Notes: Tiantian Wang – This story will be about seven chapters.

After Danny finished work on Friday night, he took a ferry out to the Hampton's. Katie left him a message the day before telling him how to find the house. The cab dropped him off in front of the large beachfront home. As he walked up the driveway, he saw Katie waiting for him on the porch. She was wrapped in a blanket since it was almost freezing. As soon as she caught sight of him, she jogged out to meet him.

"I was hoping you would get my message," she said almost frantically.

"What message? I came straight here from work."

"Eric is here. He found out I was coming and insisted that he join me. I didn't know what to tell him."

"How about telling him the truth? That you are confused and need time to sort this out."

"I can't do it, Danny. I can't…."

Danny felt his heart deflating, but he couldn't give up. "What is the deal with you and this guy? I don't get it."

Just as Katie was about to respond, Eric Mathews appeared at the front door and walked out casually. "Sweetheart…I was wondering where you escaped to," he said curiouslywhile he kissing her and putting his arm around her. "What's going on? Who do we have here?"

Danny could see the panic dance in Katie's eyes. "Danny Taylor," he said as he held out his hand. "You must be Eric. Katie's told me so much about you." Eric was shorter than Danny and had sandy blond hair. He looked like a pin-up for a former frat boy.

Eric shook Danny's hand and looked at him suspiciously. "Well I wish I could say the same. Katie hasn't mentioned you. What brings you out here this time of night?"

"Eric…" Katie started to explain.

Danny interrupted. "My friends have a place a couple of miles from here…not quite as nice as this…but it's fun to get away to every once in a while. Katie and I went to high school together. I knew her grandmother still had a place here, so I decided to take a chance."

Eric looked from Katie to Danny skeptically. "You went to Brentland? You're name doesn't sound familiar. I'm a Brentland survivor myself."

"That's right. I went to Brentland," Danny replied sensing the snobbish air about Eric.

"Well…it's nice of you to stop by, but Katie and I have an evening planned…" Eric responded sounding slightly threatened.

Katie looked at Danny with a sad expression. She didn't know what to do or say. Danny just wanted her to tell Eric the truth and couldn't understand why she couldn't.

"Right…well…good to see you, Katie. Congratulations to both of you," Danny said as he turned to walk up the drive.

He had to walk two miles to get to the nearest business establishment, which happened to be a bar. When he walked in, he just planned on calling a cab, but then he felt the wad of cash in his pocket. He remembered he still had the tips from his day's work. So he sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Once again, he was feeling depressed and sorry for himself. As he drank more and more, he started to feel like Katie chose Eric over him because he was her kind of people. He felt like he would never measure up in her world. Just like with Payton…he was only good enough for Katie to sleep with…not have a relationship with.

Two hours later, he was completely drunk. The bartender told him the bar was closing, and he had to leave. The bartender called him a cab, but instead of waiting for it, Danny walked all the way back to Katie's house. It was well past midnight. He was just drunk enough to want to confront Katie. He wanted to force her to tell Eric the truth. So he walked up to the front door and started to bang on it. "Katie…Katie…," he yelled.

Finally, Katie answered the door wearing a long robe. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's time for you to tell the truth. Where is he? Where's your fiancé? He needs to know the truth about us," Danny said in a loud, slurring voice.

"He left, Danny. He was called back to the city on business. I'm sorry he was here. I didn't mean for that to happen."

"You didn't mean for it to happen? Oh…poor Katie. All that time, you thought Payton was so evil…and now you are playing her same game. I'm such an idiot."

"What does that mean? I'm not playing a game, Danny."

"The hell you aren't," he said as he got in her face. "You know exactly what you are doing. You're engaged to Mr. All-American, but you have to indulge the rich girl fantasy of screwing a guy from the wrong side of the tracks."

"You're drunk, Danny. If you weren't, then I would explain…but you are way off-base."

"No…I'm not," he said as he backed her into the door and untied the sash of her robe. "You want your cake and you want to eat it, too. I should just accept it and take it for what's its worth…an easy lay," he said and then leaned in to kiss her.

His breathe reeked of alcohol. Katie felt the rough touch of his hands on her body and was scared. She'd never seen him like this before. There was anger and rage in his eyes. When his lips moved from her lips to her neck, she cried out, "Danny…please stop…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…don't do this…"

Hearing her cry made him stop even though he was still drunk and very angry. He pushed away from her. "I have to get the hell out of here. I'm so tired of dealing with spoiled rich bitches like you."

"You don't understand…"

"You're right. I don't. I have to call a cab…" he said as he stumbled toward the phone.

"You won't get a cab out here this time of night. And the ferry stopped running at midnight…just spend the night…"

"I don't want to spend another minute with you…"

"I'll drive you. I'll drive you back to the city tonight...right now."

Danny was torn. He didn't want to stay with her, but couldn't continue walking outside in the freezing cold. "Whatever…I just want to get the hell out of here."

Katie walked quickly up the stairs and came back down within minutes dressed in jeans and a sweater. She grabbed a set of keys from the side table, and Danny followed her out to the driveway. Before she could get in the driver's side, Danny stopped her. "Wait a second," he said quietly.

"What?" she asked turning around.

He came toward her and tenderly touched her face. She leaned in to his touch as she looked into his eyes. She thought for a moment that he was going to apologize. Instead while she was focused on holding his gaze, he reached down and grabbed the keys to the Range Rover out of her hand. Danny laughed as he held the keys out of her grasp. "I've always wanted to drive one of these things."

"Danny, give me the keys."

"Nope…I'm driving."

"Danny…don't be ridiculous. You're drunk. Just give me the damn keys," she said reaching for them again, but Danny wouldn't budge.

"Do you know how many cars I've parked while drunk? More than I can count right now, that's for sure. Let's go."

"I'm not getting in the car with you like this. Give me the keys."

Danny kept laughing. "Fine. Just don't report the car stolen, and you can't pick it up at my place tomorrow," he said as he slid in the driver's side. "Maybe I'll even be up for a one last roll in the hay before you live happily ever after with Eric."

Katie didn't know what to do. She couldn't get the keys away from him, but didn't want him to drive back to the city alone. So she went around to the passenger side and got in. "I can't let you go alone. This is insane. You shouldn't be driving," she said as she put on her seat belt.

Then Danny took off. He peeled out of the driveway and onto the main road like a bat out of hell. Katie gripped the door handle and pleaded for him to slow down.

"Relax…okay. I'm fine. We'll get back to the city, and then I'll never bother you again…trust me," he responded as he continued to slur his words.

"Danny…the back roads are tricky. You need to go slow. You're going way to fast," she shouted anxiously.

And then all at once…it happened. The corner was sharper than Danny anticipated. He overcorrected, and thecar started spinning. Danny banged his head against the window right before the the car flipped. The last thing he heard was the sound of Katie's screams.