Her gaze was trained on her husband, a soft smile on her face as she got close to his desk. “Hi, honey.”
He rose to his feet, leaning down to place a kiss on her lips before divesting her of their son, Liam. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Nona,” Hayes greeted, standing up and rounding his desk clump to give the woman a sideways hug. “You good?”
“Just great,” she answered before shifting to Micah and giving him the same sweet greeting. Then, without so much as looking in my direction, she turned back to her husband and asked, “You ready for lunch?”
I leaned back in my chair, propping my elbows on the arms as I gave her a teasing grin. “What? Don’t feel like sharin’ the love with me?”
Instead of laughing like I’d expected, she shot me a vicious glare so full of ice I almost shivered.
“My momma taught me if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. And since it would be rude to call you a raging hemorrhoid with a head full of rocks, I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut.”
“What the hell?” I muttered, sitting up straight. “What did I do?”
“What you did was hurt my friend,” she fired back. “I thought you were a smart man, Leo, but apparently I was wrong.”
“Nona,” Trick said in a low, warning tone. “This isn’t the time or the place.”
“What happened between me and Danika is no one’s business but mine and Danika’s,” I gritted defensively. I’d always liked Nona, but the last thing I needed was her getting in my shit. Especially when she didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
“Dude. You and the Muffin Top chick?” Micah asked, a grin taking over his face. “Nice, brother. She’s all kinds of hot. And the way she bakes? Christ, talk about heaven. Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” He placed his hand on his chest in mock offense. “I’m hurt, man. Partners are supposed to share this kind of shit with each other.”
“They didn’t tell anyone.” Nona turned back to me, pinning me in place as she continued, “Neither of them did.” At that declaration, I felt all the blood drain from my face. Her expression turned knowing, and more than a little accusatory. “She never said a word. You should know that. Sage saw you two together. None of us knew what was going on, or that you were even keeping it a secret, so, in her excitement, she came to the salon and told me. That’s how we knew.”
Oh fuck.
“Uh . . .” Micah’s gaze bounced between the two of us. “Why do I feel like I’m missing somethin’ here?”
“Talk to your partner,” Nona clipped, keeping her eyes glued to me the whole time. “I’ll let him fill you in. That way he won’t be able to blame anyone else for running their mouth.”
“All right. We’re done here,” Trick said, taking Nona by the hand and pulling her toward the stairs that led out of the bullpen and into the lobby. “We got a lunch date to keep, and I’d rather not have to deal with any bloodshed today. That particular paperwork’s all kinds of hell.”
The two of them disappeared, leaving me in my chair, reeling over what I’d just found out.
“Leo, man, what did you do?” Micah asked a minute later.
I turned to him and gave him the truth. “I fucked up. Big time.”
Muffin Top was a mad crush of people by the time I walked in later that afternoon. I’d tried to get there earlier, but Micah and I caught a call that had taken precedence over my need to grovel and beg for forgiveness.
My eyes immediately went to the register when I stepped inside. Danika was behind the counter taking orders and smiling at her patrons as she rattled off coffee orders to the other woman working back there with her.
No doubt it would piss off everyone in there, but instead of waiting in line, I bypassed the crowd and started for the front.
“Here you go, Joe,” I heard her say as I got closer. “And I threw in an extra chocolate chip cookie just because you’re sweet.”
Joe Silvester shot Danika a wink as he reached across the counter and took the white paper bag from her hand. He turned to make his way out, spotting me just as I closed in on the counter, and gave me a look full of rebuke. Christ. Apparently word of my fuck-up had was already spreading through town.
“Detective Drake,” he grunted loud enough that Danika’s head shot up. Her big eyes filled with panic as soon as they landed on me.
“Joe.” I returned his greeting, hiking up my chin. “How’s it goin’?”
“Great, now that I had a moment to chat with the lovely Dani,” he answered, his look saying the words he hadn’t voiced, specifically, screw with her and die. “Girl’s sugar sweet, I’ll tell you what. Won’t be no time now, some lucky man snatches her up. If I were forty years younger, I’d be the first damn one in line. You get what I’m sayin’ to you?”
Oh, I got it all right. He couldn’t have made his warning any clearer if he’d just come right out in front of everyone and called me a mean prick.
I kept a watch on Danika from the corner of my eye as I said, “Not sayin’ anything I don’t already know, Joe,” and saw how she quickly looked away, those creamy cheeks blushing a pretty pink.
“Mm-hmm. Well, you’d do well to remember that.” With the last word spoken, Joe shouldered past me and made his way out of the coffee shop.
I watched him go and noticed several other people giving me the same look he just had. And it wasn’t because I’d cut in line. Oh no, it was because they knew I was the villain who’d slighted their precious Dani.
I slowly spun around, turning my gaze to the beautiful woman across the counter, but she was doing her best to pretend I didn’t exist. Giving the next person in line that big smile that never failed to heat my blood, she asked, “What can I get you today?”
“I’ll take a—”
“Danika,” I said, speaking over the customer. “Can we talk?”
She hit me with a cold, dead stare. “No we can’t. But while you’re here, I’ll ask that you have a word with your wife and ask her and her friends to stop spreading nasty rumors about me.”
My back shot straight, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “Ex-wife, and what the hell is she sayin’ about you?”
“Vicious woman,” another man farther back in the line piped up. “Goin’ round sayin’ sweet Dani’s a homewrecker who stole you away. Load of hogwash. Dani’d never do somethin’ like that.”
There were murmurs of agreement coming from all around, but I was too focused on the rage simmering inside me to pay attention.
“I’ll talk to her,” I swore to Danika. “I’ll make her stop. But there are some things I need to say to you.”
“As you can see, I’m in the middle of the afternoon rush.” She dismissed me, returning her focus to the woman standing beside me. “My apologies.”
“It’s fine. As I was saying—”
I cut them off again. “Please, sweetness. It’ll only take a minute.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and inhaled deeply, as if she was in pain, and when she opened them again to look at me, I could see clear as day that she was. Fuck me, but that killed.
“Pretty sure you said everything there was to say the other night.”
“Excuse me, but I’d really like to get my coffee.”
Dani looked back to the customer, a grin back in place, but this time it was easy to see just how fake it was. “So sorry about that. What was it you were wanting?”
“I need to apologize,” I blurted before the woman could get a word in edgewise. “I talked to Nona.”
“Freaking Nona,” she mumbled with a shake of her head. “I need new friends.”
“You know what? I’ll just wait,” the woman in line said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Seems no one’s gonna be getting their coffee until you two hash this out.” She waved her hand in a circle for me to carry on.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I was in a bad mood already because of the call from Hardin. I know it’s not an excuse but—”
“You�
��re right, it isn’t,” she bit out, slapping her hands on the counter and leaning in. “It’s never okay to take your bad mood out on someone else. But what’s even less okay is to say hurtful, cruel things because you’re pissed and want to make the other person feel just as badly as you do.”
“Honey—”
“Candace, do you mind . . .?”
The other woman behind the counter that had been standing close by, watching the whole scene unfold, quickly stepped to the register. “Of course.”
Danika moved toward the swinging double doors that led back into the kitchen and pushed one open, looking back to see if I’d followed. Once I rounded the counter, she led me into a small, cluttered office just off the huge, industrial kitchen.
She slammed the door closed behind me and moved to the desk, turning around to prop her hips against the edge and crossing her arms over her chest. Her stance spoke volumes. It told me that whatever she had to say wouldn’t take long, and I wasn’t invited to get comfortable in the meantime.
I opened my mouth to speak, but she got there first. “No.” Her hand came up, palm out, to silence me. “You wanted to apologize and you did. I accept, so now let’s just forget any of it ever happened and go back to the way things were before I somehow became worthy of your attention.”
“Danika, sweetness, I know I fucked up—”
“It’s Dani,” she hissed. “Danika and sweetness meant something to you, and you took it away. You don’t get to start using them again because you want forgiveness. It doesn’t work that way.”
I knew I hurt her, but until that very moment, I hadn’t realized just how much. “I was an asshole. I should have let you explain.”
“Yes, you should have. But you didn’t. I thought you knew me better than that. I never would have done anything to hurt you, but what’s more, I’d die before doing anything that could hurt your kids. I made a promise to you, and I keep my promises. But you got pissed and automatically decided to think the worst of me.”
“It’s not you,” I said quickly, desperate to explain. “I need you to know that, honey. I spent nearly fifteen years in a terrible marriage. She lied and manipulated and made every day a living nightmare.”
“I’m not Whitney, Leo.”
“I know that, believe me. You’re so much fucking better than she could ever be. But I don’t know what it’s like to be in a healthy, functioning relationship. I need you to stick with me, Danika. Stick with me, keep showin’ me what it’s like to be in somethin’ this good and healthy, and I swear, I’ll do better.”
“There’s no going back.”
“Sweet—” I stopped when she blasted me with an icy glare. “I know I hurt you, but I can make it right. What we had was good. No. It was fucking great. If you’ll let me, I can get us back to that.”
Her arms grew tighter around her, like she was trying to hold herself together as she said, “No it wasn’t. You said so yourself.”
“I was wrong.”
She shook her head, and I felt my gut clench. “No, you weren’t. Since you didn’t let me get a word in that night, I’ll take the opportunity now to tell you that you did, in fact, hurt me. But you couldn’t possibly know just how much, because, you see, I’ve been half in love with you since I was seven years old. And I fell the rest of the way over the past month.”
My breathing suddenly grew erratic. I didn’t know what to say to that, but it didn’t matter, because she wasn’t done.
“You never noticed me, not once, but you were all I could see. I was the fat, ugly loser in high school who was tormented on a daily basis. You were the golden boy everyone wanted to be friends with.”
“Who tormented you?” I asked through gritted teeth.
Her eyes filled with sadness as she whispered, “You know.” And just like that, I did. I’d heard stories, but I’d never seen her bad behavior for myself. And as much as I hated to admit it, I wasn’t sure it would have made a difference. I was just a dumb kid who spent those years thinking with his dick. All I cared about back then was the fact that Whitney was hot, and I was getting some on a regular basis.
“It doesn’t matter now,” she insisted.
“It matters to me,” I exclaimed. “You weren’t fat or ugly or a loser, Danika. You’re incredible and strong and so fucking sweet. I hate that anyone, myself included, ever made you feel anything less than that. If you could see yourself the way I see you, you’d know that.”
“You sure have a funny way of showing it,” she clipped, the flush on her cheeks growing with anger. “You were my dream, Leo, in the way that I used to hope and pray that one day, you’d open your eyes and actually see me. All my life, I’ve been waiting for my forever. For that man who would be it for me, and for years I was convinced that man was you. I could never understand what you saw in her. She’s a bully to her very core. I’ve never met anyone as mean and vicious as her. I was convinced you could do so much better. You needed someone as good as you. As kind and smart and funny.”
“Baby,” I grunted, the emotions she was sparking inside me making my throat tight.
“I was wrong.” My stomach sank to the floor. “You two deserved each other. She was always cruel, but you’re worse, because you give people that kindness, that beauty that makes us love you, then you rip it away, and you make sure it fucking hurts when you do it.”
I took a step closer, but she shifted to the side, stepping back past the desk to get away from me. “Christ, baby. Please, just let me touch you.”
“You were my dream,” she repeated, plunging a knife into my gut and twisting it with each word. “I thought my dream had finally come true. You noticed me, and since that night, sitting at your dad’s kitchen table with your amazing kids, I felt like I’ve been walking on clouds.”
“Please, sweetness.”
“I hope you never have to feel the crushing disappointment of finding out someone you’ve had on a pedestal your entire life never deserved to be there.”
“Danika,” I breathed, feeling like all the air had escaped my lungs.
“You ended us, Leo. So let this be done now.”
“I can’t,” I said quietly. “You just told me you’ve been half in love with me your whole life. I can’t let this be done.”
Her eyes grew bright with unshed tears. “Leo, stop.”
I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stand being so close to her, seeing her in pain, and not touch her. Closing the distance between us, I took her face in my hands and leaned down resting my forehead against hers. “I let you down. I disappointed you, and I fucking hate that. But I swear to you, I am the man you’ve spent all these years dreaming of, and I’m gonna prove it. You’ll see.”
“I need you to go,” she whispered, her voice jagged with the tears she was fighting back. “Please just go.”
She needed time, and as much as it killed me, I was going to give it to her. Lowering my arms to my sides, I moved to the door and grabbed the knob, but before I pulled it open, I turned and issued one last promise. “I’ll do whatever it takes to deserve you, sweetness. And I’ll break my back to make your dream come true. You have my word.”
With that said, I exited the office, pulling the door closed behind me.
The tightness that had developed in my chest when I talked to Danika was still there hours later when I pulled up in front of Whitney’s house to pick up my kids. It was a damn good thing the woman wasn’t standing at the door waiting, because I needed every second to get my blood—currently at a rolling boil—down to a simmer.
It was no better by the time I lifted my fist and knocked on the door, but I’d at least managed to lock it down enough that I could function without losing it.
The door swung open seconds later, and my daughter came barreling out, slamming right into me. “Daddy!”
Just like that, the boil lessened as I reached down and put my hand on my girl’s head. “Baby girl. Missed you like crazy.”
She looked up at me, those blue eyes s
miling. “Missed you too. Can we have pizza for dinner?”
Hardin appeared behind her before I could answer, his expression unreadable as he shouldered his backpack. Whitney was right behind him. “We’ll discuss dinner in a bit,” I told Macie. “Right now I need to talk to your mom.” I tossed my keys in Hardin’s direction, and he caught them midair. “Start the truck up. I’ll be out in a minute.”
He didn’t immediately move. “What’s goin’ on? Something wrong?”
“Not your concern, son,” I answered sternly, hitting my point home that I was done with him being in the know about things he was too young to understand. “I’ve got it handled, so do me a favor and start up the truck.”
He hesitated for a beat, but fortunately, he did as asked after placing a kiss on his mom’s cheek.
I waited until they’d both climbed in, shut the doors and started the engine before looking back at Whitney.
She immediately dove in. “Not that my feelings matter much to you, or ever have, but just to say, I’m not really in the mood to speak to you right now.”
God, how I’d ever been attracted to this woman was beyond me.
“That works for me, seein’ as it’s me who needs to talk and you who needs to listen.”
“Excuse me?”
“The shit you’re doin’ with Hardin, it stops now,” I hissed. “Don’t know if you’ve got your head so far up your own goddamn ass you haven’t been able to notice or if it’s just that you don’t give a shit, but you tellin’ him things to do with us and our divorce that are none of his business is doin’ serious fuckin’ damage to my boy’s head.”
Her face did that pinched thing again, and I had to clench my teeth together to keep from curling my lip in disgust. “Our boy is just fine. Only reason you think otherwise is because you’re the one he’s pissed at.”
“And he’s pissed at me because of you. Because you share shit you should never share. He’s fifteen years old, Whit. It’s not his job to take care of you. It’s not his job to try and put his family back together because you’re layin’ that on his shoulders. You and I are so done that you couldn’t jumpstart our relationship with a defibrillator. It’s dead. You need to accept that and leave Hardin out of it before you harm him in a way we won’t be able to fix.”
Waiting for Forever (Hope Valley Book 8) Page 15
