Page 3 of Hidden Dane
Uriel started the car and for the third time in broad daylight, he had another memory of Emily and her warm inviting kiss. He shook it off and focused on the road as he drove. “I gave it to a woman.”
His friend laughed and laughed like Uriel had just told him the punchline of a joke. He even held his stomach as he asked, “What woman ever turned your head, Uriel?”
Right. His hands clutched the steering wheel. This was too much. He swallowed, and his face stung from an imagined slap Emily might give his cheek. Leaving after her prom night was probably not the nice-guy move he’d mastered in later years. Emily had been there the day his mother died and she was probably the reason he’d lived through it.
She deserved better than anything he’d offer. He turned on his blinker and headed toward the airport. Right now he needed to face her at least one more time. “One from a long, long time ago. She’s not going to be happy to see me again.”
Brady stopped laughing. “Well, try some charm, Uriel. You’re handsome enough but you never try to just smile at women and start conversations. Your one-night-stands are something I’ve never understood. You literally do nothing to attract women and yet they follow you around—like that poor girl you left crying in the hall.”
“Nothing isn’t going to work with Emily.” Uriel felt the air drain from his lungs. Emily had every reason in the world to slam the door in his face and tell him to leave.
He owed her his life and he’d taken advantage of her in exchange. He never should have claimed her virginity, or her kisses, all those years ago. She deserved far more and he hadn’t even offered friendship in return.
Now she was in trouble and it was because of him—he’d make this right and disappear from her life, fast. It was the best thing he could do.
Chapter 2
Emily Mira adjusted her black graduation hat and proudly flounced her blue tassel as she stepped from her red Jeep Wrangler. She smoothed any wrinkles from her short, same blue as the tassel, dress and walked toward the bar a block away.
Everyone at the bar would know she’d graduated today. She and her friends had big plans of pictures with their caps that they’d only wear once. She’d finished her PhD and never had to work on her thesis again.
As she headed toward the night club to meet her friends, she hummed to herself. She imagined her mother, Monica, in heaven, happy with Emily on graduation day.
If she’d lived and hadn’t died in a car accident when Emily had been fifteen, she’d have been proud.
Real life began soon, though, as college ended. No more scholarly papers on history.
She’d even passed her real estate license.
No one would call her doctor, but at least being a realtor brought in money until she found that faculty position she craved. It was time to stop getting degrees no one cared about except her.
Tonight, though, that didn’t matter. This was about celebrating. Emily held open the door of the club and immediately smelled the alcohol.
Her sister’s husband, Michael, had always taught her to be safe, so as she stepped inside, Emily checked her pocketbook—she had her fake jewels, and the sleeping pills that dissolved in alcohol in case she needed to escape someone who might have used some sort of date drug.
None of her friends spent their breaks away from college learning defensive training from an overprotective brother-in-law, who also doubled as a second father in her life—but she was grateful that he cared.
Her friends stood at a table with drinks already ordered and she headed straight for them. She hugged the dark-haired and feisty Maria, about to be a resident at the University of Colorado in Denver hospital; Florencia, an accountant with a nose for numbers, and Karla who was now a lawyer about to clerk at the Supreme Court in DC.
Every single one of them had amazing careers before them. Everyone but her. Emily would figure out her life, eventually. She fingered her gold necklace as she looked at the drink menu. The moment a waitress stopped, she ordered a white mojito and let the necklace fall. Karla tugged her hand and gestured everyone toward the dance floor as she said, “Emily, this is going to be so much fun. Don’t look so sad.”
“Let’s dance!” Emily followed, her mood bittersweet.
Tonight they danced and drank for the last time. Who knew when they’d all be together again?
Emily swayed with her friends to a fast song. Florencia asked, “Are you going to miss us when you move to Miami to be a realtor?”
Emily refused to cry. She smiled and flipped her hair like it was part of her dance routine. “Of course. You three have such amazing careers ahead of you.”
“You will too,” Karla said loyally.
Maria tapped her arm and whispered as she pointed to a man with blond hair and blue eyes. “That guy is clearly looking at you, Em.”
“He’s not even cute.” Emily quickly pursed her lips as she discreetly checked the guy out—he was at least twenty years her senior judging from his weathered skin and she wasn’t about to hook up with a man going on fifty when she’d literally just turned twenty-eight.
No thanks.She continued to dance with her friends. Hopefully he’d get the hint if she looked away.
However, her friends parted like they were the Red Sea and the man was Moses. He leaned close and she smelled cigarettes on his clothes. He held out his phone and showed her a picture of her younger sister in high school. “Ms. Mira, can I speak to you? It’s about your sister, Isabella.”
