Chapter 6
DAPHNE
Snow fell in lazy spirals, covering the city in a white blanket. I stepped out of my car, the cold air hitting my face. I grabbed my backpack and headed toward the Botanical Gardens, which were nearly two hours away from Redwood.
I drove up here once or twice a week to help care for the trees. Everyone visited for the pretty display of flowers blooming all times of the year, and the trees were always the last to get any love. Still, they were my favorite.
After adjusting my bag on my shoulder, I headed up the path toward the gardens, willing myself to forget about Apollo. I had seen him after school when I was grabbing a coffee before heading up here, and he was giving me those eyes.
Yes, those eyes.
Those eyes that made me warm in places that they shouldn’t.
He was with all the popular kids at Redwood Academy too, and he was giving me the bedroom eyes in front of them! The last goddamn thing I needed was gossip about Apollo DeLuca and me happening right now.
I had been trying to ignore him for the past four weeks. Why didn’t he get the hint?!
It had been four freaking weeks of mental torture from that man, visiting me during my lunch period in the library, telling me about all the dirty things he wanted to do to me, only to not touch me and leave me desperate for it.
Stupid boy.
He was doing it on purpose too. He wanted to break me.
Well, it wasn’t happening. It couldn’t.
I stomped the snow off my boots before heading into the warm building. This place was my little sanctuary where I could forget about everything, even that asshole; a mix of greens and trees, even in the dead of winter.
And tonight was one of my favorite events of the year: Winter Solstice Galore.
“Hey Daphne,” the woman behind the counter said, offering a smile.
I smiled back and headed toward the main greenhouse. The warm and earthy scent of plants wrapped me up like a blanket. Twinkling fairy lights hung from the glass ceiling, casting a soft glow on the plants underneath it.
For the next few hours, I tended to the flora like usual, greeting sightseers who had come for the event, clothed in silky dresses and suits. When I finally caught a moment to myself, I lingered by the laurel trees, dragging my fingers across their branches.
“Daphne,” a familiar voice called.
I glanced over my shoulder to spot Mark Sesta, a student at Redwood that I saw everywhere.
And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere.
He wouldn’t always greet me, but I’d see him browsing the aisles of Walmart late at night, in the parking lot of the bakery that I frequented on Sunday mornings, even at the park in the dead of winter.
“Hi,” I said slowly, offering him a smile. “Mark, right?”
“That’s me!” he said with a huge grin. “What’re you doing here?”
Mark had always been a bit too nice to me, the only guy showing interest in talking to me at Redwood. Besides that asshole, Apollo. But Mark wasn’t like Apollo. No, he was always nice and never pushy. And he didn’t have those stupid little smirks either.
“Just… uh, working.”
“All the way up here?”
I rocked back on my heels. “Yep. What are you doing here?”
“Came to see the laurel trees,” he said. “They’re my favorite.”
“Really?” I asked. “Mine too.”
“I–Oh, really? I didn’t know. I was thinking, maybe if you’re free after this–”
“She’s not interested,” someone said behind me, slinging an arm around my shoulders.
My eyes widened, and I turned to see nobody other than the idiot himself, Apollo DeLuca. He pulled me closer to his chest, his pointed glare on Mark’s innocent expression, almost sizing him up.
What is he doing here?! What is it, Stalk Daphne Day?!
“We’re going out after this,” Apollo said. “So run along.”
“We are not,” I said, shoving him away.
“Who’s this?” Mark asked me.
“We’ve met before,” Apollo said, stepping in front of me, a sinister smile crossing his face. Except it wasn’t friendly. Not in the slightest. “In the library, when you were stalking Daphne, just like you were in the Coffee House earlier today too. You know who I am, Mark.”
Mark’s gaze flickered between Apollo and me. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t fucking play with me,” Apollo growled. “I told you to get lost.”
Warmth spread through my body at the sheer protectiveness that Apollo was giving off right now, because–I shook my head. No, no. This was all weird. Apollo and Mark both shouldn’t be here. It wasn’t hot that Apollo was here, protecting me. Stop it, Daphne.
Mark looked at me, waiting for me to answer for Apollo.
But I kept my mouth shut, because Apollo was right. Why was Mark everywhere that I went? Was he really stalking me? Why hadn’t I thought about that earlier? Redwood was so small that I chalked it up to being a coincidence.
Multiple coincidences.
After another moment, Apollo put his hands on Mark and spun him around, so he faced the exit. “Thanks for keeping her company, but I’ve got it from here. Why don’t you go back to Redwood before something happens?”
The threat in Apollo’s voice did something to me… something bad.
To my surprise, Mark cleared his throat and headed toward the exit. Apollo didn’t turn around until Mark had disappeared from our view. Then he took my hands. “You need to be more aware, Daph. He’s been following you since you left sch–”
I ripped my hands out of his. “You’re one to talk.”
Something dark flashed in his eyes. “Oh, so you’d rather he stalked you?”
“That doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t even be here.”
“It does matter.”
“Leave.”
“A simple thank you would be nice, Daph.”
“What would I thank you for?! For stalking me too?”
“For saving your ass.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
A smug smirk stretched across his face. “You didn’t have to.”
“Stay out of my life, Apollo,” I growled, heading toward a back room where I had left my belongings. While I hated to admit it, Apollo wasn’t entirely wrong, which irked me more than anything.
“Not a chance,” he said, following after me. “Not a fucking chance.”
And somehow, I knew he meant it.