With No Warning (Romance/Inspirational)(Complete)

CHAPTER 24: Playing House

CHAPTER 24: Playing House

Some personality types could not function in a crisis, and either froze in silent panic, or ran around in a screaming frenzy. Others calmly and methodically made it through each minute, as if it were an everyday occurrence, and then fell apart, or went into shock afterward. But the shock always came, whether it was during, or after.

Dakota was one of the latter. Weak kneed, she leaned against Evan, and felt the burning of tears in her eyes. Cass and Bretni were climbing the stairs onto the wet porch, and Lana was still standing dumbfounded, watching Curt disappear from view.

“Ms. D. Your hair!”

Self-consciously, Dakota raised trembling fingers to the defect, and Evan gently steered her toward the dorm, taking control of the tense moment. “Let’s get her inside where she can sit.  Who has the key?”

The door had swung automatically shut behind her and Curt, and now Cass popped her card in and out, then held it open for Evan and Dakota. How had Curt gained entry? This was just one of the many questions swimming through her mind.

Evan sat her down on the couch, relating that he had broken all speed limits getting here after their phone call. He had indeed understood her danger code. Parking the truck in the main lot, he had made his way to the side of the dorm, some instinct telling him not to go directly for the front door. The girls had arrived directly, and he had called them from the porch, to keep them from walking in, and to inquire about the back entry. As the girls were explaining to him that the key cards did not work in the rear door, the front door had swung open and Curt had emerged with Dakota behind him.

In a shaky monologue, Dakota described the last hour as she had lived it, and Evan's story came in between bits and pieces of hers. Within ten minutes, they were done talking.  The silence settled as the girls gaped from their perch on the opposite couch.

"Why did he do that?  To your hair?"  Lana was the first of the three to speak.

"Because he's a--"  Dakota bit her tongue on the word psycho as she took in the confusion and hurt that marred the girl's features.  With the intensity of one of the earlier lightening bolts, she empathized the relationship.  'Lana has beautiful hair.  I tell her all of the time.'  Was Curt a control freak or a troubled teen?  "He's a dangerous mixed up kid.  As you know yourself.  He is a danger, Lana."  Stressing this, she paused, wanting to make sure that if Curt made contact, Lana would be smart.  "To himself and anyone around him.  And no matter how much you want to, you can't help him.  He needs professional help, and even that is useless, until he is ready to help himself."

Evan, jabbing at his phone, diverted her attention, and Dakota whirled on him.  “Wait.  Are you dialing the Sheriff?” At Evan’s nod, she reached for her own phone. “Call Steve first. Let him handle it. He’ll know what to do.”

Worse than any thundercloud that had blown over the skies that day, Evans face darkened. “Steve?! The Coach?!”

Dakota had to stifle a giggle, which she knew would be unappreciated. Hysterics on her part again?! Calmly she appeased, “Coach Steve is Curt’s dorm councilor.” Bearing Curt’s father’s status in mind, Dakota knew that it was imperative that the situation be handled properly. “He will know what to do.”

“Dakota, he committed a crime...”

“Trust me on this, okay.” Punching in the phone number, she stared into his eyes, beseeching his understanding. Explanations couldn’t be made in front of the girls.

As it turned out, Curt’s father, who had already returned to Austin, flew into the local airstrip, that evening, by private plane. He retrieved his son, who had gone back to the hotel that he had been checked into for the weekend, and took him to the Sheriffs office the next morning. Within hours, bail was set, and made, and Curt was on the plane back to Austin with his father. All of this was relayed to her by Lora, as the events unfolded and were told to her by Steve. Olivia had called, within minutes of Dakota’s first call to Steve, expressing her horror and concern, and told Dakota that she was arranging for someone else to oversee the dorm for the weekend.