First Degree Burns

by S. L. Kassidy

  “Maybe we should get Danny breakfast in bed,” Nicole whispered. She thought it’d be a very sweet gesture and thanks for the camping trip from hell that her beloved had endured for her.

  “You don’t have time,” Danny grumbled, yawning slightly.

  Nicole smiled softly and then leaned down to give Danny’s forehead a kiss. “Sure, I do. You need to stay here while I go make breakfast.”

  Danny chuckled, they both knew that wasn’t likely. They stayed in bed for a moment, cuddling and enjoying the stillness of their home. They tenderly caressed each other, but didn’t do anything beyond that.

  Before they could get up and start the day, Nicole’s cell phone rang. She wondered who could be calling, but it was past ten, so most of her world was up already. Seeing the number, she was tempted to not answer, but Beth hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “Hey, Beth, what’s up?” Nicole said into the phone. Danny arched an eyebrow, but Nicole couldn’t offer anything yet to change her expression.

  “Hey, I was calling to see how you guys are one day later, especially Danny. How’s her face looking?”

  Nicole glanced at Danny and winced when she saw her cheek. The maroon bruise stood out on her bronze cheek. Danny seemed to know what she was looking at, reaching up to touch the bruise. Danny grimaced and Nicole gently pulled her hand away to keep Danny from messing with the injury.

  “Like she got punched. She’ll be all right, though,” Nicole answered. As soon as she was done speaking with Beth, she’d go get Danny some ice and try to convince her to have breakfast in bed.

  “How are her ribs? Nothing was broken, right?” Beth asked.

  Nicole’s eyes narrowed on Danny. “I don’t know. I’ll ask her.” She covered the phone. “Why didn’t you tell me he hit you in the ribs, too?” she demanded in a low hiss.

  “My ribs are fine,” Danny replied, waving her off.

  Nicole frowned. “You should’ve told me.”

  “They’re fine.”

  “Did he hit you anywhere else?” Her eyes trailed over Danny’s body.

  “No. It’s okay.”

  Nicole snorted, but she didn’t have the time to be upset with Danny for omitting information. She turned her attention back to her phone. “She says her ribs are fine.”

  “That’s good. Uh…Nikki…I want to talk to you about something that might hurt your feelings, but I want you to understand why Danny did what she did. I don’t want you to be angry with her or do anything rash.”

  Nicole smiled softly. “I’m not going to break up with Danny, Beth.”

  There was a sigh of relief. “Good to know, because Danny was standing up for you, Nikki.”

  “I know she was.”

  “But, do you know she’s the only one?” Beth inquired in a low tone. Shame dripped from her voice.

  “Excuse me?”

  Beth let loose a long breath. “We knew. We knew about Lillian for a while, Nikki. We knew she talked about you behind your back. Not the adults, but you know…us. We knew.”

  “Why?” Nicole choked out. Her throat felt like it was going to collapse in on itself.

  “Why did she do it or why didn’t we stop her or why didn’t we tell you?”

  “All of them. I thought you were my family, my friends, and you let her say these horrible things about me. Did you join in, too? Tell everyone I was a whore? Tell everyone I was into kinky, disgusting, and depraved sex acts?” Nicole practically screamed. Haydn backed up a bit before moving and nuzzling her.

  “No, we never did that! We never talked about you. Never. We would never do that. We love you, Nikki, and that’s actually why we didn’t say anything. Lillian was…God, Lillian was your little sister, Nikki. You love her so deeply, entirely. We couldn’t hurt you like that, couldn’t tell you this person you love, was doing this awful thing to you. You’d have been crushed.”

  “But, I wouldn’t look like an ass to everyone for my whole life.” Nicole was close to bawling, but she refused to spill any more tears over this. Lillian didn’t deserve her tears. Hell, she wasn’t sure if this family deserved her tears.

  “You don’t. Lillian’s the ass and always has been. We tried to get her to stop when she was younger, but she never listened. We did our best to shield you from it. It wasn’t the right thing to do, I know, but it was all we could think of at the time. We didn’t want you to get hurt. We didn’t want this to happen.”

  It hurt to breathe. “How many people…what type of things…what?” Nicole wasn’t even sure what she wanted to say. Her mind was reeling once more. If they were all aware, how many people has Lillian spoken to about me as if I was some vile, loathsome harlot or worse?

  “She’s told a lot of different people a lot of things, over time, Nikki. Almost everyone you’ve ever met with her has heard some of her bullshit. Hell, I remember when we were little and in a park one time, when you played softball with some girls. She was talking to them after the game, telling them you were really a boy and that’s why you could hit so far.”

  Nicole felt her throat tighten again and there were tears burning her eyes like acid. “Oh, God. That’s why they called me a freak and a cheater. I thought they were sore losers. I wanted to…” She shook it off because it didn’t matter now.

  Danny pulled her into a warm embrace, and she rested her head against Danny’s shoulder. She wished she could crawl into her lover and never leave. Danny would protect her from all of this madness.

  “I know. I was little, but I knew. I’m so sorry about all of this, Nikki. I wish I could go back and do things differently, but I can’t. I can promise you that I did my best to clean up anything that she said, if I could, but, over the years, she said so much and I didn’t hear all of it.”

  This explained why Beth didn’t like being around Lillian. “It’s okay, Beth. You’re not the one who was saying that stuff. It was all her. I wonder why. Why the hell has she been doing this? I loved her. I would’ve done anything for her. Why has she been trying to tear me down?”

  “I don’t know, Nikki. But, I want to assure you that none of us do that to you. Lillian is the only one. We all love you and the adults didn’t know, so Uncle Richard didn’t know that Lillian does stuff like this, and he thought Danny started wailing on her for no reason.”

  “Does he now?”

  “Spider and Junior said they’d tell him. Expect a call from them, especially Junior. If he doesn’t apologize, I promised to take a pipe to his beloved car.”

  Nicole snickered, even though she really wanted to cry. “You’re a good cousin.”

  “Because I completely and totally love you, Nikki. You’re a wonderful person and so is Danny. Lillian is the one who was wrong. Danny said Lillian did something that got you hurt. Things shouldn’t have gotten to that. We should’ve said something. I should’ve said something.”

  “Better late than never.”

  “I wish I felt that way. Is Danny around? I need to say a couple of words to her.”

  “She’s right here.” Nicole handed over the phone. “Beth wants to talk to you.”

  “Hey,” Danny said. She made a few uh-huh noises. “Yeah, no problem. Don’t thank me. Later.” She ended the call.

  “What did she say?”

  “She thanked me for decking Lillian.”

  “Of course.” Nicole shook her head.

  Danny only shrugged. Nicole didn’t want to admit it, but she felt a little better knowing Beth had thanked Danny. Sighing, she cuddled in close to her lover.

  “How could I never notice? I mean, all this time I thought…well, you know what I thought. I mean, dammit, she said she became a lawyer to be like me. She started playing softball to be like me, to be closer to me. She even went to my college. I used to help her with everything, from schoolwork to guy problems to everything in between.”

  Danny rubbed the small of Nicole’s back. “Maybe she’s trying to show she’s better than you and she never quite makes it, so she lashes out. Some peopl
e are bitter cows. She could be jealous of you, envious, wants to take over your life. Maybe she wishes she was loved as much as you, or something like that. Who the hell knows? It’s not your problem, though, Nick. She’s worse off now that you’re not in her life, not the other way around.”

  Nicole smiled and gave Danny a kiss. “You’re sweet and you’re also right, but it’s going to take a while to accept that. I mean, for my whole life she was my little sister. Why would she hurt me like this? And I’m really scared to think of what she said to people and who believed her. I mean, what if you had believed her?”

  “But, I didn’t because I stop and talk to you, Nick, and I love you. So, her making it sound like you had a ton of lovers, I knew were lies. Her telling me that you’re kinky, lie.”

  “Well, we have different definitions of kink.”

  Danny laughed. “To you, using scarves is kinky. That’s not kinky, Chem. Trust me.”

  “I’m scared to find out what you think is kinky.”

  “Don’t want kinky, so it doesn’t really matter. I’m happy with you, and I’m happy with doing whatever you want in bed. I already told you there’s little that squeaks me, as long as I’m not calling you and you’re not calling me…”

  “I remember, Danny, I remember,” Nicole interrupted with a blush staining her cheeks.

  “Eventually, I would’ve cursed her out, once I figured out what the hell she was doing, but when she said she encouraged your boyfriend to try to have your ass was when I figured out she’s actually dangerous. She might not have meant it that way, but she got you hurt and it could’ve been worse.”

  Nicole swallowed. “I know. I’ve thought about that since you said it.”

  Danny held her tighter. “It’s okay. It’s done and over with, but like I said, I’d have kept hitting her if Junior hadn’t tackled me. I’d still be hitting her, actually.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No thanks necessary, my love. And, if you ever want to tell me the whole thing, you know I’m here to listen.”

  Nicole nodded. “Thank you for that, too.”

  The phone going off again interrupted their cuddle session. Nicole sighed when she looked at the screen. She wasn’t surprised that Spider was calling her since Beth said to expect it, but she wasn’t ready for it. Still, she answered.

  “Yes, Webber,” Nicole said.

  “Nikki, don’t be that way. It’s me and Junior. We’re on speaker,” Spider replied.

  “Hey, Nikki.” Junior’s voice was barely a mumble.

  “We’re calling to find out if there’s any way possible for us to apologize. Not just for yesterday, but for everything, you know? I mean, we’re supposed to be tight and we…well, we let her talk about you and hid it from you,” Spider said.

  “Right now, I don’t think there is any way for you to make it up to me. I mean, not only did you let Lillian say horrible things—”

  “We tried to stop her, but she’d always break down crying whenever we did. She always accused us of loving you more than we did her and that we wished you were our sister, and somehow she always turned it into something about us, so we never got around to talking about what she was doing. The best we could do…”

  “Make sure I didn’t find out, yes, Beth already explained that. The thing that makes it worse is that, Junior, you knew and you attacked Danny anyway. You hit a girl, first of all, and you hit her for defending me.”

  He huffed as if she was wrong to point this out. “She hit my sister! What was I supposed to do?”

  “Maybe stop your damn sister from spreading rumors about me. How about that? Do you know what she told Danny? Do you?” Nicole screeched into the phone. She didn’t even give them a chance to argue. “She basically implied that I was a whore. She told one of my old boyfriends that it was fine to fuck me in the ass and on her advice, he tried it, even though I told him no. Do you know what that’s like? Do you? I don’t think you do.” Her face felt hot, and she could feel a vein rise in both her forehead and her neck. Danny added a little more pressure to the calm rubbing of her back.

  Spider growled. “Nikki, that fucking clown…did he…did he?”

  “He didn’t,” she admitted in a low tone.

  She heard them gulp. “Are you sure he tried because of her?” Junior practically whispered.

  “I had told him no plenty of times before, but now that I think about it, he was a lot more insistent after we came back from visiting you guys. He said I was a tease and then one day…he decided to go for it…” And she was back to clinging to Danny. She never wanted to talk, or think, about that ever again.

  “I’ll fucking kill him,” Junior growled.

  Nicole scowled. “Don’t act like you give a damn now.”

  “Of course, I give a damn! You’re like my little sister.”

  “But, I wasn’t worth defending to your real little sister, was I?” she countered bitterly.

  “We didn’t know it was going to get this out of control. We didn’t know you’d get hurt over it. Besides, I didn’t know that’s why Danny was hitting her,” Junior shouted.

  “Honestly, Junior, I don’t care right now. If you want to apologize to Danny, I will put her on the line. Personally, I’m not ready to talk to you, or Spider, right now, but you especially. Not only did you hurt Danny physically, but you hurt her emotionally by breaking something of hers that she can’t get back. You really don’t know the damage you’ve caused.”

  “Nikki, I’m sorry,” he insisted.

  “I don’t want the apology. Danny, do you want to talk to Junior?” Nicole asked, and Danny shook her head. “I think we should stop here, and I’ll talk to you guys later when I’m in a better mood and when you’ve worked out what it is you did wrong.”

  “Nikki, I still like Danny. She’s a good match for you,” Spider said in a rush.

  “And, you need to know that we never talked about you behind your back, not now, not ever,” Junior said.

  “We love you, Nikki. We do,” Spider said.

  “I know. I love you guys, too. I’m just not sure I can trust you anymore.” That acknowledgment broke her heart. She disconnected the call and held onto Danny tighter. Danny kissed the top of her head and, somehow, that made things a little better.

  Chapter Eighteen

  GOING TO WORK THE next day was a struggle for Nicole. She thought about calling in sick. She knew her parents wouldn’t call her on it, but they might stop by to check on her and she didn’t want that. Besides, life went on. She’d pull through, even if she had been betrayed by the people she thought were closest to her. It hurt, but it’d go away eventually, she liked to believe. If not go away, she’d learn how to deal with it. She looked at her lover as an example of how to pick herself up. Danny had been betrayed by almost her whole family and her best friend, who had helped cripple her, yet still she pressed on. Nicole could do the same.

  So, she went into work and went through the motions. While her heart wasn’t in it, she was able to get some things done. She could only hope she hadn’t made any glaring errors. She wasn’t surprised when Mina came in at lunchtime. She didn’t even put up a fight. She walked off with a shocked looking Mina and Clara, going to their little lunch spot. She needed the distraction and the normalcy.

  They made themselves comfortable in a sienna brown booth away from the few other patrons. A pleasant waiter, who offered them a bright smile, took their drink and food orders. Nicole smiled back until he was gone and then she sighed. She leaned her elbow on the table, despite it being bad manners, while her friends watched her.

  “How’s Danny’s face looking?” Mina inquired. She had seen the couple briefly when they came to pick up Haydn. She had recognized they weren’t in the mood to talk about what happened, but Nicole knew that wouldn’t last.

  “What happened to Danny’s face?” Clara asked with slightly bent eyebrows.

  “My cousin, Junior, punched her a few times after she punched my cousin Lillian for talking abo
ut me,” Nicole explained.

  Mina’s brow furrowed, and she pursed her lips briefly. “Lillian? Isn’t that the one who you always called to check on in college and you practically walked her through law school?”

  “The very same one. As it turns out, she’s been talking about me since she was born, telling lies and spreading rumors about me. Apparently, she said the ugliest things you could say about someone, about me, to everyone that she possibly could. I only found out because Danny said something. My cousins all knew and kept silent to protect me. They’re so full of shit.” Nicole scowled, glaring down at the cream-colored table.

  “Wow. Sounds like you learned way too much on a family trip that was supposed to be fun,” Clara said, shaking her head.

  “I’m happy it finally came to light, and I am pleased to find out that Danny will defend me, even when everyone else is letting it go. I don’t know what I’m going to do about my cousins, though.” Nicole rubbed her forehead, wishing she could fight off the headache she’d had since yesterday.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it, Nicole. If they’re not there for you, you’re better off without them. At least you don’t have to look for knives in your back or fists in Danny’s face,” Mina said.

  Nicole chuckled. “You’re right. I do wish things had gone differently. I wish my family was different.”

  Mina scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You and the rest of the world. There’s a reason family’s given to you without your permission. If you could pick the bastards, you’d pick other bastards.”

  “I guess you’re right about that.” Nicole paused as the waiter returned with their drinks. “But, on a good note, Danny found out she liked camping. She got along great with my dad. They did a little bonding, so it wasn’t a total loss.”

  Mina motioned to her from across the table. “There you go then. And, Danny stuck with you through a terrible time. No other lover would’ve done that for you in the past.” Mina knew almost all of Nicole’s awful significant others.

  “You’re right.”