Page 33 of Adored By Them
“They’re treating you well, then.”Wallace sounds playful, like Dani’s been saying good things.
I think they’re talking about us, which makes my head swell with pride.
“If by ‘treating me well,’ we mean ‘spoiling me rotten, then yeah.”She laughs for a moment before sobering.“I do worry, though.”
Edmund and I freeze in place.What is she worried about?I need to know so I can eliminate the threat.
“Yeah?”Wallace sounds concerned, too.
“Their jobs are dangerous, that’s all.”
“What do you mean?Aren’t they in restaurants and shipping?”
“Restaurants and shipping” is the cover story we tell most people.Just makes things easier.Vague and boring enough they usually don’t ask for details.
Dani coughs.“Yeah.It’s just…I don’t know.Notdangerousdangerous, ha.I more mean, busy.It’s dangerous because they work so hard.”
She’s backpedaling fast.The girl is a terrible liar.
There’s truth in her worries, though.Edmund and I do dangerous shit.Everything that went down with the Vorsongs was more extreme.But at the same time, it didn’t really surprise us.This kind of shit is expected in our line of work.
Dani was caught in the middle of it, though.And that’s unacceptable.
Edmund and I exchange a look.He’s thinking the same thing I am.
We need to get out of the family business if we want to keep Dani.
The sun falls, and darkness descends over the city.The back yard fills with excited chatter while we set out lawn chairs and wait for the fireworks.Dani sits between Edmund and me.She holds my hand, and Edmund’s.Even though she’s making a semi-public claim to us both, she doesn’t seem self-conscious at all.
I love that about her.If anyone gives her shit for being with two guys, she’ll skewer them with words.
The fireworks are fine, nothing special.I’ve never cared much about them one way or the other.Tonight, I spend more time watching how the lights play over Dani’s face—splashes of blue, green, pink, yellow.The colors reflect in her beautiful gray eyes.
She looks happy, peaceful.I don’t want the night to end.
Soon enough, though, the show explodes in a finale of color and resonatingboomsfilling the air.Then, it’s over.
We slowly get up, coming out of the spell.
I tug on Dani’s hand.“Do you have a blanket in your old room?”
She wrinkles her forehead.“I think so.Why?”
“It’s a surprise.Go get it.But we have to hurry.”
Bemused, she goes into the house and returns a minute later with a soft, thick blanket.We say goodbye to her friends.Dani promises to give Elias more details about her experience with Uriel, but later.“Maybe much later,” she says.“Not never, but not anytime soon.”
“Whenever you want to talk about it.”He gives her a quick hug.“And if that’s never, I’m…okay with that.”
It looks like he struggles to make his peace with never talking about it, but I gotta give him some credit because he sounds sincere.
Edmund is quiet as I drive us away from the house and toward the outskirts of town.He’s probably still thinking about what we overheard Dani saying to Wallace.Our dangerous job.
I’ve wanted out for a while, and I think he has, too.Now we just have to figure out how to do it.
“Can you tell me where we’re going?”Dani asks playfully.“Or is it still a secret?”
“Still a secret.”I drive us back behind the Rossi Nature Preserve and onto a dirt road, skirting around a sign that says No Trespassing.
