Page 36 of Wicked Little Darling

I shut the door, leaned against it, then slowly slid to the floor.

When the tears started to fall, I just sat there and let them, hoping if I cried enough I could drown in them.

7

WANNA KNOW HOW I GOT THIS SCAR?

DAKOTA

Well. That certainly was an experience.

I’d been expecting Reese to get annoyed when he found out I also played the violin. I thought he’d be pissed off and glare at me; I hadnotexpected him to react to that degree.

He was a ferocious little tiger cub, that was for sure.

But damn it, the guilt was strong.

I gently put my violin back in its case and sighed. I wasn’t sure where this guilt was coming from. Yes, I’d kind of done that on purpose, but I wasn’t trying to genuinely upset him. I just wanted to see him glower at me when he discovered we played the same instrument.

But he’d about lost his mind. The sadness in his eyes that I’d seen that first day we’d met had resurfaced. It lived inside him, bubbling just beneath the surface where it waited for a break in the waves to slip through.

I had a similar sadness, though it didn’t hover at the surface like his. It dwelled in a locked box, a prisoner in the darkest depths of my being. I’d spent a lifetime reinforcing those locks, and nothing could break them.

Should I apologize? Technically I hadn’t done anything wrong. I’d simply played my own instrument.

No, I should apologize. Whether I’d meant to or not, I’d upset him. Made him cry.

“Ugh,” I groaned, rubbing my hands down my face.

My phone vibrated, and I glanced over at it asAlbert Fuckface Vossflashed across the screen.

The rush of annoyance and buzz of anxiety that swelled in my chest and crawled along my shoulders made me want to go run ten miles.

If I didn’t answer his calls, he would send Everett here.

I grabbed the phone and swiped to answer.

“What?” I said.

“Is that any way to speak to your father?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t have one of those.”

The laugh that came over the line was chilling. “Keep it up, Dakota, and see what happens. You’re already on thin ice as it is.”

I glared at a little puddle of water on the ground that Reese had left behind. I was equally wet, since he’d raced out mid-shower to jump on me. I should probably change, but I didn’t want to. I kind of liked it.

My drifting thoughts were interrupted by Albert’s grating voice. “We’re having a family dinner this weekend. Wear something nice anddon’tbe late.”

He hung up, and I barely resisted throwing the phone across the room.

Prick.

I slid my violin underneath my bed, then lay back and tucked my arms behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. I felt too restless, so I shot to my feet and went to my desk. The chair creaked as I sat, and when someone shouted outside in the smallcourtyard below my window, I tipped the chair back to see what was happening.

“You’re gonna fall.”

I leaned forward, and the front legs of the chair hit the hardwood floor with a clack. Reese was standing by his bed, towel drying his hair and watching me with puffy, red eyes. He was wearing a plain gray t-shirt and soft-looking black pants.