Page 45 of Ghost Note

“Do you love him?”

I glanced at the straight road ahead, swallowing down the lie I was about to tell. Instead, I answered with silence… unless he could hear the frantic beating of my heart.

“Poor Ben,” Danny whispered.

“I don’t have to love him to fuck him.”

He couldn’t hide his slight flinch or the way his hand tensed around the wheel, the knuckles turning white as the skin strained over them. The power I felt at his discomfort should have disgusted me. Instead, it spurred me on.

“But you don’t want to hear about that, do you, Danny? You don’t want to hear me say that Ben touches me in places you once did. You don’t want to hear me say that he’s a good guy who holds me right and never makes promises he can’t keep. You don’t want to hear me say good things about the man who treats me with respect because that doesn’t fit with the story you’re telling yourself in your head. Whatyouwant is for me to tell you I’m miserable—that sex with Ben is nothing compared to what it was with you. You want me to tell you that I can’t love him because the last man I loved was you, and I’m still not over that.” I leaned closer and dropped my voice. “You refuse to listen when I say I regret wasting my years on you because you refuse to believe that I’m this girl now… the one who survived without you.”

Danny’s strong jaw ticked, and I watched with sick amusement twisting me up until his nostrils flared, and he steered the wheel to a harsh left, making the car swerve sharply. We hit a grassy verge with force, and he slammed on the brakes. My body jolted forward, the seat belt digging into my chest. No air or words had time to escape me before Danny had unclipped his belt and was leaning over the panel between us.

With a single finger, he brought my face around to his.

“You can hate me, Daisy Piper. I’ll allow that, but don’t youeversay you regret wasting years on me because you and I both know those years weren’t wasted. They were the best either of us ever had, and every time you say anything different to that, your lies offend the air that I have to breathe.”

I stared at him with wide eyes and stuttering breaths pouring free.

His finger against my cheek burned, and I wanted to do such violent things to such a handsome face—things I’d never imagined before. Loving Danny hurt, and I wanted to inflict that pain back and give him a taste of his own medicine.

“And for the record, I’ve never—not once in my life—wanted you to be miserable. I’ve only ever wanted you to be happy and free, no matter who makes you feel that way.”

I held his intense gaze, not looking away when he let me go and drifted farther away until he was sitting in his seat again, looking through the windshield as he ran his hands through the thickness of his hair and tugged the ends of it in frustration.

“Sometimes we let go of the very thing we want to keep hold of, and we do it because we know if we don’t, that thing will never bloom,” he whispered, his voice rough and broken. “And we need it to fucking bloom.”

Tears welled in my eyes as I stared at him, my lips parted.

“Anyway…” Danny shook his head and started the car again, his focus back as he guided us back into the road with renewed purpose. “You’re eating into my hour, Zee. We might have to make it an hour and thirty now.”

“Danny, I—”

“Don’t,” he cut me off, not looking my way. “Just… don’t. Let’s get this over with for you. Let me put you out of your misery once and for all.”

* * *

We pulled into a driveway not long after, passing through a huge iron gate that I thought looked somewhat familiar, but couldn’t recognise or put a name to. My mind was somewhat foggy, stuck in three different places. The past, the present, and the future, but mainly locked on Danny’s outburst.

We need it to fucking bloom.

I had no idea what the hell he’d meant, but Danny’s mood had definitely shifted since his outburst, and I no longer had the strength to battle against his determination to see this through.

An hour. Ninety minutes at the most. Then it would be over. Over for good.

The thought both delighted and frightened me. How did you say goodbye to someone you still had so much to say to? I didn’t have a lot of time left to figure it out.

We drove down a driveway lined with rows of trees on either side that created a beautiful green canopy above. I couldn’t help but lean forward and look up at the beauty of it all, no longer caring if my hard mask slipped somewhat in front of him. Nature was a wonder, and no matter how many times it wowed me, it never failed to leave me in awe with its next piece of art.

Eventually, we pulled up to what looked like a huge Georgian country mansion sitting proudly at the end of the driveway. The trees seemed to part slowly, like a theatre curtain being drawn back to reveal, what was bound to be, an unforgettable show. The sun shone against the white-washed structure, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. A small fountain sat proudly in front of it, the water glistening on our arrival.

“What is this place?” I asked as Danny turned the wheel to the right, taking us around the fountain, only to park up a few meters after.

“Let me show you,” he answered flatly, and a twitch of guilt bit at my gut.

Danny got out of the car, and even though we were in some kind of stalemate, he walked around to the passenger side and opened my door for me. His eyes burned into mine, not looking away as I got out and straightened down my clothes before looking up at the mansion on my left.

Huge was a lazy word, but this placewashuge. It towered over me, teasing with long-forgotten secrets, past lives, and a history I could only dream of figuring out. Some places spoke to your soul, and this was one of them. I wanted to know everything about everyone who had ever lived here. The higher class, the lower, too who had worked for them. The story lover in me couldn’t help but smile, and I stared up at the white building standing proudly against the sky’s bright blue backdrop.

---