by Vicki James
“I’m doing this whether you try to fight me or not,” a familiar voice growled.
“Fight you? I don’t fight shit. Jesus, come on, man.”
“Let me in, Rhett.”
“Not on my watch, Silver. Jules will have my balls for earrings.”
The white shirt came into view first before Danny stepped inside, forcing Rhett backwards, with his eyes narrowed and his strong jaw tight.
“You really don’t want to do this,” Rhett warned him.
“None of you have any idea what I want.”
“I’m trying to help here.”
“You can help by getting the fuck out of my way.”
Danny’s voice sounded so different now—worn and broken, but older and somehow strong. His head lifted above Rhett, and he looked around the pub, his eyes finally landing on me and Ben… who happened to look like cosy lovers curling together to whisper sweet nothings in each other’s ears.
Danny’s body went rigid, and it only took a second for the fire in his eyes to spark alight, and for him to reach up and push Rhett back.
Rhett stumbled two steps, letting go of Danny before he growled and bit down on one fist, and he closed his eyes. “Count to ten. You’re a father now. Never hit a friend. Do not hit a friend,” Rhett said to himself before he shook out his arms and he stretched his neck.
I was focused on Danny, though, who was eyeing Ben like he wanted to eat him alive. Danny had never been a fighter. He’d always been my rock who could have taken anyone. The strong sports enthusiast who had muscles in places people like me didn’t know muscles could grow. But he’d never needed to throw a punch or defend himself because everyone had always loved and respected Danny.
Wholesome Danny Silver, with the good family, the good reputation, and that damn good surfer’s and skater’s body.
Now, he was unrecognisable, and I had to swallow down the lump of disgusting desire that flamed to life when I saw him looking at me like… that…
He didn’t deserve a second of my attention.
Turning away, I dropped my head back to the seat and tugged on Ben’s hand. His eyes were wide when he turned back to me, somewhat unsure now. He searched my face, while I just stared at him like he was some kind of anchor, praying Danny didn’t say anything.
“Fine,” I heard Rhett call out. “You get one drink and that’s it. One drink, and then I’m carrying you home. Whether that’s consciously or unconsciously, I’ll let you decide.”
I didn’t look up from Ben, but from the scraping of the bar stools on the hardwood floor, I could imagine where they’d planted themselves. Right in front of me.
“You want to get out of here?” Ben asked.
Yes.
I needed to get away now more than ever.
But I was a stubborn woman at times, and this was my village, and this was my local pub, so I wasn’t going anywhere. If Danny thought he could waltz back in here and do whatever the hell he wanted again, he had another thing coming.
He may have been a rock star to the world, but to me, he was just Danny Silver.
The man who no longer deserved an ounce of my damn respect.
The boy who’d turned this warm-hearted girl cold.
Maybe he was here so I could finally make him pay.
“Actually… I think I’ll stay.”
An hour wore on, and apart from a few women walking by and trying to flirt with Danny and Rhett—to which Rhett had put a no-fuss stop to—I’d used most of my willpower trying not to look up. But I could feel Danny’s stares every time he turned on his stool and glanced over his shoulder at Ben and me. Call me an arsehole, but I kept on smiling as much as I could just to piss him off. I wanted him to suffocate from my happiness, no matter how fake it may have been. I wanted him to hear my laughter, see my cheeks flush, and I wanted him to dream about pushing his hands through my hair the way I kept doing every time Ben said something funny.
The drinks were flowing, and I was on my third very large wine.
Dangerous territory was only a footstep away.
“You know, I haven’t felt this used since I was eleven and Tori Dawson used me to make that foreign exchange student jealous.”
I dropped my wine glass back on the table and turned to Ben, rubbing my lips together. “You were friends with Tori Dawson?”
“She had boobs and was three years older than me. Of course, I was friends with her.”
“Didn’t she become some kind of white witch?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Ben grumbled, his face showing his disappointment. “She’s been casting spells over men like me with those titties for years.”
I slapped him on the arm but couldn’t help my laughter. The wine had made my skin flush, and when I caught sight of Danny glancing over his shoulder at me again, I sat upright and placed my hand on Ben’s arm.
“Bathroom time,” I said quietly.
“Mind the rock stars on your way.”
“I’m blind to their light.” I beamed, feeling the lie hit me in the stomach. Or maybe that was just the pressure of my bladder building. “If I’m not back in ten minutes, come and find me.”
“Ten minutes? You women and your bathroom breaks. The mind boggles.”
With a half-hearted laugh, I tugged at my dress and flattened it over my stomach, raised my chin, and I walked past Danny and Rhett like I hadn’t even noticed they were there. Once around the corner and out of sight though, my shoulders sagged, and the air streamed out of my lungs like a deflated tyre.
It took me two minutes to do what I had to do in the ladies’, and when I was washing my hands, I looked up at my reflection in the mirror, taking myself in as the warm water streamed over my cool fingers.
“Do you ever look in the mirror, see yourself, and just think… wow?” Danny asked as he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, his head resting on top of mine.
I was sitting at my vanity table in my bedroom, and I’d just applied a pale pink lipstick, when I looked up at him, rubbing my lips together.
“Because if I saw what you see every day, I’d never look away.” He smirked at my reflection in the mirror, that smooth, easy charm of his making the butterflies in my stomach soar to life.
“Never, huh?” I dropped my lipstick into the drawer with the others before I leaned back in my chair and wrapped my hands around Danny’s wrist, using his arms as a human necklace I wanted to cling to for forever. “Isn’t there a saying about that word? How you should never say never.”
“I’ll never get bored of waking up next to you, Daisy.”
“Said the seventeen-year-old horn dog to the girl who can’t say no to him.”
“You say no to me.”
“When?”
Danny kept his eyes on mine in the mirror, and he dropped his lips to my ear. “When I asked if I could fuck you on the beach two nights ago.”
Goosebumps flared to life on my skin, and my nipples tightened beneath the thin cotton material of my white vest. Danny spotted them instantly, and he slid his hand down to cover one, his thumb and finger rolling the tight bud with expert precision.
“You denied me that fantasy.”
“Only…” I said breathlessly; the fire beginning to burn in the very pit of my stomach now, “only because…”
“Because?”
“Because people were watching.”
“I don’t care who sees me love you, Daisy Piper, as long as people know that I do.”
The lump in my throat was painful. I swallowed the memory down before it gained traction, and I turned the tap off abruptly, wiping at my eyes with the back of my hand.
“Stop it, Daisy,” I whispered to myself. “That guy doesn’t exist anymore.”
It took me a minute to compose myself, but with dry hands and my dress and hair smoothed down, I let that nervous anxiety fuel me to step out of the toilets…
Only to come face to face with the one person I was trying to avoid.
The d
oor slammed shut behind me, making me flinch, and I stared at Danny who was no more than two feet away. So damn close, yet so far away.
I don’t care who sees me love you, Daisy Piper, as long as people know that I do.
Lying arsehole.
Green eyes stared back at me, but the hate that had shone through them before was now gone as he dropped his gaze down my body, letting it linger over my stomach until it eventually rose back up to my face.
I took a step to the right to try and get around him, but the corridor was narrow, and there was nowhere really for me to go.
“Look,” I sighed, “I’m getting pretty bored of this broody staring bull-crap already, so if you could just get out of my way, that would be great.” My voice didn’t sound as strong as I’d wanted it to, but when I glared into Danny’s eyes, I projected all my strength at him. I wanted him to move. Leave me alone. To go back to his perfect life under bright lights and adoring screams. I wanted him to let me go.
Instead, he took a step closer, forcing me to take one back until my spine pressed up against the harsh wood of the bathroom’s door. My palms slammed against it, and I watched as Danny took another step until there was only a few inches between us.
His aftershave smelt different now—less clean. Less… Danny. More cigarettes and alcohol, fame and money. But my heart raced from the smell of it anyway because it belonged to him.
“Get out of my way, Danny.”
“Don’t you miss me at all?” he asked quietly, his minty breaths making me dizzy.
“No. So move. Now.”
“Make me,” he whispered, his hand rising to land on the door behind me to trap me in. “Convince me you really want me to go, Daisy, because your mouth says one thing, but your eyes say another.”
“You’re such an arsehole.”
“I think that’s what you want me to be.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I hissed, scowling.
“You want to have a reason to hate me, but we spent too much time together, and you know that, deep down, I’m not that guy.”
“Oh, really?”
“Mmhmm.”
“You’re being that guy right now.”
“Am I?” His eyes trailed down to my chest just as I sucked in a hard and heavy breath that made my breasts bounce. Danny’s eyes darkened, and they traced the curve of my neck before he ran a finger over my shoulder, watching as the goosebumps that had always adored his touch rose to the surface to greet him. I smacked his hand away instantly.
“Do not touch me,” I growled.
“Then tell me to leave, and I’ll leave.”
I swallowed, hard. We both heard it. We both felt my resistance.
“Leave,” I forced out through gritted teeth.
Danny’s eyes shot up to mine, and a second later, he stepped away, creating distance between us that I’d longed for, and now hated.
Just because he looks like Danny, it doesn’t mean it is him.
My hands fell limp by my thighs, and the two of us stared at each other for a moment before I forced myself to stand stronger and take a step towards him. He searched my face wildly like he was seeing it for the very first time.
Raising a finger, I pushed it into his chest with as much force as I could.
“The next time you touch me without my permission, I’ll break your damn hand, and I’ll break it in three places. Bear that in mind, Mr Big Bad Rock Star. I wouldn’t want you to be out of work because of a weak, skinny woman like me.”
Before he could respond, I jabbed my finger into his hard chest again, and I walked away.
I walked away on shaky legs, and I headed back to my table with Ben, not looking at Rhett bloody Ryan or any other handsome, out of place, musician around here as I went. They could all burn in Hell for all I cared, and they could take their crappy music with them.
When Ben looked up at me through sleepy, bored eyes, I gave him a nod and gestured towards the door.
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Now?” he asked, glancing behind him. “You don’t want another drink?”
“No.” I held my hand out for him to take. “I’d rather gouge my eyes out than spend another second sharing the same oxygen as some of the arseholes they let in here.”
Before I left, I could have sworn I heard a quiet chuckle of appreciation coming from Rhett’s direction, followed by a mumbled, “Damn, that fool’s in more trouble than I thought.”
Nine
I paced my bedroom, willing myself to calm down.
Ben and I had parted ways only an hour ago after I’d assured him that I was fine. Yes, I used that word. He told me to call him if I needed anything, and then said he was heading to another pub about a half a mile away to meet up with his boating friend, Dean.
My heart was beating so damn fast, I couldn’t draw a full breath. Danny was back in my world, and I needed him to get out of it before I did something stupid—before I lashed out and hurt his arrogant face. I needed him to feel this pain, and I hated that side of who I was becoming because he was back.
Distance between us had allowed me to pretend everything about us had been a lie.
One second of his touch upon my skin had reminded me that everything about us had always been electric.
He had to go.
I had to figure out a way to make him leave… or at least stay in hiding until he went of his own accord.
Before my mind exploded, I stripped out of my dress, tossed it on the floor, and I marched into the shower. I need to scrub the day off me, and I did. Every inch of my skin was lathered up and rubbed until my skin felt raw. My makeup bled from my face, and my scalp burned from the way I scrubbed it like it was covered in lice. By the time I’d stepped out and dressed in a pair of soft, black leggings and an oversized white T-shirt, I expected to feel fresher and for the brain fog to have lifted. Instead, I found myself in front of the mirror again, staring at my scraped back, wet hair, and my flushed face.
“Danny… stop. My mum could walk in… oh, crap…” I panted, my eyes closed, and my chest bouncing as I struggled to breathe. Danny wasn’t just turning me on with my nipples anymore. His hand had slid down my stomach and into my underwear until his fingers found the wet heat there waiting for him.
He loved to do this; to watch us in the mirror and see us together when he made me climax.
“Shh,” he whispered in my ear, making my eyes flutter open and take him in. “I want to make you come right here. I want to watch your face change and your cheeks pink. I want to watch you beg me quietly to keep going and going, Daisy.”
“We… shouldn’t,” I mouthed, but my body betrayed me as my hips and arse moved, seeking friction and motion from Danny’s touch. He knew when to apply the pressure and when to take it away. He knew when to tease and when to deliver. He knew when to press and when to pinch.
He knew everything there was to know about me, and I trusted him with all of it.
“The things you think we shouldn’t do are the things you want the most,” he whispered, nipping my earlobe between his teeth and pulling a seductive moan from me. “You’re my favourite thing in the world, Daisy.”
I came hard from his touch… and from his words, because Danny was capable of worshipping my body and cradling my heart, leaving me feeling satisfied and adored.
Without thought, I blinked at my reflection. Three breaths passed before I picked up my hairbrush and threw it at the mirror, screaming at the top of my lungs as I did. The glass shattered into so many pieces, I regretted my actions before those pieces had even fallen to the table and floor. My hands flew to my mouth, and I stepped back, observing the shitty mess I had no one else to blame for except myself.
The shitty mess I now had to clean.
Tears threaten to form. I pushed them back.
I was better than them. Stronger.
So, I’d lashed out. Big deal. It was five years overdue.
I gave myself thirty seconds of counting Missi
ssippi-style to get it together before I blew out a breath and went downstairs to find a dustpan and brush. My arse was hanging out of the cleaning cupboard when there was a knock at the door. When I looked at the time on the oven’s clock, it read 10:00 p.m. There was only one person who ever knocked on my door at that time of night.
“Ben,” I grumbled before I stood up and made my way down the short hallway that led to the front door. I reached for the handle and was delivering my ‘get lost’ speech before I’d even seen his face. “Ben, I told you… I’m fine, and I’ll see you tomor—”
My eyes widened, and my face froze when I saw Danny standing on my front doorstep, staring up at me.
His hands were tucked into his trouser pockets, and more buttons of his white shirt were now opened, exposing parts of his chest I hadn’t seen in so long. Parts that were now covered in some kind of tattoo I couldn’t make out in the diluted light of the night.
Danny’s eyes didn’t stray from my face, and as I held his gaze, not saying anything, he simply tilted his head and let those eyes turn sad.
“Hey, Zee.”
“Don’t call me that,” I croaked, holding the door with a vice-like grip. “What do you want?”
“You.”
“No chance. Goodnight.”
“I just… I want to talk, Daisy.”
The way he said my name made my old heart gallop until I poured ice cold reality over it. “Listen, Danny. This game of ‘I hate you, you hate me’ we have going on is really, really tiring me out. I don’t have time for it, and quite frankly, I don’t have the heart for it, either.”
“You think I hate you?” He scowled.
“I don’t think anything about you anymore. I don’t know you.”
Danny’s mouth turned into an O shape, and he turned to look down the street I lived on as he blew out a breath. “Your words hurt more than they used to.”
“Yeah… well…” I shrugged because that was the only lame comeback I could muster.
He looked down at his smart shoes, scuffing them over the pathway before he swung his head back up to mine. “I honestly just want to talk.”