Dangerous

by Daniels, Suzannah

  “Shoot.”

  “What’s your favorite book?”

  She pushed herself into a sitting position and turned to look at me. “My favorite book?”

  “Yeah, you know one of those things with a picture on the cover and lots of pages of words in the middle?” I teased.

  “Obviously, I know what a book is. I just didn’t expect….”

  “What? You didn’t expect me to know what a book was?”

  She laughed. “You run a bookstore. Of course, I know you know what a book is. I just didn’t realize that you were interested in them. You seem to be more of the outdoorsy type, than the sit-inside-and-read type.”

  “Luke liked to read.”

  “Luke was your twin?” she asked.

  “Yes. I guess you could say he was the good twin. He didn’t cause our parents nearly as much stress as I did. You wondered what I was like when I was younger. I pushed the limits.”

  “And I imagine you still do,” she said teasingly. “Did Luke have a favorite book?”

  “I don’t know. I never asked him, and now, I’ll never get the chance. But I can still ask you.”

  “It would be impossible for me to pick a favorite book. I like reading romance. I think because they always have happily-ever-after endings, you know? Life is hard enough. When I read, I want to go to another world that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.”

  I leaned toward her and kissed her lightly on the lips, maybe because I understood what she meant. Maybe because I agreed. Life could definitely be hard. For the first time in a very long time, I wanted to make someone else’s life a little bit easier, and part of me hoped that she could make my life a little easier, too.

  “Do you miss him?” she asked so softly that I barely heard her voice.

  I felt the pressure build in my chest, magnifying the aching hollow of my heart. A raw wedge of pain crept into my throat, and I swallowed, trying to tamp down the emotions that roiled within me. It took me a moment before I trusted my voice to speak. “I will always miss him. When he died, I felt like a chunk of my own heart was ripped out of my chest. They say that time heals all wounds, but I don’t know. It’s been three years, and it still hurts like hell.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, laying her hand gently on mine.

  I closed my eyes, allowing her touch to soothe me. “That’s life.”

  “What about Dylan?” she asked. “What’s he like?”

  “Dylan has everything going for him. Girls think he’s hot. Not as hot as me, of course.”

  “Of course,” she agreed without missing a beat.

  “In all seriousness, he’s a really good guy. Good grades come easy to him, so my parents think he’s awesome sauce. Oh, and did I mention that he hates me?”

  “Hates you?”

  “Hard to believe, isn’t it?” I said dryly.

  “Why would he hate you?” she asked.

  “It’s a very long story.” And it was a story that didn’t paint me in a very favorable light, not that there were any stories that did.

  “I have plenty of time,” she said.

  “Oh, no,” I countered. “I think I’ve met my quota of confessions for one night. It’s your turn.”

  “Okay. Ask me something.”

  I studied her profile in the glowing moonlight, wondering what I would most like to know. “What did you think about me the first time you saw me?”

  “Is this a trick question?” she asked, cocking her head in my direction.

  “No. I just wondered what your first impression was of me.”

  “You want me to be honest?”

  “Of course.”

  She hesitated. “I thought you were good-looking, which you obviously already knew.”

  “Conceited and a badass,” I whispered.

  She nodded her head in agreement. “Mostly conceited. But you were also very dark and broody. You seemed a little scary.”

  I scoffed. “Scary?”

  “Yes, scary. Like a volcano that’s just waiting to erupt. You always look so serious. And then there’s your reputation with the girls.”

  I smiled into the darkness. “My reputation?”

  “You’re known for hanging out with…less scrupulous girls.”

  “Less scrupulous?”

  “I’m trying to be nice. You know what I mean.”

  “Where does that leave you? I’m hanging out with you. Does that mean you’re less scrupulous?”

  She thumped my chest with the heel of her palm. I laughed and pulled her against me, cradling her in my arms, her cheek resting against my chest. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll corrupt you?”

  “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll make you behave?”

  I chuckled, trying to imagine this tiny wisp of a girl keeping me in line. “And how do you intend to do that? You going to spank me? Because I have a feeling that might have the opposite effect.”

  “We, girls, have our ways.”

  I caressed her bare shoulders with my fingertips as I imagined all the ways that I hoped she would try to keep me in line. We fell into a comfortable silence as we lounged in the silver moonlight. She tilted her face up toward me, and I couldn’t resist the chance to kiss her. She wrapped her hand around my neck, pulling me to her as she deepened the kiss. Dara Golding responded to my touch. That didn’t surprise me, but I was surprised by how happy that made me.

  Slowly, she pulled away, caressing my cheek with her hand. “Did Luke look just like you?”

  “No, Luke and I are…were fraternal twins, so we weren’t identical. We did look a lot alike, but it was our behavior that really gave us away. Luke was much quieter than I. He read a lot, and I was usually the one getting into mischief. While we both rode motorcycles, I rode more often than he did, and I was more of a daredevil, I guess you could say, while he liked to play it safe. It took me forever to get him to jump a ramp. Every time he would get close to the ramp, he’d slow down and come to a screeching halt. But he finally did it. He would do anything I wanted him to do. In fact, my mother used to tell us that we were monkey see, monkey do. Luke would watch me and try to imitate whatever I was doing.”

  “Do you have a picture of him?”

  “I have a photo album in my room. Come on, and I’ll show you.”

  She followed me to my bedroom. I motioned for her to sit on my bed, while I pulled a photo album out of a dresser drawer. I handed it to her, and she opened the cover, smiling immediately when she saw the first page.

  “Y’all were cute babies. And look, y’all are dressed alike.”

  “You can thank our mother for that.”

  I sat beside her, the mattress dipping under my weight. She turned the page, and I pointed to a photo of us when we were five. “That’s when we got our first motorcycle.”

  “Y’all look too small to be riding a motorcycle.”

  “We loved it.” She continued flipping through the photos and paused when she came to the last photo we had taken before he was killed. We were sixteen.

  “Y’all did look a lot alike.”

  I pointed. “That’s me. This was the last photo we had taken together.”

  She studied the photo a moment longer and gently closed the book, handing it to me. “I’m sorry that you lost him,” she said softly.

  “I am, too. All the stuff that you hear about twins having a close connection…it’s true, even for fraternal twins. I bet Crimson and Scarlet could tell you some stories.”

  “I can remember when Scarlet had to get stitches in her forehead. Crimson cried and complained that her forehead hurt, too. She wasn’t screaming as loud as Scarlet, though.”

  I could recall similar stories between Luke and me. “I know the moment that he died.”

  “You do?”

  “I had come home from the hospital to get some sleep. My parents were still there. I went to bed and was awakened with an intense pain all through my torso. I remember feeling nauseous, and my body hurt so bad, I thought I was going to pass o
ut. I wanted to pass out. Then, the pain just disappeared, and it was replaced with an intense feeling of peace. It wasn’t long after that when my parents called to tell me that he had died.”

  “So you could feel what he was feeling?” she asked, her eyes wide.

  “Yes, I assume that I was.”

  “That’s unbelievable.”

  I turned to replace the album in the drawer, when I heard her soft voice, “What happened to him?”

  “Remember when I told you about Tiffany?” I asked, still facing the wall as I quietly closed the dresser drawer.

  “Yes.”

  I sat back down beside her on the bed. “At that point in time, I thought Tiffany was the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen, and I had the worst crush on her. The only problem was that she liked Luke.”

  To say it out loud brought all the emotions racing back. All the guilt. All the fear. I would never escape it. Never. “Dammit,” I shouted, standing up quickly and walking to the window. I pushed the curtain to the side and gazed at the view of the mountains.

  Dara’s fingertips were on my arm. “What is it, Stone?”

  “It should’ve been me. Luke didn’t deserve to die.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  I couldn’t look at Dara. I closed my eyes, wishing that all the pain would go away, but knowing that it wouldn’t. This storm had brewed in my soul for so long, there was no escaping.

  “Talk to me, Stone. Make me understand. I want to be here for you. I want to know what you’re feeling, but if you shut me out….”

  “Do yourself a favor, Dara. Let me take you home. Then, stay away from me.”

  “What if I don’t want to stay away?”

  “Then you’re making a grave mistake.”

  My eyes were riveted to a group of trees across the valley. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Dara, to know the kind of person that I was, to know the baggage that I had. She deserved better. Hell, her life had already been tough enough.

  Her fingertips caressed the side of my face, but I held my gaze on the trees.

  “Stone, I see the good in you,” she whispered. “Tell me what’s bothering you. Surely, it can’t be as bad as all of that.”

  “You don’t know me, Dara.”

  “I know enough. I know that you loved Luke and that he wouldn’t want you to hurt like this.”

  I pressed my forehead against the cool windowpane.

  “Talk to me, Stone,” she urged gently.

  “Luke knew Tiffany liked him, and he knew that I liked Tiffany.”

  “What about him? Did he like Tiffany?”

  “Not as much as I did. I was so jealous, Dara. I wanted Tiffany for myself.”

  “What happened?”

  “I goaded him. I told him that he would never have the nerve to kiss her, and he told me that he would.

  “So I dared him to kiss her that very night. I told him that if he didn’t, then I was going to kiss her the next day.”

  “What happened?”

  “Her family had rented a summer cabin not far from here. I dared him to ride his motorcycle to her house and kiss her. I never thought he’d do it.”

  “But he did?”

  “He did. On his way back home, he was going around a really bad curve around the mountain, and he was hit by a car that had crossed the center line. He died a few days later.”

  “Stone, I’m so sorry.”

  “So you see, Dara. If I had never dared him to do it, he would’ve been home that night.” Grief and guilt consumed me. I wished for the millionth time that I was the one who had died.

  Her fingers were in my hair, and she cooed softly to me. “It’s not your fault, Stone.”

  “It should’ve been me,” I whispered, unable to hide the agony in my voice. “Dara, I need to be alone. Let me take you home.”

  Chapter 8

  Dara

  I looked at my reflection in the mirror as I held tightly to the curling iron, counted to twenty, and waited for the heat to turn my slightly curly hair into the perfect ringlet. My date with Stone ended somewhat abruptly after our discussion about his brother, Luke. I had been surprised that he had opened up about the accident, even if it was only briefly. While I hadn’t been ready to go home, I was pleased that he trusted me enough to speak to me about a very private matter, and I considered it to be a small victory.

  I finished curling my hair, ran my fingers through it, and coated the finished style in a generous amount of hair spray. I checked my makeup one last time and left the bathroom to find my messenger bag.

  “Granny, I’m leaving for work,” I called through the house as I went to the living room and picked the car keys up from the coffee table.

  “Okay,” she yelled from the kitchen. “If I’m not here when you get home, then I’m with George.”

  I smiled as I walked out the front door. Granny was spending more and more time with Mr. Milton. Seeing old people date was just so darn cute.

  When I pulled Granny’s car into a parking spot at the bookstore, I wondered if Stone had already arrived. I entered the front door and saw Tom perched on his usual stool, his eyes focused on the computer screen. A pencil, presumably tucked behind his ear, disappeared into his shaggy hair.

  “Morning, Tom!” I called, unable to hide the excitement of the day from my voice. I had been so thrilled that Stone had opened up to me last night, and I hoped that it meant that our relationship had just taken a more serious turn.

  “Good morning, Dara,” he replied, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “I have good news. Our sales have been up the last few days.”

  “That is good news. Does Stone know?”

  “Yeah. We discussed it earlier this morning.”

  “So he’s already here?” I asked.

  “He left. He was running a few errands for his parents, but he’ll be back in a little while.”

  I sent him a text message to call me when he got a chance. Crimson and Scarlet were supposed to be at their shop across the street today, and I wanted to tell him. I had checked on bookmarkers and thought it would be a great way to advertise to their clientele.

  As the morning progressed, I stocked inventory, cleaned the store, and checked out customers. Stone hadn’t answered my text message. I reasoned that he was probably spending much of the morning driving, but I was still a little disheartened that he hadn’t responded to me.

  When it was time for me to take lunch, I ordered a pizza and had it delivered to Scarlet and Crimson’s shop across the street.

  “How long do you think it will take to get the shop ready?” I asked them as we sat in the floor, devouring a pepperoni pizza.

  “Dad’s supposed to come this evening and help us install our styling stations and arrange the barber chairs. The plumber will be here tomorrow to hook up our shampoo stations. I have a zebra print rug and several black chairs that should arrive tomorrow for our lobby. All of our general supplies should arrive by the end of the week. So, I think we could have everything ready to go in three weeks or so,” Scarlet answered.

  “I brought some of our magazines from home,” Crimson told Scarlet. “I grabbed the hair style books, too.”

  “Good deal,” Scarlet said. “We should be styling in no time.”

  “So how’d your date go last night?” Crimson asked me.

  “It went pretty well,” I replied. “I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable around him now, but there’s just something about him that makes me feel like I’ve been zapped by a lightning bolt, and I have tiny little shocks of electricity radiating through my body. Have y’all ever felt that before?”

  “Can’t say that I have,” Crimson answered.

  “Me, either,” Scarlet answered.

  “I want to, though,” Crimson said. “Maybe if I could ever get Mike to kiss me.”

  “I told you, Crimson. You’d have to stop talking first, and the chances of that happening aren’t good,” Scarlet informed her.

&
nbsp; Crimson rolled her eyes.

  “I guess I’d better be getting back to work,” I said.

  I stood and looked out the plate glass window. I could hear the hum of a motorcycle, and I searched the road until my eyes found Stone. “There he is now.”

  He pulled into the parking lot and disappeared around the back of the building.

  “If you hurry, you can engage in some serious lip-locking before he gets in the building,” Crimson suggested, her lips curving into a smile.

  “Maybe I will,” I said, laughing. “And while I’m at it, I’m going to tell Stone to tell Mike that he should lay one on you.”

  Crimson inhaled sharply. “You wouldn’t?”

  “Do you want to get kissed or don’t you?” Scarlet asked.

  “Don’t you dare,” Crimson warned as I walked out the building.

  I waved bye and rushed off to greet Stone.

  Walking around the outside of the building, I caught him standing by the bike and removing his helmet. “Hey!”

  He looked up and smiled. “Hey, Dara.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Fine. Why?”

  “No reason. Tom said you were running some errands. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

  “Yeah, everything’s fine. Listen. About last night. I’d appreciate it if you kept our conversation between the two of us.”

  “Of course.”

  “Luke meant a lot to me. He still does, and I just don’t discuss him with many people.”

  “Your secrets are safe with me, Stone.”

  He brushed his fingertips across my cheek and smiled. “Thanks, Dara.” He gave me a chaste kiss on the lips and walked inside.

  I had hoped to have him to myself for a few minutes, but I followed him into the building. “Tom told me that sales have been up the last few days.”

  “Yeah,” Stone said. “Let’s hope the trend continues.”

  “I priced some bookmarkers if you want to get some to put in Crimson and Scarlet’s salon.”

  “Yeah, babe. That’s a great idea. Why don’t we start with a thousand?”

  “I’ll get them ordered today.”

  “Tom can give you the phone number for Laura, our graphic designer. She already has our logo file. Once she designs the bookmarker, she’ll send you the file, and you can get them ordered,” Stone said.