Free Bird

Chapter 44

Danny's POV

"You sure you're feeling better?" James asks over the phone on Monday while I'm finishing up my makeup.

"Fit as a fiddle, man," I say. Of course I feel 'better'. I was never really sick to begin with. I just didn't want to go out this weekend and didn't want to tell them why.

I took this fucking job so I could have weekends with Cal.

I'm sure it will pass. It will fucking pass. It has to. I can't keep feeling this way.

I'm so fucking tired.

Now it's Monday and I have to go back downstairs. I really really really don't fucking want to. Jack gives me a weird vibe and he'll probably be there. Cal will most definitely be there. Unlike last week, I don't even want to try to impress him. I don't want him to glare at me like that. I'd rather he just didn't look at me at all.

I'm fucking mood swinging like crazy.

"Listen, I have to finish getting ready now and as much as I'd love to keep you on speaker, I don't want to hear Zeke breathing heavy while I'm changing clothes."

"Oh, c'mon!" Zeke cries out from the background.

"Alright, Dipsy, I'll talk to you later," James says before hanging up.

Sighing heavily, I start digging through my clothes. Some of them are starting to fit me a little loose so I pick out a black halter dress that was always a bit too tight and throw it on, pinning my hair up like I did my first time downstairs. Mostly I just don't feel like going through the hassle of trying to set it so it looks okay down.

I've already done my makeup. The bags under my eyes necessitate heavy concealer but other than that I do it the same as my first night downstairs, red lipstick and all. I'm just not feeling creative.

When I open my door I'm surprised to see Jack leaning casually against the wall a few feet down.

I haven't seen him since Thursday. I'd half expected him to be upset about me making a scene- Creed would have been- but on the contrary he seemed quite pleased. He told me I shouldn't let anyone give me hell. I should always appear strong and confident.

To be honest I felt a little bit guilty after the fact. It didn't hurt all that much when she slapped me and when I woke up the next morning there wasn't even a mark. I was just tired and cranky and fell into what Elijah and my brother had shown me when I was thirteen after I came home from school with a black eye from some dude. I didn't have to stomp her face. I was just being pissy. I've been doing a lot of that lately.

Joshua kept on teasing me that I didn't need to fight for him- his heart already belonged to me. (Insert eye roll) He also joked about getting security detail for all his "groupies". Apparently, that's what a good deal of the women hanging out by the cars are. They change their appearance to fit the scene in hopes of attracting some racer's attention if even for a night.

I figure probably Joshua fucked Jess a few times and she was trying to stake a claim, but since Joshua wasn't reciprocating she decided to start scaring off all the rest of the groupies in order to raise her chances. Little did she know, I'm not a fucking groupie.

"Are you stalking me?" I ask dryly, halting my steps when I'm in front of Jack.

"I just wanted to escort you downstairs," Jack says, placing his hand on my lower back and guiding me down the hall to the first flight of stairs. "I'll be introducing you to a few 'high rollers' tonight. I want to let you know that if you feel uncomfortable at any point you can let me know and I'll take care of you."