5
Danni
The ride back to the bar is fast, wind whips my face and arms, but I love every minute. My hands clench his T-shirt. If I weren’t worried about distracting Oran, I’d slide my hands beneath his shirt and let them wander.
Elation fills my body and I’m free and light and not constrained by human morals. I helped kill a monster. I was seen as fae. Wanted as fae. And being seen and heard is a powerful drug. My body still tingles in all the right places. I’ll hurt tomorrow, but I want to do it again.
Too soon we pull into the carpark of the bar. Oran parks the bike like he’s planning on coming in. I hope he does, then I can take him home when my shift ends.
A man steps out of the shadowed doorway. “What the fuck happened here?”
I get off the bike. “Nothing you need to worry about, Dad. Stopped a fight and a monster, that’s all.” I can’t wipe the grin off my face.
“Daphne?” he steps forward. “What are you…” his gaze lands on Oran. “What have you been doing with my daughter?”
“Your daughter?” Oran’s hard gaze lands on me. “You said your name is Danni.”
“It is to my friends.” Only Mom and Dad, and only if I’m in trouble, call me Daphne.
I’m clearly in trouble for leaving the bar unattended—even though it’s secure, and also for going riding with Oran. Today I don’t care. I lived for the first time, and no one is going to take that from me.
“Oh shit.” Oran steps back. “You’re little Daphne from the Outer Realms Café?” Oran is staring at me now, as if he’s broken some sacred oath.
“I’m not little anyone.” I brush past both of them and unlock the door. I will not let my father steal this happiness, but already it’s dented, and the shine is tarnishing. “They’ll be waking up soon and I have work to do.”
Dad puts his hand on the door, stopping me from opening it. “You don’t go mucking around with riders, Daphne. You deserve better.”
“Yeah? What about Mom, did she deserve better? Or didn’t she matter because she’s human?” I hold his gaze. He doesn’t hold humans with much regard, and he never loved Mom.
After he refused to take her to faery, she never wanted him around, and to rub it in she made the café a rest stop for every other rider. My mom doesn’t get mad, and she doesn’t get even, she goes for total annihilation.
Every time a new rider comes from faery, Shay has to explain why he can’t leave messages or meet up at the café like everyone else.
He could’ve taken Mom to faery, but he didn’t because he loves the hunt more than anything else. Tonight I understand why, and his blood is thick in my veins.
I step away from the door and kiss Oran on the cheek, making it clear that we aren’t done yet. “I had fun, come back soon.”
But the moment has been ruined, the heat is gone, and I wonder if I was just convenient. I keep my chin high and pretend I don’t care if that’s all it was. I don’t know Oran, he’s a rider who showed me a great time as a woman and as a fae.
I ignore my father, yank open the door, then shut them both on the other side. For a few seconds, I slump against the wooden door. I tip my head back and close my eyes.
They’re arguing outside. It’s about me, even if I can’t hear the words through the solid door. I hate them both. Dad for ruining the night and Oran for have been around long enough to remember me as a kid in the café over fifteen years ago. I may not live for centuries, but I want to live, and I can’t do that with Dad looking over my shoulder and scaring every potential boyfriend away.
First one bike, and then the other leaves, tearing away into the night.
I want to flee too. Escape my life, and do something more than serve beer in Dad’s bar. I’m going to find another job and quit. Not next year, not next month. But this week. Then he can’t tell me what to do or who to see.
Tonight I have a shift to finish. I sigh and peel myself off the door. The bikers are snoozing on the floor. No doubt when they wake, they’ll be cranky with a sore head. For a second, I’m tempted to grab a marker and draw extra eyebrows on their faces, but that would only start another fight.
Instead, I clean up as best I can. It’s closing time in thirty minutes and I don’t plan on sticking around for any longer than I have to. But instead of taking Oran home for round two, I’ll be going home alone.
It’s as the bikers wake up and start grumbling that I remember I left my bat on Oran’s bike. I don’t know if I’ll ever see it or him again.
