Page 39 of Ghost Note

“Yeah,” I said, brushing my lips over his. “And you can’t handle me anymore.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Was it? I had no idea. Part of me wanted to push him—to see how much he’d fight for me now the way he hadn’t back then, but another part of me was repulsed by him. He was meant to be better than this.

I was meant to be better than this.

Danny pulled me closer, his arms tightening around me until my tits were pressed against him and not an inch sat between us. “Is it, Zee? I’m willing to play the game, but you’ve got to ask yourself if you’re ready to hurt that boyfriend of yours because I promise you, I’m not the same guy I was back then either, and I don’t play nice when I want something now.”

Boyfriend?

He still thought Ben was mine.

I should have told him there and then that everything I’d said had been a lie, but clarity and thinking before speaking weren’t a thing when you were writhing against the man who’d hurt you. I was a woman scorned, petty and ruined, desperate to scorn him in return.

“Don’t worry about Ben. He doesn’t mind sharing me.” I slid my cheek against his, and I let my tongue trail over his ear before I whispered, “In fact, sometimes he watches me with other men just for fun.”

Danny’s body tensed and froze beneath me. “What?” he growled.

I smiled to myself… a little victory.

“You always wanted me to let go and have fun in life. I guess I just needed the right man to bring it out of me.”

He moved—his hands finding my face and pulling it back so I was staring down at him, not feeling as victorious all of a sudden. His worried eyes searched mine.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” he whispered violently.

“I… erm…”

“Tell me that was a fucking lie, or I swear to God, Daisy, I will not be held responsible—”

The bell above the shop door rang out, breaking us from the moment. Or at least me. My head turned in that direction, and I heard two feminine voices on the shop floor, cooing over the beauty of my stock. But when I turned back to Danny, he hadn’t moved. His brows were knitted together, furious and focused.

My racing heart didn’t know what to do, but it seemed my mouth had a mind of its own.

“I guess you’ll never know,” I said quietly, before I peeled myself away from him, rubbed the tears from my eyes and stood tall. “Don’t you dare come out of this room until my customers have gone. The last thing I need is everyone knowing I’ve made another mistake.”

Faking strength, I pushed out through the seashell curtain and greeted the two ladies with a smile I hoped would please them.

Smiling when hurting takes more strength than anyone realises, and those eleven minutes of serving two tourists felt like a lifetime. All I could think about was Danny not a few feet away from me, and how his kiss still burned my lips…

And that look of anger when he’d stared up at me, thinking Ben and I…

“I may pop back in and treat myself to that gorgeous lilac backpack later,” the lady with the red cardigan told me. I’d barely taken in her features when I glanced up at her, but I smiled anyway through the haze of confusion that had become my life.

“Please do. I’m here until two.”

“Closing early?”

“Just for today.”

With a nod, she and her friend left, and the bell rang out to signal their departure.

I stayed behind the counter, not wanting to face Danny. Eventually, he pushed through the seashell curtain, his steps slow and controlled. I stared straight ahead, my face expressionless, and my body limp. I didn’t even look up at him when he came to stand beside me, and his finger pushed strands of hair behind my ear, almost affectionately.

“Six days left, Daisy,” he said quietly. “That’s all you have to start telling me some truths. And no matter how brutal those truths might be, I’d rather listen to them than the lies you’re trying to kill me with.”

I hitched in a breath, held it in my chest, and I closed my eyes as his finger trailed down my neck.

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