Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

Kylie watched her disappear into the other room, noticing she pulled her cell phone out of her backpack when she stood by the front door to the coffee shop.

Nancy moved into Dani’s seat and took over the computer. “She doesn’t want us to see her talking to Petrie,” she pouted.

“Have they been chatting on the computer for long?” Kylie asked, still watching Dani.

“Forever.” Mandy rolled her eyes and leaned forward, lowering her voice. “She’s scared to meet him but won’t admit it.”

“Do you all meet guys off the computer a lot?” Kylie asked.

“Oh, sure. All the time.” Mandy waved her hand in the air as though it didn’t matter. “But Dani’s uncle fills her head with crap about stalkers and rapists and bullshit like that who prey off poor little innocent girls like us.”

Nancy made a very unladylike snorting sound as she continued typing on the computer. Kylie watched her open the Facebook Web site but kept glancing past the girls to Dani.

“It’s not completely bullshit,” Kylie said, not focusing on either one of them. “Even I wouldn’t meet someone online without knowing a lot about them first. Or at least talking on the phone.”

“She talks to Petrie on the phone all of the time,” Nancy told Kylie.

Dani pulled open the door to the Java Cup and disappeared outside.

“Still sounds like she should be careful,” Kylie said, fighting the urge not to break into a serious lecture. All she would do was chase them away if she did that. “Where’s the bathroom?”

The girls pointed to the door leading to the other room. Kylie had spotted the restrooms when she first entered, but it was a good excuse to check on Dani without the others knowing. Neither girl offered to go with her, and Kylie left them hovering in front of the computer, not paying any attention to whether she went into the bathroom or not.

She slipped outside, hoping she hadn’t lost Dani. Kylie squinted against the late-afternoon sun at the teenager, who’d managed to make it across the street and leaned against the back of Kylie’s car in the parking lot. Watching Kylie approach, Dani repeatedly glanced at her phone in her hand while she text-messaged someone. Her frustrated expression didn’t fade when Kylie approached.

“Are all men assholes?” Dani demanded to know, and pressed her lips together as if she’d just swallowed something bitter.

“I don’t know all of them.” Kylie lifted one shoulder and shrugged lazily, then leaned against her car next to Dani. “Is it Petrie?” she asked quietly.

Dani nodded once. Her cell phone played a happy-sounding jingle and Dani held it in both of her hands, pushing the buttons with her thumbs, when she answered the text message.

“He’s going to meet Lanie Swanson. He knows I hate that bitch’s guts.”

“He sounds like a player,” Kylie offered, crossing her arms and staring at the Java Cup across the street.

“No. He’s not like that at all,” Dani assured her, shaking her head hard enough that her long brown hair fanned over her shoulder and shrouded part of her face. “Lanie is the player. She’s a little tramp. The only reason she’s chasing him is because she knows I like him,” Dani said, her last sentence fading when she lowered her tone to a whisper.

“Do you know anyone else who’s met him?” Kylie asked, pushing herself away from her car when Mandy and Nancy walked out of the Java Cup.

“No. And I know what you’re thinking. He’s not some serial killer.” Dani straightened as well. Her phone played its little jingle again and she scowled at the message, then pushed the buttons, answering it while sighing. “I know Petrie is for real.”

“How do you know?” Kylie turned when Nancy and Mandy spotted them and hurried across the street toward them. She faced Dani, studying the teenager’s determined expression. “Have you actually talked to him on the phone?”

Dani’s soft green eyes looked darker with the black eyeliner that was neatly applied. Her pale blue eye shadow and dark mahogany lipstick hid her natural beauty. It could also mislead a person into believing Dani was older than she was. Kylie remembered John telling her about the pornographic Web site and knew all too well how many “barely legal” sites there were out there. Imagining someone breaking Dani’s spirit to get her to comply and cooperate for poses used on sites like that made Kylie sick.

“No one talks on the phone,” Dani snapped. “You don’t get it. You act as though you’re all hip and everything, but for real you’re no different than Uncle Perry or Mom. I hope I don’t turn into a prude as quickly as you have.”

“Dani, wait,” Kylie yelled when Dani marched across the parking lot to her girlfriends.

“Talk to you later, Kylie,” Dani said, waving over her shoulder before forming a quick huddle with Mandy and Nancy.

For a moment Kylie was thrown back in time, the same age as the girls who’d just abandoned her, and feeling so alone the pain threatened to break her in two. She didn’t have anyone to turn to, no one to seek out for guidance. Alone in the world without her older sister, who’d been Kylie’s resource for all things wise and imperative to know in life, she was consumed with pain that made her eyes burn.

Both girls glanced in her direction before falling in line on either side of Dani and walking away from Kylie. She stared after the teenagers, knowing Dani’s indecision had made her snap more than irritation toward Kylie. Dani was smart and for the most part had a fair amount of common sense for a girl her age, proof she’d been raised well. Peer pressure tore at her right now, though. Kylie needed to keep an eye on her and make sure the girl didn’t make a very stupid move.

The painful memory of Kylie’s youth disappeared as quickly as it had surfaced and a more primal, demanding sensation washed over her.

“You’d better be a pimply-faced kid, Petrie,” she said under her breath as she unlocked her car. “Because if you’re not, I’m going to kick your perverted ass until you wished you’d never laid a hand on a teenage girl in your life.”

“Do you know where Dani is?” Denise asked.

Perry glanced at the time on the digital clock above his TV on the cable box. Six thirty. “What time is she supposed to be home?”

“We’re all supposed to be home by five, Uncle Perry.” Denise used her exceptionally sweet voice. “I’m worried. You don’t think she’s dead in a ditch somewhere, do you?”

“I’ll be sure and check all the ditches.” He lifted his cell phone from the coffee table when it beeped and glanced to see who else was calling. “She’s calling me now, sweetheart,” he told her, putting his finger over the button on his Bluetooth to accept the call. “So you can quit worrying over the safety of your sister.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Is that lady coming to dinner tomorrow night?”

“Yup. I’ll talk to you soon.” He got Denise off the phone, knowing she would go about her business satisfied she’d gotten her sister in trouble. For Denise, that would make it a good night, managing to get one of her sisters punished for something. “Where are you?” he demanded, using his deep baritone when he answered the phone for his niece.

“With friends,” Dani said, not sounding worried about the time, or anything else for that matter.

“Where are you?”

“Kylie can’t make it to dinner tomorrow night,” Dani said, sounding winded and ignoring his question.

Perry straightened on the couch, lifting the remote off his chest and dropping it on the coffee table. “Oh? Why not?”

“She just can’t. I’m not her babysitter. I didn’t ask.” Her defensive tone was enough for Perry to know he was barely getting a fraction of the story.