Painting The BadBoy ✔

06 | The Good, The Bad and The Revolution

"Hey, nena." He said, rolling the cigarette in between his fingers.

And then I remembered he said he would be coming over. But that still didn't explain how.

"I have connections, remember?" he said as if he knew what I was going to ask him next. "Now are you going to invite me in?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Why would I do that?"

"Geez, I don't know." He took a step forward. "Because we have a project to work on, and it's kind of cold today, so I know you're not going to leave me alone here because you're not as heartless as you may think you are." He said in a bored tone. Did he just indirectly say I was trying to be heartless? That wasn't necessarily true.

I stepped out of the way and he sauntered in. "No smoking inside the house." I grumbled.

"Noted." He said, looking around. Was I imagining it, or did his eyes widen a little. "You live in a fucking mansion?"

"It's not as big as it seems. And no cursing either."

Cayden swept past and a toothy smile appeared on his face when he noticed who it was. "Ah, Daniel." He said in a cool tone. "I believe you owe me something."

Dani smirked, reaching into his pocket and handing up a couple of notes.

What? Since when did Cayden accept money from strangers? Well, they weren't exactly strangers- they sat together at lunch today- but not really best buds either.

I raised my eyebrow as Cayden walked past, his smile getting bigger and creepier. "What was that all about?"

Dani stopped. "Remember those connections I was talking about?"
My mouth hung open.

"Cayden ratted out our address?" The next time I see that boy, the last thing he would remember would be my hands around his neck.
What if Dani did turn out to be a serial killer?

Dani looked as if the whole thing amused him. "The project, Valencia. Where are we doing it?"

I didn't even know what it was in the first place. A model, or a report of some kind? Curse Kevin and his texting thumbs.

"The living room, I guess." I said, directing him towards the right of the hall, next to the staircase.

And it was that exact moment that I heard a clicking down the stairs, and my dear mother just happened to be walking down.

What perfect timing. Scare off the serial killer, why don't ya?

She looked confused for a moment, before plastering on her fake smile. "Who are you?" She said rudely. It sounded rude to me, but her tone wasn't rude at all, actually. She seemed kind of nice.

"Daniel Price. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Morgan."

So he knew my last name too?

"Likewise." She said, her smile already slipping. Uh oh. She was going to go to the kitchen.

I dug my nails into my palms. I didn't think I could handle any of her episodes today, especially in front of Dani.

"My books are upstairs." I said in a quiet voice. "Why don't we just do the project in my room?"

Dani seemed surprised at first, before nodding. Mom threw me one of her looks. Not even the third week of school and she's already inviting boys into her bedroom.

She didn't say anything though, and just trotted into the kitchen instead.

"I knew I was good," said Dani when we reached the top of the stairs. "But I didn't know I was that irresistible."