CHAPTER 13
Danica
I woke up feeling refreshed, although there was the slightest hint of a hangover present. Still, waking up here, in this beautiful, spacious bedroom in this enormous, comfortable bed beat waking up in the shelter by a long shot.
And next to me, still sleeping, this amazing, noble gentleman who had treated me with such compassion and respect. I stared at him for a few long, pleasant moments as he slept. He looked to be in such a state of peace that I didn't want to wake him – and he was so handsome. This time, I wasn't going to just sneak out. I wanted to be here, and while I was still not used to this level of luxury, I was slowly becoming more and more comfortable being here.
I went to take a shower, and as I did, I thought about how wonderfully Remy had treated me the previous evening. He had listened without judgment or prejudice to my story about how I had run away from home and stolen all that money from my father. He had been kind and gentle, and even though things had gotten hot and heavy, when I had said 'no' he had immediately respected my wishes and hadn't applied even the lightest pressure to get me to sleep with him. No, he had simply accepted my decision with a smile.
Jeez. It hit me like a sucker punch out of nowhere: I was falling in love with this guy!
Wow. This was... this was a new feeling for me. It was scary, in a way, but it was also amazing – absolutely amazing. The world suddenly seemed like more wonderful and promising a place than it had been yesterday, and it was as if the sun was shining brighter outside, and all the colors were more intense.
I got out, dried myself off, and got dressed. When I got out of the bathroom, I saw that Remy had gotten up. I checked the time and realized that I had to leave now or I would be late for work. I got my bag and walked through to the kitchen, where Remy was brewing some coffee. I walked up to him and hugged him tightly and gave him a kiss.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said with a smile that just oozed charm. “How do you like your coffee?”
“Sorry, Remy, I've got no time for coffee. I have to get to work right away.”
He looked disappointed. “Oh, no! And here I was, about to prepare a three-course breakfast for you! You can't just call in sick and stay here with me?”
“Oh, Remy, you have no idea how tempting that is,” I said, really wishing I could do that, “but it's too late to call in sick now. Sorry, I have to go – but I'll call you as soon as my shift is over, okay?”
“I'll do just that,” he said with a smile, and then we hugged once more and I ran out.
I was still beaming an ear-to-ear smile as I got out of the elevator and hurried through the parking lot, but that smile was wiped right off my face as soon as I got out into the street though. There, across the street, was the bald tattooed man again.
He smiled at me and started looking to cross the street, but thankfully the flow of traffic was moving pretty fast, and he couldn't get across. I pushed through the crowd and hurried down into the subway station and managed to get away before he got to me.
Damn it, who the hell was this guy and why was he following me? I didn't want to go to the police about it, because... well, I didn't know if I was a wanted criminal or not, if my father had reported me as a thief or anything. What could I do?
I hurried into the restaurant and bumped into Tessa in the bathroom. She, too, was getting changed into her waitressing uniform.
“Hey, Tess!” I said.
“Hey, Dani. How are things?”
I smiled, forgetting about the bald man as I thought about Remy. “They're pretty good. Remy and I went on another date yesterday, and it was just amazing... Really, it was.”
“That's awesome to hear! Tell me what you did.”
As I was about to talk, however, there was a sharp knocking on the door.
“There's a customer at the counter! One of you two go on out there and serve him, dammit! We don't pay you to sit and gossip in the damn bathrooms!”
“I really have to take a pee,” said Tessa. “Could you go?”
“All right. Chat later, Tess,” I said as I left the bathroom.
I walked out, turned the corner – and then froze in my tracks, with panic gushing through me, as I saw the bald tattooed man sitting at the counter.
“What the hell are you waiting for?” snapped my manager. “Go serve the customer!”
I walked over to him with my heart in my mouth.
“Uh, hi, sir, what can I get you?” I managed to murmur, keeping my hands behind my back so that he couldn't see that they were shaking.
“Hi, Danica,” he said with a smile.
“How do you know my name?” I asked, my heart beating even faster.
“It's on your name tag,” he said, pointing at the name tag on my chest. “And I'll have a coffee. Black, no sugar.”
“Um, all right, sir.”
I walked on shaky legs to the kitchen and poured him a black coffee. “Here's your coffee, sir,” I said, putting the coffee down in front of him.
He shot out a hand and grabbed my wrist. “Screw the stupid coffee. I know who you are... Danica Klein. How's your father? Seen him much in, I dunno, eight years?”
My blood ran cold through my veins. “How do you know about that?”
He chuckled coldly. “I know a lot about you, Danica. And your dad, he misses you – well, no, he doesn't really. But he sure as hell misses that ten grand you took from him. And he wants it back, pronto. You know, he was willing to take the sum back with no added interest, too – but now that I'm gonna tell him that you're dating that real estate mogul, Remington Bridgewater, well then, he might want some interest on that money. Yeah... I think he will, actually.”
“I'm not dating him. He's just a friend.”
“That's why you've slept over at his penthouse twice now? Come on, I wasn't born yesterday.”
“What do you want?” I hissed.
“I'm just a messenger. Your father wants his money back. It's that simple. You have a week from today to get it to me – or I'm going to pay your boyfriend a visit. And it won't be the friendly kind either.”
“Wait, can't we—”
“No, we can't. There won't be any negotiating on this. You have one week.”
He stood up and threw down some money for the coffee, and then strode out. Dread was seeping through my veins, weighing me down and blackening my soul like ink spreading across tissue paper. What the hell was I going to do? I didn't have ten grand, and I couldn't get such a sum together, not in a week.
I went to the kitchen, turned on a kettle and stood in the steam for a while, allowing it to heat up my forehead and make me sweat. Then I poured some hot water onto a rag and put it on my forehead to heat it up. I then went over to my manager and put on my best sick face.
“You don't look too good,” he said.
“I've come down with a fever,” I groaned. “It just hit me out of nowhere. I... I need to go home.”
He touched my forehead, which had just been heated up by the hot rag.
“Oh, damn, you're burning up!” he said. “All right, all right, get outta here – but you're not getting paid for this hour. You've only worked for fifteen minutes.”
“That's fine,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Now I gotta find a replacement,” he grumbled. “Go on, go!”
I hurried out, frantically trying to think of a solution to this problem.