Burning Love. by Emily Zimmerman. (best free novels .TXT) 📕

I should be going. It was nice meeting you.” He said.
I smiled. “Nice meeting a friend of Dan’s.” I said.
He smiled, tipped an imaginary hat, turned and left. I relaxed and leaned against the wall. He’d suspected something.
Now that I’d had time to think about it, I decided to stay, Dan would protect me, he said he would. And I just accepted a date to a very handsome man.
I realized my legs were killing me and carefully walked over to the bed, I pushed all of my things to the floor, deciding I’d deal with them later.
I took my braid from its bun and laid down, burying my face in one pillow and cuddling the other to my chest. I soon fell asleep that way.
I awoke to the front door opening and closing. I looked at the clock and realized it was five in the afternoon. I sat up slowly, yawning.
I was working my hair out of the braid when Dan appeared in the doorway. He had the box that I’d thrown in his hand.
“I’m guessing by the fact that this was across the room in a corner that you didn’t like what you saw in the box.” He said.
I stared at the box with a mixture of fear and hate. “You would guess right.” I whispered.
He shrugged and casually threw the box over his shoulder, making me smile slightly. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. “No. I want to forget I ever saw the damned thing and get on with my life.”
Dan chuckled and reached the bed in five long strides, sitting on the edge beside me. “Okay. Do you want to talk about what was bothering you this morning?”
I didn’t even want to think about that. “Nope. Uh-uh, I’m not even going to think about it.” I said stubbornly.
He sighed. “It is bothering you though.”
I sighed as well. “Yeah…my mom called this morning. She’s out of rehab. She told me the exact same thing she said before, that she was sober and she was going to stay that way.” I muttered.
“Maybe this time will be better.” He said, climbing on the bed and sitting against the headboard with me.
“I told myself that the other two times. I don’t know, deep inside there is still a little bit of hope that she’ll pull through. She told me she loved me, and you know my answer? ‘Bye mom.’ I couldn’t tell my own mother I loved her.” I felt like slapping myself in the face.
Dan draped an arm around my shoulders and sighed. “I understand.”
“By the way, your friend Blake stopped by today to get his shirt. Does Linda always do his laundry?” I asked.
Dan chuckled. “Not always. His washer and dryer is broken.” He said.
“Ah…and he also asked me to dinner on Saturday…” I trailed off.
I felt him tense. “He…what?”
I looked at him; he was staring at me in a mixture of outrage and disbelief. “He asked me to dinner.” I said slowly.
“And you accepted?” he asked.
“Yes. Is there a problem with that?”
Daniel pressed his lips together in a thin line. “Yes. You can’t go.” He said.
I turned to face him, crossing my arms and raising my eyebrow. “And why is that?”
“Because…because it’s too dangerous. Your ex-husband is still out there.” He said.
I rolled my eyes. “I doubt he would come for me in a restaurant full of people.” I said.
“Then…” he stared into my eyes, and his hardened with a new anger. “You still can’t go.” He said.
I threw my hands up in the air. “Since when are you my mother?” I asked incredulously.
“I’m not your mother, but I am going to keep you in the house. I’ll change the alarm code if I have to.” Daniel was very confident that he could do it, too.
“I’m a grown woman, Daniel! And I’ll date whoever I want! Why all the protectiveness all of the sudden?” I asked.
He got up and pulled me with him, pulling me very close and staring at me in the eyes. “I’ve been protective of you since we’ve met.” He said lowly.
“That still doesn’t give you an excuse to lock me in the house.” I said, my voice losing its confidence, he was making my mind swim being so close.
“Trust me, I know Blake. We’ve been best friends since high school, and he hasn’t changed a bit. He’s a player. All he wants from you is to get you in bed.”
“Then we’ll only go out once.” I said.
Dan chuckled darkly and slowly shook his head; he was so close that his nose lightly brushed the tip of mine. “That’s not how Blake rolls.”
My phone rang, making me jump, but Dan still had his hold on me, eyes not wavering from mine. I tried to get out of his arms, but he just tightened them. “Dan, I need to get the phone.” I said.
“Let it go to voicemail.” He said, leaning down and nuzzling my neck.
I sucked in a breath and unconsciously melted into him. Suddenly, letting the phone go to voicemail didn’t seem like such a bad idea. The phone quit ringing, and I moaned softly as he placed a soft kiss on my shoulder.
He’d just gotten his hand under my shirt when the phone rang again. I groaned and pulled away. Dan sighed and leaned against the bed with his arms crossed. I picked up the phone and placed it to my ear, leaning my hip on the bed. “Hello.” I said.
“Skylar, where were you? You had me worried!” Aunt Mabel said.
“I was…in the shower, I didn’t hear the phone.” I heard Dan’s low chuckle behind me.
“Okay. Did you hear? Your mother is moving back into town.”
I felt Dan’s hands on my sides, they slowly moved down, sliding down until they reached my waist. I let out a slow breath and leaned into him. “Uh…n-no she didn’t tell me that when she called.” I said.
Dan’s breath hit my ear and he nibbled on it playfully. I bit my lip to keep from moaning. “How odd. She’s moving on Oak Street, to that really nice house the Gonzales’s built. They couldn’t afford it so they moved.”
I could hardly hear her; Dan had started slowly kissing down my neck. “C-could you hold on for just a second?”
“Okay.”
I covered the speaker with the palm of my hand and turned to face Dan. “I’m trying to speak, and it’s a little hard when you’re doing… THAT to me!” I hissed as the tips of his fingers traced my stomach.
Dan grinned and placed a light kiss on my lips before leaving the room. I glared at the doorway for a second before returning the phone to my ear. “I’m sorry. My phone was acting up. That’s really great for mom! But what did her Therapists say? Do they approve of this?”
“She doesn’t give a cow’s patoot what they think. Said it’s good to have new surroundings and she thinks that the memories are causing her depression. She really thinks this’ll be good for her.” Mabel said.
I gave a sigh. “As long as she’s alright, and Oak Street’s not far from where I’m staying. So if…you know, something like last year’s disaster happens again, I’ll be able to get to her relatively quickly.”
Last year my mom got so addicted to her depressant pills that she over dosed, I had been coming to visit that day, and found her on the floor in the bathroom, her eyes had been glazed over and she was barely breathing.
“I know. That night was terrible. You were lucky you got home when you did, she could’ve died. Has she been…you know, better after that?” she asked.
“I don’t know. She doesn’t talk about it. I think after that she decided to take rehab seriously. That was the last time she touched those pills.”
“Good.” I heard some muffled voices on the other line. “I have to go sweetheart. Nice talking to you!” and she disconnected.
I smiled; she was never one for goodbyes. I set the phone down and turned around, only to bump into a solid chest again. “Dan! How long have you been standing there? I thought you left.” I said.
“I did, but I came back in. What happened to your mom?”
“How’d you know I was talking about mom?” I was sure I hadn’t mentioned her name.
“You mentioned she was in rehab. I assumed it was your mom.” He shrugged.
“Oh. Last year she over dosed on depressant pills, I had been coming over to visit that day, she told me afterwards that she was feeling really down that day, and didn’t want me to see her like that. She then went on to tell me that they weren’t working fast enough so she started popping them like M&M’s.” I explained.
“And you found her.” He said.
I nodded. “I found her on the bathroom floor, eyes glazed, barely breathing. I would have honestly been better off seeing her down, then almost dead on the floor.” I said, falling back against the bed.
“I’m sorry.” He said softly.
“Thank you. But it actually helped. She took rehab seriously, and her depression got better.” I said.
He leaned against the bed beside me. “Back to Blake…” he said, tracing the tip of his finger down my arm.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “If I were to say I was still going?”
“I’d handcuff you to my bed.” His voice was casual, but his eyes were serious.
“You can’t do that!”
“I can and I will.” Again, casual voice, serious eyes as he traced my jawline with the tips of his fingers.
“You can’t do that, Daniel. Suppose you did somehow handcuff me to the bed? What then?”
Wrong question. His eyes darkened and turned into molten chocolate and I shivered, not in the least bit cold. “That is not what I mean! You have work, how will I eat, or even…do my business?” I asked.
He sighed. “Okay. I’ll lock you in my room.”
“You still haven’t solved the eating problem.” I said, crossing my arms.
He threw his arms up. “Fine! Go out with him! Be my guest! Don’t come crying to me when he hurts you just like every other girl he’s hurt!” He shouted.
“Fine! I won’t!” I shouted back.
He stormed out of the room and I slammed the door behind him. “Bastard.” I muttered.
I sat on my bed with a huff and crossed my arms.
Chapter five:

I was running, running so slow, and I couldn’t run any faster. I glanced back and shrieked, John was gaining on me. I choked on a sob as I kept running. But suddenly I ran flat out into a wall, and the wall turned out to be Gram. Gram smiled menacingly at me and grabbed my shoulders as I screamed, trying to get away. He yelled my name