Dangerous to Know & Love (37 page)

“Yes, quite.”

“And you want to know if he has
more
piercings?!”

Monica’s face matched Lisanne’s by this point.

“Forget I asked,” muttered Monica.

That
would take some doing.

Her mother turned to the coffee pot, just for something to do.

“Oh, I ran into Rachel Brandt at the store yesterday. Apparently she’s letting Sonia have a party there tonight. She said you should stop by. Daniel, too, of course.”

Lisanne pulled a face.

“I don’t know why Sonia would invite me – we were never friends at high school.”

“Maybe not,” said Monica, firmly, “but Rachel and I
are
friends, so I’m sure you’d be very welcome. Besides,” she said, raising her eyebrows, “I’d have thought you and Daniel would like a reason to get away from the oldies for an evening.”

It was a fair point. Although Lisanne would have gone some way to avoid Sonia Brandt, she knew Daniel would like a breather. A party could be just the thing. Then something else occurred to her: Sonia was one of the high school crowd who’d never given Lisanne the time of day, so turning up with a hot boyfriend… yeah, she really liked the idea of
that
.

“Fine, we’ll go, mom, if Daniel wants to.”

“He seems to be getting along with your brother.”

“Yeah,” said Lisanne, smiling.

It had been a surprise to her how responsive Harry was being. With the rest of the family he mostly just grunted, but Daniel seemed to encourage him to speak whole sentences. Which was almost unnerving.

Ernie entered the kitchen and sniffed the air, his mouth twisting with disgust as he smelt the old cigarette smoke that lingered by the porch.

Monica saw his reaction and made herself very busy putting more bread in the toaster.

“Lisanne,” said Ernie, sharply, “I don’t want you to be alone in your room with him – with Daniel.”

Both Lisanne and her mother looked up. Lisanne was crimson again.

“Excuse me?”

“Not at all. For no reason. Is that clear?”

“Ernie!”

“Someone needs to say it, Monica,” he snapped. “Lisanne: is that clear?”

Feeling mutinous, Lisanne nodded curtly and left the room, furious and embarrassed.

For fuck’s sake! She was nearly 19 and her dad was still telling her who she could or could not have in her room? He was such a hypocrite! He knew they were sleeping together, but he just didn’t want it to happen under his roof.

Then Lisanne wondered if he’d heard something. She was instantly mortified – perhaps she hadn’t been as quiet as she’d thought. Oh God! Imagine if her father
had
heard! It didn’t bear thinking about. Did that make
her
the hypocrite?

With her heart hammering, and her befuddled brain existing in a general state of denial, she hurried up the stairs but as she did so, she noticed a burning feeling between her thighs. Slightly panicked, she hurried into the bathroom and stripped off her clothes, examining herself in the mirror.

Holy hell! The skin between her thighs was bright red – stubble burn from Daniel’s scruff – between her legs! Would the morning’s humiliation never end?

Feeling miserable, she showered quickly and pulled on a pair of jeans, but then found they were far too uncomfortable. She rubbed baby lotion on her the inflamed patches and instantly felt soothed. Digging through her closet, she found a floaty, knee-length skirt that her mom had bought for her, which she’d never worn. She felt a little awkward, being unused to something so damn girly, but it was all she’d got. She matched it with chucks. Great. Sore and style free. Could this day get any worse? Then she thought of the party she’d agreed to go to, and groaned.

Below her window, the sound of laughter drifted upwards, and her face softened as she looked out to see Daniel and Harry relaxed and enjoying themselves. Given the chance, she really believed Daniel could charm anyone. Given the chance, could he even charm her father? Her face fell – it didn’t seem likely.

She headed downstairs and sent a long text message to Kirsty, while sitting on the porch watching Daniel and Harry. In truth, she could have watched Daniel play sport for hours, ogling the way his lean muscles moved under his t-shirt.

They finished the game they’d been contesting, and Daniel came over to sit next to her, leaning in and kissing her neck.

Harry rolled his eyes but said nothing. That was his
sister
.

Daniel smiled at the revolted expression on Harry’s face and pulled Lisanne’s fingers to his lips.

Harry shook his head as he stomped back into the kitchen. He had no idea why a cool guy like Daniel would like his sister, let alone want to
kiss
her.

“So, what’s on the menu of today’s exciting events,” Daniel whispered into Lisanne’s hair.

She turned to face him. “You gave me stubble rash!” she hissed.

Daniel took a moment to understand what she’d said. He examined her face and neck, then raised his eyebrows.

“Where’d I do that, baby doll?” he asked, although by the look on his face, he’d already guessed.

Lisanne slapped his arm. “You know where!” she snapped.

He smirked at her and ran his hand over his smooth cheeks. “Yeah? Well, I shaved this morning so we’re good to go again.”

She shook her head. “Dad knows.”

“Knows what?”

“That we were… last night!”

Daniel frowned. “You sure?”

“Yes! He told me I wasn’t to be alone in my room with you.”

“You going to do what he says, baby doll?”

Which was the crux of Lisanne’s problem.
Was she?

Daniel stood up and stretched, exposing a tanned sliver of skin above the waistband of his jeans.

“Let me know,” he said, sounding irritated.

Lisanne grabbed hold of his hand, and he looked down.

“Don’t be mad at me. This… it’s all
new
. Please…”

Daniel sighed. “I know, I get it. But, fuck! I just want you all the time, baby doll. At school you share a room, and my place is… and now it’s the holidays and you’re just across the hall. It’s driving me crazy.
You
drive me crazy.”

Lisanne tingled with pleasure at his words. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to hear that enough.

“Do you want to go to a party tonight?” she said, temporarily changing the subject. “It’s a girl I went to high school with – my mom is a friend of her mom’s. I don’t know – would you like to?”

He shrugged and looked back toward the kitchen. “Sure, why not? A party I can do.”

At that moment Harry came strolling back out with a can of soda, and plopped down on the porch.

“So, are we going or what?”

Lisanne frowned. “‘We’? Who’s ‘we’? Going where?”

Harry ignored her. “They’ve got Virtua Racing, Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty, Mario Karts, Pacman, Metal Slug – you know: the classics.”

“Cool,” said Daniel.

“What?” snorted Lisanne.

“Harry’s going to take me to the local arcade,” said Daniel, winking at her. “You said you wanted me to see the sights.”

Lisanne groaned. Spending the morning watching her boyfriend play stupid video games with her little brother was not her idea of fun at all. She’d imagined finding somewhere to go and lie under the trees again, make-out and enjoy some quality time alone. Certainly not with
Harry
tagging along! But it seemed that while she was being lectured by her dad, her boyfriend and her brother had been making other plans.

Just great.

Lisanne had no choice but to agree. At least they’d be away from her parents for a while.

At the arcade, she sat listening to Kate Vigo on her iPod, and texting Rodney who was visiting family in Tuscaloosa, while Daniel and Harry played something that involved cartoon characters beating the shit out of each other. Fun times.

Lisanne noticed that the arcade was getting a lot busier. That was probably because it was the Thanksgiving holidays, and people were taking time off from school and work. Tomorrow would be the big family day.

Daniel walked over and draped a casual arm around her shoulder.

“We should get out of here,” he whispered, while placing a warm kiss on her cheek.

“Really? I thought you wanted to go and do that racing game thingy – not that I’m arguing…”

He gave her a tight smile. “It’s going to kick off in here any minute, Lis. We should get your brother out.”

“What?” she said, staring around her. “How do you know?”

All she could see were groups of guys playing on the games.

“Trust me,” he said. Then to Harry, “Come on, man, we’re going to get some burgers and shakes.”

Harry bitched a bit, but a lot less than normal. Clearly he didn’t want to argue with Daniel. He was hanging on his every word, and was rather resentful of his sister’s presence.

They found a café where they could sit outside. Harry ordered his banana milkshake, Lisanne had a chocolate one, and Daniel ordered his usual black coffee – although he then proceeded to ‘taste’ nearly half of Lisanne’s drink. She ended up having to defend it from him before their burgers arrived, and was amused to see Harry wrinkle his nose when Daniel kissed her again.

Suddenly, police sirens pierced the afternoon air. Lisanne and Harry both looked in the direction of the arcade.

“Police,” she whispered to Daniel.

He nodded his head.

“How did you know something was going to happen?” she asked, puzzled.

Harry’s eyes toggled between the two of them.

Daniel shrugged. “Been in enough fights to know,” he said.

Hero worship glowed in Harry’s eyes.

Lisanne had a feeling it was going to be hard to get Daniel to herself while Harry was around.

They finished their lunch, and were wandering through the open air mall, when both Harry’s and Lisanne’s cellphones started ringing.

Lisanne answered hers first.

“Mom? What? No, we’re fine. We’re fine! Okay, we’re on our way.”

From the look on Harry’s face, his call from their dad was similar.

“What was that about?” he said.

Lisanne shook her head. “I have no idea, but I guess we’re going home.”

Ten minutes later, Lisanne pulled up on the drive. Both her parents were waiting out front. Ernie looked furious. He wrenched Daniel’s door open and pushed him against the car as he tried to climb out.

“What did you do?” he yelled in Daniel’s face.

“Get the fuck off me!” snarled Daniel, pushing back, making Ernie stumble.

“Dad!” shrieked Lisanne. “What are you doing?”

“We heard there was a fight at the arcade – police were called and everything. Several teenagers were taken to hospital. We thought… we thought… we were worried,” Monica finished lamely.

Daniel’s face was full of contempt as he stared at Lisanne’s parents, but it was Lisanne who spoke, her voice scathing.

“And you just automatically assumed Daniel had something to do with it. Well, that’s just great. Thanks for your support. For your information it was Daniel who got us out of there. He guessed something was going down and we left before anything started.” She paused, fury burning through her making her voice shake. “What happened to giving people the benefit of the doubt, mom? What happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’, dad? If Daniel was one of your high school students you wouldn’t be giving him this hard a time.”

“Daniel didn’t do anything!” shouted Harry, angrily.

Monica looked appalled, standing with her hand over her mouth, and her eyes darting between Daniel and her eldest child.

“I’m so sorry, Daniel,” she said.

But with her fingers covering her lips, Daniel didn’t know what she’d said.

“I’m getting the fuck out of here, Lis,” he growled.

“I’ll go with you.”

He yanked his bike keys out of his pants’ pocket and swung a leg over Sirona. Lisanne mounted behind him without even waiting to pull the helmets out of the saddlebags.

Ernie stood up straight. “Daniel, I apologize. I jumped to a conclusion without knowing the facts. I’m sorry.” He looked at his wife. “We’re both sorry.”

“Sure,” said Daniel, bitterly. “Until the next time. I’ll never be good enough for you, will I?”

Ernie grabbed his arm. “Really, I am sorry – don’t go off like this. Lisanne, please stay.”

“No, dad. You’ve said enough.”

She nodded at Daniel and he leaned down to turn on the gas, then kick-start the bike.

Pops came out of the house, where he’d been standing with Grandma Olsen, both having overheard the whole heated exchange.

“Now then,” he said, looking Daniel in the eye. “I hope you’re not going to tell me that you’re taking my granddaughter on that motorcycle with bare legs and no helmet?”

Daniel glanced over his shoulder at Lisanne.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Everybody just calm the heck down,” said Pops. “Ernie, you sure made a mess of this one, son. Monica, you go on in with the kids. Me and Daniel are going to have some quality time with Sirona, here.” He tapped Lisanne on the arm. “You go on in with your mom and dad now.”

Reluctantly, still furious with her parents, Lisanne climbed off. Despite the fact her whole family was watching, she wrapped her arms around Daniel’s neck and ghosted her lips across his mouth.

He sighed and leaned into her, resting his head on her shoulder.

Lisanne cupped his cheeks with her hands and made him look at her. “Don’t leave without me. Promise?”

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly.

She kissed him again and turned to follow her parents inside.

She watched through the window as Pops said something, pointing at the trunk of his car, and Daniel followed him. A moment later, Daniel was carrying a heavy looking toolbox, and Pops was bending over Sirona.

It didn’t look like Daniel was going anywhere soon, so Lisanne turned to her parents.

“Thanks, mom. Thanks, dad,” she said, enunciating every syllable icily. “You’ve really made Daniel feel welcome. Is there anything else you want to accuse him of while we’re here? Maybe that graffiti I saw in the mall, or what about that carjacking that happened last week? You want to blame that on him, too?”