ON AIR by Hadley Quinn Page B

Danzig ever again.
    “Nat, my dad arrested Zig a couple of times.”
    Her forehead creased between her eyebrows. “I didn’t know that.”
    “I used to be friends with him years back, and when he spent a couple years in jail, that’s when I got accepted to college. Definitely a good thing at that point.”
    “I didn’t know you knew him, Dane. I’m so sorry. Now I feel even worse…” She dropped her face into her hands.
    “Don’t worry about it, babe. But I want you to stay away from him, okay? I could seriously yell at you right now for going to his place by yourself, but I won’t. Just don’t ever do it again.”
    “But Davey…”
    “I’ll talk to Davey, okay? Let me see what’s going on with him. But I’m serious, Natalie. Stay the fuck away from Derek Danzig. Got it?”
    She nodded reluctantly, causing me to fear she would defy my warning anyway.
    My phone buzzed with a text, and upon pulling it out to check the message, I could feel Natalie reading over my shoulder.
    “Who’s Holly?” she asked.
    I gave her a look for being nosy but answered, “Just someone I met a week or so ago.”
    She scoffed. “Oh, so you can get pissy when you think I’m screwing someone else, but you’ve got…pssh, that ,” she pointed to my phone.
    “ ‘That’ is not anything,” I retorted, feeling a bit miffed. “I thought it could be something but then I felt somewhat annoyed with her for stuff, and decided to forget it.”
    “Doesn’t look like she’s decided to forget it. And you and I agreed that we’d let the other know who we’d slept with in between our own little sessions. You know, to be safe.”
    “I haven’t slept with her,” I growled. “And I was pissed because I thought you’d overlooked that agreement with- with some fucker named Derek!”
    She looked at me wide-eyed. “I would never be dishonest with you, Dane.”
    “Then tell me what all of that was in my office the other day. Did it have to do with your brother, or was it something else?”
    I assumed it did have to do with her brother, so I was surprised when she paused for so long. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Both. My brother and…you.”
    With an eyebrow cocked, I turned slightly on the bed toward her. “What about me?”
    And then this is where Natalie always closed up. Any time there was a possibility of getting close to her or hearing anything personal come out of her mouth, she either shut down or gave me hell.
    “Natalie, you know I’m here for you, right? When have I ever given you the impression that I wouldn’t be? You can talk to me about anything.”
    “Not always,” she mumbled.
    “ Try me .”
    “Dane, any time I try to get anything personal out of you, you just shut down on me or argue.”
    Whoa. Wait, what? Was she reading my thoughts or… “Did I accidentally say that out loud?”
    She stared at me. “Say what? And seriously, are you avoiding the question?”
    “What question did you actually ask? You told me I’m secretive and argumentative. Those are your traits, Nat.”
    She laughed at me. “No, Dane, that’s you entirely.”
    “No, I’m pretty sure I actually care to talk about things with you but you’re the one who avoids it or rushes out as soon as possible.”
    “You do that!” she scoffed. “Gahhh, seriously?”
    “Okay Miss ‘I collect the sweatshirts of men I sleep with so I can feel really fucking proud of myself, oh there’s another notch on my bedpost.’ ”
    “Ugh! Really, Dane!? You are so fucking dense!”
    “Dense? How does that make me dense!?”
    “Because I don’t do that, okay? Duh! I only told you that as a joke because you seemed to think that way about me and… Ugh, just drop it,” she groaned while standing. “This is just a repeat of our fight at the bar.”
    I stood to face her. “No, you called me some shitty names that night.”
    “Because you were acting pretty shitty.”
    “And how was I acting? You come in there with your friends and