Elegy

Daniel rolled his eyes as he threw back his head and laughed. “I am not your boyfriend, Penn.”

All the good humor instantly disappeared from her expression, and she pulled her arm back. Daniel knew he’d done the wrong thing, but he couldn’t help himself.

“You don’t need to laugh. And you’ll be singing a different song come Wednesday.”

“Assuming you hold up your end of the bargain,” he reminded her.

Penn narrowed her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You have this time bomb, Liv, running around.” He motioned to the car, where Liv was pouting. “And you were going to have her stay with Harper? If she’d hurt Harper, this whole deal would be off.”

“You think you can back out of this?” Penn put one hand on his chest and pulled at the collar of his flannel shirt as she smiled up at him. “You think I’d just let you go?”

“Yes, I do,” Daniel growled. “This is our deal, Penn.” He gestured between himself and Penn. “You agreed to the rules. You’re the one who risks breaking it.”

“I don’t give a shit what Liv does.” She was still smiling as she spoke, but her tenor had gotten decidedly vicious, making his blood run cold. “She could kill Harper, your mom, your dad, your third cousin twice-removed. But as long as there’s one person left on this earth that you care about, then you’re mine.”

“Penn—”

“So if you even joke about canceling, I will rip Harper’s head off,” she said, cutting off his protests. “And then I will place it at the end of the bed, so she can watch it when I ravage you. Because if you don’t, then I’ll move on to the next thing you care about, and the next thing, and the next thing. Gemma, Alex, your parents, even the stupid waitress at that diner you love so much. I will destroy everything.”

Daniel swallowed hard, still staring down into her black eyes, and he knew she meant every word she said. “You do what you promised, Penn, and I’ll do whatever I need to do.”

“So, I’ll see you Wednesday?” Penn asked, and her voice returned to its usual silky cheer.

“At eight o’clock,” he replied without missing a beat.

“Good.” She moved away from him, walking backward to her car. “I should get Liv out of here before she decides she needs a little snack.”

“Penn!” Gemma called, and Daniel looked over to see her standing on the other side of the street with Thea. “Wait. I wanted to talk to you.”

Gemma jogged across the street, trying to stop Penn before she took off, and Thea followed at a much slower pace.

“We need to talk about this Liv problem,” Gemma said when she’d reached Penn.

“There is no Liv problem,” Penn said as she opened the car door. “Now get lost.”

“Penn!” Gemma yelled, but Penn just got in the car. Gemma hit the car window, trying to make her roll it down, but she refused to. “Come on, Penn.”

Penn waited just long enough for Thea to get in the passenger side, then she slammed on the gas and sped away. She nearly hit another car, but Daniel doubted that Penn was the kind of girl who ever looked where she was going anyway.

“Dammit.” Gemma groaned and walked down to where Daniel was standing. “Liv is out of control. Even Thea agrees.” She shook her head, as if trying to clear it, and when she looked up at him, he saw a strange suspicion in her golden eyes. “What was that about, by the way?”

“What?” Daniel asked, trying to play dumb.

“You and Penn.” Gemma raised her chin, inspecting him. “Why did she have you follow her? And what were you talking about?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from her. “You know. Just Penn things.”

“No, I don’t know.” Gemma moved, so she was in his line of vision, and when he tried to look away, she moved again. She wasn’t letting him off the hook this time. “She’s always talking to you, but you never tell me what she says. Vague statements and shrugs are all I ever get from you. What’s going on?”

Ever since Penn had begun showing an interest in him, Daniel had been dreading this conversation. People —particularly Harper and Gemma—would demand to know the nature of his relationship with Penn, and he couldn’t explain it.

Well, he could, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to admit what was going on, not even to Gemma. Not just because he didn’t want to deal with the fallout but because he didn’t want to say it all aloud, to talk through all the dirty details while feeling shamed by Gemma’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Why are you interrogating me?” Daniel asked, unable to keep the defensive tone out of his voice. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

He wanted desperately to get away from the conversation, so he started walking. Of course, Gemma followed, but he hadn’t really expected any different.

“Then why are you being so evasive?” she asked.

“I’m not,” he lied. “I’m just doing what I need to do.”

“And what’s that?”

He stopped walking, growing exasperated. “Can’t you just trust me?”

“Should I trust you?” Gemma countered.

Rubbing his forehead, he let out a long breath. And then he looked her in the eyes for the first time since she’d brought this all up. “You always say that you’ll do whatever it takes to protect the people you care about, right? Well, so will I.”

“And what exactly do you need to do?” Gemma asked, and he groaned. She really wasn’t letting this go. “Daniel. I tell you everything. You need to tell me what’s going on here.”

He laughed darkly. “No, I don’t, Gemma. There are some things in my life that you don’t need to know about that don’t involve you. Not everything is always about you.”

“I know that! But if you do something to hurt my sister, so help me, Daniel—”

“You really think I want to do anything to hurt Harper?” Daniel asked, his voice tightening with pain. “Everything I do is to keep her safe and happy. Do you understand that?”

“Yeah, I do,” she admitted.

“Anything that I do, I’m doing it for her.”

“Daniel…” She had a knowing look in her eyes, and that scared him. “I think you need to talk to her. About whatever’s going on here. It doesn’t matter what it is. She loves you, and she’ll understand.”

Before, when Penn had first propositioned him, Daniel had planned on telling Harper about it. He knew she’d try to talk him out of it, but that didn’t matter. Daniel would do whatever it took to protect Harper.

But after the attack with Lexi, Daniel had realized a fatal flaw in his plan. Sleeping with Penn wouldn’t be enough. If it was only one night, then he’d only prolong Harper’s life by a day. Once he had sex with Penn, he had no more bargaining chips to keep Harper and Gemma safe.

That meant that he’d have to begin an affair with Penn. Once he went ahead and actually got involved with her, he’d have to do everything in his power to keep her happy and satisfied. The second she got tired of him and lost interest, Harper was as good as dead.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he’d been hoping that Harper would be able to forgive a solitary transgression, and maybe she could. If she truly believed he loved her and was repentant.

But there would be no way that she could tolerate an affair, with Daniel constantly going out behind her back and sleeping with Penn.

So once Daniel consummated his relationship with Penn, everything with Harper was gone. Forever. There’s no way she’d ever be able to trust him or look at him the same way again.

And that’s why he didn’t tell her. If he told Harper now, it would only lead to fights as she tried to talk him out of it. But his mind couldn’t be changed. He knew that he’d do whatever he had to do to protect her, even if it meant selling his soul to the devil.

He didn’t want to spend his last few days with Harper arguing. He’d never ask Harper to endure his liaisons with Penn, but all he wanted was a few more days before he lost her forever.

Since his date with Penn was set for Wednesday, Daniel planned on going up to Sundham on Friday and telling Harper in person about everything that was transpiring. They’d break up then, and in the meantime, he’d