Page 28 of Secret Love

Dani’s a problem, in more ways than one. I have to get her out of the city. This is Los Angeles. Hollywood. Every person down to the street vendors knows who she is. If I plan on getting her out undetected, then I’ll have to improvise… and she isn’t going to like it.

But first…

I pull out my burner phone and quickly scan through Dani’s phone for his number while I head down the street toward the pharmacy a few blocks down. It rings for longer than necessary and I grit my teeth with impatience.

“Hello?”

There’s a shake to his tone, like a man expecting a ransom call.

“Bennett, she’s fine,” I say.

“You little piece of shit,”he seethes, raising his voice. “I knew you were behind this.”

“I’m not behind anything. Like I told you earlier, she was attacked. I saved her life tonight.”

“Well, isn’t that convenient for you? You get to swoop in and be the hero. You know what I think, kid? I think you made up a bogeyman to blame it on. How do I know you’re not the one who killed Lamb in the first place, eh? Buy any black masks lately?”

“It’s a good theory, but you’re wrong.”

“How much you want to bet the second Smith recovers your name is the first thing to come out of his mouth?”

I pause. I shouldn’t implicate myself anymore. Hiding from Mercer is its own game completely. I don’t want to deal with the entirety of the LAPD tracking us down, too.

“All you have to know is that she’s fine, she’s safe, and she will be as long as she stays with me,” I say.

“And all you have to know is that if you so much as lay a finger on my daughter again, I will kill you with my bare hands.”

As far as threats go, it’s about as menacing to me as a newborn baby wielding a plastic spork, but I understand where he’s coming from. He’s her father. She’s his daughter. I’m the punk kid who took her virginity. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard him pull the protective dad routine and actually mean it.

“I’ll keep in touch.”

I end the call and toss both phones into the nearest trash can on the street.

I enter the pharmacy and buy a pair of scissors, a comb, and a box of black hair dye.