The R Word (On Hold)

Chapter 20 - Lustful (Danielle's POV)

I will say this now. This chapter is quite kinky, so beware ;-)

---

Ending her call to Jane, Danielle let out a sigh of relief.

"That's one less thing to worry about," she said to herself, smiling. A soft hand crawled up her bare back, worming its way around her neck. It eased the tension right out of her. Danielle moaned, falling back into Steven's arms.

"Everything sorted?" he asked. She nodded, entwining her fingers between his.

"Yeah. We're gonna hang out tomorrow," she said, turning her head. "I know you said you wanted to do something, but can we reschedule?"

Steven frowned. "Of course you can't!"

Danielle's face fell in shock. "Are you being serious?"

Normally, she was good at telling if he was joking or not. The corner of his lip would twitch, like a loose nerve being electrified over and over. And his eyes would dilate so much, the green would vanish behind a cloud of black. True, that happens to everyone, but what made Steven's tell so apparent, was the surfacing of his blood clot in his left eye. It only appeared in times of stress. It didn't seem much of a tell to most people, but to Danielle - who knew him better than most - it was all she needed.

Steven burst out laughing, kissing her behind the eyes. "Babe, I'm just messing with you. Of course it's fine. You don't need to ask my permission. You two need your girl time, your time to talk things through."

"Don't do that," she scowled, slapping his face gently. "You nearly had me fooled."

"You should have seen your face," he chuckled, imitating her expression perfectly. Danielle slapped his chest, snuggling down beside him and timing her breathes with his.

"Hey, babe," started Steven. "Jane hasn't said anything to you... about me-us?"

Danni, if only for a second, registered the hesitation, near on tremor, in his tone as he spoke, Was he...nervous? If so, why?

"Not really. Well, nothing out of the ordinary," she frowned. And by that I mean hating your guts a nd hating our relationship, she added to herself. She shook her head clear. "Why do you ask?"

Steven stroked her arm. "Nothing babe. Just the other day I asked her for advice. Thought she might have said something."

"Was it important?"

"Nah. Besides you two are fine now. We're fine. Everything is good," he chuckled.

"I hope so," murmured Danni, staring off into the distance. "Ever since the attack, Jane's been acting so weird. When she's around Alfie, she's just like another other girl. She dotes him, he stares at her like she's a fallen angel. You know, she's happy. And then, at college she's... I don't understand it. She's just so closed. She's always scared, it's as if she's wanting for something bad to happen. As if something will happen." she rushed on.

"Babe, don't you think you're reading too much into it?" protested Steven. Danielle sat up, watching him carefully.

"So you haven't noticed how's she like a completely different person around us than when she's with Alfie?"