What Is Love?

Chapter Fifteen

Danny Dare

I opened the door eagerly, and was instantly screamed at by my back and shoulder muscles for it. 'Take it easy Danny,' I reminded myself.

"Good afternoon Ms. Dare," audible beauty greeted me.

"Good afternoon Mr...." I paused awkwardly. "You know, you actually never told me your last name."

Slen hesitated a split second before answering silkily, "Ritter."

The name struck at a random memory of something I'd read before, but I couldn't quite remember what. I dismissed the feeling."Ritter? Is that German or something?" I asked curiously.

He nodded. "Yes, it's German for 'knight.'"

I raised an eyebrow. "Night with an 'N' or knight with a 'K'?"

He rolled his eyes, but a smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. "Knight with a 'K'," he said.

I couldn't help but grin. "Cool."

He grimaced slightly. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, obviously bored with talking about the origins of his last name.

"Sure," I answered smoothly, and in my opinion, doing a pretty good job of sounding like this wasn't the most exciting day of my life. "Oh! Before I forget again, this is yours I do believe." I smiled and held out Slen's jacket to him.

"Why thank you," he said and draped the jacket over his arm as he escorted me to the car.

Slen walked me around to the passenger side of the Corvette and opened the door for me. I ducked my head in shy appreciation. "Thanks," I mumbled. He smiled briefly in response, then shut the door. A moment later he was climbing into the driver's seat next to me and tossing his blazer in the back seat. Once again I found myself appreciating the beauty of him. As his tall thin frame folded into the seat and shut the door behind him, I took in the view.

He was wearing a black suit - again - and the same vivid red tie. His hair wasn't gelled back today like I'd always seen it previously however, but rather left in a casual, perfect-without-trying, relaxed style.

Suddenly I felt less sure of myself as I looked at him. This man was too perfect - an angel. I couldn't even compare.

There I sat next to this work of art, wearing a pair of black jean shorts and my favorite, sea foam green colored sleeveless blouse. My hair was done up in a bun at the top of my head and little black seahorse earrings sparkled in the sun. Before leaving the house, I'd thought I'd looked pretty.

But comparing my looks side by side with Slen's was like comparing a four year old's scribbled drawing to a priceless piece of French art - not even the same ballpark.

I bit my lip as I mused. Slen glanced up at me as he started to back the car out of the driveway. Was I imagining it, or did his eyes linger on my lips a second longer than they should?

"Careful. If you worry your lip like that too much it'll bleed," he said evenly, turning his attention back to the road.

"Sorry. Habit," I explained sheepishly.

"Mhm," was his simple reply. After a moment, Slen broke the silence in the car. As we pulled up to a stop sign, he looked over at me. "Do you mind if I put the top down?" and he gestured towards the ceiling.

"Oh! Sure, I don't mind," I said. I'd never actually ridden in a convertible before - at least not while the top was down anyway.

It was like a scene from a movie. The wind blew in my face, pulling a few strands of hair free from my bun, as the car sped down the highway alongside the sparkling water. In the driver's seat, a male model in designer sunglasses drove casually with one hand on the wheel and the other propped over the side of the car. It was the sort of scene you saw in pretty much every chic flick ever made, and I, Danny Dare, was living it. There was no way my luck could be this good. The only thing that would have topped it was if his free had had been holding mine as well...

I was startled out of my daydream by the sudden ringing of a phone. I looked over at Slen, whose cool expression went from puzzled to sour as he fished his phone out of his pocket. "Excuse me Ms. Dare. Business," he apologized and explained. He held the fancy silver smart phone up to his ear and answered briskly, "What is it?" The moment he answered the phone his voice changed. It took on a note of power and authority that gave off a cold, almost angry vibe. There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line said something before Slen's expression turned livid. "He did WHAT?" he nearly roared. Slen looked over at me swiftly. "Hold on Danny."

"Slen, what-" I started but before I could even finish Slen jerked the steering wheel to the left sharply, executing probably the most illegal U-turn I'd ever seen in my entire life. Thank God there were so few cars on the road. He somehow also managed to hit the button controlling the top, seeing as how it rose and latched into place over us as he speed back the way we had come at twice the speed limit.

"Keep an eye on him," Slen ordered the person on phone. "Do NOT let Alex out of your sight, do you hear me?" Another pause as the other spoke. "No keep him out of this - Tim and Jay can avoid him for a little longer as long as they don't do anything stupid." Pause. "Yes, I'll have to let him go for a little while - at least until this mess is over." Pause. "I'll keep my eye on them both."

My eyes stayed on Slen's face as he spoke. Wow he looked angry. 'I wonder how much he'l tell me of - or even IF he'll tell me - what's going on?' I thought. I was actually slightly scared. Whatever had happened, apparently it was big.

"Alright, I'm on my way back now - yes, I'm out at the moment. Don't do anything until I get there. Watch him," Slen commanded and snapped the phone shut. He glanced over at me and his expression softened marginally when he took in me nervously wringing my hands and biting my lip. "I'm sorry to cut or drive short, but something's come up. I have to go back," he told me, sounding slightly tired now. The angry authoritative tone had vanished.

"What happened?" I dared to ask.

Slen looked as if he was about to avoid my question - just like he normally did - but instead he just sighed and ran his hand over his face. "I'm going to regret telling you this I know, " he murmured almost too low for me to hear. Then he looked over at me again. The look in his eyes seemed more open than I had ever seen before. "One of my... employees was attacked by... a subject of one of my investigations."

"Oh my God, is he okay?" I asked wide-eyed.

"Oh yes, he's fine. But now I have to go deal with his attacker, which causes several other complications to the situation," he growled.

"Is Alex the guy that attacked your employee?" I asked, recalling the name Slen had thrown out during the tense phone conversation.

He grimaced when I spoke the name and I wondered if he had been hoping I wouldn't remember names. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Yes. We've had quite a bit of trouble dealing with Alex," he sighed.

"Is that who Tim and Jay are avoiding?" I asked boldly, recalling the other two names.

He mumbled something under his breath that very well my have been an obscenity. "Yes."

"You said you were letting someone go. One of your employees? The one that got attacked?"

Slen glared at me through his sunglasses. "So many questions Ms. Dare. These cases are confidential remember?" He sighed again, this time the breath sounding more like a growl than anything else. "No, not the one Alex attacked. This time. He has attacked him before however, that's why I want him out of the situation. Last time Alex got a hold of him, he was out for weeks with a broken leg. I'll bring him back once it's safe."

I felt more confused than before. Every time he answered one of my questions, ten more popped into my head. Damn my curiosity, I wanted to know the full story! Stupid confidentiality agreements.

I hand't realized how fast Slen was driving. We were already back within Mexico Beach city limits. I didn't dare look at the speedometer - I wasn't sure I actually wanted to know how fast we were going. From there we were at my house in a matter of minutes. We'd just made a drive that had taken us an hour earlier in under twenty minutes. I climbed out quickly, knowing the beautiful business man was in a hurry. "Thank you so much for inviting me to go driving with you. Sorry it had to get cut short," I said.

Slen waved a hand at me dismissively. "No thanks or apology required. It's not as if this is your fault after all. Have a good day, Danny," he replied and was speeding down the road before I could even say bye back.

Well, so much for that.