After nearly four hours of actual studying, Lisanne’s eyes felt tired and gritty—as if the pages of her books had been covered with sandpaper as she’d read them, and she wanted nothing more than to go back to her room and sleep. She really hoped Kirsty wasn’t going to come back hyper and noisy, although the odds were against her. She rubbed her face and looked up—straight into the hazel eyes of Eyebrow Ring guy.
She expected him to glance away, but he didn’t. He held her gaze, his face impassive. Much to her annoyance, Lisanne felt her skin heating with a blush. No, no, no! Not in front of him!
But her blush was badly behaved and didn’t pay any attention to her whatsoever.
She was saved by the librarian, who announced that the library was closing. By the time Lisanne looked back, Eyebrow Ring guy had already shoved his laptop and books into a black canvas messenger bag, and was on his way out.
Hastily, Lisanne grabbed her books and hurried after him, telling herself she didn’t want to be alone in the creepy old building. He was twenty feet ahead of her when Lisanne tripped over the library’s threshold, and went sprawling across the cold steps.
She cried out as she grazed her hands and landed painfully on her knees. Eyebrow Ring guy didn’t even break pace, let alone turn around to help her. Although he must have heard her yell, he ignored her completely, striding off into the darkness.
Hurt and humiliated, Lisanne gathered her books, quietly cursing the black haired boy who had distracted her so disastrously.
The next morning, Lisanne crawled out of bed far too early for someone who’d been woken, as predicted, at 1 AM. The palms of her hands were scraped raw and her knees were black and blue. But, worse than that, she felt bruised inside. How could he just ignore her when she’d hurt herself like that? Lisanne knew that she wouldn’t let a stranger lie sprawled on the ground without trying to help. What kind of person behaved like that?
She definitely didn’t want to find out.
“It’s too early,” moaned Kirsty. “And who the hell allows a construction crew to do roadwork on a Monday morning outside a dorm room?”
Lisanne glanced outside. Nope, no road crew. The pounding was all in Kirsty’s head.
Lisanne rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help a sympathetic smile slipping out as she watched her roommate nurse a grade-A hangover.
“You look like you had a good night?”
Kirsty pulled herself up to lean against the headboard, bunching the duvet around her.
“You should have been there, Lisanne, it was awesome. Our fake IDs were totally cool. Shawna was drinking tequila shots—she was a mess.”
Lisanne couldn’t help a small, superior smile, and Kirsty looked at her curiously.
“What did you do?”
“Not much. Studied.”
Lisanne couldn’t bring herself to tell Kirsty about her misadventure in the library, or rather, on the library steps. And she certainly wasn’t going to mention Eyebrow Ring guy’s part in it. Well, that was a giant non story anyway.
Kirsty groaned and Lisanne couldn’t help wincing, too. She’d been drunk once, and she hadn’t enjoyed the sensation. It had been at her cousin’s wedding and it was not a feeling she wanted to remember. Ever. Especially the part where she’d vomited down the front of her new dress.
She grabbed a bottle of water from their tiny fridge, and placed it with two Advil on Kirsty’s bedside table.
“You are a lifesaver,” moaned Kirsty, her fingers scrabbling for the pills.
She looked up as Lisanne started to open the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Classes!” said Lisanne, raising her eyebrows.
“Okay, see you later? We’re going Italian tonight.”
“Um, no thanks. I’ve got some stuff to do,” said Lisanne, evasively. “See you.”
Kirsty moaned, and gave a small wave.
It didn’t seem such a good idea, now Lisanne was standing outside the building. She bit her lip and checked the flyer again. Yes, this was definitely the address, but it didn’t look like the kind of place she wanted to enter without an armed guard. Scuzzy: that was the word. Rundown: that was another. Disreputable. Scary. A dive. Even standing outside, she could smell stale beer, and the sidewalk was littered with cigarette butts. At least it was broad daylight. Not that anyone inside would have known that fact—the windows on the street side had been painted black.
She felt slightly nauseous, and realized her palms were sweating as she rubbed them against her new jeans. This was a bad idea. She should go back to the dorms before she made an even bigger fool of herself.
Lisanne had just convinced herself to turn around and leave when the steel door swung open. The biggest man she had ever seen stared down at her. Jeez, he was enormous. He looked like he could have crushed her ribs with one hand if he wanted to. His head was either bald or shaved, and his arms and neck were entirely covered in tattoos.
He smiled at Lisanne, and she automatically took a pace backward.
“Hey, girly, you here for the audition?”
“Um, yes?” said Lisanne, hesitantly.
“Come on in, honey.”
Lisanne wanted to say no. She wanted to turn and run, but somehow her feet wouldn’t obey her body. The man was still staring at her, so she took a deep breath and stepped inside. She really wished she’d left a message with someone to say where she was going—so they’d know where to find her mangled corpse. Maybe her cell phone had satellite tracking. Maybe she should hide it somewhere in the club before…
“This way, honey.”
Giganator led her into the bowels of the building, the dark walls saturated with the scent of sweat and hard liquor, or possibly liquor that had been sweated out from dancing, heaving bodies every weekend.
The lighting was dim, and no daylight had been permitted to enter the crypt like web of rooms. Lisanne tried hard to tell herself that the staining on the floor couldn’t possibly be blood.
Then she heard the echoing sound of someone laughing. It was such a happy, carefree laugh—not at all how she’d imagine a serial killer would sound. Unexpectedly, she felt her body relax.
Peering through the gloom, she saw a group of men standing on a small stage. As one, they turned to look at her, and the laughter died away.
“Another lamb to the slaughter,” came a low voice, and several of them snickered quietly.
Lisanne swallowed, then straightened her shoulders and walked forward with a determined air, belied by the way her stomach rolled and lurched.
They watched her with amusement but despite their scary appearance, their behavior wasn’t threatening. She ground to a halt when she saw one of them was Eyebrow Ring guy. Why did he have to be here to witness her further humiliation? He gazed back at her without recognition, and Lisanne felt ridiculous for thinking that he’d know her—or even remember her.
He was leaning against the piano, one foot propped up behind him, his knee bent, his stance relaxed and at ease. As Lisanne approached, he jumped down from the stage.
“I’m outta here—fucking auditions,” he said, in a bored voice.
“Sure, Dan.” One of the men spoke quietly. “Don’t be a stranger,” but Eyebrow Ring guy ignored him, pushed past her, and carried on walking, swinging a motorcycle helmet in one hand.
Lisanne felt incensed by his rude behavior. He was such a jerk.
Daniel was irritated with himself for going to the club. He knew it would just stir up a shit storm of memories, and he really didn’t need the aggravation his brother would give him when he found out: but somehow he hadn’t been able to stay away either. Even so, there was no way on earth he was going to hang around for another lame audition. He had his limits.
He’d been surprised when the latest victim had turned up. She didn’t look anything like the kind of girl who would go to their club. He loved the place but he had to be honest: it was a shit awful pit. She looked too young, for a start, and too fresh.
Bu
t Daniel knew that appearances could deceive. He was all too well aware how people judged him the moment they saw him. The reactions were predictable. Mostly, he didn’t care what people thought. No, that wasn’t true. He didn’t care what people thought about the way he looked. He knew that his tats, his piercings, the way he was dressed, gave people a giant fuck off message, and that suited him just fine. That shit was deliberate. He’d learned to be wary of people in general, and starting at the college was a big deal for him. He’d already had to lay out a couple of assholes, and Zef had given him hell when he’d come home with bruised knuckles two days running. Which was pretty fucking funny when you thought about it. Maybe ‘ironic’ was the word.
He was used to the way people reacted to him: girls checked him out, even some older chicks, which was cool; guys either avoided him or tried to prove that they were harder than he was. They rarely were. Most adults just pigeonholed him as a delinquent and passed by on the other side. His professors didn’t seem bothered, for which Daniel was grateful: tats, piercings, weird clothes and hairstyles—they’d seen it all before. But Daniel wanted to avoid trouble as much as possible at college. Unfortunately, that looked like it was going to mean avoiding people, too.
He was aware that his so-called rep was already following him around. It infuriated him, but when you were Zef Colton’s brother, there wasn’t a lot you could do about a bad rep. Which was why he’d pounded on those two dickwads last week: they’d made the painful assumption that Daniel and his brother were the same—painful for them, anyway.
That girl had looked at him the way everyone else did: she checked him out but thought he was trash, too. Bitch.
It was only when he’d pushed past her on his way out of the club, and saw the flash of anger in her eyes, that he recognized her: Library Girl. He’d seen her there on Sunday evening. In fact, he was pretty certain that she’d been staring at him for at least 20 minutes. It had started to freak him out, and he’d just about decided to say something when she’d finally started concentrating on her own work, and he was able to relax.
She’d been reading the same business studies textbook as him, which meant they must share at least one class. But she’d also been surrounded by orchestral scores, which made her a music major.
What a fucking waste of time. Daniel didn’t have any room in his world for people like her.
Despite his insistence that he had no interest in Library Girl whatsoever, he found himself wondering how her audition had gone. He couldn’t imagine that she’d have what the guys were looking for, but he wasn’t in a position to judge either. And that thought pissed him the hell off.
He’d text Roy later to find out.
Daniel would have liked to just go home and chill once he left the club, but Zef had told him to get lost for the whole evening, having some business to take care of at the house. Daniel was used to that and it didn’t really bother him. Zef was pretty cool most of the time.
So instead of going home and to his books, Daniel rode to the campus fitness center. He parked his motorcycle, locked away the helmet, and strolled inside. Throwing some weights around and running 10 miles on the treadmill would burn off some of his ever present nervous energy.
In the locker room, Daniel changed into sweat pants and a tank top, and carried his towel and a bottle of water into the weight room.
Two guys from the football team were already in there, but they ignored him and continued with their bench presses.
After nearly an hour, he headed to the training room where the treadmill, rowing machines, and fitness bikes were arranged in rows. There was a small group of girls already there, all wearing tiny boy shorts and crop tops. They eyed Daniel hungrily, and he automatically checked them out. The one with red hair was hot and definitely interested in him.
Daniel sighed and looked away. She wouldn’t be interested if she knew the real him. Besides, he preferred anonymous hookups to coeds. It was easier.
He focused on the treadmill and began pounding away, adding up the miles. He’d been in the zone for 25 minutes when he felt someone touch his arm, and he jumped.
It was the redhead.
“Oh, wow, sorry!” she giggled. “I said ‘hi’ like three times! You must have been really concentrating.”
Daniel smiled awkwardly, slowing the machine and springing down. “Yeah, something like that.”
“So, I was wondering: do you want to get a coffee? My friends have to go and I hate drinking coffee all alone.”
Daniel was internally assessing how to answer.
“I have to be somewhere right now,” he replied, thinking quickly.
He found he didn’t want to blow her off entirely, but he needed time to think about how to play it.
“How about we meet up tomorrow night instead? The Blue Note on West River Street, you know it? Bring your girlfriends.”
“Um, isn’t that place, like, dangerous?”
Daniel smiled.
“No, it’s cool. My friend works there.”
The girl’s face brightened.
“Well, okay, that sounds great. I’m Terri.”
“Daniel.”
She giggled. “I know.”
He frowned slightly, wondering if it wasn’t him she wanted to hook up with, but what his brother could offer. Well, if she was after anything else, she’d be disappointed.
“So, um, Daniel, what time will I see you there?”
“I’ll be there after 9pm.” Your move, beautiful.
“Cool! I’ll see you there.”
She walked away, her hips swaying, and Daniel licked his lips.
As a general rule he didn’t date. Which wasn’t to say he didn’t have women, because that would be a fat ass lie. But maybe it was time to turn over a new leaf and try that dating shit. Maybe. It felt like he was taking a huge risk, what with everything he wanted to keep hidden. But this year was all about new beginnings. Right?
The relaxation he’d found during his workout evaporated as his uncertainty grew. Irritated with himself, he hit the showers and let the hot water heat his skin, calming him.
When he’d finished, he draped a towel around his slim waist and headed back to his locker.
“Hey, man.”
Daniel eyed the two jocks warily, mentally assessing how much room he’d have to swing a punch if they started something. They weren’t any taller than him, but they were both heavier by about 20 pounds.
The expression on Daniel’s face had the jock backing up and raising his hands.
“Whoa, easy, man! I just, um, wanted to ask you something.”
Daniel took a breath. “What?”
“Well, um, just wondering if, um … we heard girls really get off on that.”
He gestured toward Daniel’s chest.
“Some, yeah,” said Daniel, holding back a smirk, knowing exactly what the guy was going to ask him next.
“Dude, it must have really hurt!” said the other jock.
Daniel shrugged. “It was worth it,” and this time he couldn’t help a huge grin slipping out.
The football players raised their eyebrows and grinned back.
“You get that done in town?”
“Sure. TJ’s tattoo parlor will do it for you. They’ll do any type of piercings.”
The bigger guy went white, and Daniel wondered if he was going to faint.
“Seriously, dude?”
Daniel laughed. “Yeah, nipple rings are normal stuff for TJ’s. They’ll pierce pretty much anything if you ask them. Anywhere.”
“Man, I gotta sit down,” said the big guy, crashing onto one of the benches.
Daniel shook his head and smiled to himself. Pussy.
Pulling on clothes over his still damp body, Daniel checked his cell phone. Zef had texted the all-clear—he could go home.
He strolled into the parking lot and couldn’t help smiling at the sight of his motorcycle. She was a 1969 Harley Davidson that he’d bought as scrap and restored. It had taken him two ye
ars of saving up money from working weekends and summers at a garage, but he’d done it.
As he mounted the sleek machine, he saw Terri giggling with her girlfriends. She waved and he nodded back at her, feeling a shiver of anticipation mixed with anxiety.
When he drove up to his home, the road outside was lined with bikes and cars—looked like it was open house at Zef Colton’s. Again.
It was a well known secret that you could get pretty much anything you wanted at one of Zef’s parties. And Daniel had done a lot of partying over the summer. Luckily, the brain cells he had left after all the pot he’d smoked and all the booze he’d drunk, seemed to be in good working order. His college classes hadn’t presented him with any problems.
He looked enviously at the joint that was being passed around, but stuck by the promise he’d made himself not to get high or wasted on a school night. College cost good money, and he wasn’t about to piss away his future.
He felt someone tugging on his arm.
A pretty blonde girl was leaning against him to keep her balance. She looked like she was about the same age as him and Daniel wondered if she was a student. He hoped they didn’t go to the same college—he was trying to keep home life, such as it was, separate from school.
“Hey, handsome! You want to party?”
She held up a small plastic bag of pills and ran her hand down his chest invitingly.
He hesitated, then smiled and shook his head.
“Another time, beautiful.”
Daniel sighed. One thing that Zef’s parties had going for them—he never had any trouble getting laid.
He winked at the girl and headed up the stairs before her obvious charms changed his mind. At least his bedroom was private. He was glad Zef had agreed it was necessary to put a lock on the door. Pulling out his key, he stepped over a couple of bodies that were slumped in the hallway.
Music was pulsing through the walls of the house so loudly that Daniel could feel the vibrations in his bones. It didn’t bother him: he was used to it. His room, by comparison, was an oasis of calm.