Tamed

Danielle told the taxi driver to wait. Lucas looked surprised when he saw her.

“Miss Danielle! Are you all right?” the old man rushed from his station to open the door for her.

“I’m fine.”

“Miss Kate told me you disappeared. They were all worried about you. Your mother came by last night.”

“My mom was here?”

“Yes. Miss Kate said she lost you when you went out on a double date.”

Oh crap. “It was all a big misunderstanding.” Danielle glanced over her shoulder. “Can you pay my taxi fare first? I’ll pay you as soon as I can get into my apartment.”

“Yes, yes, of course, Miss Danielle.”

“I need to borrow your phone to call Kate. Is she home?”

“Yes, about twenty minutes ago. I buzzed her in myself. Didn’t look that good. She had been crying a lot.”

Geez. A sliver of guilt sneaked into her heart. Apparently, her best friend was totally freaked out and had been crying her eyes out while she messed around with Dane and Collin. Well, whose fault was that in the first place? She didn’t put her name on Dangerous Curves website. Kate did. Then again the two of them didn’t think it would work.

While the old man scurried outside to pay her cab, she used the phone on the reception desk to call her apartment. Kate picked it after the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Kate?”

“Danielle!” Kate sounded ecstatic. “Where are you? Don’t go anywhere. I’ll come pick you up.”

“I’m in the lobby. Could you bring my wallet too? I owe Lucas cab fare.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going down now.”

The moment the door of the elevator opened, Kate flew out and tackle-hugged her until Danielle almost lost her balance. Her best friend seemed to have been crying her head off. Her nose was red and eyes puffy. Hair disheveled. Danielle had never seen her this way. Kate was obsessive with her appearance, even when she went to bed. The whole ordeal must have shaken her to boot.

“I was sooo worried. You just disappeared. I’ve lost my mind.” Kate sobbed. “Are you okay? Where have you been?”

Danielle hugged her back. “I’ll tell you the whole story. First, can you pay Lucas back?”

Ten minutes later after a change of clothes and a cup of jasmine tea, Danielle told her tale. Kate listened with apt attention. A few times her jaw dropped as Danielle recounted her steamy weekend adventure. From the look on her face, she could tell Kate was having a hard time believing her story, but there was no other explanation on how she vanished before her best friend’s eyes.

Kate ran her hands through her hair. “If I hadn’t seen you disappear, I would peg you having one hell of a hallucination. Wow. Just wow. Weretigers are real?”

Danielle nodded.

“How about werewolves? Vampires?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know about vampires. I suppose if weretigers exist, other were animals are too.”

“And these twins, you’re having a three-way with them?”

Danielle only grinned and pretended to polish her nails.

“I want details! Details, damn it. And don’t you dare skimp.”

“I’m not going to tell you that.”

“Oh, come on. I’m your best friend. Tell me, are they hung?”