Reckless Redemption: A Bad Blooded Rebel Novel (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) (5 page)

“I’m
not showing you my dick!”

Sadie
rolled her eyes and said, “And that just made you an even bigger pussy than I
could have ever imagined.” She laughed and squealed as he put her in a playful
headlock and rubbed her hair the way we all knew she hated.

As
soon as he released her (she punched him full force in the stomach and knocking
the wind out of him) they called out their goodbyes as she chased him to the
parking lot.

Kris
and Jessie left a short time later, then Ryder and Everleigh called it a night.
At that point I decided to leave and walked to my car. I hadn’t even bothered
to say goodnight to Danni, who had walked with Everleigh to Ryder’s Escalade.
My car was parked one spot away from Danni’s and I gave it a quick look,
sighing before I opened the driver’s side door.

I
was about to get behind the wheel when I heard high heels clicking on the
sidewalk behind me. I caught the light floral scent of Danni’s perfume, and I
turned as she came to a stop behind me.

“Were
you going to sneak away without saying goodbye?” she asked me.

I
ran a hand through my hair and said, “Well, you looked pretty busy with Ev so I
figured I’d just talk to you later.”

I
don’t know what the hell happened in that restaurant earlier but I was too
tired to try and pick it apart in the hope that Danni wanted to give us another
chance. Hell, it was only holding hands, not sex.

“Listen,
about earlier,” she started to say, but I stopped her.

“It’s
fine, Danni, don’t worry about it. You were excited about Everleigh’s news. I
understand.”

She
walked closer to me and I tensed up. I didn’t know what was going on and I
didn’t know how to react. She was looking at me like she wanted something and I
wasn’t sure what that was.

“It’s
not that, Beau. I just wanted to apologize to you.”

I
blinked in surprise. “What? You want to apologize to me? What the hell for?”

“For
stringing you along and not giving you enough to fight for,” she said, looking
sad.

This
time I took a step toward her and I placed my hand on her cheek. I didn’t care
if she was mad or tried to back away.

“Danni,
your being
alone
is enough to make any man fight for you. I meant what I
said a year ago. I loved you then and I still do. I will do what I have to do
for you because I am never going to give up on us.”

Her
breath caught as my fingers gently trailed from her cheek to her collarbone. She
placed a shaking hand on my forearm and whispered my name. “Beau, I don’t know
what to do here. You hurt me so bad but I also miss you so much. I’m confused.”

“I’m
right here, Danni. Any way you need me I’m here. What do you want?” I asked, my
lips now only inches from hers.

She
looked at me with those baby blues and said, “Can we maybe go back to your
place and talk? Like, really talk? Get it all out? I think it might help us
both and after it’s all over we will know for sure if we can make it.”

As
badly as I wanted to kiss her, to taste her sweetness on my tongue, I backed
away.

“I’d
love for you to come with me, but at this point talking is just a waste of
time. You know how I feel, Danni. I love you and it kills me every single day
remembering how badly I broke your heart. Why do you think I started drinking? Knowing
how hurt you were was literally killing me to the point that I had to numb the
pain somehow.”

Danni
blinked back tears. “Beau…”

“It’s
okay, you don’t have to say anything. I’ve always been willing to do whatever it
takes in order to make this work and you didn’t want that. I know I hurt you
but the fact is I can’t change that. If I could go back and change anything, it
would be that I would have called you when we left Muncie. I would have told
you then that I wanted you and I wouldn’t have been so stubborn and let you go.
None of this would have happened if I’d just been honest with myself from the
beginning.”

We
stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity and when it was clear that
Danni wasn’t going to say anything, I sighed. “Well, I’ve said all I can say
here, so the next move is yours. When you are ready to give this a real shot,
Danni, you know where to find me. Good night,” I said, and I got into my car.

She
backed away from my Charger as I started it. I drove home with the image of her
standing alone in that beautiful dress shrinking in my rearview mirror. My
heart tightened in my chest and I prayed hard that I hadn’t just made a huge
mistake.

Danni

I
stood in the parking lot watching Beau drive away from me. I was stunned.
Seeing Beau in his suit at dinner, smiling as best as he could for Everleigh’s
birthday already had me feeling confused. When our hands made contact at the
dinner table I felt like my blood had been set on fire. I had touched Beau
several times in friendly gestures since everything went to hell, but that
innocent brush of his fingers shocked my system. I ended up following his hand
under the table and grabbing onto it. I don’t know if it was not having had sex
in a year and a half or if I was just plain lonely, but when he laced his
fingers with mine something sparked and I felt hope for the first time in a long
while.

I
tried to shake off the feeling, sure that it was just a fluke. I would always
care about Beau but that didn’t mean I wanted to start things up again.
However, when Ryder announced that he and Everleigh were having a baby, I
looked at his face and saw something I hadn’t seen in his eyes in a long time.
Beau was happy. He was going to be an “uncle” and he looked so thrilled, which
made me start to melt.

All
through dinner, I had a long internal talk with myself. I thought back to the
night in New York City when things went bad…

“So, tell me Danni, how is a girl as hot as you
still single?” Jake asked me, his toned and heavily decorated body pressing
against mine.

“I can’t believe for one second that you’ve been
hanging around the guys in Bad Blooded Rebel and none of them have gone after
you yet.”

I felt nervous as his fingers grazed my bare arm. I
didn’t want to talk about Beau in that moment; I just wanted to focus on having
fun. If he didn’t want me I would make sure that I found someone who did, and
Jake seemed like the perfect place to start looking.

“Let’s not talk about them right now. Why are you
still single?” I asked.

Jake grinned at me, his lip ring catching the light.
“Guess I just haven’t found the right girl,” he said seductively.

“And you think I might be?” I asked, smiling.

Leaning his face close to mine, he answered with a
question. “Well why don’t we find out?”

His lips were on mine in an instant and I gasped.
Jake took my reaction as an invitation and slid his tongue inside my mouth, his
tongue ring clicking against my teeth. I thought I heard someone opening the
back entrance door but I was so caught up in the moment I paid no attention.

I wanted so desperately to kiss him back, but all I
could think about in that moment was Beau and that I wished he was the one
kissing me, not Jake. I knew right then that I couldn’t move on with Jake
because I would never be able to see past Beau.

I gently shoved against his chest and said, “Wait,
Jake, stop.”

“What is it, Danni?”

“I can’t do this. It’s not fair to you. The truth is
that I have been…am…I mean was involved with one of the guys.”

Jake grinned at me. “It’s Beau, isn’t it?”

I sighed and licked my bottom lip. “How did you
guess?”

“Well, it was pretty obvious by the way he was
looking at me earlier like he wanted to gut me like a fish,” Jake answered, and
I laughed.

“He was?”

“Of course he was. Have you seen you? You’re
beautiful.”

I blushed and smiled. “Are you sure he was looking
at you like that?”

He nodded and said, “It’s obvious by the look in
your eyes right now that you love the guy, Danni. Go tell him.”

“He’s been pretty stubborn and doesn’t seem like he
wants to have a relationship with me, Jake. What if you’re wrong?”

He chuckled and said, “Trust me, I’m not wrong. Beau
wants you and if you want him too, I am not going to stand in the way. He’s my
friend before anything else. You know, ‘bro’s before hoes’ and all that shit.”

I laughed and playfully punched his arm. “Hey now!”

Smiling, his tone was serious as he said,
“Seriously, Danni, go get your guy. But just remember if it doesn’t work out
I’m more than happy to be the one you run to, beautiful.”

I smiled and hugged him.

“Thanks, Jake,” I said before I practically sprinted
back into the bar to look for Beau.

I
remembered everything that led us to this day. Right before we all left the
table tonight, I stole one last glance at Beau. In that short moment I allowed
myself to take him all in. I really looked at him and my heart started to beat
faster. My palms were clammy and my breath hitched in my throat. After all that
time and everything that happened between us I still had feelings for him. He
was so beautiful; I loved and hated how my body was betraying me. I should’ve
been mad at Beau Cavanaugh forever for how badly he hurt me, but something
about him made it impossible.

As
I stood in the parking lot, watching him drive away and getting lost in my
memories, my cell phone rang and pulled me back to reality. I started walking
to my car as I pulled my phone out of my bag.

“Hello?”
I said, pressing the phone to my ear as I unlocked my driver’s side door.

“Hey,
princess, how are you?” said a gruff voice, and upon hearing it I instantly
relaxed.

I
smiled. “Hey Dad,” I said, sighing in relief. If anyone could help me work out
my shit with Beau, it was my father.

“How’s
it going over there? Did you give Everleigh the photo album your mom and I
sent?”

“Of
course I did. She loved it and said to say thanks,” I answered.

My
parents, Dan and Brenda Sharpe, were some of the warmest people you’d ever meet
and they loved Everleigh just as we all did…like family.

They
had sent a photo album full of pictures of Ev and me growing up and when she’d
opened it, she cried. Then again Everleigh always cried over everything…this
pregnancy was going to make her even more of a mess.

“Good.
So, how’s she been doing? Married life treating her okay?” Dad asked.

“She’s
so happy, Dad. Ryder’s a great husband and he’s been amazing to her.”

“That’s
good. I’m happy for her. She’s had such a tough couple of years.”

“Yes
she has.”

“So,
what did he get her for her birthday? It better have been big.”

I
smiled and answered, “Oh it was, believe me. He gave her a baby for her
birthday.”

My
dad chuckled and said, “Is that right? Well, I wondered how long it would be
before they had a little one. That’s so great, please tell her
congratulations.”

“I
will,” I said as I pulled out onto the road and began driving toward my
apartment.

 I
sighed and before I could say anything else, Dad said, ‘So, how’s your guy
doing?”

I
knew it wouldn’t be long before my dad brought up Beau. I had worried that he
wouldn’t approve of him since he was an ex-Navy SEAL and pretty critical of the
boys I dated when I was growing up. For some reason, however, he had taken a
liking to Beau even though they hadn’t met and encouraged the relationship
whenever he had the chance.

“Beau’s
not my guy, Dad,” I answered sadly.
He could be though…

“You
sure about that, honey? I mean, you moved to another state to help him battle
his alcohol dependence.”

“Well,
yeah, but only because he refused rehab and Everleigh begged me to.”

“But
is he doing better?”

“Much
better. He’s getting back to the old Beau that I l-”

“Love?”
Dad interrupted.

“Dad,
I…”

“Danni,
don’t do this to yourself. You love that man and you know it. You two need to
stop being stupid and just work this out.”

“I
tried to ask him tonight if we could talk about things but he didn’t want to.”

“He
didn’t? Why is that?”

“Well,
he pretty much said that he didn’t need to because his feelings are still the
same that they’ve always been and that if I want to give him another chance
then I know where to find him.”