Chapter 17 #2
I then went to work on my hair. The locks had given me hell through adolescence right up until my early twenties when I finally figured out how to tame them.
It didn’t know if it wanted to be curly, wavy, or straight, so it went with all three on different sections of my head, but it was all frizzy, meaning letting it air dry naturally with no product produced something that looked like I was a deranged mental patient who had escaped the hospital and had been sleeping under a bridge for weeks.
Now I had a whole slew of stuff I used daily to keep it smooth, shiny, and manageable.
After a quick towel dry, I pumped a couple squirts of macadamia oil into my hand and mixed it with a couple drops of blow dry lotion before running my fingers through my hair to coat the strands.
Then I blow-dried it out smooth, using a huge round brush to give it some bounce.
Once I was done with that, I hit it with heat protecting spray that made my tresses super shiny and silky, and twisted sections into pretty waves with my curling iron.
My hair was flawless so I needed my makeup to be on point.
Halfway through my attempt at a smoky eye, there was a knock on my door. Cinching the belt on my short, jersey-knit robe tight, I started out of my bathroom. A huge smile tugged at my lips and my heart did a little flutter when I lifted up on my toes and looked out the peep-hole.
I quickly disengaged the lock and whipped the door open with a soft “Hey,” as I looked up at Leo in all his sexy glory. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of looking at this man. “You’re early. I’m not done yet, but I can move a little faster. If you want—”
“We need to talk,” he said in a flat, emotionless voice that made me pause.
I took him in fully for the first time since opening the door and realized that his face was like thunder.
His olive-colored eyes were dull, devoid of their usual light and smile, his lips were pressed into a thin line, and his jaw was like stone. Something was very wrong.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, taking a step back so he could enter.
I expected him to move to the living room and take a seat or head to the kitchen to grab a beer, so I didn’t know how to handle it when he remained in the entryway, his feet shoulder width apart and his arms crossed over his chest.
“No, it’s not. This won’t take long, but I wanted to tell you in person, our date is off.”
My stomach clenched with worry as I took a step closer. “Did something happen at work? Is it another case?”
“No, it’s not that. I mean it’s off for good. This thing”—he waved a finger in the air between us—“it’s done.”
“I-I don’t understand. Did something happen?”
“You could say that,” he replied, the words slipping menacingly through gritted teeth. “Got a call from Hardin earlier. He was understandably upset after findin’ out from his mom that you and I have been seein’ each other in secret.”
Oh God.
My chin jerked back into my neck. “But . . . how?”
“I don’t know, Dani. You tell me.”
Something altogether unpleasant slithered across my skin just then.
Not once in all these weeks had I been Dani to him.
I was Danika. A unique and beautiful name for a unique and beautiful woman, he’d said.
Or I was sweetness. But something had happened to make him take that away.
Now I was just plain old Dani to him like I was to everyone else.
“I . . . I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Leo. I haven’t said—”
“Sure you haven’t,” he hissed, dropping his hands to his trim hips and leaning forward accusingly. “Then explain to me how the fuck your girls knew about our little make out in the kitchen at Muffin Top last night.”
“What?”
“One of Whitney’s bitch friends overheard Sage talkin’ to Nona, tellin’ her about it. So explain to me, if you didn’t say anything, how the fuck did she know details, huh?”
“I-I don’t know,” I cried, throwing my arms out. “Honest to God, Leo.”
“I asked you to keep this quiet. I’ve been bustin’ my ass for a year to get my boy back. I was fuckin’ finally getting in there. Now he thinks I’ve been lyin’ and deceivin’ him this whole time.”
My eyes began to burn, and I had to blink rapidly to keep the tears at bay. “I know. That’s why I’d never—”
“But you had to go tell your girls. A crew known for not bein’ able to keep their mouths shut. Now my boy’s hurting and there isn’t a goddamn thing I can do to make it better.”
“Leo, please.” I stepped closer and lifted my hands to place them on his chest reassuringly, but before I could, he dropped his arms and stepped back. Away from my touch. That killed. “If you’d just let me—”
“There’s nothin’ you have to say that I want hear.
I could’ve led them to this knowledge gently.
I was preparing to do just that. I just needed a little more time.
I could’ve told them about me and you in a way that wouldn’t have hurt them, but you had to run your mouth.
What? Are your deep-seeded issues about being a nerd in high school so damn bad, you had to go tell everyone you finally hooked up with the quarterback of the football team? ”
He might not have physically hit me just then, but that blow landed so true and so strong that I rocked back on my foot and the breath expelled from my lungs. “That’s not fair,” I whispered through the tightness in my throat. “That’s not fair, and it’s just plain mean.”
He kept going, sticking the knife in deeper and twisting it for good measure. “I wanted to wait until I was sure what we had would stay good. Now I know it won’t, but that doesn’t even matter, ’cause everyone already fuckin’ knows.”
“Leo, honey. Just listen—”
“Nothin’ to listen to,” he threw back curtly. “Like I said, this is done. Have a good life, Dani.”
With that, he spun around and stomped the two steps to the door. He flung it open and slammed it closed behind him so hard that it rattled the pictures on the wall.
I stood there frozen for what felt like an eternity as I tried to understand what had just happened. His cruel words bounced around inside my skull until they were all I could hear.
I wasn’t sure how I managed on such shaky legs, but I somehow made it back to my room without collapsing on the floor. I climbed into my bed, curled into a fetal position, gripping my knees tight against the pain in my chest.
Then I cried so long and so hard, I wore myself out, the salty tears drying on my cheeks once I’d cried myself to sleep.