A/N: Dani’s friend is a bit of a potty mouth. I tried to tone it down some, but Nikki was having none of it. lol. Sorry this took so long to get out (busy summer), no I’m not going to discontinue it just because school started, and enjoy

---

Breaking and Entering

Ch. 2

---

Classes were over for the day, but I couldn’t bring myself to go home. I lay on my back with my eyes closed and my hands resting on my stomach. The concrete of the planter rubbed against my elbow as it rose and fell with each breath. The sun soothed away the nagging feeling that I ought to get home and start on that never-ending, ever-expanding ‘To Do’ list. I sighed, long and slow, and felt the luxuriousness of utter contentment spread throughout my sun stained limbs.

“I’m bored,” Nikki grumbled. “Talk to me.”

“The sky is green and the grass is blue,” I replied without opening my eyes. Even my mouth felt lazy. “What else do you want me to say?”

“Tell me who you were staring at all through Dee’s lecture.” I recognized the delighted grin in her voice.

I would have rolled my eyes, if I had bothered to open them. “Nobody. Who did you think I was staring at?”

“Frank Thompson.”

Um, ew.

My eyes opened and I frowned at her, squinting as the sudden light turned my vision blue. “No way in hell. Ever, Nikki.”

“He’s really nice.”

“He’s on steroids,” I retorted as my eyes slid shut again.

“He is not!” Frank had been making goo-goo eyes at Nikki for several months. She didn’t like him, but she thought his infatuation was ‘cute.’

“Besides, you think I’d be bored enough to zone out during one of Dee’s lectures?” Dee, short for Deirdre Ranther, was our American Lit prof. While I normally detested American classics, I adored Dee. She was a total lifesaver; I went into the term thinking I’d be lucky as hell to scrape by with a low B.

I had a sturdy A, thankyouverymuch.

“Whatever,” she said. “I was just messing with you, anyway.” I listened to her rustling around before the back of her head came to rest against the side of my stomach. She was sitting with her back against the planter. Her eyes were probably closed. It had been a rough week—I called Nikki after Alex and Dylan left, and she’d spent most of her free time fretting about me since then, insisting I ought to sleep at her place until I felt safe enough to go back. I only took her up on that offer the first two nights after Alex and Dylan broke in; after that, I forced myself to stay home all day so I’d be more or less comfortable by the time night fell. She even insisted I report the break in, but I refused. After all, I couldn’t tell the police the truth.

“Comfy?” I asked, cracking an eye open to peer at her. Her face was slack, her breathing deep and even. She wasn’t asleep, but she was close. The perfect weather dulled our senses.

“Yep.”

Gravity pulled my eyelid down again. “You’re welcome, fathead.”

“Whatever.” She yawned, and before I knew it, I had yawned as well.

We stayed like that for what felt like a long time, saying nothing, before the sun’s warmth began to feel almost uncomfortable. A shadow fell across my face, and I opened my eyes. The sun created a glow—almost a halo—around his head and I had to squint to recognize Dylan.

I gasped and bolted to my feet. Nikki’s head bounced against the side of the concrete planter. “Ow, Dani—”

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. He looked out of place when the dusky green walls of my apartment didn’t surround him.

Dylan didn’t answer. He smiled at Nikki and offered her a hand up. “Are you all right?”

She didn’t take the offered hand. “Yeah,” she said, rubbing the back of her head a little and glancing back and forth between the two of us. “I’m fine, thanks.”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” I said to him.

Again, he was slow to answer. He seemed reluctant to ruin my peaceful afternoon in the sun.

It’s a bit late for that, butthead.

“We need to talk to you,” he said, drawing out the words like they’d been soaked in molasses.

I glanced around, deliberately passing over the growing frown on Nikki’s face. “Where is he?”

“In the car.” We were only fifty yards or so from the street. A green Corolla rested next to the red curb of a drop-off only area. Its flashers blinked with irritating regularity.

I resisted the urge to sigh. Why wouldn’t this just end? They already had my stupid—okay, dearly beloved—knife. “Why are you here, Dylan?”

Nikki’s eyes went wide. I’d told her most of what happened last weekend when I came home early. The only part I’d deemed unnecessary was the fact that the burglars weren’t quite human.

And I failed to mention that I knew their names. Yeah, I could see why she was pissed.

“You’re one of the bastards that scared the crap out of Dani?” she snarled, and continued without waiting for a response. “Get lost, before I call the fucking cops.”

“I can’t,” he said, sounding apologetic, “I need to talk to Dani.”

“Stop calling me that,” I snapped. “It’s Danielle.”

“She just called you Dani.”

“I’m her friend,” Nikki yelled. People paused and to give us surreptitious glances. Nikki could make a public scene faster than anyone I’ve ever known. It was part of her charm. “And you, you stupid piece of shit, are not a friend!” She whipped out her phone and slid it open, leveling a glare at him as she did so.

Dylan held up his hands and sent me a pleading look. “Danielle, we just want to talk to you.”

“We?” Nikki cried sounding outraged. I could practically see her mind jump to the worse possible scenarios, all of which included her letting me go off on my own and end up surrounded by a group of hoodlum-esque guys.

It was such a painfully protective response—one that had Nikki’s loopy, feminine signature all over it—I nearly smiled.

“About what?” I said. Having someone as ferocious as Nikki standing next to me gave me the confidence I needed.

He hesitated. “Several things. Mostly your grandfather.”

“Asswipe,” Nikki sneered. I glanced sidelong at her, knowing she was enjoying herself more than she would ever admit.

“Danielle, please just talk to us,” he half-whined. “We just want to clear up a few things.”

My eyes narrowed. “What happens if I say no?”

He hesitated. I began chewing on my bottom lip. Even though his response rattled me, I couldn’t help but wonder how could anyone be so ridiculously transparent. Alex, I was convinced, would be a much better liar. Probably one of the best around, if he felt like it.

Nikki bristled and stepped forward until she could level the full magnitude of her glare at him, even though her forehead only reached his chin. Nikki was no shrimp, but Dylan was a flippin’ giant. “You don’t really believe you can get away with two kidnappings in broad daylight like this, do you?” she hissed.

Dylan looked baffled. “Two? I wasn’t even—”

“’Cause you’d have to snatch me, too,” she continued, “There’s no way in hell I’m just going to fucking let you take her.”

He held up well under her glare. Better than I would have. “I’m not going to—”

“You better believe it!”

“Nikki.” I put my hand on her arm and drew her back a few steps, speaking low into her ear. “I don’t think it’ll hurt—too much—if we just go with them, see what they want.”

She gave me a dubious Look. An Are-You-Sure-What-You’re-Doing-Because-It-Doesn’t-Really-Look-Like-It Look.

I blew out a gust of breath. No, I didn’t know what I was doing, but she didn’t, either. “I left out a few things when I told you about them,” I confessed. “Things are a little more complicated than I led you to believe.”

Her brows contracted, and her bottom lip slid out into a pout. On anyone else, it would have looked fake, but the hurt in Nikki’s whisper made it real. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I bit my lip, a guilt-born grimace working its way through my system. “There’s no way you would have believed me. Trust me on this, Nikki. I don’t think I really believe it myself yet.”

She glanced back at Dylan, running a critical eye over him once, calculating. I hid a smile. That was the look she reserved for guys she was checking out. “Is he in the mafia?”

Well, I suppose there’s some badass glamour that comes with being part of the mob.

“No,” I answered.

She pursed her lips. Guys fell for that look every time. If Dylan hadn’t been studiously not listening, he would have, too. “He’s kind of hot, isn’t he? It’s too bad.”

I grinned, glad she would be coming with. “They’re either gay, taken, or criminals.”

“So,” I said, using my small-talk voice and drawing the word out, “Where’re we going?”

Alex shot me a surly look and didn’t answer. The air shivered with his displeasure—he’d nearly thrown a fit when Dylan showed up with both Nikki and myself in tow.

“Are you crazy?” he’d hissed, “First Danielle, now her? We’re going to end up breaking every goddamn rule in the goddamn book!”

“Give it a rest,” Dylan had answered, sliding into the driver’s seat.

Nikki was having a fine time so far—she sat in the front passenger seat and took full advantage of it, shooting Dylan a flirtatious look every once in a while. She’d taken one look at Alex and glanced at me, raising her eyebrows. “I see what you meant,” she said. She appeared calm enough, but I knew the second we were alone she was going to demand a full explanation. She didn’t want to loose her ‘tough cookie’ façade in front of Alex and Dylan. It was hard to intimidate people who knew they intrigued you. “I still kind of wish you’d told me, though.”

“But you know you wouldn’t’ve believed me,” I countered. She shrugged in ascent and strapped herself in.

Alex had to sit in the back, behind tinted windows, or I was sure Nikki would have been displaced. He wasn’t happy about it—he struck me as someone who liked to be the driver. It would match his more controlling tendencies perfectly.

“So,” I said again, raising my voice a little. “Where’re we going?”

“Your place,” Alex said shortly. He didn’t look away from the window.

“Why?” I asked. He shrugged, and I rolled my eyes. He didn’t see it. “Alex…”

He grunted. “What?”

I tried out a hopeful smile. My puppy smile, my brother used to call it. “Please just tell me?”

He rolled his eyes, far more extravagantly than I had. “The knife isn’t working.”

I had to concentrate on my breathing to keep it even. “What the hell do you mean, it ‘isn’t working?’” I said, a little sharper than I’d intended. “It’s a knife. It cuts things. How can it not work?”

He didn’t answer right away, just shifted his gaze until he was looking forward. Dylan was watching him in the rearview mirror, I realized. Dylan shrugged, and Alex frowned and shook his head, almost imperceptibly. Dylan raised his eyebrow, briefly, and returned his attention to the road. My eyes flicked back and forth between them, trying to keep up with their silent conversation. I failed miserably.

Alex sighed. “Yeah, we’re breaking all the rules,” he muttered. “All right, tell your friend to listen up. I’m only going to break this particular rule once.”

A smile tugged at my lips. I didn’t have to even look to know that Nikki was hanging on to every word. She adored anomalies, like thieves who were see through with sparkly skin and could turn into animals. She had never been overly crazy about cats, though.

“The knife is a couple centuries old,” Alex said. “Nobody’s sure how old exactly, but we figure it’s probably about five hundred. It gets passed down from person to person—people like you, mostly because they try to keep it in the family.”

“My family?” I asked.

Alex shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know a whole lot about it—Dylan and I are just the messengers, here.” Dylan coughed, and Alex shot him a glare.

My eyebrows shot together in a heavy frown. “What?” I demanded. “You’re not just messengers?”

“No, we are,” Alex said, still glaring at Dylan.

Well. The fathead was obviously not going to just come out and tell me, so I would have to pry or trick it out of him later, when he wouldn’t see it coming.

I almost began to cackle out loud before I remembered I wasn’t alone. Oops.

“You didn’t answer her question,” Nikki said. Double oops. I flushed and tried to look nonchalant, but she was right. “How can a knife not work? Just sharpen it.”

Alex scowled at her. “It’s a magic knife, or something. I don’t know what it does or how it works, only that it won’t.”

“You’re lying,” I said, matching his scowl with one of my own.

“Believe what you want,” he snapped, “But why the hell does a couple of messengers need to know what it does? I’ve never even touched it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t doubt it,” I said, eyeing his see-through skin pointedly.

“I think you guys are liars, too,” Nikki announced.

“Nobody asked you,” Alex growled, his voice rougher than when he’d spoken to me just a minute ago.

She turned around in her seat and managed to level a condescending glare at both Dylan and Alex at the same time. “Give me a little credit. This is not the way to Dani’s apartment.”