You're Dangerous

by Casey McMillin

  Hannah hadn't been home in more than 24 hours and was a little anxious to get back to her place, but she knew Jason was trying to reach her and wasn't quite ready to know how things with Reagan had panned out. She looked at her phone to see the time.

  "I'll come hang out for a little bit, if you don't care."

  "Not at all, come on over. You remember how to get to my house from here?"

  "Yeah, but I'll just follow you anyway."

  Hannah stayed at Taylor's until about midnight. It felt like forever since she'd been home even though it was only one night. She still hadn't responded to Jason even though the last text she got from him said, "Hey, where are you? I just went to your apartment. Went by the coffee shop too. Michael said you got your car tonight. Congrats. Call me back or I'm telling the Culbertsons."

  She text him back at 12:30AM thinking he'd be sleeping since it was Tuesday night.

  Hannah: "Sorry I was MIA. Got the car! Then went to Taylors to hang."

  She got a text back within a matter of seconds, which actually sort of startled her.

  Jason: "Don't do that to me. I don’t like worrying about you."

  To Hannah's own shame, she felt that hot ache in her groin at the protective tone of his text. She took a deep breath and considered what she should text back.

  Hannah: "You shouldn't worry. I'm terrible at my phone. Half the time I don't even carry it on me."

  Jason wanted to say that was something she'd have to remedy, but he could tell she was creating distance and hesitated to tell her his ideas on how things should be. Instead, he went straight for the sore spot.

  Jason: "Reagan came by my office. She just wanted to talk. We're friends. It's all good."

  Hannah: "No worries, Jason."

  Jason: "Why the games, then?"

  Hannah: "What games?"

  Jason: "Why are you acting funny?"

  Hannah: "I'm not."

  Jason: "All right. I hope not. You're off tomorrow. You coming over?"

  She wanted to say no. She wanted to pout, but she just couldn't because she wanted even more to go to him.

  Hannah: "Sure."

  Jason: "What time?"

  Hannah: "You tell me. After you get home from work?"

  Jason: "Maybe you could come by my office."

  It was a few minutes before Hannah responded.

  Hannah: "Sounds good. I shouldn't really text anymore because I'm close to my limit, if not over. I'll call you in the morning to see what's going on. Sweet dreams."

  She didn't hear back from Jason. She didn't expect to, but part of her hoped he'd call or come over or get in touch some other way like making a dedication to her on a radio station. She stayed up until two working on a drawing. It was a depiction of them on the boat. It made her feel better to get her feelings out through pen and ink, and she went to sleep easier than she thought she would that night.

  Hannah drove to Jason's office on Music Row at just after noon the following day. She had an email from him early that morning with directions that told her he wanted to meet for lunch.

  She was glad she'd put a little effort into getting ready to go see him, because his office was even fancier than she imagined. There were records in various shades of silver and gold hanging on the walls and a really professional looking receptionist that greeted her when she came in.

  "I'm, looking for Jason Lane's office," Hannah said, half-thinking she was in the wrong place.

  "Are you Hannah?" the woman asked.

  "Yes ma'am."

  "Jason's expecting you," she said, smiling. She stretched back in her chair and pointed down the hall.

  "His office is the one at the end by the fountain."

  Hannah took off in that direction. "Thanks," she said from over her shoulder. She knocked a few times on the closed door of his office before listening for him to answer. Within seconds, the door cracked open and she saw his freaking angelic face. His gorgeousness turned her to mush. She blinked, trying to focus and be cool. Jason smiled really big and brought her into a tight hug. He held her there, tight against his hard chest for a long moment.

  "Shit, I feel like it's been forever," he said. He pulled back, studied her face, and smiled as he put a finger under her chin and lifted it up to put a kiss on her lips.

  She kissed him back because her body would let her do nothing else. The feel of his lips on hers made her forget whatever reservations she'd been having.

  "I got a new car," she said, smiling. She held up the keys.

  "I know. Are you taking me for a ride?"

  She laughed. "Noooo."

  He looked offended. "Why?"

  "Because it's stupid to give someone like you a ride in an old Nissan Sentra," she said. "My twelve year old brother would be a more likely candidate for a ride in that car."

  Jason looked injured again. "Nate gets to ride in it, but I don't?"

  She laughed and pushed at him. "No. But at least it got me here," she said. "Where you taking me for lunch?"

  "Arnolds."

  Hannah smiled.

  "You like Arnolds?"

  "I love it," Hannah said. "My dad's mom used to cook like that every Sunday."

  "I never had a grandma that cooked like that," Jason said.

  "You could share mine, but she died a few years ago."

  "I'm sorry."

  Hannah smiled a little. "It's part of life I guess."

  "Still sucks, though."

  "You're mom died. That's even harder."

  "Not really," Jason said. "I was only two. Candice is all I've ever known as a mom."

  "You call her Candice?"

  "No, just Mom."

  Just then, the receptionist's voice came over the speaker. They were still in the doorway, so they could hear her in person from down the hall and over the speaker coming from Jason's office. "Hey Jason, Cam's downstairs. He said he tried to call you."

  Jason stuck his head out the door. "Thanks Patty," he said down the hall. She gave him a wave. He'd been touching Hannah the whole time they were standing there, but broke the contact when he decided to get his keys. "You sure you want me to drive?" he asked.

  She giggled even though he wasn't trying to be funny. Jason had been raised with money, and was actually a little bored of everything being nice, new, and perfect.

  "I seriously want to take your car sometime."

  "Okay, we will… sometime," she said, smiling and thinking he was just being nice.

  Cam was, in fact, waiting in the parking lot when they got down there. Hannah didn't care for his music, but he was a huge star and she couldn't help but be a little star struck meeting him for the first time. He had on an old baseball cap, and a pair of sunglasses, but she could see that it was Cam Bishop from a mile away.

  "Dude, why aren't you picking up your phone?" Cam asked, sticking his head out of the darkly tinted passenger's side window of a brand new black Suburban.

  Jason smiled. "You called like four minutes ago."

  "I listened to that song you sent me yesterday."

  "Which one?"

  "The dangerous one."

  Jason smiled again and reached over to grab Hannah's hand. The excitement she felt at his touch made her feel breathless. She hoped she wouldn't have to talk.

  "Who's this?" Cam asked, noticing the PDA. With no shame whatsoever, he looked Hannah over from head to toe.

  "Hannah. The girl I told you about."

  "The one who draws?" Cam asked.

  "Yeah," Jason said.

  Cam smiled a smile that was so self-assured, only someone that famous could pull it off. "Nice to meet you, Hannah who draws." His gaze was that of a man who knew he could have her if he wanted.

  Hannah wondered if that's just how he acted with every girl. She also wondered if Jason noticed—up until the point a half-a-second later when Jason said, "She's with me Cam." He held up their clasped hands as if that should make everything crystal clear. "This one's mine."

  Cam's eyes widened. "Chill b
ro. It's all good."

  "It'll be all good when you know she's mine, bro."

  Cam smiled. "Okay, dude, I got it. Hey, when I leave next week, I'm going for a month."

  "You want me to stay at the apartment sometime?"

  "Would you? Nick said he would too, but I hate to have it empty for too long."

  "That's cool, I'll work it out with Nick."

  "Thanks." Cam gave a little wave as the driver slowly started to pull away. "Don't forget about that song." He tipped his hat at Hannah. "See ya later, Hannah who belongs to Jason."

  Jason rolled his eyes. "Piece of work," he said.

  "He's funny," she said.

  "That's an understatement."

  They ate their weight in meat and threes at Arnold's before going back to Jason's office. He still had some work to catch up on, so he told her he'd come by her apartment when he left. She agreed, and even though she wasn't feeling quite as optimistic as she was before Reagan showed up the day before, Jason had staked some sort of claim on her in front of Cam, and she knew that counted for something.

  Jason went by her place when he left work and ended up staying all afternoon and into the evening. He got to meet the Culbertsons, which Hannah feared might be awkward, but wasn't at all. They saw him and Hannah in the yard and invited them in for dinner. Jason worked his charm, and they all fell in love with him. Even Sam sort of came around once he learned that Jason was Cam's best friend and had written hit songs.

  They talked a lot that night, and Hannah was honest with Jason about her worries that they were taking things too fast. She said she thought it'd be best for him to go home after they ate dinner, but promised to be in touch the next day.

  Chapter 17

  Hannah enjoyed having two days off of work, but it was actually nice to get back in the coffee shop and catch up with all of her friends. She'd seen the chalkboards since they'd been completed and hung, but it was the first time she'd worked a shift since then, and she liked hearing all the comments from the customers about how they looked.

  It was Thursday, and she was working from 3 to close, which meant she wouldn't get done until about 11:30 that night. She walked to work since it was a pretty day and she lived so close, but she never liked to walk home that late. Taylor was working the same shift, so she figured she'd just ask her for a ride.

  Hannah's entire shift was as dishwasher, and the coffee shop was unusually busy for a Thursday. Her feet were on fire by the end of the night. They were about to close up shop, and Hannah was starting to do all the chores that were left up to the closing dishwasher.

  "Hey can you put on that Alabama Shakes album?" Taylor asked. She was cleaning the espresso machine when Hannah passed with a bus pan full of dishes.

  "Sure." Hannah went straight to the back and switched the iPod from Pink Martini to Alabama Shakes. They were getting ready to lock the doors, so Hannah cranked it louder than usual.

  "Thank you!" she barely heard Taylor yell from the front of the house.

  She smiled and went back to the dirty job of dish duty. Once she had the last of the dishes going in the dishwasher, she went to the nastiest part of the whole dang nasty day. She had to clean the floors behind the front counter and in the kitchen. This included the lovely task of dragging huge, rubber mats outside to hose them down before moping the floors. Once everything was clean, all eight mats had to be drug back inside and put in place. It was really gross, but otherwise no big deal, really. They all had to do it.

  Hannah sang along with the album she loved so much as she schlepped through the grossest part of her day. She was covered in coffee, food, and sweat by the time she started dragging the mats back inside. The door she used was the one closest to the kitchen. It opened to the back of the house where the parking lot and alley were. There was a small deck off of it, which was where they hung the mats to hose them off.

  At that moment, the handrail of the deck was covered with them. Hannah went out to retrieve another mat, and was startled to the point of shrieking a little to see Jason's friend Reagan standing a few feet away at the bottom of the stoop with her arms crossed and a murderous sneer on her face.

  "Oh my God, you scared the crap out of me." Hannah said. She smiled nervously, but Reagan didn't even come close to returning it. She looked Hannah over with that expression of such blatant disgust that Hannah couldn't help but reach up to adjust her own hair self-consciously.

  "You have got to be kidding me," Reagan said, laughing sarcastically. "Are you that girl Hannah?"

  "Obviously," Hannah said. "I just saw you two days ago when Jason and I got off his boat."

  "Oh, so you think you're cute now, you little bitch?"

  Hannah's face reflected how she felt about the girl. "I'm trying to close up here if you'll excuse me."

  "I think I'll leave when I'm ready, bitch, and I have something to say."

  Hannah put a hand on her hip impatiently and sighed indicating her short fuse. "Say what you want to say and then leave me alone."

  "You need to fucking leave Jason alone. I've been with him for six years and I'm not about to let some filthy fucking street rat like you destroy what we have."

  "Street rat? What is this, Aladdin? Get this straight right now… I'm not forcing Jason to like me. He's doing that all on his own."

  "Oh, how cute," Reagan said. "You think he likes you."

  "Stop trying to patronize me," Hannah said. She raised her voice when she said it, but knew no one could hear her because she could clearly hear the music that was blaring in the house.

  "I'm trying to save you from shame, you little cunt. You should be thankful. Jason Lane is not your kind. He was raised with the manners and etiquette of a gentleman. His family would shit themselves if he brought home a little peasant like you. I'll bet you don't even know how to use your fucking utensils." She cocked her head at Hannah. "Do you know what a salad fork is? Do you know how to play chess? Tennis? Does the Governor of Tennessee play golf with your dad? No, you're in a fucking alleyway up to your elbows with food from other people's plates." She scanned her from head to toe again. "All you are is a challenge to him—like a little game for him to play. You're so fucking weird and out-there that you appeal to his adventurous side or something."

  Hannah just stared at her with an unreadable expression.

  "What's the matter, cat got your tongue? I guess you want me to continue. Surely you've heard the song, Keep Coming Back to You, right?" Reagan didn't pause since she figured Hannah wouldn't answer the question. "That song is about me. Jason wrote it about me. Go read the lyrics and you'll see for yourself how he feels about me you stupid little bitch."

  Hannah could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. Her jaw ached painfully, and her face wanted to contort in agony. She held back the tears and kept the calmest expression she could muster.

  "Is that all?" she asked, stone-faced.

  "No that's not all, you little whore. I want you to understand something. Jason Lane is mine. We've had sex more than a thousand times in the past six years, and I'm not just saying that like it's a random number. We've literally done it more than a thousand times." She paused so Hannah could let that sink in. "Every part of him has been in every part of me," she continued. "We've done it in airplanes more than a dozen times, twice on a train, and countless times on his daddy's boat. We've done it alone and in groups. We've been to twenty different countries together, and had sex in most of them."

  Silent tears were falling down Hannah's cheeks by that point. She tried, but she just couldn't stop them.

  "Aw, I'm so glad to see I'm finally getting my point across," Reagan said.

  "I think you should leave," Hannah said, as unemotionally as she could.

  "I'd love nothing more," Reagan said, "but let me give you these parting words. I am the type of person you don't fuck with Hannah. I will lash out on you and the people you love if you try. I know people who will do anything for money, and I will use them to destroy you."

  Hanna
h stared at her, unable to think of anything to say to that sort of threat. She was way out of her league on this one.

  "What's going on out here?" Taylor said from behind Hannah's back.

  "We're done," Reagan yelled as she flipped them off and went to her car. A big guy dressed in black that looked like a bouncer opened the passenger's side to let Reagan in before getting in the driver's seat to start the engine.

  "What was that all about?" Taylor asked. She was unable to see Hannah's face, and had no idea that tears were rolling down her cheeks. She shook Hannah's shoulder. "Who was that?"

  Hannah didn't know what else to do, so she turned into Taylor's arms.

  Taylor was shocked by Hannah's distress, but thought quick enough to try to catch the girl. "What'd she do to you, Hannah? They're still right there, I can get in my car and—"

  "Just let them go," Hannah said. "She didn't do anything besides tell me a bunch of stuff I'd hear eventually anyway." She wiped at her tears with her filthy apron.

  "Why are you crying like this?"

  "That was Jason's girlfriend or whatever. She was just coming by to threaten me."

  Taylor was quiet for a second. "That asshole," she said. I seriously can't believe it. I thought he was such a—"

  "It doesn't matter," Hannah interrupted. "It was all stuff I sort of knew all along." Her chest shuttered, taking in tiny gasps of air as she tried to control her breathing. "You know, we're just really different. He's in a different realm."

  Taylor looked disgusted. "Is that what she told you? That you're not good enough for him?"

  "She didn't have to tell me that," Hannah said. "It's pretty obvious."

  "Oh please! Cry me a river. Don't let her lie to you like that. There's no such thing as social classes anymore, Hannah. We're all equal."

  Hannah tried to give her a little smile, but it didn't really work. "It's okay. I know she's just jealous." Hannah didn't believe that for a second, but she hoped it would make Taylor leave her alone about being positive.

  Taylor grabbed her by the shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "It's true, she is jealous. We can all see how Jason looks at you, and she must see it too."