“He invited you?” her father asked, leaning forward. “You’re not telling me that you and he… that you two…” He shook his head, paling. “No, you wouldn’t do that to us. You wouldn’t disrespect your brother’s memory that way.”
Dani knew they would eventually find a way to make her feel guilty about Linc, but she’d come prepared to combat their argument. “My brother would want me to be happy. I just don’t understand why you don’t want that for me.”
Her parents opened their mouths before snapping them closed almost simultaneously, glaring at her.
“How can you say that?” her mother asked. “We’ve loved and supported you all your life. And this is the thanks we get?”
Just breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. “You’ve loved and supported me as long as I was playing by your rules. As soon as I stopped doing that, I realized how conditional your love was.”
“Is he the one filling your head with these crazy ideas?” her dad asked, slamming his hand on the table. “It wasn’t enough he took our son away? Now he has to take our baby girl too?”
Tears filled Dani’s eyes, but she was determined to say her piece before she lost her nerve. “It doesn’t have to be that way. Unless you’re determined to make me choose between you and building a life for myself.”
“Would this life include him?” her mother asked, standing behind her husband’s chair as she folded her arms.
“I don’t know yet. It might.”
“Then get out,” her father said, curling his hand around his wife’s when she placed it on his shoulder.
Dani gaped at them. “You would seriously cut all ties with me because of this?”
“If you would even consider sleeping with that man again,” her mother seethed, “after what he did to this family, you deserve to be on your own. And you will be, you know. All alone. Because there’s no chance he’d stick around. You heard what he said in that press conference today. He’ll sell his soul to the highest bidder, Danielle. And where does that leave you? Out in the cold. He’ll do exactly what he did before, leave you alone… and pregnant.”
***
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ro asked, dipping her hand into the half-empty popcorn bowl as they watched the post-game analysis. “You’ve been kind of quiet all night.”
“Sorry, I warned you I wouldn’t be great company,” Dani said, reaching for her wine glass. “But you wanted to stay.”
“You’re my best friend. Where else would I be when you’re in the middle of a crisis?”
“I wouldn’t say this is a crisis,” Dani said, trying to quash her rising panic.
“How can you say that?” she asked, setting the bowl on the coffee table. “Your parents basically told you they never want to see you again. Your boyfriend told the press that he could be leaving the city in a few months—”
“Ace isn’t my boyfriend.” If he was, he would have talked to her about his willingness to leave town instead of blurting it out like that to a roomful of strangers. She and every other baseball fan in the city knew he would be a free agent at the end of the season, but she just assumed he’d want to stay… especially now that they were seeing each other again.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have sacrificed your relationship with your family for another shot with him.”
“I told my parents about me and Ace after the press conference, remember? I didn’t do it for him or our relationship. I did it because it’s time for my parents to realize they don’t get to make all my decisions for me. If they can’t deal with that, I’m better off not having them in my life.”
“Sweetie, think about what you’re saying,” Rosanna argued, gripping Dani’s shoulder. “They’re your parents. The only family you have left…” She smiled to soften the blow. “Aside from me. Do you really want to pick this battle with them?”
“Yes.” Dani couldn’t pretend their disapproval didn’t hurt. It did. A lot. But that didn’t mean she regretted her decision. She had walked out of her childhood home with her head held high, ready to put her past and all of the bad memories that had been dragging her down behind her.
“Okay, so what now?”
“I don’t know.” She hadn’t had time to think about her next step, though she knew living in limbo until the end of the baseball season wasn’t an option.
Dani’s phone beeped, and Rosanna lunged for it. “It’s Ace. He says he wants to stop by later.”
“Tell him…” Dani wasn’t sure what to tell him. She wanted to see him. She knew they needed to talk, but she didn’t know what to say.
“Done.”
“Hey!” Dani said, snatching her phone so she could read the text her friend had sent on her behalf. “Why did you do that? I’m not sure I’m ready to talk.”
Ro rolled her eyes. “I know you. You’ll analyze this to death before deciding you can’t have a relationship with a guy who may not stick around. Even though you’re crazy about him.” Between munches of popcorn, she added, “Even though he tattooed his name on your ass years ago.”
“He did not!”
Ro laughed, slapping Dani’s knee. “He may as well have. He made you his back then, whether you’re willing to admit it or not.”
Instead of denying it, Dani chewed the inside of her lip. “I’m not sure he’s good for me. I’m not sure we’re good for each other.”
“Why do you say that? He makes you happy, doesn’t he?”
He also had the potential to make her miserable. “I never expected another shot with him.”
She stared at the TV screen, listening to the commentators discuss the reasons Ace was commanding more zeroes with each passing week. He’d made some incredible defensive plays to save runs in recent games. He was on an unprecedented hitting streak…
“What if he leaves again?” she whispered, giving life to her biggest fear. “I know he had no choice last time, but he did leave me all alone with—”
“A baby.”
Dani’s eyes flew to her friend’s. Aside from her parents, Ro was the only person who knew about her miscarriage. She hadn’t named names when they discussed the father, but Ro knew the boy who got her pregnant was her high school boyfriend, the same one who’d gone away for killing her brother.
“He can never know about that.” Dani’s eyes filled with tears as she relived the pain of sitting in the hospital emergency room all alone, cramping, bleeding, and scared to death.
“Why not? Maybe if you told him about the baby, he’d understand why you need him to put you first this time.”
“I can’t ask him to do that,” she said, shaking her head. “Baseball is his life. It always has been.”
“It’s not like you’re asking him to give it up. Just find a way to stay here.”
“That’s not his decision to make.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. They’d give anything to keep him here. The only question is whether or not they can afford him. He can hold out for the big paycheck, or he can put this in perspective and realize that he’s already made more money than he’ll ever spend.”
Dani had never known Ace to be money-hungry or greedy, but perhaps he had reasons she didn’t understand for entertaining other offers. “I won’t ask him to consider me in his decision. I can’t. He has to do what he feels is right for him.”
“Why are you doing this?” Ro demanded, uncurling her legs as she perched on the edge of the sofa, facing Dani. “Why are you intentionally sabotaging this relationship?”
“I’m not.”
“Like hell you’re not!” She closed her eyes before blowing out a breath. “It’s like you’re trying to drive him away. Why?”
No one had ever hurt her the way Ace had, and she wasn’t sure she was strong enough to endure that kind of pain again. “I knew the boy he used to be. I don’t know the man he is.” She was waiting for her friend to call bullshit again, but when she didn’t, Dani added, “Back then, I would have trusted him with my life,
but things are different now. He’s different.”
“Why? Because he’s some hotshot baseball player with a big-ass contract and groupies throwing themselves at him in every city?”
“That’s part of the reason.” Before, he’d just been her Maceon. When he told her he loved her, she believed him. When he promised she could trust him, she had no reason to question it. She’d been young and inexperienced, unaware of the pain he could cause her.
“Tell me, what else is holding you back then?”
“Nothing.” She pulled her knees up to her chest, curling her arms around her legs. “Everything.”
“Gee, thanks for clearing that up.”
“After Ace went away, I swore I’d never let anyone hurt me like that again.” She rested her head in the circle of her arms as she stared at Ro. “I promised myself I’d never give a man that kind of power again.”
“That’s why you went for Mike, because if he lied to you or cheated on you or walked away, you wouldn’t be crushed?”
“I was crushed.” When Ro’s look challenged her, she said, “Okay, maybe I wasn’t crushed. But I was—”
“Relieved, that’s what you were. It gave you a way out, and that was what you’d been looking for. You didn’t want to marry him because you didn’t love him. But you did want someone to make you feel safe, someone you could belong to, who would belong to you.”
“That’s not true.” Dani looked around her small condo. It wasn’t much, but she’d worked hard to earn it, just like everything else in her life. “I didn’t need him—”
“That’s the problem,” Ro said quietly. “You didn’t need him. If you love and trust someone enough to marry them, you’re supposed to need them. Your heart is supposed to hurt when you think about not having them in your life.”
Dani closed her eyes as she tried to picture life without Ace. It wasn’t hard. She’d had plenty of practice. “You’re right,” she said, feeling a tear slip down her cheek. “I’m different with him. Better.”
“I know that.” Ro curled her hand around Dani’s forearm. “That’s why I’m begging you to give him a chance. I don’t want to see you go back to the way you were, just going through the motions and not really living or giving love a chance.”
Dani hugged her friend. “Thanks for always being here for me.”
“Hey, I could say the same to you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Ace talked to his parents, who told him Dani hadn’t come to visit them as planned. Something had happened to change her mind. He just didn’t know if it was the meeting with her family or his press conference. Or both. Either way, as he stood in front of her door, poised to knock, he was terrified. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing her again, but feared it may be out of his hands.
After knocking, he held his breath, wondering if he’d been a fool to think they stood a chance after everything they’d been through. They hadn’t been two stupid kids who simply drifted apart. He’d torn her world apart and taken one of the most important people in her life away from her… forever. How could he ask her to forgive him for that?
“Hi, Maceon.”
Every time she said his name, he felt a flood of emotions, along with memories, that reminded him of the girl he’d fallen in love with. She’d whispered his name like that the night he took her virginity, at their prom when she told him she loved him, when she’d agreed to wear his ring on a chain and be his girlfriend.
“How did you get in without ringing up?”
“I slipped in behind some couple. The guy was a big baseball fan. I signed an autograph for him and took a couple of selfies with them.”
“Huh. So much for the benefits of a security building.”
He ignored the dig and whispered, “I was worried about you.” He stroked her cheek and noted the track of dried tears. “Can I come in?”
“Sure.” She stepped back, then he pulled her into his arms.
He held her for the longest time, inhaling deeply, praying this wouldn’t be the last time he felt her arms around him. “I missed you at the game tonight.”
“Sorry I couldn’t make it. I had a lot on my mind.” She pushed against his chest, forcing him to let her go. “Congrats on the win though.” She gestured toward the TV. “We watched it. It was a good game. You played great.”
“We?” He looked at the two empty wine glasses. “You had company?”
“Ro.”
He was glad she hadn’t been alone. Though he didn’t know Rosanna as well as he’d like to, it was obvious she loved Dani and only wanted the best for her. “I hope she didn’t leave on my account.”
“No. Her fiancé was going to be home soon. She had to get going.” She closed the door before wandering to the couch. “You want a glass of wine or something?”
“No, I’m good.” That was the first lie he’d told her. He wasn’t good. He was terrible. “Thanks for being at the press conference today. Having you there helped.”
“It seems all the press since then has been good,” she said, offering him a forced half-smile. “I mean, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s holding what happened against you.”
“It felt good to get it out.” He rolled his shoulders, wishing he could claim his load was lighter. It wasn’t and wouldn’t be until he knew he and Dani were on solid ground.
“I bet it did.”
She still hadn’t invited him to join her on the sofa, so he sat on a chair, trying to respect her space. “Um, I didn’t get a chance to talk to you before you left the press conference. Or before the game.” He’d tried calling her half a dozen times and it went to voice mail every time. His texts went unanswered, with the exception of the last one.
“Sorry about that.” She sighed. “Like I said, I just needed some time to think.”
“Okay.” He wanted to ask how things had gone with her parents, but judging by her demeanor, it was obvious. He wanted to touch her, hold her hand, hug her, something, but she seemed closed off and he didn’t want to push.
“I went to see my parents.”
Finally, they were acknowledging the elephant in the room. “How did that go?”
“Like I expected, I guess.” She stared at the TV screen, which was still tuned to the station the baseball game had been on. “There’s no room in their hearts for understanding or forgiveness.” She looked at him, tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” He moved to the sofa slowly, afraid she’d retreat if he got too close. “Babe, you have nothing to be sorry for.” He rested his hand on her leg. “I did this. I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“I really thought if they saw how much you meant to me, they’d be willing to at least try to put the past behind us.” She stared at his hand on her leg. “But I should have known better. With my parents, things are black or white. Good or bad. There’s no room for compromise with them.”
He was almost afraid to ask, but he had to know. “So where did you leave things with them?”
“We can’t move forward, not together as a family.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, refusing to look at him. “There’s just no way.”
“I’m so sorry, Dani.” It killed him to know he’d contributed to her pain again. It seemed no matter how much he loved her, it would never be enough to make up for the hurt he’d caused. “Maybe I should just go.”
She finally looked at him while inching back and breaking physical contact. “That’s what you do, isn’t it? You leave.”
“What?” She was looking at him as though he was a stranger she was afraid to know. “I thought you wanted me to—”
“I want you to stay. Even back then, when I was angry and hurt and confused, I still wanted you in my life. But you left me. You left me all alone to deal with their bitterness and anger while trying to figure out how to go on without the life you’d promised me. Without you, without my brother. I had no one, Maceon. No one.”
He felt the air leave his lungs as he proces
sed her words. “I thought you wanted me out of your life,” he said, running a trembling hand over his head. “After what I took from you—”
“You took more than my brother,” she said, running her finger over the pendant that hung from her neck.
That was the first time he’d spotted it. The garnet pendant encased in a large gold teardrop, which he’d given her for her seventeenth birthday when he swore they’d be together forever. It was a few months before the accident, when nothing seemed insurmountable.
“I can’t believe you kept that,” he said, staring at the simple piece of jewelry he’d saved for months to buy because he wanted to give her something special, something she’d be proud to wear.
“You aren’t the only one who kept mementos from the past.” She curled her dark-red-painted toes as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I kept every gift you ever gave me, every letter.” Her expression was pained. “Even your T-shirt, the one I used to sleep in.”
He’d assumed she’d forced herself to forget the good times as her pain and rage eclipsed those memories. “I had no idea.”
“Because you never asked.” She turned away from him as her tanned skin paled. “There were so many things you didn’t know, so many things I wanted to tell you. But you never gave me the chance. You just cut me off, cut me out of your life like I didn’t even matter.”
“I thought I was doing what you wanted.” He’d laid on that twin cot, on a mattress that felt like a bed of nails, night after night, thinking about her and desperate to talk to her. “I didn’t want to hurt you any more than I already had.”
“I stayed in that courtroom hoping to make eye contact with you,” she said, sounding miserable. “Thinking without my parents there, you’d look at me, see what I was thinking and feeling.” She sniffled. “I thought you’d be able to read my mind, the way you always had, and see what was in my heart.”
He hadn’t looked at her because he’d been afraid to see the hatred he expected. He hadn’t wanted that to be his very last vision of her. “I guess I wasn’t man enough to handle it, whatever it was.”
Hit and Run (Summer Rush #2) Page 14