Chapter 23

~ Danny ~

Present Day

Gabrielle padded down the back stairway, dressed in a snug yellow t-shirt and boxer shorts. She hadn’t seen me yet, so I stayed in the dark corner of the kitchen, watching her stroll over to the fridge.

True to my word, the crew had found another place to hang once I told them to move on, and I hoped she realized I was serious when I said this house was for a family—our family. I would do whatever I needed to, whatever she wanted me to, for that to happen. But my attempts at trying to mend things between us were not going as planned, as she had to be avoiding me. It was like she’d memorized my schedule and made herself scarce at the exact moments I was around. She would never be comfortable with me again if we didn’t work this shit out, and that would never happen if she continued to evade me.

A few times, we’d ended up alone in the same room, and as soon as I even addressed her, we were interrupted, or she provided a lame excuse why she had to fly out of my presence. Beyond frustrated, I told myself the next time I was alone with her, she wasn’t getting away. We would have it out once and for all.

She bent over at the waist, scrounging around in the fridge, and I swallowed hard, taking in her long, golden bare legs, remembering what it had felt like to run my hands up and down them, or have them wrapped around me. I was desperate to touch her, to hold her, but I couldn’t make any move until we talked about what had happened between us. Even though she tried to hide the hurt, I saw the pain in her eyes when she thought I wasn’t looking. I felt the same way, but hid it better than she did.

It was now or never, and I was going in. It was time we battled it out, and I would ignite the bomb and see where the pieces landed.

Stepping out of the corner, I stood behind her and cleared my throat. She jerked upright in surprise and spun around, almost crashing into my chest.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She attempted to back away from me, but could not move any further because of the refrigerator. “I didn’t mean to get in your way.”

She sidestepped me, but I stopped her progress by stepping in front of her again. “You’re not in my way. I just wanted a bottle of water.” I reached over her shoulder and grabbed one off the top shelf, my eyes never leaving her face. She kept her gaze down, refusing to meet mine, so I retreated as I took a drink. “Grab what you want. Don’t let me stop you.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll get out of your way and head up to my room.”

I slammed the bottle on the counter behind me and water spewed over the rim. “Why do you always do that?”

Her eyes dropped to the puddle. “Do what?”

“Take off whenever I walk in the room.”

“I don’t want to be in your way.”

“Jesus, G. You’re not a guest here. This is your home as much as it’s my home. You can come and go as you please. Do whatever you want. Redecorate the fucking place, rip out walls, I don’t fucking care.”

“This isn’t my home, Danny.”

Not yet, but it will be. I leaned against the counter, studying her. She was fighting not to squirm under my intense study, but was losing the battle as her hands fidgeted. “I want to talk to you.”

She nodded, feigning indifference. “Sure. I hope there hasn’t been a problem with Dani or me—”

“Stop it. Stop acting like you and Dani are a problem of mine.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, her attempt at a protective shield, and looked everywhere but at me. “Fine. What would you like to discuss?”

“You and me.”

“You and me? What do you mean? Like custody or something?”

“No.” I shook my head and moved closer, pointing back and forth between us. “You and me, what went down.”

She paled, and her fingers trembled before she clenched her fists, stopping them. She took a deep breath and stepped away, distancing herself from me, in preparation to flee, as she recited what sounded like a prepared speech. “There’s nothing to talk about, Danny. It’s the past, where it should stay. We’ve all moved on and it has no bearing on anything today. So, if that’s all, I’ll be going up…”

She wasn’t escaping again. I planted myself in front of her, blocking the doorway, and she stopped short. “Danny, please move.”

“No.” I clutched her arms with my hands, noting her skin was cold to the touch. “We’ve got to do this, G. For Dani, and for us.”

She whipped her head back and forth, continuing to stare at the ground, but said nothing.

“Yes,” I said.

Spinning away, she jerked from my grasp and sprinted across the kitchen, trying to find escape up the back stairway, but I was quicker and snagged her around the waist, stopping her again. I pulled her tight against my chest and she strained to fight me off.

“Please, let me go, Danny.”

I held her as her body trembled, and rested my forehead on her shoulder blade, cursing myself for doing this to her, but there was no way to avoid this part, no matter how painful or bloody. “No, baby, I can’t. I’m sorry. We have to do this.”

“No, please. I just want to forget it. Please.”

She needed to get this out of her system, and I needed to be done with it. We both needed to hash this out so we could move on and start over.

When she stopped fighting against me, I gentled my hold and turned her. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected to see on her face, but not the hot, burning fury glowing in her eyes; something I’d never seen from her before. This is what I’d asked for though, so I couldn’t back off now. I’d forced her to go back to the past, to relive all the horror. Now I had to deal with whatever the outcome ended up being, with whatever words she threw at me, with whatever she blamed me for. I straightened and prepared myself for the onslaught.

“Let it out, G. Tell me what you’re thinking.”