My cell phone rang, jolting me awake. Shit, I thought, I fell asleep. Hopefully I wasn’t late to pick up Danni for the game. I fumbled in my jeans and pulled out my cell. It was Ryder. As I swiped the screen to answer it, I noticed the time display said it was just after one o’clock. Thank God…I still had just under an hour until I was supposed to pick her up. “Hello?” I answered, holding the phone up to my ear.
“Hey man, what’s up? I heard you’re taking Danni on a date today,” he said.
I shut off the television and stood up. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and grimaced. My hair had dried all crazy while I was sleeping so I ran my hands through it and grabbed a hair tie from my pocket. “How did you hear about that already?” I asked, holding the phone between my ear and shoulder while I tied my hair into a low ponytail.
Ryder laughed. “You do know that Danni is my wife’s best friend, right? They tell each other everything.”
I smiled and held the phone in my hands again. “Well, did she seem happy when she called?”
“I don’t know, man. I didn’t talk to her,” he answered, still laughing. “I did hear them on the phone and Evie sounded happy.”
I felt light hearted. Danni had called Everleigh excited for our date today.
“Happy is good.”
I heard him sigh and he said, “Yes it is. I hope this works out for you both, man. I really do.”
“I do too, Ryder, but don’t get ahead of yourself. We are just going to a game and hopefully getting dinner afterward. We are going to try and talk things out and take it slow.”
“Well, after the year you’ve had you’re both due for some good times,” said Ryder.
I looked at the display on my phone again and was starting to get antsy.
“Listen, man, I have to run. I’m supposed to pick Danni up at two and I bought her some stuff for the game today so I wanted to get to her place early.”
“That’s cool. Have fun today, man,” he said.
“You too. Tell Ev I said hey,” I said, picking up the bag of clothes and getting my keys off the hook by the door.
“I will. Later,” he said.
“Later,” I repeated and hung up my phone.
I grabbed my jacket and after making sure I had everything, I walked outside and locked the front door. I quickly got into my silver Dodge Charger and started it. I took a deep breath as I put the car in reverse and drove the distance to Danni’s townhouse apartment.
My fingers mindlessly tapped the steering wheel along to the music. I felt myself getting nervous the whole time I was driving but for the first time in a while it was a good nervous. I hadn’t asked Danni to spend the day together, she asked me. That was a huge step in the right direction.
I turned onto her street, pulling into her driveway behind her car. I frowned as I looked at the beat up old Taurus she was driving. Maybe if we made this relationship work she might let me convince her to get a new car so she wasn’t driving around in that old thing.
I grabbed the bag of Danni’s gifts from the front seat before I quickly got out. I jogged up the front steps and rang her doorbell. My hands were fidgeting while I waited for her to come to the door. After a few long moments, I saw the knob turn and the door opened.
Danni smiled at me the minute she saw me and I melted at the sight of her. She had her long honey colored hair in a ponytail and was wearing a white fitted tee shirt and jeans that clung to her curvy hips. Even in something so simple she looked so beautiful it almost hurt.
“Hey Beau, you’re early,” she stated.
“Uh, yeah, I bought you something for the game today so I wanted to stop by early to give it to you.”
“You got me a gift? Aw, that’s so sweet, Beau. Come on in,” she said, stepping back and waving me inside.
“Thanks,” I replied, stepping inside her small apartment.
I’d actually never been inside before and as I looked around, I smiled. It looked like a girl’s apartment. This place just had Danni’s essence in every part of it, from the fuzzy pink blanket draped over the couch to the “Casablanca” movie poster hanging on the living room wall. “This is a nice place, Danni,” I said, looking around.
“Thank you, Beau. I love it here, it’s so cozy. I can’t believe you’ve never been here before.”
“Well, when you are a fall down drunk battling depression you don’t really think about getting out much,” I answered, immediately wishing I hadn’t.
Danni’s eyes were tender and sad as she placed her delicate fingers around my wrist. My heart beat faster as she squeezed.
“Beau…”
I shook my head and smiled at her.
“Water under the bridge, Danni. I’m okay, really. So,” I said, trying to change the subject, “are you ready for your present?”
Danni tried to hide her excitement but she couldn’t. I knew she wasn’t a girl that could be bought but she was one that loved little “just because” gifts.
“Sure,” she said, beaming.
“Well, since this will be your first Reds game, I figured you needed some gear. So,” I said, reaching into the bag, “I got you a few things to help you represent.”
Her eyes went wide with appreciation as I pulled out her tee shirt, hat, and jacket. She took the shirt in her hands and said, “Oh Beau, I love them! I can’t believe you bought me this stuff!”
“It’s no big deal, Danni.”
She threw her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. I fought back a groan as I felt her lips on my skin.
“It’s a very big deal. Thank you!”
I hugged her around her torso and said, “You’re welcome, beautiful.”
Holy fuck…she smelled amazing. I shuffled my feet to hide my growing erection.
She slowly broke the hug and lingered a little longer than I think she meant to.
“I’m going to go change. Give me five minutes?” she asked.
“Of course. Take your time, I’ll wait here.”
Holding onto the tee shirt she walked down the hall to a small bathroom that was right outside the kitchen. I stood in her living room and looked around at all the pictures she had hanging and setting out. I picked up a picture of Danni with who I assumed were her parents. I’d never met them before but from the stories she and Everleigh told they seemed like nice people.
Danni looked just like her mother; both had the same hair and eyes. I ran my fingers over the picture of the happy family and smiled sadly. I never knew what that felt like, to live in a happy home as a child. My asshole father split when Sadie was a few months old and my mother was the epitome of a bad parent. She flitted from man to man, not giving a shit if Sadie and I were happy, or hell, even fed that day. I didn’t know if I’d ever have any children but one thing I knew for sure was that if I did, they would never know what it was like to be neglected or unloved.
As I set the picture back down, a movement from the bathroom caught my eye. Danni must have forgotten to completely shut the door behind her, and I saw her changing her shirt. My mouth went dry as I saw her in a white lacy bra and I fought back a groan. I’d noticed that she was thicker around the middle now than she was when we first met and had more of a curve to her hips. It made her look so much sexier than I’d remembered. Danni was always beautiful to me but now that she’d filled out just a bit she looked orgasmic.
She quickly pulled the Reds tee shirt over her head and as soon as it was on, she pulled open the bathroom door, stepping toward me. “How do I look?”
I smiled at her and shifted around. Please God don’t let her see my semi, I thought.
“You look really cute. Does it fit okay?”
“Yep, fits perfectly. So, are you ready to go?”
I smiled and held out the jacket for her.
“I’m ready when you are,” I said as she walked to me and slid her arms into the jacket. “Don’t forget your hat.”
Danni grinned and picked up the hat. “Hey, where’s yours?”
&n
bsp; “In the car. Come on, you have to wear it.”
Danni put her hat on her head and pulled her long ponytail through the hole in the back.
“Does it look all right?”
“It looks perfect,” I replied. Even in baseball gear she looked devastatingly beautiful. I held out my arm for her.
“Let’s go watch some baseball.”
She linked her arm with mine as we walked out of her apartment.
“How’d you like your hot dog?” I asked Danni as I took the empty wrapper from her.
She licked her finger and smiled as she chewed her last bite.
After swallowing, she answered, “It was so good. I’ve never had one that tasted that good.”
I chuckled as I gathered the rest of our trash.
“Well, I’m happy you liked it,” I said, winking at her.
The game was over and we’d had a blast all afternoon just laughing and having fun. I’d never seen her so carefree and happy and it was giving me even more hope that this might all work out.
“So, did you have a good time?” I asked her as we stood up and began to walk to the end of the aisle.
“I really did. Who knew watching a baseball game would be so much fun?”
“Uh, probably every male sports fan in the history of the world,” I answered, and she giggled.
As we reached the end of the aisle, I held my arm out in front of me and said, “Ladies first.”
Danni flashed a mega watt smile at me and my heart skipped a beat.
“Thank you,” she said. She took my hand and her soft skin felt incredible in my rough hand as she led us up the steps and out of the stadium.
We walked hand in hand all the way out to my car. After unlocking car, I opened the passenger side door and held it open for her. Before getting in, she hugged me and said, “Thanks for bringing me, Beau.”
Hugging her back, I inhaled the scent of her shampoo.
“You’re welcome, beautiful.”
I wasn’t ready to let her go yet but I did as she lightly pulled away from me and slid into her seat.
As soon as I was behind the wheel, I started the engine and asked her, “So, what should we do? Do you want me to take you home?”
I really hoped her answer was no. I hadn’t had my fill of her yet and we hadn’t been able to really talk about anything. That was supposed to be the whole point of us spending time together today.
Danni took her hat off and placed it in her lap. Her ponytail fell around her shoulder and she turned her head to me.
“Why? Do you want to take me home?” she asked, her blue eyes widening.
“Of course I don’t,” I replied. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can. I was just giving you an out, I guess.”
“Well, I don’t want one. I asked to spend the day together, Beau, and the day’s not over yet.”
I smiled in relief as I put my car in park.
“So, where should we go?”
“Well, I’m still kind of hungry. Could we maybe go for pizza or something?”
I laughed and asked, “You’re still hungry?”
“Well, yeah,” she laughed. “What’s wrong with a girl that likes to eat?”
“Not a thing. I like that you’re not one of those girls that cringes at the sight of a cheeseburger. I’ve always liked a girl with an appetite.”
She playfully nudged me and said, “Most girls would read into that as a back-handed insult but I am choosing to ignore it.”
“It definitely wasn’t an insult. You know me, Danni, I like curves.”
She giggled and nudged me again. “Whatever. Just feed me, I want pizza.”
“Whatever you want,” I smiled and turned on the stereo.
A few of our latest tracks that Sadie had mixed and completed started playing over the speakers.
“I like this,” Danni said. “Is this one of the tracks for your new album?”
“Uh, yeah. Sadie got them done last week and gave me a copy to check out.”
“It’s really good, especially that intro. I’ve always loved the way you play the guitar,” she said.
“Thank you Danni. That means a lot,” I said, grinning.
“Well, it’s true. You were always my favorite Rebel even before…” she trailed off.
I cleared my throat.
“Thanks.”
We drove the rest of the way to the restaurant in silence as the music played.
“So, this is a nice place,” Danni stated before taking a sip of her soda.
We were sitting in a little booth in the back corner of my favorite pizza place and we’d just placed our order.
“Do you come here a lot?”
I shook my head and said, “Not as often as I’d like to. I used to love coming here when I was a kid.”
“Really?” she asked sweetly.
I sighed sadly. “Uh, yeah. Me and the guys used to play Little League baseball and Ryder’s dad would bring us here after the games.”
“That was really great of him to do that for you guys. I know you didn’t have it easy growing up,” she replied, placing her hand on mine.
“No, but neither did most of the others. Alan was one of the best parts of my childhood. He really was the father I never had.”
“What happened to your real dad?” Danni asked, but then her cheeks turned a beautiful shade of pink when she saw the look on my face. I hadn’t realized I was scowling.
“Oh shit, Beau, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”
“It’s okay, Danni.”
“No, it’s not. We’ve been having a great day and I just had to ruin it.”
“You didn’t ruin anything, sweetheart. No worries.”
Before either one of us spoke again the waitress came over and placed our pizza on the table. I placed a slice on Danni’s plate before getting one for myself and she thanked me.
After taking a bite of her pizza she said, “So, if we are going to stick to the reason for this little outing today, maybe we should talk about everything that went down in New York.”
I almost choked on the pizza in my mouth. I had been having such a great day that I was kind of hoping we wouldn’t actually have to address this issue. I swallowed my bite and said, “Danni, look, we really don’t have-”
She put her pizza down and placed her hand over mine.
“We need to. I need to,” she answered, desperation in her eyes. “Please.”
I sighed and took another drink of my soda, wishing right then it was whiskey. I needed something strong to calm me if I was going to be facing that disastrous fucking night again. I already thought about it every day…now I was going to have to talk about it with the person I hurt the most.
“Okay. Let’s talk,” I said, leaning back in my chair and looking at her.
“Why did you do it?” she asked me point blank. “You said you loved me…if you did, why did you have sex with that girl?”
I took a deep breath and blew out through my lips. “I saw you and Jake.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, her brows drawn.
I balled my hands into fists on the table as I remembered the guy I considered a friend with his tongue down Danni’s throat.
“He had his hands on you all night and I was so jealous I couldn’t see straight. Then when I heard that he’d led you to the back of the bar I got pissed. I came looking for you to get you away from him. When I walked out the back door to try and find you, I saw him kissing you.”
Danni gasped and her eyes went wide. “You what?”
“Yeah,” I said through gritted teeth. “I was trying to find you and tell you that I was in love with you, but instead I found you making out with my friend.”
“Hey, hold on,” she said angrily. “I didn’t make out with him. He kissed me and about a half a second into it I pushed him away.”
“It didn’t look like it,” I answered. “You two looked pretty cozy to me. I thought you didn’t want me anymore and tha
t you’d moved on, so I figured I would too.”
A single tear slid down Danni’s soft cheek and I ached to wipe it away.
“Beau, I didn’t move on. Like I said, I quickly pushed him away and told him that we’d been involved. He said he could guess because you looked at him like you wanted to kill him. He told me to go tell you how I felt and that he would back away because you were his friend. I left him in the back alley and came to find you.”
My heart sank. “Oh shit…”
More tears began to fall as she continued. “When I walked into the bathroom and saw you with that girl my heart broke. It literally broke in my chest. I have never felt pain like that,” she cried.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, despair in my voice. “I-I really thought you’d moved on with Jake. All this time I thought you’d had sex with him.”
“Of course I didn’t. I loved you, Beau,” she said, and I felt pain when she said she loved me…loved. Past tense. “I could never have done what you did.”
“Danni, I didn’t know. I swear to God I didn’t know you and Jake didn’t hook up. I was already half drunk at that point and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I tried to get past you with that girl but I couldn’t even go through with it. I never even made it halfway through.”
“You hurt me so much,” she sobbed, picking up a napkin and wiping her eyes.
I moved from my seat and knelt down in front of her.
Taking her face in my hands, I whispered, “Danni, I am so, so sorry. I didn’t know any of this…please forgive me. You have to forgive me.”
“I want to…so much.”
“We can’t move past any of this unless you can. You know I still love you and I’m all in, but the next move has to be yours.”
She leaned in and wrapped her arms around me.
“I know,” was all she said as we hugged for several moments.
I inhaled her scent deeply and it took all of my strength to keep my lips from kissing her skin.
“Listen,” I said, pulling away from her, “let’s get out of here. I’m pretty sure that both of us have lost our appetites and I don’t want the day to end like this. Do you want to come back to my place and watch a movie?”
Reckless Redemption: A Bad Blooded Rebel Novel (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) Page 6
