The Criminal's Eyes - Daniel Howell

Chapter 9

My world was already crumbling, and Dan was the cement holding it together. But as soon as those words escaped from his lips, it all came crashing down around me, leaving me to pick up the pieces of the ruins.

"What?! Oh God, you could have been a Howell but why the son of the Lord and Lady?" I ask rhetorically, my thoughts becoming irrevocable. And I thought him being wanted was the worst part of this. Figures.

"B-but, surely Lord and Lady Howell wouldn't accept their son to be anything short of perfect?" I ask, furrowing my brow in thought.

"I'm only wanted here. You forget that we're in Lester territory, how else would I have been able to acquire a suit at such short notice without being caught?" he explains, and I sigh in exasperation.

"Look, Dan, I apologise for being blunt but you're gonna have to explain all this. Everything. Unless you can trust me and tell me what's going on, I won't be able to trust you." I say, looking up at him, placing my hand on his arm, and I feel him tense up at the contact.

"Okay, but do you have the time? I mean, Ciara-"
"For you Dan, I have all the time in the world. Don't worry about them. I'll find a way out of it, but now is about you."
He sighs, running his hands through his hair before sitting down on the grass and gesturing for me to sit down next to him. I make sure there's no one around and sit, my head leaned on his shoulder, and then I turn to face him when I realise this is the first time I've seen him in light (even though the setting sun is quickly taking that away from me).

I quickly scan over his features, noticing he has dimples, and seeing that his hands are calloused and rough.
It shocks me when he takes off his blazer, rolling up his sleeves and unbuttoning his collar to reveal tattoos, loads of them. Some in colour, some without, but all of them just as beautiful as the next.

I get lost staring at the artwork on his skin, and he chuckles to himself, bringing me out of my trance. I turn bright red realising he'd caught me in my fascination.

"We'll talk about them later but... let's focus on one thing at a time." He grins at me.
"Okay. Go ahead." I smile back.

He lets out a deep breath as he starts, "Obviously you know about the Howell/Lester feud, I mean, it's been going on for years. We wanted the land, so did they, so we split it down the middle, but we, and the people that live on our opposite sides, still ended up hating each other even after the 'compromise'. Well, believe it or not, us Howells actually wanted peace. So, around three months ago, my mother, father, sister and I, being the better people that we are, arranged a meeting with the Lesters. They invited us to this very house. Everything was going well, but as soon as we presented our peace treaty, their precious Derek barges in, saying that apparently I'd been stealing since I got there. He then accused my sister of trying to seduce one of the guards into giving her the keys to their precious basement vault. Obviously these accusations were ridiculous, but of course mummy and daddy had to listen to their golden son. I hadn't touched a thing since I stepped foot in that place, so I was confident when they patted me down and searched me. They didn't find anything, as expected, but then Derek drags out my satchel from behind his back, opens it for us all to see that he's planted a goblet in there! Does anyone question why he had my satchel? No. What did they do instead? Call the guards on me and prepare to arrest me for theft! The nerve of these people. Being me, there was no way I was going to be taken in for this, so I grabbed my rucksack with the extra food we had brought, and made a run for it. I had to leave my satchel with all my personal stuff because Derek had it, the bastard, but those guards were way too slow for me. Honestly, you'd think they'd been trained the day before. So yeah, the rest of my family left there immediately and I ended up on the run. Then I met you while I was near the border, and I knew that if I didn't get home soon my family would send a search party, or I'd be found and sent to jail. After I left you covered in my jacket I managed to cross the border and get home, but I couldn't get you out of my head. Everything I did, your name was on my mind, everything I said, your kiss was on my lips. So, once I heard everyone in the Lester's reign was going to be at the event, I had to come here and find you. So here I am, back in Lester territory. It was easy though, finding you. Anyone could notice your beauty a mile away."

I listen intently to his story, showing my reaction to certain parts through gasps and nods, and when he finishes he slumps back against the bush, putting his mask back on when we hear the distant laughs and shouts of people from inside, reminding us we're not technically alone.

"...now do you trust me?" He asks, looking up at me from where he's practically laid down, as I sit rocking on the backs of my legs, and I lean across, now over him.

"Of course I do, Mr Howell. That's totally messed up, I can't believe you had to go through that and then came back just to see me? I mean, I'm honoured." I say before I start to whisper, pressing our foreheads together. "But for the record, I never liked Derek anyway..." I finish with a grin, and place my hand under his jaw, my other hand tangled in his hair, to support when I kiss him and crash our lips together, and I instantly notice the new appearance of two metal studs in his lip, it was almost as hot as the tattoos.
"Oh shit I didn't mention I got my piercings back too-" he begins, but I cut him off with my lips, him tilting his head upwards to kiss me back in a mess of pity and want, throwing us deeper into whatever this is. Possibly the most surreptitious relationship that could ever occur.

He swipes his tongue across my lip and I grant him entrance, deepening the kiss while trying not to fall back into the bush behind him. Distracting me from his lips, I can feel the rough skin of his calloused hand on my waist through the thin material of the dress, and it slides down to my hips as I tighten the grip on his now messy hair. The heat growing between us contrasts to the cold beginning to come from the breeze dancing around us, and he sits up while I reposition myself to sit on his lap, still immersed in his lips. I feel him put his hand on my thigh, slowly making his way upwards when-

"Dan?!"