when they would get to see the schoolhouse. A subject I loved to talk about. I told them it would hopefully be done in the spring and then described everything I was trying to do to restore some of the old traits of the school. I told them that we had tried a couple of times to save the scoreboard in the gym, but it was too run-down and couldn’t be saved. So far I had had no luck finding another. We talked about the schoolhouse for a while when it dawned on me that James had brought me home, but was gone when I woke up.

  I asked, “What happened to James?”

  They looked at each other and said, “Rock, paper, scissors,” and then played and Daniel lost. He came and sat down at the table with me while Collin loaded the dishwasher and kept his back to me.

  Daniel explained, “When we got here, James was here. It got a little heated between the three of us because a certain someone,” he pointed to Collin, “wanted him to leave. There may have been a little standoff over who was staying. I’m sure you can guess who won.”

  I was confused why there would be any bad feelings between them. They had never even met before. I remained quiet on the subject and thought maybe I could find out more details from James later. My phone started ringing at that moment, breaking the silence between the three of us.

  Mike was surprised I answered the phone. He seemed quite eager to talk about his trip and the fun they were having. I caught on that no one had called him about the robbery. I wondered if anyone had called my dad either. I was okay with that. It put off the drama for a different time. I let him tell me all about what they had been doing. I said things were fine here, and I was enjoying some quiet time. Daniel kicked me under the table, hinting for me to tell him, so I quickly said goodbye.