Page 39 of She is the Darke

“Because you get fucking everything!” Danielle screamed. Her blue eyes flashed with rage as she approached. “You get fucking…everything. Since we were kids, it’s been Demi Rhone Darke, the special one. The fun one. The valedictorian, when everyone knows I should’ve been the one to make the speech! I worked hard! Teachers just gave you good marks because of who your family is in the community. I have to actually earn what I get.”

“That’s what this is about? Me being valedictorian a hundred years ago? I earned that, it was not because of my family’s name, Danielle! I worked my ass off for it back then. You acting like I’m just handed everything is so messed up. It takes away from the quiet work I do, and it is quiet! I work harder, and more hours than anyone I know, and I don’t complain. Is that what you need? You need my success to look harder? It is hard-earned!”

“I was moved on, but then what do I see splashed all over the news? Your stupid bitch face, out as a crow shifter. Once again, Demi Rhone Darke is soooo special.” Her words held venom.

“Oh my gosh,” Demi muttered, disgusted. “You think I did that for attention? I don’t like attention. I don’t like people looking at me like I’m an alien, or wanting to talk to me about this part of me that has been this huge secret all my life. You need to go to counseling and let this go. This is uncomfortable. You’re supposed to grow up. We aren’t kids anymore, Danielle. This isn’t even about me anymore. It’s about your need to be like someone else, and it’s not healthy. Work through your shit.”

“I won’t be chased off of my business!” Danielle yelled after her.

“Do what you want,” she said, shaking her head as she walked away. “Just stay the fuck away from me.”

“I’m going to take everything you have!” Danielle yelled.

The most unsettling part of that? Demi could hear the truth in her tone. Danielle truly believed that she would take everything from her.

That fact sat heavy on her mind as she went from house to house, taking pictures of the ones she’d decorated. She’d taken the interior pictures already, as she’d finished each one. She talked to a few of her clients who happened to be outside while she was working, but for the most part, it was a quiet morning after the blow-up with Danielle.

Around midday, a familiar truck pulled up and parked in front of the house where she was working, rearranging the skeleton scene in the front yard. This one had dozens of skeletons crawling out from the ground in a graveyard of fake headstones, but someone’s dog had clearly gotten loose in the night and had dug up a bunch of the fake bones.

“Hey,” she greeted Tyler as he slid out of his truck.

He wore a tight, charcoal-gray thermal and matching beanie, with dark jeans that hung low on his hips. Hot, hot man.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked.

“Thought you could use some lunch. That, and I have a meeting with a potential client.”

“Whoo, last-minute job.”

He leaned down and kissed her, then handed her a paper bag from her favorite sandwich shop.

“Prince Charming,” she murmured as she looked inside. “Thank you so much. Seriously, this is perfect. I was just getting hungry.”

“I got myself one, too. Want to eat on the tailgate before I meet my client?”

“A tailgate picnic?” she asked. “Okay sir, you can have anything you want from me.”

His chuckle was deep as he led her to his truck. “You know what I want.”

“Is this a bribe, so I’ll let you play with my boobies?” she teased.

“Absolutely.” And there was that crooked smile she’d fallen in love with.

He grabbed her waist and lifted her onto the tailgate easily, then took a seat beside her. He took a bite of his sandwich, then leaned over and pulled his phone from his pocket, read a text, and set the phone down between them.

She criss-crossed her legs and asked what time he wanted to meet up for Halloween. His phone vibrated on the truck bed, and naturally, she glanced down at it. Just a quick glance, but she’d read the caller ID fast.

She hadn’t meant to. It was just a casual look at a lit-up phone, and now the name was burned into her brain.

Why was Danielle texting Tyler?

She knew it was Danielle, because he had her saved by her first-and-last name. When had they exchanged numbers?

The phone vibrated again, and she sat there frozen, anger building in her middle.

Another text vibrated the phone. What in the actual hell?

Tyler didn’t seem to care that his phone was blowing up. He sat with one knee drawn up, chatting to her between bites about a conversation he’d had with his dad last night.

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