Dirty Truths Read Free Page B

chewed on a manicured nail and flipped the pages idly. He’d paused. Just looking at her he could tell she was a woman who didn’t go anywhere looking frumpy, not even to the hospital with a bum arm. Her hair fell over her shoulders in carefully constructed honey-colored waves, and she wore a pink cotton dress and strappy shoes that looked as though the slightest stumble would break them. Carefully applied makeup accentuated her large brown eyes.
    Daniel tried to impress upon Kristina the importance of always looking her best. She represented him when she went out, but she never paid attention. Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time she’d put makeup on or wore anything but a sloppy ponytail. He preferred blondes too, not brunettes. He’d told Kristina numerous times she should dye her red mess a more attractive color.
    Daniel had sat in the chair next to Desiree and picked up a magazine. People coughed and moaned in the chairs around him. He’d glared. Normally he’d have returned to his truck after making sure Kristina went to her appointment, but the sight of Desiree intrigued him enough to risk the germs of the degenerates and hypochondriacs filling the hospital’s emergency department. Desiree glanced at him a couple of times before he gifted her with his smile.
    She looked away blushing.
    He took a chance. “I’m Daniel.”
    “Desiree. Um…I think I broke my wrist.”
    He looked at the sling, noting her swollen hand. “How did you manage that?”
    She blushed again.
    He set the magazine down.
    “I tripped over my cat.”
    Daniel laughed. How stupid. Tripping over a cat? Daniel didn’t like pets. Stinking, stupid wastes of space. There was a reason man stood at the top of the food chain. “When you’re done, do you want to get a drink or something?” he asked.
    “I’m going to be a while. But maybe another time.”
    Daniel didn’t pause to think about it. He took out his wallet and searched for a business card. “Here, call me when you’re done.”
    She took it. “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah, I’m not busy tonight. I’m waiting for a friend, but once I take her home, I’m free.”
    “Her?”
    “It’s complicated.” Daniel waited as she digested this. He made no move to cover his wedding band when she looked at his hand.
    She smiled and nodded after a moment. “You can explain over drinks.”
    He’d worked on molding Desiree into what he needed her to be for months. Too bad she couldn’t retain simple instructions.
    Desiree’s phone went to voicemail. Daniel jolted out of his thoughts and snapped his phone shut. Where the hell was she? He specifically told her to be around. She knew he hated when she didn’t answer her phone. It made it seem like she had something to hide.
    The light changed and a blonde in tight spandex shorts and a bra-like shirt darted across. He mumbled under his breath, waiting for her to clear the front of the truck before turning left, the bumper a breath away from her fat ass.
    She glared.
    He smiled. Bitch.
    He hadn’t yet committed to keeping Desiree. Sure, she was manageable, but he had so much work yet to do with her. Kristina had been so close; he hated to give her up. He shouldn’t have hit Cadence, and he wouldn’t do it again, but he’d been angry. He felt terrible when he’d seen his daughter the next day. Kristina’s father stood in the window holding Cadence while the cops informed him he could no longer go into his own house. But if Kristina hadn’t behaved so stupidly, he wouldn’t have lost control. He prided himself on always being in control.
    After rescuing the phone from the passenger seat, Daniel hit redial and waited. As he sped out of Laighton, past the cottages along the lake where he used to meet Desiree, it went to voicemail once more. He punched ‘end’ and then hit redial again. She better pick up before he reached Salach or she would be in more shit than she’d ever known.
    Maybe his mistake was allowing Desiree to keep her