Sweet Harmony (21 page)

"Yeah, well, Daniel decided not to sit on me." She scowled at
the guy.

"What?" Jaiden looked confused.

"Nothing," she and Daniel said together.

Jaiden
settled down on the floor next to Daniel. This scenario should have been every teenaged girls dream—two guys, each hot enough to melt metal, were in the close confines of her room. Both of them, for reasons she couldn't fathom, liked her. But this dream was more like a nightmare. She cared about Daniel and Jaiden, which meant she didn't want to bounce them off each other. This was literally hell on earth. And nobody was talking either.
Say something!
she thought, straining her mind to think of a topic that wouldn't lead to trouble. No ideas popped into her head.

Luckily, Jaiden came to the rescue.

"Dan, remember when we went camping in Rhode Island for the first time?" Jaiden asked. "We were so confused we couldn't even put up the tent and slept side by side outside instead."

Some of the hardness on Daniel's face disappeared.

"We tried to make s'mores like we saw on TV." Daniel fought back a smile. "That was fun."

"Yeah, I remember those s'mores." Jaiden elbowed him. "Your marshmallow caught on fire and you panicked and shook your stick. The
enflamed marshmallow flew through the air and lit the bushes on fire. Gavin had to put it out with his jacket."

"Nice going, master chef."
She cackled.

"I panicked, okay?" Daniel frowned at her, a V
forming between his eyebrows. "I was fourteen at the time and had never roasted a marshmallow before. It was hard."

"Mmm-hmm." She
still laughed anyway.

"Dan just shouldn't be around fiery objects in general." Jaiden tousled his dark hair, his green eyes glistening. "On New Year's
Eve two years ago, we bought a whole bunch of really expensive fireworks. Being sixteen and stupid, Dan shot one off and launched it straight into the window of his father's penthouse."

The look on Daniel's face was priceless—his mouth hung open and his eyes bulged out of his head.

"Hey, if we're telling each other's embarrassing stories, then Jay has more than his fair share." A smirk crossed Daniel's face. "Know why the guy drives so slowly?"

She'd wondered that herself. Grinning, she shook her head.

"During driving lessons a few years ago, Jay, Gav, and I were in the same car during road lessons. Jay got the break and the gas confused and launched us straight into oncoming traffic," Daniel said. "We didn't hit anybody, but he ran straight into a wall and totaled the car. Our instructor quit teaching classes because of him."

"Ah, that's not funny." Jaiden hung his head. "I still feel bad about that."

"It's a little funny." Daniel needled him. "After we figured out everyone was okay, the teacher went mute and wandered off without another word. I think he went to a bar or something."

"
He did do that, didn't he?" Even Jaiden was smiling again. "I don't think I've seen a face so purple before. He wanted to kill me."

If she was the instructor, she'd have wanted to kill him too.

She watched the two of them elbow each other and exchange quips. Not only did she feel guilty that she'd caused a wedge between a relationship so rich with memories and affection, but she was jealous too.
My whole life I've never had friendship like this,
she realized. She must have been silent for longer than she thought because both boys glanced at her with concern.

"You look like you swallowed a lemon." Daniel placed a hand on her forehead.

"I'm okay." She brushed away his hand. "I'm just a little tired."

"It's been a pretty long day for all of us," Jaiden said. "Maybe we should get some sleep."

She felt bad for bringing the fun to an end, but she had to admit she was looking forward to lights out.

****

Annamarie stood in a vacant hallway. It took her a moment to realize she was at school, not in her dorm.
How did I get here?
she wondered. She heard the sound of shifting feet behind her and whirled around. A dark, masculine shadow loomed. She held up her fists to fight the darkness, prepared to take it on headfirst. Nobody had the right to make her feel hunted in her own life. Nobody!

The dark mammoth
glided down the hall, drawing closer and closer to her. The shadow figure released a rattling exhale. He was almost upon her now, a faceless, overpowering wall of darkness. The stench of something sour hung in the air, draping over her like a thick blanket.

The figure took one more step toward her, then another. At long last, the demon was upon
her, staring down at her with pupil-less eyes that rolled around like billiard balls. She was more scared than she'd ever been in her whole life, even more than when she'd learned her mom had abandoned her. It was fear that drove her to take the first punch.

She was used to the sweet burn of
fist on flesh, but she didn't experience it this punch. Instead her knuckle passed right through the black figure like he was nothing more than air. She punched him again and again, but no blow landed. This was good, right? If she couldn't hit him, then he couldn't hit her. She stepped back to head down the hall when a hot hand grabbed her wrist.

Crap. He could
touch her after all.

The black figure leaned over her, taking excited breaths. She didn't know what he wanted or why, but that was what made it scarier.

Someone grabbed her shoulder. She looked up, startled that it was not just her alone with the demon. She stared straight into Daniel's shimmering blue eyes. Her angel was back. Looking into his face was like seeing straight into heaven.

"Run." Daniel ripped her from the monster's grasp.

She and Daniel fled side by side. The black figure gave chase, each unsettling breath causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stiffen. Daniel led her around a corner where someone awaited them. It was Jaiden, standing at the end of the hall.

"We've got to get away," she said
when they reached him.

"Let's go this way." Jaiden tried to pull her down the hall to the right.

"No, this way." Daniel yanked her to the left.

Suddenly, she was being pulled from both sides. Death loomed ever closer. She didn't care whether she went left or right, if only she escaped the demon's grasp.

"Guys!" she yelled.

"Why are you stubborn?" Jaiden asked.

"Because left is the right way to go," Daniel said.

"He's coming!" she cried.

Both boys ignored her. Her blood was rising and her heart was pounding. The demon seized her around the waist.

They were too late.

Annamarie awoke with a start, grasping her chest as she panted. It had been a horrible nightmare.
I never want to have a dream like that ever again
. For a few minutes she sat with her knees drawn up to her chin, but then the gravelly sound of snoring jolted her from her normal thoughts. It was Daniel. How had she not woken up last night if he'd slept by the bed?

She looked down at
the guy and saw that he was as gorgeous as ever, even in his sleep. His eyes were closed and his golden hair was tousled. He looked more angelic than when he was awake because his perfect face was often marred by his annoyance and anger. Jaiden lay across from him, facing his best friend with his eyes closed. His snores were soft and nasally instead of loud and boisterous. Before she'd fallen asleep, she'd heard the two of them whispering to each other in the dark. It was a different experience than earlier when Daniel had been moments from charging his friend like an angry bull.
What am I doing?
she thought, her stomach churning.

She'd thought she needed to choose one guy to end the fighting, but what would that do to them? Even though she tried to deny
that she felt strongest for Daniel, she knew it was the truth. The guy made her angry, annoyed and euphoric all at once. She hadn't known she was capable of so much emotion for a single person. They reacted to each other like flint and steel, but she liked it that way. She'd never be bored with Daniel. The problem was she liked Jaiden. If Daniel wasn't around, she would have dated him. Unfortunately, admitting that fact would cause a rift in a deep friendship. Truly caring for somebody meant being selfless enough to give them up, if that was for their greater good.

That was why she realized she'd made a mistake in thinking choosing between Daniel and Jaiden would solve the problem.
Maybe, to save them, she'd have to give them both up.

The thought of
not seeing Daniel anymore made her heart ache.
I don't have to decide this all tonight,
she thought
,
flopping back onto the bed. She tossed and turned. Even though she pretended it was Daniel's horrible snoring that made her wince, she was lying to herself. Her own thoughts were worse than knives and definitely worse than his snoring. She didn't like being crammed into a room with the root of her pain. She needed space.

E
ven though she knew it was sheer stupidity, she decided to leave the room. She climbed out of bed and stepped over the two boys. She'd never noticed how long Daniel's limbs were until she had to step around them in the dark. She made it to the door and snuck into the hall. It was empty. She was the only one up at three o'clock in the morning.

Now that she was alone
, she sat down and stretched out her legs.
Dad, what do I do?
she thought, as if he could communicate telepathically. If the man could, she doubted he'd have much advice for her anyway. He was about as romantic as a hedgehog. Her lips parted as she let out a deep sigh.

Minutes
oozed past. As her thoughts flowed through her mind, her head lulled on her shoulders despite the fact she'd thought she was too wired to fall asleep again. Sometime between thinking
, I'm strong enough to handle this!
and
Whose trying to kill me?
sleep swept her up with warm arms. She was jerked awake again by a hand brushing her cheek.

The shadow
man! Annamarie leapt like a crazed animal and tackled the person who'd touched her. She found herself eye to eye with Jaiden who was staring up at her with a shocked expression on his face. She needed to stop hurting the people. Why did she manage to land a blow on every guy but the one she wanted to bring down?

"Are you okay?" Annamarie
climbed off of Jaiden.

Jaiden sat up slowly. "
Do you always tackle someone when they try to wake you up?"

"This would be a first." She looked down the dark hall. "I guess I wasn't sleeping soundly."

"Well, you're in the middle of a dark hallway when there's a stalker on the loose. Few would sleep soundly." Jaiden's jaw clenched, though he wasn't freaking out like Daniel would have been. "When I woke up and saw you were gone, I almost had a heart attack. What were you doing out here all alone?"

She winced guiltily, then decided to lie.

"Daniel snores so loud that I needed to get some quiet," she said. "He really should see a doctor. It's insane."

"
He does snore pretty loud, doesn't he?" Jaiden nodded.

"Yeah.
" She blew out a sigh.

The atmosphere was as thick as pudding again. She realized she had some explaining to do.

"I'm sorry about this afternoon," she said. "I shouldn't have run away."

"It was my fault." Jaiden glanced at her. "My whole life, I've pretty much gone with the flow. I followed Dan
because it was natural for me. When I'm around you, it's different. You make me feel like I don't want to go with the flow anymore. I think the big problem is that I'm intimidated by Dan. Unlike me, he's not ashamed of crashing through doors. I feel like I have to compete with him, even though it's not in my nature to be forceful."

The mention of Daniel made her groan.

"What would you do if Daniel made me date him?" she asked.

Jaiden was silent for a moment, then his eyes narrowed.

"I wouldn't give up," Jaiden finally said. "I'd wait. That's another thing I'm good at. Waiting."

"But what about your friendship
with him?" she asked.

"I
t would change things." Jaiden stared down at clenched fists. "Since I'm already being honest, I might as well tell you now…The idea of the two of you being together kills me. I don't think I could hang around him anymore, knowing that he has you."

The words engulfed her heart with the most painful fire she'd ever known.

Chapter Nineteen

Annamarie
stood with Daniel in front of the beefiest guy she'd ever seen. He was the size of a tank and made even the wide expanse of Daniel's room appear small. His brown eyes were dark and mean, and there was hardness to his mouth that suggested he'd been around the block more than a couple of times.

She stuck out her hand to shake his. "
Nice to meet you, Borgis."

The man shook her hand but didn't speak.

"You're a verbose one," she said jokingly. "How am I going to manage with such a chatty bodyguard?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "You even antagonize people who haven't said a word to you."

"I didn't antagonize him," she said.

"Did she antagonize you?" Daniel asked the man.

"If you think she antagonized me, sir, then she did," Boris said, his voice a deep rumble.

"See." Daniel grinned. "He
feels antagonized."

"Only because you told him t
o feel that way." She let out a sigh. "You must have brainwashed him."

"The only brainwashing he's received is a large retainer." Daniel glanced at
the bodyguard. "Besides, it's his job to be silent. He'll be like a shadow. With luck, you won't even notice he's there."

The guy was the size of a killer whale. He'd be noticed
in the middle of a thick fog in a dark alley.

"I think people are going to
realize he's around," she said.

"There you go, being pessimistic again." Daniel groaned and rolled his eyes.

"I'm a realist." Her jaw tensed. "Now if you're done calling me names, I have a class to go to that I'm already thirty minutes late for."

"
Aren't you missing a flute class?" Daniel looked like he was withholding a laugh. "The teacher is probably glad you aren't there."

That was it. She was going to pound him. Just as she
was about to deliver a killer blow, her phone vibrated, alerting her that she had a text. She checked the message and saw it was from Owen.

Hey, Annamarie. I think I know who's been trying to hurt you. Meet me at lunch. I'll explain everything.

Owen knew who was stalking her? Yes! She turned toward Daniel, glad to have some good news to deliver.

"Owen thinks he knows whose trying to hurt me," she said. "He wants me to meet him to
day at lunch."

"He knows who did it?" Daniel asked. "I underestimated that guy."

Nodding, she grinned. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The problem was, she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she faced the person who'd hurt her. She doubted a good beat down would solve anything this time. This wasn't just a class bully. This was a real, genuine psycho. She muttered under her breath, naming all the torture practices she could think of.

"What are you mumbling about?" Daniel asked. "You look pissed off instead of excited."

"I'm just debating what I'm going to do when I meet this jerk." Her jaw clenched. "We could hand him over to Mrs. Carmichael and she'll probably expel him, but he's been working pretty hard to hurt me. I'm not sure that'll be enough."

"I don't think
you'll have to worry about that," Daniel said darkly.

"Wh
y?" She'd never seen such a dark glint in his eyes before.

"My family has a way of making unwanted things disappear," he said.

"Daniel!" She didn't like hearing him talk like that. "Your family murders people?"

She stepped out of arms' reach.

"Who said anything about murder?" Daniel asked. "People just mysteriously end up in the heart of the Russian wilds."

Shipping people out of the country wasn't that much better
than killing them. She punched him in the arm again and he scowled at her. She left the dorm room with Boris following, praying that Daniel had just been kidding about shipping family enemies to Russia.

****

The bell rang, signaling it was time for lunch. Annamarie tucked her books in her bag and zipped it up. Boris was nowhere to be seen. She had to admit she was pretty impressed with his hiding abilities. The guy was as large as a mountain but effectively used every nook and cranny to shield himself from prying eyes. Just as she swung her bag over her shoulder, the bodyguard stepped out of the hall and walked over to her. Mrs. Dallas, the science teacher, eyeballed Boris with unease.

"Sir, you aren't allowed to enter this school without a special pass," Mrs.
Dallas said. "Do you have permission to be here?"

Boris stared down Mrs.
Dallas like she was a pathetic slug. The woman withered beneath his stare but showed her his ID badge anyway. The teacher was still quivering as Annamarie walked out the door and into the hall. She turned on her phone and saw a message from Owen.

I'll meet you at the top of the stairs by the gym.

The stairs by the gym were pretty close by. She took a right down the hall. Pounding feet came from behind her. Her fists tightened into balls and she saw Boris also take a fighting stance.

Fortunately, that was when she heard Daniel cry, "Annamarie, wait up."

It was Daniel. Both she and Boris relaxed.

"Were you going to leave without me?" Daniel sounded furious as he caught up with her.

"I didn't realize this was a group activity." The guy hadn't mentioned coming to get her from class.

"Of course I wouldn't let you go alone," Daniel muttered.

"How did you know where my class was, anyway?" Now that she thought about it, she didn't recall ever telling him that her first lesson of the day was a flute class either.

Daniel pulled a copy of her schedule out of hi
s pocket and showed it to her.

"Who gave you this?"
Her brows furrowed.

"Mrs. Carmichael was easily persuaded
to print me a copy," Daniel said. "I wanted to make sure I could watch out for you at all times."

I wonder if his family knows just how much he abus
es the rich daddy card.

"You're a stalker." She
scowled and handed back the schedule.

"I'm not a stalker," Daniel said. "I'm going to be your boyfriend once this mess is over. It's only proper I should know where your classes are."

She sputtered. Why did Daniel always have to act like the world was under his control? She didn't know what she'd do about him once the attacker was found. She could still hear Jaiden's upset words from last night ringing in her ears.
"Since I'm already being honest, I might as well tell you now…The idea of the two of you being together kills me. I don't think I could hang around him anymore, knowing that he has you."
No way was she going to break up Daniel and Jaiden's friendship, even if…

Even if I have to push
Daniel away.

"See." Daniel wrapped an arm around her waist. "You aren't even trying to deny
your feelings for me anymore. We're making progress."

"You're incorrigible." She let out an exaggerated sigh. "Why don't you focus on what we're about to
hear from Owen instead of hassling me? We're going to have a lot to think about. I still don't know what to do with this stalker guy once we catch him."

"What's there to think about?" Daniel asked. "I'm going to kick his butt and send him to Russia
, just like I said."

"Daniel!"
She hit her face with her palm.

"Boris, you can help
beat him up too," Daniel said.

"It would be my pleasure, sir," Boris said.

"Way to suck up to the boss," she muttered.

It could have been her imagination, but she swore she saw the man crack a smile.

They were almost to the stairwell by the gym when she heard the sound of girls screaming. And it wasn't oh-my-gosh-sexy-Daniel-is-coming screaming. It was something-awful-has-happened screaming. Her first thought was zombies, which made her angry at herself. Too much freaking TV.

When somebody
yelled again, she and Daniel exchanged glances.

"What's going on?
" she asked.

"You stay here," he said. "I'm going to
find out."

Telling her not to follow
was practically an invitation to do so.

Daniel ran down the hall and she
trailed behind him with Boris. For such a large man, he moved with surprising grace and speed.

"I told you to stay
behind," Daniel said.

"When have I ever listened to you?" she asked.

She went around the corner and saw a large crowd of people surrounding the bottom of the stairs. Several girls were weeping. Somewhere in the middle of the crowd, she heard Mrs. Carmichael talking. Daniel's lips thinned and he waded through the herd of people. She moved to follow but was almost immediately rammed by Bridget. The two of them locked eyes and time slowed down. Bridget's face was paler than she'd ever seen it and tears streamed down her face, smearing her makeup. The moment was broken when Boris placed a hand on her shoulder and Bridget left the crowd, weeping.
Weird,
Annamarie thought, then shook it off and headed forward.

Since she was so short,
she could only see between the legs of the other students. A lone black leather shoe lay on the floor, drenched in red liquid. Blood, she realized. Somebody had been badly hurt. Her heart was thundering now and her palms were slicked with sweat. She saw Daniel at the front of the crowd and pushed her way toward him. His face was paler than even Bridget's.

"Daniel, who is—"

She looked down and saw Owen lying on the carpet with his eyes closed, a stream of blood trickling down his temple. His phone was in his hand.

"Owen!" She stumbled toward him and fell to her knees at his side.

His chest rose and fell. He was alive!
Thank heavens,
she thought. Mrs. Carmichael started talking to her, but she could barely hear what the woman was saying because of all of the angry wasps buzzing in her ears. She didn't know how long she'd sat by Owen, but eventually a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the body. The person forced her to bury her face in his chest. Because of the rich cologne, she didn't even need to look up to know the person holding her was Daniel. With a whimper, she dug her fingers into his shirt.

"Owen," she said. "It's Owen."

"It's going to be okay." Daniel smoothed his hand over her hair.

She didn't feel like it was going to be okay. The angry wasps must have crawled through her ears and traveled to her heart because she felt
stinging in her chest.

"I heard some guy pushed him," one of the girls
behind her whispered. "Alexander saw it."

Daniel must have heard
the girls too because he cursed violently.

"This is my fault," she said.

"Don't say that." Daniel tightened his grip on her.

"If somebody pushed Owen, it was only because he was helping me." Her
eyes were thick with tears. She was an awful friend.

"It's not your fault. You didn't push him,
" Daniel said.

"Who would have done something so horrible?" she asked.

"Trust me, I'm going to find out and he's going to pay." Daniel gritted his teeth.

She didn't speak. She couldn't. The crowd around them
parted like the Red Sea before Moses. EMTs waded through the crowd holding a white stretcher.

"Clear out, everybody," Mrs. Carmichael
said. "Classes are cancelled for the day. Please go to your dorms."

Annamarie didn't want to leave. She looked over her shoulder at her pale, fallen friend and couldn't stomach the thought of
not remaining at his side.

"Come on." Daniel pulled her toward the door. "You can stay at my dorm."

"I don't want to leave," she whispered.

"Let the EMTs do their job," he said.

"But I…" She didn't have any other excuses. There wasn't even anything she could do for Owen.

She looked one last time at her fallen friend. Finall
y, she allowed herself to be led away as Boris followed behind her. The image of Owen sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs would haunt her forever. It had been seared into her memory, a permanent part of her being. She'd been a lot more innocent when she arrived at this school, she realized. Even after all of her karate classes, the worst injury she'd ever seen was a broken nose. This was different. Owen's skull was cracked like an egg. There was a chance he could even die. If he did, she'd never forgive herself.

Or the person who'd done this.

She thought she'd been angry before when somebody had pushed her in the pool. The blind rage she endured now was ten times more powerful than anything she'd experienced then. It was one thing for the stalker to hurt her. It was another entirely for him to hurt her friends. She wasn't going to let him get away with this. The moment he'd pushed Owen, it had been a declaration of war. The tears of sadness she wept turned to tears of bitter rage.