“He’s going to meet Lanie Swanson. He knows I hate that bitch’s guts.”
“He sounds like a player,” Kylie offered, crossing her arms and staring at the Java Cup across the street.
“No. He’s not like that at all,” Dani assured her, shaking her head hard enough that her long brown hair fanned over her shoulder and shrouded part of her face. “Lanie is the player. She’s a little tramp. The only reason she’s chasing him is because she knows I like him,” Dani said, her last sentence fading when she lowered her tone to a whisper.
“Do you know anyone else who’s met him?” Kylie asked, pushing herself away from her car when Mandy and Nancy walked out of the Java Cup.
“No. And I know what you’re thinking. He’s not some serial killer.” Dani straightened as well. Her phone played its little jingle again and she scowled at the message, then pushed the buttons, answering it while sighing. “I know Petrie is for real.”
“How do you know?” Kylie turned when Nancy and Mandy spotted them and hurried across the street toward them. She faced Dani, studying the teenager’s determined expression. “Have you actually talked to him on the phone?”
Dani’s soft green eyes looked darker with the black eyeliner that was neatly applied. Her pale blue eye shadow and dark mahogany lipstick hid her natural beauty. It could also mislead a person into believing Dani was older than she was. Kylie remembered John telling her about the pornographic Web site and knew all too well how many “barely legal” sites there were out there. Imagining someone breaking Dani’s spirit to get her to comply and cooperate for poses used on sites like that made Kylie sick.
“No one talks on the phone,” Dani snapped. “You don’t get it. You act as though you’re all hip and everything, but for real you’re no different than Uncle Perry or Mom. I hope I don’t turn into a prude as quickly as you have.”
“Dani, wait,” Kylie yelled when Dani marched across the parking lot to her girlfriends.
“Talk to you later, Kylie,” Dani said, waving over her shoulder before forming a quick huddle with Mandy and Nancy.
For a moment Kylie was thrown back in time, the same age as the girls who’d just abandoned her, and feeling so alone the pain threatened to break her in two. She didn’t have anyone to turn to, no one to seek out for guidance. Alone in the world without her older sister, who’d been Kylie’s resource for all things wise and imperative to know in life, she was consumed with pain that made her eyes burn.
Both girls glanced in her direction before falling in line on either side of Dani and walking away from Kylie. She stared after the teenagers, knowing Dani’s indecision had made her snap more than irritation toward Kylie. Dani was smart and for the most part had a fair amount of common sense for a girl her age, proof she’d been raised well. Peer pressure tore at her right now, though. Kylie needed to keep an eye on her and make sure the girl didn’t make a very stupid move.
The painful memory of Kylie’s youth disappeared as quickly as it had surfaced and a more primal, demanding sensation washed over her.
“You’d better be a pimply-faced kid, Petrie,” she said under her breath as she unlocked her car. “Because if you’re not, I’m going to kick your perverted ass until you wished you’d never laid a hand on a teenage girl in your life.”
Chapter 14
“Do you know where Dani is?” Denise asked.
Perry glanced at the time on the digital clock above his TV on the cable box. Six thirty. “What time is she supposed to be home?”
“We’re all supposed to be home by five, Uncle Perry.” Denise used her exceptionally sweet voice. “I’m worried. You don’t think she’s dead in a ditch somewhere, do you?”
“I’ll be sure and check all the ditches.” He lifted his cell phone from the coffee table when it beeped and glanced to see who else was calling. “She’s calling me now, sweetheart,” he told her, putting his finger over the button on his Bluetooth to accept the call. “So you can quit worrying over the safety of your sister.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Is that lady coming to dinner tomorrow night?”
“Yup. I’ll talk to you soon.” He got Denise off the phone, knowing she would go about her business satisfied she’d gotten her sister in trouble. For Denise, that would make it a good night, managing to get one of her sisters punished for something. “Where are you?” he demanded, using his deep baritone when he answered the phone for his niece.
“With friends,” Dani said, not sounding worried about the time, or anything else for that matter.
“Where are you?”
“Kylie can’t make it to dinner tomorrow night,” Dani said, sounding winded and ignoring his question.
Perry straightened on the couch, lifting the remote off his chest and dropping it on the coffee table. “Oh? Why not?”
“She just can’t. I’m not her babysitter. I didn’t ask.” Her defensive tone was enough for Perry to know he was barely getting a fraction of the story.
“I’m sure if she can’t make it, she will call and let me know.” He was actually pretty positive she wouldn’t do that, since she didn’t know his cell phone number. And he didn’t know hers.
“She can’t because you never gave her your number, so she said to tell you. I’ve got to go. I guess don’t worry about coming over tomorrow night.”
“Wait a minute.” He smelled a rat. “Why aren’t you home?” He decided switching subjects would make her talk more. Sometimes gathering any information, trivial or otherwise, out of Dani was harder than pulling teeth. “I do believe your mother’s made it clear that you’re to be home at five every day.”
“I know, but I was busy working on homework with friends.” The standard answer that Dani used and believed firmly would keep her out of any trouble. “Have a good evening, Uncle Perry.”
“Is Kylie with you now?” He wasn’t going to let Dani go that easily. Something was up between her and Kylie. But even if he didn’t get answers on that one, his niece was supposed to be home and wouldn’t escape from him before he knew where she was.
“We just left her. Walking is good for you, you know.”
“Where are you, Dani?”
Apparently she decided it was in her best interest to start answering her uncle’s questions. The deep, tortured sigh on the other end of the phone defined her reluctant acceptance of that fact.
“Downtown, okay? I’m sorry it got so late. But I was with Kylie. Mom won’t mind.”
“Your uncle might, though. What were you doing with Kylie?”
“We were at the Java Cup. That’s when she said she can’t make it tomorrow night. I think she mentioned having a date, or something.”
A piercing sense of aggravation shot through him from his niece’s callous comment. More so, hearing Kylie possibly had a date, in spite of the fact that something told him Dani made it up, didn’t sit well with him at all. He wasn’t into casual sex. Fucking Kylie when he was pretty sure she’d tried meeting another man the night before might not have been the smartest move he’d made in his life. There was something about her, though, something that tripped emotions inside him he usually managed to keep at bay when around any other lady.
Figuring out what Dani was up to might take hours. He opted for the easier task of learning what Kylie was up to.
“Here is what you’re going to do,” he said slowly. “You’re going to turn around and go back to Kylie and you’re going to have her call me.”
“I can’t, Uncle Perry. She’s already left.”
“Do you have her cell phone number?”
There was silence for only a moment. “Yeah.” She sounded as if it bothered her to relinquish that information.
Perry didn’t care. “Give it to me.” He stood, headed into his den, and then wrote the number down when Dani gave it to him. “I’m calling your mother. You’ll be home in ten minutes, or else.”
