by Arden, Dana
On my way down the hall heading to the kitchen, I run into Dani who is charging for the bathroom.
“What’s wrong with the girls?” She looks terrified, but I can’t stop laughing. I grab a hold of her shoulders and try to get my laughing at bay.
“They’re fine. I promise. They were screaming because I went to check on them and Rory informed me I can’t be in the bathroom with them because you told them boys can’t see their goodies.” And the laughing continues.
“Shit, I think I just lost a few years off my life.” She looks at me and starts giggling. “Well, at least you now know that the bathroom is not a place for a boy when girls are in there. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.” The laughing completely stops and I stare at her.
“Oh, baby girl. If I thought you would let me in your bathroom with you, I would be willing to taste your goodies.” Now she eyes me with lust and I can deal with that, but then she shakes her head.
“We can’t do that. Our main concern is the kids,” she whispers.
“For now, baby girl but when we have them all figured out, you and me are going to get on the same page.”
“And what page is that, Ry?” She continues speaking softly.
“I want it all.” I smirk at her and head to the living room.
Chapter 8
DANI
After putting the kids to bed, I decide now would be a good time to disappear to the back deck swing with a Beam and Pepsi and reflect. The more time I spend around Ryker, the more it feels like it did the summer before he left. It was always easy with him. He knew me about as well as he knew himself to some degree. We barely argued, but when we did it was over simple shit like what to eat for dinner or what we wanted to do that weekend. Even with everything we have been faced with since he reentered my life, we still haven’t gotten into an argument more like puzzlement trying to figure out what went wrong.
I just finished my drink and decide another would be perfect. While fixing my drink at the island, large arms trap me in. I slowly turn to face Ryker, who is looking at me like I could be his dessert.
“You want a drink?” I ask him trying to avoid this intimate situation.
“I would love one, baby girl,” he says huskily.
I try to move so I can get him a glass out of the cabinet, but he won’t move.
“Ryker, I can’t make you a drink if I can’t get a glass.”
“How about we share yours?” He picks up my glass off the counter and takes a sip.
“I’d prefer my own, so you can keep mine and I’ll make a new one.”
He moves back a step and lets me pass him. I feel his eyes on me the entire time I go to the cabinet and retrieve a glass. I walk back to the island, but on the opposite side of where he is and make my drink. After I’m done, I pick it up and head back out to the swing. I left the door open because knowing him he will follow. I sit down and shortly after he sits beside me.
He pushes off the floor and we begin to swing. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again after my parents told me you left, but I’m glad that I have, baby girl.”
“Why?” I inquire, because this isn’t a simple question. I’ve wondered for so long what the hell had gone wrong.
“Because I left for us. The night we sat up deciding our future, it was so vivid and I couldn’t picture how to provide all of that for us by staying at the plant. Instead of our plan looking like a five year plan, it looked more like a twenty year plan to me and I wanted it all, not just some of that dream we had.” He turns his head to look at me and he places his hand on my cheek and then slides it up the side of my jaw to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
“This house was our dream, Ry. I did this in two years, because I was determined to live that dream with or without you especially after I had the twins. I think you were my motivation. It was my way of giving you the middle finger even though you’d probably never see what I’d accomplished.”
“It is and I’m so proud of you, baby girl. Earlier when I was talking to your dad, he said something about you not needing me and that is fine but I want you to want me to be a part of your life, as well as the kids,” he says gruffly.
“I don’t know if I can do that. When I couldn’t get in touch with you for a couple of days, I couldn’t figure out what I had done to make you not get back to me. Then when I went to the doctor and found out I was pregnant, I was happy to be having your babies but also scared that I would be raising them alone. I went to your parent’s house only to have Sammy rub it in my face that she had won yet again. She was pregnant and you gave up on us to become engaged to that snake. On top of all of that, the way your parents treated me was so foreign to how I grew up knowing them. I was so lost in my head that I didn’t find my way out of my despair until the day I took my mom to a doctor’s appointment checking on the babies. That day we found out I was having a boy and a girl and that was the day I woke up and vowed I would never let someone make me feel the way I had, so I can’t tell you when or if I could ever have that type of relationship with you again. I think for now we should work on our friendship. We used to be really good friends, Ry.” I reply with tears in my eyes. I’m so over all this fucking crying.
“Yeah, we were great friends, but a lot of that is because we both cared so deeply for each other. I was the dumbass who let my hormones overrun my mind and thought I was the shit because I had all these girls willing to give me their ‘goodies’ that I forgot about the girl who always had my heart,” he declares.
“That maybe but you don’t leave someone you love, disconnect your number, and let a manipulative bitch tell them they are marrying the man you just found out knocked you up. She kind of shit on our dreams and if you think about it, if she hadn’t gone to your mom and dad with her lies about me then you would’ve known about Tate and Rory.”
“I didn’t find out about her being pregnant until I came home from boot camp on leave before I was shipped off to North Carolina. I came home to her in my parent’s living room taking a nap. My parents told me she was pregnant and how far long she was. We may have broke up in March of that year, but I still saw her occasionally, so there was a chance the baby could have been mine.” I nod because I know he still saw her before we made it official. “As far as engaged, I never gave her a ring or proposed, so she probably did all that just to put the final nail in the coffin of our relationship. It worked, so she did win that battle, but she isn’t here now.”
“So how did you finally figure out the baby wasn’t yours?”
“When she woke up, I told her I wanted a paternity test. I never trusted her especially after we broke up. She was always going out of town for this or that and I knew her well enough to know there were more men than just me.”
“How long after he was born did you find out he wasn’t yours?” Talk about foot in the mouth, he never said it was a boy, but I do because Sammy being her manipulative self sent a picture of their supposed son to me after he was born. She was actually the one who gave me the idea of sending Ryker’s parents pictures of the twins every year. By the look on his face, he caught on to my slip up.
“I didn’t say he was a boy, Dani. How do you know he was a boy?” He questions with a distant look on his face.
“Because I received a picture of him after he was born and a note from Sammy filling me in on her life with you and Ryker Junior.”
“Goddammit, Dani. What else has she done?” He asks frustrated.
“Um…I receive pictures of me and the kids a couple times a year. Pictures of the kids outside school on the playground, pictures of me at the bar, pictures of anything that should be my business. I’ve gathered quite a collection of pictures of myself that I never knew were taken, but we can’t guarantee they are her handy work.” I tell him honestly.
“Who is ‘we’?”
“The club. I’m not taking it to the police until we are able to figure out who they are from and so far it has been just pictures, no threats.”
; “Fuck. So does that mean that she is possibly here? I haven’t seen her in about three years. After the paternity test, I tried to avoid her, but she was constantly around when I would come home for leave.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her face to face since I saw her at your parent’s house. I can’t believe you were still with her after she tried to trap you and lied about having your baby. Does she have a fucking platinum pussy? Jesus, I think I need to go to bed. The amount of alcohol in my system and Sammy is making me very irritated. She has done nothing but trample on me since you started dating her and now I’m just disgusted that you still let her hop on your cock and take it for a ride after everything.” I get up from the swing and he grabs my wrist.
“It was just a fuck, Dani. Don’t tell me you haven’t had a meaningless fuck. How can you not with as much attention as you get at the bar?” He says with a huff.
“No I haven’t had a meaningless fuck and I never will. I haven’t been with anyone since I was last with you unless my vibrator or my own fingers count. I have perspective, asshole. I have two kids relying on me so whether or not I need a good fuck or not, I can keep my legs close. Maybe you should try to keep your dick in your pants or let Rosie and her five friends help you out. Good night, Ryker.” With that I stomp in the house all the way to my room, not even caring if I wake up the kids.
Closing my bedroom door, I lay in my bed and stare at the ceiling. I can’t figure out if I am jealous of Sammy because she had Ryker even after she lied or the fact he didn’t give a shit about who he was sticking his dick in. I am to the point where I’m considering a one-night stand just so I can feel a little bit of intimacy. I don’t need to feel wanted because I can feel that any night of the week at the bar, but sometimes a woman craves a man’s touch to feel like a wanted woman.
I have been on a few dates, but no one made the ember burn within me. If I didn’t feel a flicker, I didn’t go on a second date. Maybe I should give in to Chase since he got his road name because even as a prospect six years ago he chased the hell out of me until he realized I couldn’t be caught. I wouldn’t say he has given up, but he has laid off me for a few weeks.
I pick up my phone from the nightstand contemplating texting Chase to maybe have dinner or go for a ride when there is a knock at the door.
“Come in.” I say expecting it to be one of the kids, but it isn’t. Here comes Ryker charging towards my bed and before I can move he is on top of me, his hard length against my heated core. We are face to face as he begins to speak.
“I was young and stupid and yes I let the wrong head think for me, but when I came back home to no Dani, I lost myself. You were miserable and I understand that completely, but try being miserable and being the cause of it. I thought I would come home in 12 weeks and be able to make it better, but when I came home you were gone. I couldn’t find anything out from any of our old friends and my parents did know, so I lost myself to the grief of doing the one thing I didn’t ever want to happen. I lost you. So yes I lost myself in pussy that was just a way of trying to feel something other than defeat.”
“But why her? Why the woman that caused even more downfall? Why a woman who is known for deception?
“Because she was there. Because she was easy and I knew it. Because even through the lying and deceit, I knew she was those things and I wouldn’t fall for her trap again.” He rolls off of me and is laying on his side facing me as I turn to face him.
“So you and Sammy were basically fuck buddies for five years.” I state with more disgust than I meant.
“Not really. Once I was stationed in North Carolina, I barely came home. She came to the military base for the paternity test and when it came back that I wasn’t his father, she went back home. We talked every now and then, but it was nothing important. When I’d come home for the occasional holiday, she was there. It was like she was telepathic. I would pull in my driveway and she would pull in before I even made it in the door.”
“Did she figure out who the father was?” I query.
“No, from what she told me she knows who it is, but that he left town. I never asked anymore than that, because honestly I didn’t care.” He states matter of fact. “Why haven’t you met anyone? You are attractive and successful, so it shouldn’t be that hard?”
“I’ve gone on dates, but if the spark is missing I don’t attempt another date. It just feels like a waste if the chemistry isn’t there. I’m thinking about getting back out there. With you here to help with the kids, I’ll have more time on my hands to concentrate on myself every once in a while.” I say waiting to see his reaction.
“Yeah, I don’t think I like that idea. Maybe we should just focus on the kids.” He winks at me.
“Yeah, you can do that. I focus on them every day, but seriously it is about time I got back on the horse, clean the cobwebs, have someone make an honest woman out of me.” I utter before giggling.
“I have a horse you can get on, a feather duster for your cobwebs and I don’t know if I will make you honest but I promise to have you speaking in tongues.” He replies with a laugh. Then he gets quiet. “We had chemistry, baby girl and a lot of it. We, also, were perfect for each other. We evened each other out.”
“Yeah, we did, but that is in the past. We are two completely different people now.”
I let that soak in and before I know it my eyes are heavy and falling shut.
Chapter 9
RYKER
I wake to an arm wrapped around my stomach and hair tickling my nose. Getting my bearings to open my eyes, I lift my head to see Dani practically swathing me with her arms and legs. I guess we both were wore out from the events of the previous day, but I can’t deny I’m exactly where I want to be. I slowly turn to my side so I’m facing her and my movements jostle her a little and her eyes flutter open.
“Good morning, baby girl,” I say huskily.
She lifts her head to look into my eyes and then slowly rises from the bed looking at her body. We are both still fully dressed.
“Mornin’,” she says while rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out. “What time is it?”
“It’s around nine.”
She frantically gets off the bed. “Shit! The kids should’ve been at school by now.”
We both hurriedly go downstairs, but the house is silent. We go to the kitchen and there’s a note on the island.
Angel,
Took the kids to school. You were sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake you. Be back in a bit to discuss the bar.
Sadie
“Sadie took the kids to school,” I say handing the note to Dani. “What’s going on at the bar?”
“I’m not sure but Jolene didn’t show up for her last shift and no one can get in touch with her. If she doesn’t show up for anymore then Sadie and I’ll have to cover for her, which means we will be shorthanded behind the bar and possibly the floor as well,” she replies while making two cups of coffee and then handing me the second cup.
“So both you and Sadie will be on stage.” I state the obvious.
“More me than her, because she isn’t that comfortable up there and she has only had to do it once or twice since she started, but she covers the bar while I dance.”
“If you need the help, I’m sure I can bartend. What about Trigger and the MC?”
“None of them are personable enough to wait tables, so I might have to see if I can get Aunt Queenie or one of the clubwhores, which I really don’t want to do. Most of the clubwhores just want attention and they don’t need the money because the club takes care of them.”
While considering options, the front door opens and closes and then Trigger and Sadie walk into the kitchen. Sadie looks worn out and Trigger looks like he went on a bender last night.
“Good morning,” Sadie says while plopping into a bar stool at the island and Trigger sits at the kitchen table with his head laying on the table. Dani makes both of them a coffee and starts another pot.
“I gu
ess we need a game plan for the rest of the week. Ryker said he could help with the bar. Trigger do you think you could help as well? The two of you could do it together or alternate days if you have plans. I can fill Jolene’s spot on the stage and rotate some of the other girls too.” Dani states more frustrated than should be necessary. I can only determine that she isn’t very happy about having to dance.
Trigger stares at her like she has lost her mind. “Angel, you know I will help with whatever you need except I’m not spinning around that pole. All I can see is my dick and balls getting squished or getting pole burn and that just isn’t gonna work for me.” Trigger exclaims firmly.
Dani and Sadie giggle and I just shake my head.
“That works for me but I know on Saturday we’ll need both of you behind the bar.” She looks between me and Trigger. “Because Sadie and I’ll both be on stage, and I’ll ask Queenie to cover the floor while we are up there.”
“Dani, are you talking about that thing you wanted to do last year?” Sadie cries nervously.
Dani smirks at her. “Of course I am. We practiced it before and we can practice it again before Saturday. You can do this Sadie and think about all those dollar bills. Whatever we make on Saturday from the performance is all yours.” Dani says still smiling while Sadie looks like she is going to puke.
“Fine, but we have to at least rehearse it twice before then and you better not let me fall on my face.”
“You know I’ve got your back. Always have and always will.” Dani states with conviction.
“What am I missing?” I look at the three of them. Dani just winks at me and Sadie is looking anywhere but at Trigger or me.
Trigger is the first to respond. “I guess we will find out on Saturday, because they aren’t going to tell us.
The girls just look intently at each other like they’re speaking to each other telepathically. I can only speculate I’m either going to hate or love what’s planned for Saturday.