All of You Page 20

  Danny glanced down.

  Nope.

  Just Stella, resorting to texting because Danny hadn’t picked up all night.

  Danny knew Nathan had told Stella all about his stupid, weak declaration of love and Danny was not looking to talk about that.

  Not now.

  Maybe not ever.

  Danny squinted at the screen.

  Stella: Hi! I’ve called a bunch of times, but, obviously, you didn’t pick up. Hot date? >dumbass winking emoticon<

  Danny rolled his eyes.

  Stella: Anyway, Christopher and Stellan wanted me to extend an invite. One of their friends took over a club downtown and they’re having the official re-opening tomorrow night. There will be a big group of us. Should be fun!

  Danny’s stomach lurched and his head started spinning. Apparently, his body had decided the massive amount of vodka hadn’t been such a great idea after all.

  He leaned back against the back of the couch, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. When the spinning grew even more uncomfortable, Danny opened his eyes and started up at the ceiling.

  Danny slowly righted his head and texted Stella back: NO

  A few seconds later, she texted: Why not???

  Danny texted: U know y

  About a minute later, Stella texted: She won’t be there.

  Danny texted: Y not

  Stella: She already has plans.

  “Yeah, I bet she does,” Danny muttered.

  Danny thought about what he’d do tomorrow night. He and Nathan usually worked Saturday nights, but they’d been put on Sunday night instead this week. Which left Danny with two choices: remain drunk and alone for the next thirty-six hours or go out, get drunk, and get laid. Maybe even parlay the Saturday night lay into a Sunday morning thing, too.

  Anything to fill up the hours until he absolutely had to sober up to go to work Sunday night.

  Thanks to his current level of intoxication, Danny was very ineffective at ignoring the #1 reason he wanted to go hang out tomorrow night…

  Because it was with Kat’s friends and Kat’s family.

  He was so damned twisted up over her that even being around her family was incentive enough to drag his ass out.

  Yeah, you’re not too out of your fucking mind.

  And over a woman who doesn’t even want you.

  Danny texted: Fine

  Stella texted: >toothy grin emoticon< Awesome! It will be so much fun!

  Danny grunted.

  Stella: The place is called Random Renegades – yeah, I know. N damn near gagged when he heard it, too. >tongue sticking out emoticon< We’re meeting there at 10:30. Or N and I can pick you up.

  Danny: Pick me up cuz I’m getting shitfaced.

  Stella: I’m biting my tongue. About a lot of stuff. You’re welcome. >mad face emoticon< See you around 10 tomorrow…N says he’ll call you in the AM.

  Danny: Is it a gay bar? Don’t care…just need to mentally prep…

  And make other hook-up plans.

  Stella: Nope. Gay people there, of course, but not a gay bar. Hee-hee.

  Stella’s unrelenting cheerfulness and enthusiasm were nice when one was sober, but when one was obliterated, furious, and devastated, it did begin to grate.

  Danny immediately felt guilty, so he texted: Love you both…know that, right?

  A minute later, she texted: We love you, too. >blowing kiss emoticon< Be safe tonight. You home?

  Danny: yep

  Stella: Get some sleep. You’re gonna need your rest for serious boogying tomorrow. >winking emoticon<

  Danny grunted again.

  He texted: Strong possibility after I’m shitfaced. C u tomorrow. Bye

  Stella: Night!

  Danny tossed his phone aside.

  He considered drinking more, but ultimately decided – if he was still this miserable at this level of inebriation – he was probably just going to have to stay miserable, ‘cause any more vodka and he’d be passing the fuck out.

  Which, now that he thought about it, might be the best possible scenario.

  Danny poured one last doozy of a shot and pounded it before curling up on his side and waiting for sweet relief that never came.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‡

  The only places Kat hated more than bars were nightclubs. At least in bars, people typically kept to themselves. They sat up at the bar, at tables, or in corner booths – drinking, talking, and hanging with the people they’d come with. Kat had always found them to be sad, desperate sorts of places, but not particularly uncomfortable or unsettling.

  Nightclubs, however, were an entirely different animal. Kat hadn’t gone to many, but the ones she had been dragged to had all been all the same: dark (except for the dizzying strobe lights and blinding reflections of disco balls, of course), loud, steamy rooms full of silly, drunk people whose sole purpose in being there was to find other silly drunk people to scream with and grind up on.

  No judgment, because Kat couldn’t have cared less what other people did in their free time, but it definitely wasn’t her cup of tea. She’d take a book and an actual cup of tea over that crap any day.

  Unfortunately, Stella had cornered Kat this morning and browbeaten her about joining the family at Random Renegades tonight. Exhausted from lying awake all night and heartsick about everything that had gone down with Danny, Kat had been an easy mark. Three phone calls, ten texts, and a pop-by later, Kat had finally agreed.

  But only after Stella had inadvertently answered the most important question on Kat’s mind.

  In her zealous quest to gain Kat’s acceptance, Stella had rattled off a laundry list of everyone going: Christopher, Stellan, Gigi, Marco, Nina, Carla, Stella, Nathan, a few nurses from the hospital where she worked, some cops Nina worked with, and – if she agreed – Kat.

  Naturally, Kat couldn’t come right out and ask about Danny, but she had beaten around that bush a little, asking Stella, more than once, if anyone else was going.

  At which point, Stella had gotten quiet and asked, “Why? Is there someone you’re hoping will be there?”

  Well, that had shut Kat up right quick. She’d agreed to go, shoved Stella out of her apartment, and spent rest of the day wondering what Danny was doing.

  Or, worse yet, what he’d be doing tonight.

  And who he’d be doing it with.

  A few hours later and there they were: Marco, Gigi, and Kat slowly winding their way through teems of those silly, drunken folks Kat adored. The strobe lights were flashing, the disco ball was turning, and Lady Gaga was seriously impairing some cochlear functioning.

  “I see them!” Marco yelled, over his shoulder, grinning. He turned back and waved to whomever it was he’d spotted.

  Gigi said something to Kat, but Kat couldn’t hear her. She cupped her hand around her ear and leaned into Gigi. “What?”

  Gigi lowered her lips to Kat’s ear and yelled, “I have a headache already!”

  Kat yelled back, “You and me both, babe! Might have to make this quick one tonight!”

  Gigi nodded in agreement as they continued following Marco.

  Marco parted one more mass of half-dressed women and leering men to reveal everyone sitting at a few tables that had been pushed together.

  And Kat’s heart and stomach simultaneously plummeted into her silver-sequined Converse as she took in the scene before her…

  She saw:

  Christopher and Stellan, grinning and waving excitedly at them.

  Several nurses Kat recognized from Stella’s baby shower.

  A handful of stiff-looking dudes, who Kat could only assume were some Collinwood cops Nina worked with.

  Nina shooting the shit with the stiff-looking dudes.

  Carla smiling warmly.

  Stella jumping up to greet them.

  Nathan dropping his shaking head into his hand.

  Oh, and Danny.

  He gaped at Kat and then glared at Nathan, whose head was still shaking and whose fa
ce was still planted firmly in his hand.

  “Hi, guys!” Stella yelled. She gave Marco and Gigi quick hugs, but when she turned to Kat, she paused.

  And then Kat knew.

  That Stella knew.

  Stella was the world’s worst faker and the half-guilty, half-deliriously happy expression of her face told the entire story in a split second.

  She threw her arms around Kat and put her lips close to Kat’s ear. “I’m not sorry, but I’m sorry you’re angry. Just go with it, okay? Give things a chance to work out.” Stella pulled back to meet Kat’s narrowed, dangerously close to crying eyes and smiled knowingly. “Trust me, cara.”

  Thank God Stella chose that minute to let her go or Kat might have started crying in her sister’s arms.

  But Kat was so stupidly happy to be close to him again.

  She’d been missing his face – and everything else about him – so damn much.

  “You know I have to kill her, don’t you?” Danny kept his eyes squarely on Nathan’s profile, head shaking. “You do realize that, no matter how much I love you both, I have no choice but to strangle her tonight, right? That there is seriously no other option?”

  The treacherous, wily, deceptively lovely object of Danny’s seething fury bounced back to the table and shot Danny a guilty – but somehow still infuriatingly triumphant – look.

  Despite Nathan’s warning, Stella leaned into Danny’s space and grinned. “I seem to remember a similar situation occurring some months back. You pulled a lot of shit that night at The Stony Lonesome, Danny, remember?”

  When he glared at her, Stella laughed. “I know, I know. And I wish I could say revenge is why I did this, but it’s not.” Her smile softened and she squeezed his hand. “Sometimes these things need a tiny push. You watch…it’ll all work out.”

  Stella turned to deal with Nathan’s raging disapproval and Danny grabbed his glass of Jack on the rocks. He tossed it back, still shooting daggers at the back of Stella’s head.

  He was going to do some pushing, all right. But it would involve Stella and the I-71 overpass.

  When Danny couldn’t stand it a second longer, he glanced in Kat’s direction, his mouth watering, his dick hardening, and his chest aching right on cue.

  She didn’t want him, but that didn’t mean Kat still wasn’t the sexiest damn woman in the room.

  By a long, long shot.

  Sparkly Converse kicks, tight jeans that hugged her perfect legs and ass, and a form-fitting, long-sleeved, black tee shirt emblazoned with a bunch of female Marvel characters and the words Girl Power. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she had her glasses on…

  Danny shifted uncomfortably in his chair, trying to get his erection under control. Because all he could think about was how ridiculously adorable she was and how much he wanted to fuck the living shit out her.

  Right now.

  This very minute.

  Wasn’t sure how he was going to keep breathing if he didn’t.

  Too bad Kat wouldn’t so much as glance his way.

  She spent the next fifteen minutes ignoring the hell out of him while Danny tried not to notice. With each gulp he took and each smile she gave someone else, Danny’s hurt and anger increased, until he realized he was flat-out staring at Kat like a pathetic, desperate, enraged fool.

  Nathan walked around to Danny’s side of the table, grabbed an empty chair, and sat down. He rested his forearms on his knees and leaned in. “You doing okay there, Mac?”

  Danny snorted and drained the rest of his drink before slamming the glass down hard enough to attract Kat’s attention – for one fucking second. He gave her a huge, shit-eating grin before she turned away again.

  Danny shrugged. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Maybe you should slow down on the Jack,” Nathan said. “We don’t want anything bad happening tonight, right?”

  Danny snorted again, openly staring at Kat’s profile.

  He knew she felt it. And that her family saw it. Hell, a blind man could have seen the pitiful way he was panting after her.

  “Maybe we should get you home,” Nathan said.

  Danny flagged down the waitress and ordered another drink, ignoring Nathan as hard as Kat was ignoring him until, with a profanity-laced mutter, Nathan walked backed to Stella and sat down.

  A new song came on and Stella said, “I love this!”

  Nathan’s lip curled. “What is this shit?”

  “It’s ‘Dark Horse,’ by Katy Perry.” She leaned her body into Nathan’s upper arm and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Come on, let’s dance. Just one song.” When Nathan quirked a brow, Stella straightened stood and tugged on his arm. “I know, I know, but, come on!” She grinned. “You don’t have to do anything but stand there.” Stella leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Please, baby?”

  Nathan’s expression made it clear he’d rather swallow a handful of poisonous tacks, but he slowly stood up. “Thank you!” Stella dragged him out onto the edge of the dance floor. They intertwined their fingers, Nathan wrapped their arms around behind her back, and they leaned into each other.

  And swayed.

  A little.

  Barely noticeably.

  It was as close as Nathan was ever going to get to dancing, but Stella didn’t seem to mind. She smiled up at him adoringly and then rested her cheek against his chest, moving her body more animatedly to the music while Nathan pretty much stood still.

  The whole fucking tableau made Danny sick to his stomach, because he wanted to touch his woman, hold his woman, and have his woman look up at him like that.

  Never mind she wasn’t his woman and never would be. She’d made it more than clear that she didn’t want him and that whatever it was they had going on between them wasn’t worth figuring out, fighting for, or even fucking trying.

  Well, in that case…

  Danny worked the room like he’d done a million times before. He was an old pro at putting a vibe out there, catching a woman’s eye, and letting nature take its course.

  As he scanned his surroundings, Danny quickly realized doing this tonight – with Kat sitting six feet away and his heart smashed to smithereens beneath her sneakers – was going to be a lot more difficult.

  Good thing he was nothing if not resilient. And determined. It’s how he’d survived his life up until this point and how he’d survive the rest of it.

  Without her.

  It didn’t take long for Danny to lock eyes with a tall, slender blonde with a short bob haircut, standing nearby with a group of her friends. She had crystal blue eyes framed by lots of dark, glittery eye shadow, nice, plump lips, and unnaturally large tits – which were currently on display under a thin layer of black see-through mesh. A band of black spandex covered her nipples and part of her stomach, but left very little else to the imagination.

  Yep. She’ll do just fucking fine.

  He curled his upper lip, his hooded gaze roaming slowly over every inch of her body. By the time Danny met her eyes again, she was smiling coyly and biting her bottom lip, head tilted in at a come hither angle.

  Danny slowly shook his head…

  And two seconds later, she was cat-walking his way.

  Gigi grabbed Kat’s hand and squeezed. She leaned in, so Kat could hear without her screaming. “Wanna tell me what’s going on with you and Danny?”

  Kat shook her head, continuing to shred a cocktail napkin until it was ripped into ten equal-sized squares.

  “Kat, talk to me. I…” Gigi’s words trailed off and her eyes abruptly lifted to something above Kat’s head.

  Kat turned around and her stomach lurched. She immediately constricted her throat muscles to keep whatever was in her stomach from coming back up her esophagus and spewing all over the table.

  Because there was a woman.

  A tall, beautiful, blonde woman.

  On Danny’s lap.

  A tidal wave of blood from Kat’s head dropped to her feet, draining he
r face of all color and leaving her light-headed and off-kilter.

  The woman threw her head back, laughing at something Danny said, as she ran her hands through the front of his hair.

  Exactly the way Kat had done a few days ago. When he’d had his head in her lap…after they’d talked and kissed…and…

  If she hadn’t known better, physiologically, Kat would have sworn her heart had stopped working. That it was literally broken…shattered into a million pieces now floating around inside of her pericardial cavity.

  Tears blurred her vision, making the image of Danny wrapping his arm around the woman’s waist and giving her a sly grin swim before her eyes.

  Gigi squeezed her hand, trying to pull Kat’s attention away from Danny. “Let’s go, cara.”

  Gigi’s voice sounded faint and far away, almost like she was at the opposite end of a very long tunnel. But Kat had no ability to answer her or do anything other than watch the woman slide off Danny’s lap, grab his hand, and pull him onto the dance floor.

  Time seemed to slow down and everything went quiet in Kat’s brain as Danny grabbed the woman’s hips, pulling her into him as they began moving their bodies to the beat of whatever song was currently playing.

  Besides the loss of her mom and Stella’s breast cancer fight, the pain was unlike anything Kat had ever known…

  Watching Danny touch another woman that way, watching another woman’s hands on a man Kat now realized she deep-down considered hers.

  Especially when they were doing something Kat really couldn’t do. She’d danced like Elaine from Seinfeld before MS; Kat could only imagine how awful she’d be at it now.

  Not that anyone had ever bothered asking.

  Not that Danny had bothered asking.

  Actually, he did ask you…at Nathan and Stella’s bachelor/bachelorette party. But you pushed him away. You rejected him. And last night you did it again.

  And now you wanna get all pissy because he’s moving on?

  Apparently the answer was, Hell, yes! Because every piece of her heart and every cell in her brain screamed it all at once.

  The jealousy and utter fury tore at her soul and it was all Kat could do not to march over there and hurt them both as much as they were hurting her.