Dani
“I can’t believe summer is over,” Justine said, as I slowly packed my bag for the trip back home. It was my last night. Tomorrow, this would all be gone.
I’d already talked with my mother on the phone that evening, and she was ecstatic for my return. Me? I was sad to leave but also hopeful about the future ahead. Because Hunter said he loved me, and we’d figure out a way to be together. So I smiled weakly.
“Yeah, I can’t believe it either,” was my reply as I folded another silky blouse Justine had bought me. Despite my best efforts, Justine hadn’t let me return any of her lavish purchases. “This summer went by so quickly.”
“Yeah, and I wonder why,” she said with a wink. I rolled my eyes. Justine threw herself onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s our last night together. What are we going to do?”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that….”
She turned to me, looking at my guilty face. “Oh, come on, it’s our last night together! I can’t believe you’re ditching me!”
“I’m not,” I said. I bit my lip. “I just…I just want to see him, that’s all.”
Now Justine was the one rolling her eyes. “Come on, it’s not like you aren’t going to see him at college. He did say he was going to visit you.”
“Well, you can come visit me at school, too,” I said as I closed my suitcase. “Whenever you want to. How about that?” I turned to her. “Come on, I’ll just be with Hunter for a few hours. I promise I’ll be back in time for us to change into our pajamas and have mini-makeovers.”
Justine sighed and got up from my bed. “I guess. But I’m only allowing you a few hours.” She narrowed her eyes and gave me a stern look. “And you better come back!”
But what Justine didn’t know was that tonight was even more important than most. Because since the night I’d given Hunter my virginity, I couldn’t shake this feeling that he had been distant. We still talked, but the talks were few and surprisingly short. He sounded preoccupied and even bored at times. There was still the physical for sure, but it felt more like sex, and not like love.
But what did I know? I was just an inexperienced teenager. It was probably all in my mind, so I dismissed my misgivings.
So I checked my makeup in the mirror before turning to Justine and taking a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going to go now. Cover for me?”
“You know I will,” she said. “Hurry up and go before I change my mind.”
I was so excited to see Hunter that time seemed to stand still as I left Justine’s and made my way to Kristi’s. After what felt like an eternity, I got to the house, and on the first ring of the doorbell, Kristi answered the door. She was dressed in pajamas, her hair up in a bun.
“Oh Dani. What are you doing here?” She frowned, looking confused.
Her reaction seemed strange, but I ignored it. After all, I’d been coming to her house for liaisons with Hunter all summer. So why was tonight any different?
“I’m here to see your uncle.” I said, smiling as I looked behind her into the house. “Where is he?”
Her face fell. “Oh, didn’t he tell you?”
“Tell me what?” I asked. “Kristi, what’s going on?”
I was so lost that I didn’t notice the visual cues at first. She shifted in the doorway and crossed her skinny arms over her torso defensively.
“My uncle, well, um, he’s not here.”
“What do you mean, he’s not here? Is he still at the office?” I asked, baffled.
“Um no. As in, he’s not staying here any longer. He left yesterday.”
My eyes widened.
“He left?” I asked. My heart skidded to a slow stop in my chest and I frowned. “Where did he go? Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Um, I don’t know,” she hedged. “All I know is that he said something about a business transaction he needed to see through. I thought he told you?”
I shook my head. “No, he didn’t tell me. Do you know where he went?”
She shook her head regretfully.
“No, to be honest. He left in such a hurry. Have you tried his cell phone?”
I took my cellphone out of my pocket. I went to my contacts and pressed his number, but it went straight to voice mail.
This can’t be happening, I thought numbly. This is an episode of the Twilight Zone. Staring down at the phone in my hand, I dialed the number again and held it up to my ear.
Straight to voicemail once again. And suddenly, it all came into focus. The cold phone calls. The curt answers. Whenever I brought up the future, Hunter dodged my question.
And it had all started after the night we’d made love under the stars. That was then realization hit me.
Hunter had gotten what he wanted from me. My virginity. My sweet folds parting to receive his massive shaft. Why would he want anything else?
I was no one. Just a fat teenage girl with no money and a suitcase full of gifted clothes.
“Dani?” Kristi asked, looking at me curiously.
I stared back at her, feeling tears well up in my eyes. I couldn’t stand being there anymore, and without another word, I turned back and ran. Her calls trailed after me, but I didn’t care. I ran back down the street towards Justine’s house.
When I opened the front door, my aunt happened to be in the foyer.
“Daniella, what are you doing? I thought you were in your room.” She got a good look at me. “Daniella! What is wrong?”
I walked past her, as the tears streamed down my face.
I didn’t stop until I was back in the safety of my room. I closed the door, locking it, before going to the bathroom that I shared with Justine and locking that door too. I went to my bed and crouched over the sink, chest heaving, tears pouring hotly down my cheeks.
Justine was at the door, knocking loudly, begging me to let her in. But I didn’t want to talk to anyone. My chest hurt so much. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. But even more than hurt, I felt so stupid.
How had I ever believed that someone like Hunter Maddox could ever be in love with someone like me? A powerful, sexy alpha male with a naïve, inexperienced teenager? Yeah, right. Instead, I was the fly caught in the spider’s web, and now that he’d gotten what he’d wanted, I was yesterday’s news … discarded like a piece of trash.