Darkly Sweet

by Juliann Whicker

  “Dismount,” Zach said, putting a hand on my leg. I kind of jumped at that touch and Henrietta took that moment to help me off. I hit Zach kind of hard but he didn’t fall over backwards, instead he wrapped his arms around me and I slid down him to the ground like he was used to catching inept horse riders. I stared at him while he held me and the horse at the same time. Henrietta stood stolidly, apparently satisfied once she had me off her, even if I was pinned between her and Zach.

  “Sorry about that.” I winced and tried to edge away from him.

  He cleared his throat and stepped back, giving me a slight smile before turning to the horse, stroking her dark gray nose. “Henrietta, you need to be nice or Penny isn’t going to give you any lollipops.”

  I smiled slightly and took another step away from them. I hadn’t relaxed since the moment I’d gotten on the horse’s back. “Or apples. We can’t keep meeting like this.”

  “You mean parting.” Zach glanced at me with a slight smile.

  I sighed. “You linguists are so particular. But… thanks Zach. Thank you for being my private horse tutor. Apparently, I need special help.”

  “It’s the least I can do after yesterday.”

  I froze. Was he talking about the licking the shake off me thing? “Yesterday?”

  He focused on Henrietta, stroking her face with his steady hands. “Viney asked me to invite you to polo practice. Drake always does something like that at the first one. He’s methodical about his madness, likes to set the tone for the new year. I don’t know why Viney wanted you to see his vicious streak, but I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  I exhaled and beamed at him. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it unless that means you’ll have to give me more special lessons, because in that case, I was completely traumatized.”

  He laughed. His voice was soft and gentle, like his hands on the horse. “I’ll come again on Thursday.”

  “It will be my reward for Pas de Deux.”

  He looked at me and raised his eyebrow. “You’re in Pas de Deux already? That’s right, we did that as Freshmen. How is your partner doing?” He looked like he was fighting a grin.

  “Well, I think I bruised his tailbone when I knocked him over, but I think that Drake can take a fall.”

  His eyes widened. “Drake? He’s your pas de deux partner?”

  I sighed and nodded. “It’s pretty terrible. I feel almost as bad for him as I do for you.

  At least I didn’t knock you over.”

  He smiled slightly. “Maybe I’m just a better catch. Listen, Penny, I saw the show last night Drake put on for his audience.”

  I stiffened and felt my cheeks heat up. “Oh. It wasn’t how it looked.”

  He put a gentle hand on my shoulder, like I was a horse he was taming or something. I wanted to bite his hand, sink my teeth really deep until he stopped looking at me with pity in his eyes. Horror and fear would have been so much better. “Penny, a lot of girls really like Drake, but he only messes with them. What he did, that’s going to make them crazy, and they’re already crazy. He likes them to be jealous and cruel to each other. He likes it.”

  I nodded slowly, pulling out a lollipop. I stared at it, the shiny cellophane wrapper.

  There was something so therapeutic about ripping cellophane that crinkled so nice. “Are you warning me not to be jealous when he licks another girl? I’m pretty sure I’ll just be relieved that it’s not me. I didn’t mean for any of that…”

  He cut me off. “I know. I saw the footage and the way he grabbed you, the way you looked, paralyzed with shock, I don’t think it would make anyone jealous, but I think you should be careful. Be really careful.”

  I laughed. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m tougher than I look.”

  He nodded, still staring at Henrietta. “I just wish that Drake would leave you alone.

  People are saying that Drake broke Jackson’s arm because that’s the one he used to hurt you.”

  “What?”

  He waved his hand. “It’s not like Drake to have deep motives, he just likes to hurt people, and Jackson has been irritating him for a long time, but you know how people talk.”

  Not really. “Thanks for your help with riding. I’ll see you later. I’ve got to get changed before class.” Business. Drake was in that one with me. Hopefully he would ignore me like the last class.

  I waved at Zach and hurried to change in my room. I flopped on my bed for a minute, and swung while I stared at those mysterious figures in the trees. Zach had seen the video of the malted thing? I screwed up my face and put my pillow over my head so I could scream. I couldn’t go to class with Drake. Something horrible was going to happen.

  I gritted my teeth and rolled out of bed. I was acting ridiculous. I smoothed down my suit and put my hair in a high ponytail so I looked less cute and flirty. I should have pants to wear to business class. Why didn’t I have pants?

  I went to class sucking on a calming lollipop, but all my nervousness was unnecessary because Drake wasn’t there. I took careful notes, and after that I had my favorite class, History, with the Devine Professor Vale. She wore leather pants that day with a spiked leather jacket. She did this rap sequence of Shakespeare that completely blew me away. Even Viney looked impressed.

  After that, Viney grabbed my arm and glared at me.

  I licked my lips. Macaroons and parfait. “Hey, Viney! I’m sorry about yesterday. I was pretty tired and kind of upset. I’m sure you understand. It was too cruel of him to use me just to make some girl jealous.”

  Her eyes widened. “Who, Drake?”

  I nodded, looking mournful and all kicked puppy. “I thought he kind of liked me, but he told me there’s this other girl that he likes and she’s the one who that whole performance was for. He’s so cruel. I wonder who she is. Do you know who Drake might like?”

  She shook her head violently and dropped my arm before spinning away to march purposefully into the distance.

  Good enough. Apparently, my dramatic flair was useful for something. Real world skillz.

  I walked slowly back to my dorm, dodging a few times from errant missiles and

  ‘accidentally’ kicking a girl who tried to trip me. If only I had my boots. When I got to my room I took off my suit, hanging it neatly before I put on a floral dress and my apron. I hummed as I got all my tubes filled, smelling beeswax and shea butter along with lavender and peppermint. I needed to make a nice bruise cream for my knee because it was really ugly. At least I’d been wearing the riding pants when Zach had walked beside me.

  Chapter 11

  I was happily pouring lotion into hot bottles to cool and was on the last bottle of that batch when someone knocked. I checked the time and saw five-thirty. Maybe Zach wanted to go to dinner with me.

  I pulled off my apron, undid my hair and fluffed it before I opened the door with my sweetest smile. My smile froze and so did I. Drake stood there looking dangerous and blatantly beautiful. My fingers immediately began to tingle.

  I fought the urge to slam the door. “Drake. What are you doing here?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at my room and then stepped out into the common room. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Señor Mort is having his nap. He gets cranky if someone disturbs him.”

  “Are you ready to go?”

  “Where?”

  “Community service.” He smirked at me. “Don’t tell me that you forgot about it. That would be a pity. I told the head doctor that you were coming, and he was so excited. He has something special planned for you.”

  Something special sounded horrifying. “Are you serious?”

  He nodded. “Don’t make me cancel. He would cry. He’s a very emotional guy.”

  “I thought that we already talked about this. I’m sorry, Drake, but I have a lot of homework to do.”

  “I’m going to help you with Business.”

  I shook my head.
“You weren’t in class today.”

  He grinned. “Did you miss me?”

  I tightened my lips. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean, it will give people the wrong impression.”

  “That we care about people?”

  “That you like me.”

  He cocked his head, teeth sharp on his full bottom lip. “I hate to break it to you, but that’s not what people will think.”

  I crossed my arms and tried not to notice his mouth, focusing instead on his eyes.

  “What will they think?”

  “That I’m bored and you’re weird and I’ll amuse myself at your expense until you get boring too.”

  I froze and fought the urge to knee him in his kidneys. “If that’s how you feel about it then I’m sure you won’t mind going without me.”

  He put his arm around my shoulder, and a few things happened. I couldn’t quite breathe right. He smelled so incredibly rich like a black cherry chocolate truffle. The other thing was that Zach came out of his room.

  I tried to duck away from Drake, but he tightened his hold and I couldn’t get away from him unless I did something violent.

  “What are you up to, Drake?” Zach studied Drake then me, his mouth thinning when he saw the way Drake gripped me. Would this kind of thing make him jealous in a good way?

  “Penny asked me to take her to the hospital to do some community service. Isn’t that like her, so compassionate and caring, she’s even rubbing off on me? Why don’t you come along, Zach? We can mop some floors or read books to people in comas…”

  Zach shook his head, forcing a smile. “Maybe next time. See you later.” He stood there and I couldn’t do anything besides smile at him while Drake hauled me out of the room.

  He dropped his arm once we were in the hall and I took a deep breath and tried to think happy thoughts. This would be good. Drake would only want to do this once. I had

  to be really brilliant if I wanted to deal with him without screaming and pelting him with acid bombs. What I needed to do and be was boring, insipid, and it would help if I could throw myself at him like all the other girls, you know, without losing it completely and sinking my teeth in his skin or setting him on fire.

  I glanced up at him and tried to visualize behaving like those other girls, the ones he didn’t bother, but it was impossible. If I tried to kiss him I’d end up biting him instead, and liking it.

  “Thanks for agreeing to do this, Drake. It’s going to be good to take a break from thinking about school for a little while.”

  He glanced at me with his eyebrows raised. “Weren’t you just saying that you didn’t want to come?”

  I chewed on my bottom lip before smiling brightly. “It seemed almost like you didn’t hear me. Of course I want to, it’s just difficult for me to hang around you when you’re so attractive and dangerous, and how many girls like you.”

  Blegh. That had been the worst come on line ever.

  He patted my shoulder. “Hang in there, you’re doing all right.”

  It was so hard not to slam his face against a marble pillar until his lips were a little less perfect. Instead, I studied the floor of the hall until we got to a covered walkway that led to the garage.

  “Why are you doing this, Drake? It doesn’t make sense that you’d spend your time…”

  “Penny, you think too much. A girl like you just needs to look cute. Don’t try to understand someone as complicated as me.”

  I smiled sweetly while I visualized shoving a fork into his eyeball. Bonbons.

  Macaroons. “That’s so true. Thank you for reminding me of the broad distance between the two of us. You are so deep and anguished, like a complex baked Alaska, while I’m nothing but a creamy truffle, one of those with lots of sugar and milk. And sprinkles.”

  He stared at me, kind of frozen expression before he grinned. “Who is he?”

  I stared at him. “Excuse me?”

  “Who is the guy that you like so much that you can resist my charm?”

  I raised my eyebrows skeptically. He was supposed to be charming? I tried to look vaguely confused. “Was I resisting? That would only make you more… I mean how can I resist someone who smells like black cherries?”

  “And acts like Baked Alaska, but you must know that if you flat out reject me that will only make me pursue you more vigorously. I’m contrary like that. I’m waiting for you to throw yourself at me in an effort to get rid of me.”

  I stared at him with my mouth open while he smiled smugly and walked a few steps away from me before he glanced at me over his shoulder.

  “Aren’t you coming, Penny Lane?”

  After that we walked in silence beneath the covered walkway to the garage where he stopped in front of his large, dark green suburban.

  “You drive a soccer mom car.”

  He glanced at me, green eyes the color of his car. “Don’t worry, I don’t drive like a soccer mom at all. You shouldn’t say things like that, Penny, it makes it very difficult for me not to flirt with you.”

  I glanced at him skeptically while he opened the passenger door for me and after hesitating, I scrambled up, showing a lot of thigh from my short skirt. I really, really needed to find some pants somewhere.

  “How is your knee?” he asked as he settled in beside me, buckling up.

  I looked around, trying to gauge how many people were going to gossip about me driving around with Drake Huntsman, but I didn’t see anyone. I kind of ducked down anyway.

  “What?” I said when I realized he was looking at me like I was supposed to say something.

  He nodded down to my knee where I’d wrapped it with a poultice.

  “Oh, it’s good.”

  “How about your hand?” He nodded to my still gauze wrapped hand.

  I laughed and pulled out a lollipop. “Doesn’t it seem like I have a lot of injuries for the first two days at school?”

  He frowned and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “As a matter of fact, I think you do. Don’t you ever want to get some real vengeance, not just let some guy drink malted off you, but actually hurt someone?”

  “Honestly? It’s a little bit therapeutic to plan someone’s demise, and the tears in their eyes as they beg you for mercy, but then I get stuck on logistics.”

  “Logistics? Do you need help planning a good revenge?”

  I shook my head and dug my fingers into the edge of the leather seat as he accelerated down the steep road through the trees. “I don’t stop daydreaming at that point, but always end up where I become the person I hate, where the best things about who I am are destroyed by my hatred for someone else. There is no way to hurt someone else without it hurting you more in the end.”

  He raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Who told you that?”

  I cocked my head and smiled at him. “You did. Your focus on fear and violence robs you of satisfaction from all the amazing things you accomplish with your talents. Instead of doing something hard, like making friends out of enemies or forgiving, you hurt people. Instead of truly challenging yourself, you settle into what comes easily to your nature, and what’s the fun in that?” Wow. I’d really said all of that with a straight face.

  Where had I picked that up from? Passiones, probably.

  He exhaled and then laughed, but it sounded different than his usual hard and dangerously edgy laugh. “Enough, Sensei. I told you I’d help you with business. Let’s start with basics. How do you make certain you have a high enough profit threshold to maintain stability?”

  I pretended to have no idea, and he explained in great detail all the way to the hospital. While he talked, I couldn’t ignore the panic that built inside my chest as I

  stared at the road then glanced at him, his eyes focused on the road while he talked, gesturing instead of keeping both hands on the wheel at all times.

  I tugged on the seatbelt, checking its strength while I nodded at Drake and tried not to throw open the door and jump out into the woods.

>   He glanced at me more often the closer we got to town, and it seemed like the closer we got, the faster he drove, and the wilder he careened around curves until I was hyperventilating.

  Finally, we were in town and he had to slow down, jerking to a stop before he revved the engine, throwing me back against the seat while he drove around the hospital to the parking lot. He slammed on the brake while I unlatched my seatbelt and threw open the door. I slammed it closed behind me and leaned against it, breathing hard, like a wolf was chasing me.

  Drake came around until he stood in front of me, but I didn’t look at him because I couldn’t quite smile and I thought I might throw up. I was supposed to be bubblegum, not vomit. After a second, Drake shoved me back against the car then grabbed my wrists, putting them above my head while he loomed over me, only not that looming since I was quite tall, thank you very much.

  I stared at him, his eyes glinting green, fury flashing through them like I’d insulted his grandmother.

  “Do you have a grandmother?” My voice barely shook, so that was something. I still wanted to throw up. I hadn’t felt like this for years and years, well, not from riding in a car anyway.

  He leaned harder against me, the lines of his chest pressing into me. “No.”

  I swallowed and inhaled deeply, ignoring the knotted panic twisting inside my stomach and chest, like a twining pile of worms, eels, something with sharp teeth and slimy squirming. No, forget about that, think about something else, something like Drake so I don’t throw up on him. Black cherry. He smelled like black cherry, right? Not really. He smelled more like lava and angry burning. “I like your new aftershave. Very volcano. Matches your hair. I wonder what they use for that, musk maybe with a hint of charcoal and sulphur. Not an everyday kind of scent but very distinctive.”

  He growled at me, like a big bad wolf. The growl cut through the panic until I could really focus on him, and me, and us, him holding me against the passenger door of his car with my hands above my head. Why were my hands above my head, held in his strong fingers, and his body pressed against me?

  “What are you doing?” I stared at him, the way the afternoon light played on his hair, gold and russet, eyes burning emerald into me while his lips pursed into a bud. Angry lips. I wanted that anger. Anger would push back the panic, the mindless fear that left me a spineless cuttlefish.