Then There Was You

by D L Lane

  Taking a seat at the breakfast bar, Danica tucked some hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry Marcus missed dinner the other night. He told me to extend his apologies before I left the house earlier.”

  Her mother waved a dismissive hand, then poured the dark brew into a cup. “He’s a busy man. Your father and I understand that.”

  “He is, but it seems he is busier and busier.”

  Mom eyed her. “Is everything okay with you two?”

  “Yes. We’re fine.”

  “You don’t look ‘fine’.”

  “I guess I’m just feeling sorry for myself lately, but I shouldn’t be so grumpy about his job. I knew before I married him, the hospital consumed all of Marcus’ time.”

  “Baby-girl, have you spoken to him about slowing down some?”

  “I’ve mentioned it, but we’ve never had a serious conversation on the subject.”

  “Maybe you should tell him how you’re feeling.”

  Danica shrugged as she slid the non-dairy creamer toward her mother. “I’m not complaining; I’m really not. Marcus is a wonderful provider and a man who loves me. I don’t need to be the center of his world.”

  That’s not true. You want to be the center of his universe, she thought.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Don’t most of us want to be the main focus of our husband’s lives?”

  Danica didn’t respond, not willing to bring up any of the things that were bothering her lately.

  “All right, by your silence, I get it. Change of subject. What are your plans today?”

  Placing her palms around the warm ceramic mug, Danica tapped her toe. “I need to do the rounds for the chamber this morning.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’m going to stop by and speak to Karley Robinette, extend a formal invitation to join.”

  “Isn’t that something John should do? He is the president.”

  “It is, but he asked if I could handle it. I guess he’s swamped with family issues lately.”

  “Yes, I heard about his youngest son. Expelled for fighting again.”

  Danica nodded. “He’s an angry kid, that’s for sure.”

  “Well, it’s nice you stepped up to help him out. I’m sure John appreciates it.”

  “He never fails to express his appreciation for anything I do.”

  “He’s a nice man. Such a shame about him and his wife.” Mom blew on her coffee, then took a sip. “Getting divorced after twenty-six years of marriage?”

  “That was shocking news, wasn’t it?”

  “Very. So, what do you think about our newest business?”

  “I was surprised when Karley came back home, but even more so when she opened up a gym.”

  “You and me both.”

  “It seems strange for Cedar Point to have such a place. It’s like we’ve turned into a big town.”

  “It’s my understanding her gym is going over pretty well, though.”

  Danica tapped her mug. “I suppose, if you think about it, if you don’t have equipment at home, then having somewhere to workout is nice.”

  “I’m trying to talk your father into joining.” Her mother held up her hand and crossed her fingers.

  “You mean you're nagging him?”

  Mom chuckled. “Pretty much.”

  Danica stared into her coffee cup, watching the steam waft up, working her bottom lip over with her teeth.

  “Danny? What is it?”

  “Deloris told me…”

  “Told you what?”

  “Gage left his parents' place and bought the old Willis house. Have you heard anything about that?”

  “I have, and he has. He moved in last week after having the place painted.”

  Glancing up, Danica met her mother’s gaze. “I haven’t seen him.”

  “I know. And, I would imagine you’ve purposefully avoided it, right?”

  “There’s just—” She welded her mouth shut, wondering what in the world was wrong with her. She didn’t talk about Gage to anyone. Ever.

  Her mother placed a soft palm on her forearm. “I know we’ve never talked about him or what happened to split your friendship all those years ago, but I do know you two were such great friends once.”

  “Mom—”

  “I know, baby-girl. You don’t want to talk about it. So we won’t. But I will say you can’t avoid him forever. It just won’t be possible to do anymore now that Gage is here.”

  ~

  “Hello, Lyle,” Danica greeted, popping her sunglasses on top of her head. “I’m here to see Karly if she’s in this morning.”

  “Sure, Danny. She’s here. Last I saw she was over by one of the weight machines.”

  Since she’d gone to the grand opening ceremony the month prior, she knew the place. “Okay. Thanks, Lyle. I’ll head on back if you don’t mind.”

  “Don’t mind at all.”

  “Oh, hey. Do you think I could leave my purse up here with you?”

  “Of course. I’ll put it behind the counter.”

  “Appreciate it,” she said as she handed over her bag before heading in the direction she needed to go.

  Passing a line of treadmills, most of which were in use, she noted, Danica kept on going past the rowing machines and took a left at the stationary bikes, all the while listening to the upbeat music drift from the open door of the glass aerobics room.

  She waved at Phillip, who was curling some impressively sized dumbbells. He grinned and bobbed his head.

  Danica smiled when she saw Karly all decked out in her tight multi-colored spandex pants, with a neon pink t-shirt with the gym’s logo and name—Iron Rose—printed across the back, and matching pink streaks in her platinum-blonde hair. Karly had been a couple of years behind her in school, but she knew her well enough to know she’d always been a bit of a free spirit, and Danica liked that about her.

  When the woman turned, the corners of her lips lifted, transforming her serious face into a dimpled, bright-white picture of happiness. “Danny! It’s good to see ya.”

  “It’s lovely to see you as well.”

  “What brings you in bright and early on a Saturday?” Karly gazed at her from the top of her head to her bold print dress, to the pointed toes of her Jimmy Choo’s. “You don’t have a duffle with you, so you’re not here to work out in that outfit.” She scanned her yet again. “Wow! You are working it too. Who’s the designer you’re wearing?”

  Danica ran a palm over the bell of her hip. “Versace. A gift from my husband.”

  “The man sure has great taste.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So, what can I do for you?”

  “I wondered if you might have a moment to chat. Perhaps in your office?”

  “Sure. Can you give me a second to move the clutter? Dennis dumped all the shirts I ordered in there, and so I’ve got boxes all over the place.”

  “Oh. I don’t want to put you out.”

  “You’re not. I need to find you a chair. Right now, they’re hidden beneath a city of cardboard.”

  “Are you sure? I could come back another time.”

  “It will just take me a minute or two. Feel free to go over to the snack bar to grab something to drink, and I’ll be right back to get you.”

  Karly spun around in a twirl, then off she went.

  Though she’d seen it before, Danica took a second to glance around, marveling at the job Deacon Carter did with the place. He took the old, unused theater building and remodeled it into a gym that would rival any of those fancy fitness facilities in Seattle.

  With a tilt to her head, Danica listened to the change in music and mood as Anya Marina sultry voice sang, “Satellite Heart.”

  She liked that song and listened to it a lot when it first came out, picturing a dance routine in her mind’s eye that would work with the tempo, but she hadn’t heard it in quite a while.

  Turning, she ran smack into a wall of a man with an oomph, spluttering, “Sorry!” feeling large hands enclose around he
r upper arms to steady her.

  Lifting her head—eyes trailing up a well-muscled torso covered in a white wife-beater shirt that hugged his body like a lover—she blushed. “I didn’t—” Danica gasped when she came to the chiseled face with those high cheekbones, her gaze tangling with his.

  Everything shifted into nothing but him—the floor beneath her feet, leaving. The building surrounding them crumbled to dust. Time and space no longer existed, the years falling away. Paralyzing vines sprouted from the void, held her in place as they wrapped around her ankles, slid up her calves, twisted along her thighs, circled her waist, slithered around Danica’s spine, and manacled her hands—sharp thorns digging into her chest. “Gawonii…”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Mouth agape, Danica stared up at Gage, his words rattling around in her head. “Because, I’m the one who painted it.”

  “You—” She licked her dry lips. “You painted it?”

  “Yes.”

  “But, but…” She blinked, glancing down at her feet. She never knew Gage could paint, or that he did, but her thoughts jumped to, “You were at the gallery that day of the silent auction.” Not a question, a statement.

  “Yes,” he said, going into no explanation.

  “Yo-you.” Shaking her head, she said quietly, “You titled the painting Gravity.”

  “I did.”

  Slowly, Danica lifted her chin, then her eyes, studying his stoic features—the scar that bisected the arc of his right brow, something that hadn’t been there when they were kids. The perfect shape of his lips, the dark stubble on his usually clean-shaven face.

  “You saw me dance.” Again, she hadn’t asked a question, the reality of the situation coming into crisp clarity, spilling from her.

  He nodded just once.

  “You came to watch me at WSU, and I never knew it. Why?”

  Gage sighed, then combed his fingers through the black strands of his hair. “This is a conversation for another time. Right now, we need to talk about what happened here. Not the past. Not now.”

  “But we will. We will talk about it?”

  “We will.”

  ~

  An hour later, Gage’s men had left the scene. Breckin, Mason, Danny, and he were all sitting in her family room, the full story of what happened in Seattle earlier told to her sister and Mase, but it was she who spilled the information. It wasn’t his place to share it.

  “I just can’t— I don’t— It’s so hard to believe,” Breck muttered, holding onto her husband’s hand.

  Gage had listened to their conversation, yet still ran through the possibilities of who would have entered Danica’s home to vandalize a painting and take a pair of earrings, both of which brought him into the scenario. Whoever did this knew, at the very least, Gage was on some level important to her.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Danny admitted in almost a whisper of breath.

  “Whatever it is you need, we’ll help you,” Mase said.

  “Of course, we will,” Breck chimed in. “You won’t be struggling to find a way to pay for things.”

  “I can’t—”

  “Nope.” Mason shook his head. Emphatic. “Not going to argue about this, Danny. You are family, and I will not leave you, Aaron and Ari dangling in the wind of financial uncertainty.”

  “I’m on the exact page as Mase,” Breck said, getting up to go hug her little sister.

  “G?” Mason called, drawing his focus to his friend.

  “Yeah?”

  “What are you thinking? What happened here, could it somehow be connected to the strange things Marcus did? Maybe he got in deep with the wrong sort of people?”

  “It’s possible. But there are several things about this whole situation here tonight that bother me.”

  “Me, too, but tell me what you think.”

  “First, someone knew about the security here. They not only disabled the cameras, but knew the security code, and impersonated Danica when the company called about those cameras being down. Second, whoever it was must be a woman. I doubt a man could pull off a believable feminine voice, and if it was a man, why not just roll with that?”

  “You mean like he was Marcus?”

  “Why not? The company that monitors this house isn’t local. Chances are they don’t know about Marcus.”

  “But they might.”

  “All right. For argument's sake, let’s say the person who took the call figured they might know about Marcus. That still brings me back to, if it were a man, it would be tough to pull off an impersonation of Danica.”

  “True.”

  “The third thing that bothers me,” Gage said, “is once inside this house, nothing of real value was taken. There are multiple paintings on the walls in Marcus’ office worth something, so why not take those? Also, Danica’s jewelry would have been easy and pricy things to grab. Yet only one item of jewelry, with more sentimental value than monetary, was taken. And a painting that held sentimental value for Danny as well was messed with and destroyed. Everything else, untouched.” Gage rubbed the middle of his chin.

  “So, it’s someone who knows Danny,” Mase stated.

  Gage met his friend’s gaze. “Someone who knows her well, and is holding a grudge of some kind.”

  No more had he said those words when his mind kicked over to Courtney. She hated Danica, always had and wasn’t subtle about it. But, would she know about the security, the code, the jewelry, and the painting? Let alone have the brass to do what was done? Not to mention the mystery vandal in black. That was tied into this as well, he just knew it.

  Gripping the back of his tense neck, Gage said, “Danny, until we get this figured out, I don’t want you alone.”

  Mason nodded. “I agree.”

  “We’ll stay,” Breckin offered.

  “I’m staying,” Gage said before he even took a moment to consider his words.

  “What?” Danny stared at him with wide eyes and a red-tipped nose from all her crying.

  “I’m staying here.”

  “You can’t do that. You—”

  “I can, I will, and I’m doing it, Danica Dawn.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Before

  “Gawonii…”

  Her voice, that breathy, sensual softness he dreamed about, wrapped around him like a blanket of need as he gazed into the face of an angel. Though he knew he’d run into Danica at some point, he hadn’t been at all prepared to see her when he walked into the gym. Unable to stop himself from stalking over to her like a panther on the prowl, he’d startled her when she turned around, her smaller body colliding with his larger frame.

  Seconds, hours, or even a lifetime passed while Gage’s heart raced, and he fought a battle with himself to let loose of her arms. He wanted to pull Danica close, so close there wasn’t any space between them; to hold her tight, inhale her sweet scent, and never let her go—lock them in infinity.

  Instead, he willed his fingers to move, broke the contact, steeled himself, and took a single step away. “It’s good to see you.”

  A crinkle marred Danny’s brow as if she hadn’t expected him to speak, or maybe it was the calm, detached tone of his voice she hadn’t been expecting.

  “How are you? I heard about—” She pressed her lush lips together and closed her eyes, then pinched the bridge of her nose. “I heard about what happened last year in L.A.”

  A pause.

  A breath.

  “I’ve been praying for you.”

  Praying? If she had been wasting her time with that, she’d been doing it for almost two years, but Gage wasn’t going to correct her.

  “I’m perfectly fine,” he said, glad he hadn’t needed to use his cane that morning and prove him the liar he was.

  Danica lifted her head and gazed at him, doing what she’d done just minutes before, taking him in as if studying every line and curve from his legs, waist, arms, to his chest, throat, chin, lips, his nose, locking her stunning blues on his
eyes. “I doubt you are fine, Gage.”

  He stared at her, silent.

  She stared back.

  The quiet bubble they were in burst with, “Danny? Oh, hi Gage,” as Karly came strolling up.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  After running home to grab a few things, shove them into his duffle, change out of his uniform, and feed his fish, Gage headed back to Danny’s place. He’d finally convinced Mase and Breck he ‘had it covered,’ sending them on their way before he did another sweep of Danica’s house. He wanted to double-check, make sure all the windows were secure and the doors were locked. He even looked in on the twins, the two of them sleeping soundly in their cribs, their little cherubic cheeks rosy—Arianna sucking her thumb.

  Gage smiled and backed out of their room, sure to close the door as quietly as possible, then turned. Danica was just a few steps away, dressed in an oversized shirt and sleep pants, looking weary to the bone as she silently watched him. Yet as tired as she was, she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid his eyes upon.

  Going to her, he took her hand, led her down the hall and over to her room. “The house is locked up tight. The babies are safe and sound; everything is quiet. So, you need to go to bed and get some sleep.”

  “I don’t know if I can sleep.”

  Stopping beside the large bed she’d shared with Marcus, Gage pushed back the stab of jealousy that always struck him when he thought of the man, and forced himself to let loose of her. The task seemed monumental, but he did it. He let go, only to cup Danica’s soft cheek, thumb brushing back and forth over the petal-soft flesh. “You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She glanced up at him from beneath her long lashes and sucker-punched him in the gut as she nuzzled his palm. “Gawonii…”

  Gage broke the tender moment by dropping their physical connection to tug down the covers on the mattress, saying, “Get in.”

  Blinking, she stood there a moment, then complied, climbing into the bed, allowing him to pull the sheets back up, covering her.

  “I’ll be down the hall in the guest room if you need me.” Turning, Gage headed for the door. He paused when he heard her voice.