Scarred for Life

  It doesn't matter. I know she's the reason you're being neglectful at work," Kate said.

  "And she's putting ridiculous ideas in your head about going back to school, isn't she? What's she trying to con you into doing, Nikki? Did she get copies of real applications or somehow get her hands on fakes and then talk you into giving her money for them?" Raymond inquired.

  Nicole growled. "You were going through my personal papers? God, this is just like when I lived here. I don't have any privacy."

  "The woman is trying to con you, yet you're getting angry with us? Unbelievable," Kate hissed, rolling her eyes.

  "I can make my own decisions and pick my own partners. I don't need you to hold my hand through everything." Nicole threw her hands out to the side in frustration.

  "Obviously, you do, if this is the type of person you want to have around you," Kate countered matter-of-factly.

  "I'm going to take care of this shit right now," Raymond declared and he marched away.

  "Daddy! Daddy, where are you going?" Nicole shouted, trying to follow behind her father, but Kate held her back. She turned to glare at her mother.

  "He's trying to do what's right for you, Nikki, and you know that. You have to get this woman out of your life before she gets you into something deep. Let your father handle it," Kate stated.

  "No, I'm not going to let him ruin the best thing in my life," Nicole declared. She tried to tear away from her mother, but she held back out of fear that she might hurt the smaller woman.

  "You only think she's the best thing in your life because you've allowed her to brainwash you."

  "Like hell. You don't know Danny, Mommy." Nicole broke away from her mother as she heard a car pulling off. Dammit. She raced to her car, ignoring her mother's calls for her to come back.

  ***

  Dane woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. She rolled out of bed, which was much better for napping than the sofa. When Nicole left earlier, she had decided on taking a nap, wanting to see what it was like to lounge in the bed. Now the doorbell was interrupting her very nice sleep.

  She marched downstairs. Not learning from her previous mistake of not bothering to ask who was there, she opened the door to see the last two people she ever expected to see unless there was a serious emergency. Usually, the emergency involved her, severe bodily harm and a hospital.

  "Dad, Mom, what the fuck are you doing here?" Dane demanded, sounding both bemused and outraged.

  "What the hell is wrong with you? Barging into your cousin's life and stealing his girlfriend. Why did you do that? Just to amuse yourself? Prove that you could?" her father snarled, glaring at her with a familiar hatred. He put his finger in her face, which she didn't seem to notice.

  Dane blinked. "Steal whose girlfriend?" What new bullshit is he talking about?

  "Tyler's girlfriend. What the hell is wrong with you? Have you truly sunk so low that not only do you leech off of people, but then you repay their kindness by seducing their fiancées and leeching off of them next?" he hollered, energy building in his grey eyes.

  "What the hell are you talking about? What's this new bullshit you and Tyler are trying to put on me?" Dane was accustomed to her father accusing her of things that she had never done. If anything ever went wrong in the house, she was the first person he went to, and if someone else didn't eventually confess, she'd always bear the blame. Punishments were always ruthless, but that was when he had power over her. He doesn't have that anymore.

  "You stole his girlfriend. You got her into drugs and other depravities, like you always do." he hollered, twisting his finger, but keeping it right in her face.

  "Oh, that's bullshit. But, of course, you'd believe Tyler over me. Nicole's none of your fucking business, so get the hell out of here," Dane ordered her father, brushing him off with a wave of her hand.

  He reached out and slapped Danny forcefully on the side of her head. She wasn't surprised by the hit and it didn't move her. A guttural growl escaped his throat as he put his finger right back in her face.

  "What the hell is wrong with you, telling me what to do? No, I won't leave, not until you leave this poor girl alone. You know you're good for nothing and worthless. What can you do for this woman aside from hooking her on drugs, gambling debts, and all the other bullshit that comes with being around you? God, you almost got Bryan killed."

  Dane viciously flinched. I almost got Bryan killed. What the hell has that bastard been going around telling people. That would explain why Crow had been somewhat hostile to me. Bryan could easily say anything that made him seem like the angel of the situation since she never explained anything to anyone. She really didn't care what he told her parents because they were more likely to believe Satan himself before they listened to her. She didn't care what people in clubs thought of her, either, but it was the principle of the matter. How dare he go around slandering her name after she tried to help him.

  Her father didn't acknowledge her grimace. "Dane, you're bad news. Even if you don't get that girl involved in those things, you know you bring that bullshit around just by your presence. You're poison, Dane, and you know it. You've proven it time and time again and Tyler's won't stand for you ruining his fiancée," her father proclaimed with a disgusted sneer, looking down his nose at the guitarist.

  "That's bullshit," Dane spat.

  ***

  Nicole sucked her teeth as her father pulled up to her house. She wasn't too far behind. Suddenly, he halted and stared at the house. She wondered what was happening and noticed the unfamiliar car in her driveway. Nicole pulled up right behind her father's car. He glanced over at her as she got out, and before she could say anything to him, she noticed what held his gaze.

  The father and daughter were certain they came in on the tail end of an argument as a man at the door started pulling on Dane's arm and savagely barking at her. Dane was screaming and trying to pull back, but the man was bigger than she was and apparently in better shape than she would've guessed. It didn't help matters that Dane's lame leg made it hard to stand and resist. He dragged Dane out of the doorway and yanked her down the stairs before flinging her on the walkway.

  "Hey." Raymond called. He couldn't stand idly by while a man possibly harmed a woman— any woman.

  The three individuals by the house turned to see who was speaking to them. Nicole rushed over to Danny. The man that hurt Dane turned his stormy grey eyes to Raymond, who was glaring right back.

  "This isn't any of your business," the man declared heatedly.

  "It is when it's happening in front of my daughter's home. I suggest you leave before I call the police," Raymond replied tightly.

  The man glowered and turned his attention back to Dane, who was still on the ground. "This isn't over, Dane. You're poison. Leave this woman alone before you ruin her life like you've done with everything else you've touched." He then turned to go to his car with his wife by his side. She paused to give Dane a good look of disdain.

  "Danny, sweetheart, are you okay?" Nicole asked in a low voice.

  "I'm fine. I've had worse," Dane had landed on her good leg, but her hand and wrist were red and scraped from catching herself. She had scratches on her palm and shin, too.

  "Danny, who the hell are those people?"

  "Them? My parents," she replied in the coldest and most detached tone that Nicole had ever heard.

  Nicole blinked and turned to look back at the couple before they were gone. The one thing that stood out was that they were both Caucasian. She figured Danny might be adopted, but Danny never mentioned being adopted when she spoke of her parents. Instead, she made it seem like she had serious problems with them, and from what Nicole could see that was an understatement.

  Danny's parents looked something like Nicole would expect Tyler's parents to look like. Her father was dressed in a black tailor made suit with expensive leather shoes to match. Amazingly enough he looked very much like Dane with the same grey eyes and short ebony hair. It was clear that Dane got
her height from him, her facial structure, and even her nose, although his was bent slightly to the left. Nicole could only wonder how the man refused to claim Danny when it was so clear whom Danny took after.

  Dane's mother, who hadn't said a word so far, was wrapped up tightly in a long fur coat that covered most of her body. She was about average height with deep brown eyes and long blond hair. She quickly made her way to the passenger side of the car. Her husband wasn't as hurried, turning to glare at Dane for another long moment and look completely disgusted by her existence before he entered the car and drove away.

  "Danny, are you sure you're okay?" Nicole asked, noticing the haunted look in Danny's eyes as she watched her parents drive away.

  "Nikki," Raymond said.

  "Not now, Daddy. Can you just leave, please?" Nicole requested with a deep, troubled sigh.

  Raymond recognized the look of resignation in his daughter's eyes and her tone. He slumped his shoulders and marched to his car while Nicole helped Danny to her feet and into the house. The door closed, but Nicole had a feeling that something was opening that had the ability to tear their happiness asunder.

  CHAPTER 16

  Dane stared at the dull walls of the den. Grey eyes sought answers that weren't to be found outside. Seeing her parents shouldn't have disturbed her as they did, she mentally berated herself, but she couldn't help it as they stirred up memories that she would have rather forgotten and things that she had forgotten. Convenient, very convenient of me. Of course I'd forget that shit while I'm with Nick. Why should I remember what sort of ass I am? Or how fucked up I am? I've been lying to her all this time. All it'd take is one slip and I'd fuck up her life so badly that it would be beyond repair…

  Dane's parents had planted a bomb in her head and it was nearing detonation. The more that she thought about her past, the more she could see how she'd be trouble for Nick, and the more she could see the future wasn't the bright sunshiny day she had envisioned less than twenty-four hours ago. The past was dark, violent, and bordering on sick with perversion. A little voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her father's told her that her future was bleak, hopeless, pathetic, just like her past. She was nothing and would never amount to anything. She'd never change. She tried to ignore it, but she knew what was coming. She couldn't fight off the impending explosion.

  Ten…nine…eight…seven…the musician tried countering the bomb with words of assurance that she was a different person. She was done with drugs, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. She was done with fast women and she was done using women as toys. Hell, she had never even been a gambler. That was all Bryan's gig and she sometimes just accompanied him. Her parents would never believe that good-old-boy Bryan had almost gotten her killed.

  Six…five…four…but, there was a tiny voice of doubt attached right to that bomb. The voice questioned how long she thought her old life would no longer interest her? She just stopped one day and she wasn't sure why that was. The world had lacked all luster and she didn't care about anything. She could just start again any time now; her father outright said that she was a drug addict and would always be a drug addict. She was a useless junkie and a user of people.

  Three…two…one…if she got back into things as deeply as she used to, it would affect Nicole in atrocious, nightmarish ways. All of the emotions that she kept pinned inside, the emotions that she tried her best to pour out of her guitar, came out when she was drunk and high. Without the ability to even play her guitar, she hated to imagine how those feelings would be. Those emotions were darkness, depression, hatred, greed, anger, and a million other sins. She brandished them like artillery at whoever was around her. That would be Nicole now. She would end up hurting Nicole.

  Dane later wouldn't recall gathering up her meager belongs from the den, just the items she showed up with so many months ago. She wouldn't recall quietly leaving her sanctuary, either. She just had to get far away from Nicole before she poisoned and tore down her love in ways that she could barely fathom. Her brain didn't think, her body just moved, moved to free Nicole. Destruction complete.

  ***

  Nicole had fallen asleep early that night; Danny had been by her side. So she was shocked to wake up to an empty bed. The bed never seemed so huge until it didn't have Danny in it. She ran her hands over the space that Danny had occupied the night before to find it cold. The musician had been gone for some time.

  "Danny," Nicole called as she climbed out of bed. She was wearing pajamas; the previous day was too emotional for them to muster any energy once they lay down in bed to do anything except sleep.

  She wandered downstairs, thinking Danny had woken up earlier and started breakfast. The silence that greeted her let her know Danny was nowhere near the kitchen. Still, she couldn't help checking it and the living room.

  "Danny?" Nicole scanned the kitchen a second time in case her lover magically appeared while she was in the living room.

  She swallowed down the panic that rose into her stomach and traveled up her throat. She rushed over to the last room that she thought Danny might be holed up in—the den. She walked to the room with the broken door and knocked on the wall, hoping to receive an answer. She didn't hear anything that could be mistaken for noise in the dark room. She stepped in and flicked on the light; Dane had put in a working light bulb months ago. Her heart shattered when the sudden burst of light revealed the bare room to her.

  "Danny…" Nicole whimpered. The beat-up guitar case that Danny lived out of was gone, as was her guitar. "Danny? What's going on? What happened?" she asked the air, which gave her no answers.

  Nicole tried to keep herself together, thinking she might be overreacting. After all, Danny could have had an early lesson. That wouldn't explain why she took her beat-up guitar case, but there was probably an explanation there. There was probably a logical, reasonable explanation for it all and, no, Danny wasn't gone and never coming back. Why doesn't my heart not believe that, though?

  Nicole went about her morning on autopilot. She frowned, realizing she didn't have any way to get in contact with Danny to know if she was overreacting or to find out why Danny left. Damn it, I should've gotten her a cell phone when I had the chance.

  She wasn't sure how she made it to work or how she got through it. Everything was a blur as she prayed that Danny would call. She didn't eat lunch that day and merely tried to will time to speed up so she could get home. When she got home, things didn't get better. Everything was as she left it and there was no sign that Danny had been there all day. There was also no sign that Danny was going to return. Nicole's stomach flopped and her heart dissolved as it felt like bitter acid flooded her system. It felt like her soul was split in half and was being shredded.

  "Danny…" Nicole sniffled as tears filled her eyes. She was about to breakdown and cry, but the ringing of the phone stopped her. She didn't move from where she was standing and let the voicemail get it.

  "Nick, I'll make this quick." Dane's voice sounded distressed. "I'm happy that you didn't answer it. Guess you're not home yet."

  "Danny!" Nicole rushed the phone. "Danny, I'm here."

  "Nick?" The voice sounded confused and disheartened.

  "Danny, baby, where are you? Tell me you're coming home," Nicole implored. Tears slowly slid down her cheeks, falling like lost raindrops.

  "Nick, I'm sorry, but I've been lying to you all this time, misrepresenting myself to you. I'm not coming back and you're better for it. You might not think it, but you are."

  "Danny, please…"

  "Do me a favor and keep eating and don't go back to Tyler. You're worth so much more than that. There's a prince or princess out there that's perfect for you and will treat you like you deserve."

  "You're perfect for me."

  "I wish I was, angel. I really wish I was. You don't know what kind of person I can be, though. You don't know what type of bastard I am. You're better off without me. I promise you that. Goodbye, Chem."

  "Danny!" A
beeping dial tone was repeating in her ear. "Danny!"

  The tears suddenly fell like a torrid hurricane and were followed by gasps and wails that could have easily rivaled thunder. Dropping to her knees, her tears flooded down her cheeks and pooled into her carpet. The cries shook her body as they came from her gut, heart, and soul. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep herself from literally falling apart. Danny was gone. She was alone.

  ***

  "Richard, where the fuck is the Evans file?" Nicole demanded as she stormed out of her office to scream at her assistant for the fifth time since arriving to work—twenty minutes ago.

  Her attitude certainly caught her assistant by surprise. Up until today, he probably wondered how she was a lawyer of any kind and working at such a prestigious firm. He heard rumors about what her previous assistants got away with, and because of that he hadn't dredged up an ounce of respect for her. She doubted it helped that he witnessed much of the firm using her. There were times when he stared at her with undisguised disgust. Other times, he dared to look at her for what he thought she really was: a pretty face, luscious body, abundant cleavage, and voluptuous ass.

  Currently, Richard was careful about looking at her sideways, lest she castrate him with the fountain pen in her hand. She heard people muttering, "What's Nicole's problem?" She figured the first person that would find out would be her assistant before she ate him alive and vomited his remains. She prayed for the smallest excuse to tear into him and fire him.

  "Well?" she pressed with a glare reminiscent of one her mother would distribute. He gulped as a lone bead of sweat burned down his cheek. She felt a minuscule level of satisfaction watching him squirm under her hard gaze.

  "I'll have it to you in a minute, ma'am." That was the first time he ever called her ‘ma'am.’ Before that day, he had the nerve to call her "Nicole" as if they had been longtime friends. She never bothered to correct him because one complaint from him would have her father breathing down her neck.