Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
LEO
It had been five days since the shit hit the fan, and each day had been worse than the last for a multitude of reasons. The strongest reason being I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d been way out of line the last time I spoke to Danika.
I’d been so out of my head with anger when I confronted her I hadn’t thought about a single thing I was saying before the words spewed from my mouth.
Thanks to my disastrous marriage, I had a hair-trigger temper.
It was a huge character flaw and, while I tried my best to keep it in check, sometimes I lost control.
After that call with my son, dealing with his attitude and how badly he was hurting, not to mention all the shit I’d learned about what Whitney had been saying to our kids, the trigger had been pulled, and I acted without any forethought, taking everything I’d been feeling out on Danika.
Then there was the fact that I was picking up my kids later today for my week with them, and Hardin still wasn’t speaking to me.
I’d have given anything and everything to get us back to where we’d once been.
It was bad enough I only got my kids every other week, but even when I had Hardin, he still wasn’t with me, and I didn’t have a fucking clue how to make things better.
“Not sure what you’re hopin’ to accomplish, but starin’ at your computer like it owes you money isn’t gonna make it magically start typin’ all on its own.”
I blinked, bringing my vision into focus and turning to look across the desks at my partner. “If I stare at you like that, would it get you to shut the hell up?”
He shook his head on a chuckle. “Christ, you’ve been a moody son of a bitch lately.”
“Maybe it’s his time of the month.”
I whipped around and skewered Hayes with a killing look as Micah and Trick busted out laughing.
“How about the three of you fuck right the hell off?”
I turned my glare back to my computer as Trick mock-whispered, “I think we hurt his feelings, guys.”
“I don’t see any of you fuckin’ off yet,” I grumbled, stabbing at my mouse with my index finger harder than necessary.
Before they could give me any more shit, Trick’s wife came traipsing up the stairs into the bullpen with their infant son in her arms. Even after giving birth only a few months back, the beautiful redhead was still all long legs and pronounced curves.
Add to that the fact that the woman was also sweet as pie, and it wasn’t any wonder why Trick was so sprung for his woman.
Her gaze was trained on her husband, a soft smile on her face as she got close to his desk. “Hi, honey.”
He rose to his feet, leaning down to place a kiss on her lips before divesting her of their son, Liam. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Nona,” Hayes greeted, standing up and rounding his desk clump to give the woman a sideways hug. “You good?”
“Just great,” she answered before shifting to Micah and giving him the same sweet greeting. Then, without so much as looking in my direction, she turned back to her husband and asked, “You ready for lunch?”
I leaned back in my chair, propping my elbows on the arms as I gave her a teasing grin. “What? Don’t feel like sharin’ the love with me?”
Instead of laughing like I’d expected, she shot me a vicious glare so full of ice I almost shivered.
“My momma taught me if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. And since it would be rude to call you a raging hemorrhoid with a head full of rocks, I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut.”
“What the hell?” I muttered, sitting up straight. “What did I do?”
“What you did was hurt my friend,” she fired back. “I thought you were a smart man, Leo, but apparently I was wrong.”
“Nona,” Trick said in a low, warning tone. “This isn’t the time or the place.”
“What happened between me and Danika is no one’s business but mine and Danika’s,” I gritted defensively. I’d always liked Nona, but the last thing I needed was her getting in my shit. Especially when she didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
“Dude. You and the Muffin Top chick?” Micah asked, a grin taking over his face.
“Nice, brother. She’s all kinds of hot. And the way she bakes?
Christ, talk about heaven. Why the hell didn’t you tell me?
” He placed his hand on his chest in mock offense.
“I’m hurt, man. Partners are supposed to share this kind of shit with each other. ”
“They didn’t tell anyone.” Nona turned back to me, pinning me in place as she continued, “Neither of them did.” At that declaration, I felt all the blood drain from my face.
Her expression turned knowing, and more than a little accusatory.
“She never said a word. You should know that. Sage saw you two together. None of us knew what was going on, or that you were even keeping it a secret, so, in her excitement, she came to the salon and told me. That’s how we knew. ”
Oh fuck.
“Uh . . .” Micah’s gaze bounced between the two of us. “Why do I feel like I’m missing somethin’ here?”
“Talk to your partner,” Nona clipped, keeping her eyes glued to me the whole time. “I’ll let him fill you in. That way he won’t be able to blame anyone else for running their mouth.”
“All right. We’re done here,” Trick said, taking Nona by the hand and pulling her toward the stairs that led out of the bullpen and into the lobby. “We got a lunch date to keep, and I’d rather not have to deal with any bloodshed today. That particular paperwork’s all kinds of hell.”
The two of them disappeared, leaving me in my chair, reeling over what I’d just found out.
“Leo, man, what did you do?” Micah asked a minute later.
I turned to him and gave him the truth. “I fucked up. Big time.”
Muffin Top was a mad crush of people by the time I walked in later that afternoon. I’d tried to get there earlier, but Micah and I caught a call that had taken precedence over my need to grovel and beg for forgiveness.
My eyes immediately went to the register when I stepped inside. Danika was behind the counter taking orders and smiling at her patrons as she rattled off coffee orders to the other woman working back there with her.
No doubt it would piss off everyone in there, but instead of waiting in line, I bypassed the crowd and started for the front.
“Here you go, Joe,” I heard her say as I got closer. “And I threw in an extra chocolate chip cookie just because you’re sweet.”
Joe Silvester shot Danika a wink as he reached across the counter and took the white paper bag from her hand.
He turned to make his way out, spotting me just as I closed in on the counter, and gave me a look full of rebuke.
Christ. Apparently word of my fuck-up had was already spreading through town.
“Detective Drake,” he grunted loud enough that Danika’s head shot up. Her big eyes filled with panic as soon as they landed on me.
“Joe.” I returned his greeting, hiking up my chin. “How’s it goin’?”
“Great, now that I had a moment to chat with the lovely Dani,” he answered, his look saying the words he hadn’t voiced, specifically, screw with her and die.
“Girl’s sugar sweet, I’ll tell you what.
Won’t be no time now, some lucky man snatches her up.
If I were forty years younger, I’d be the first damn one in line. You get what I’m sayin’ to you?”
Oh, I got it all right. He couldn’t have made his warning any clearer if he’d just come right out in front of everyone and called me a mean prick.
I kept a watch on Danika from the corner of my eye as I said, “Not sayin’ anything I don’t already know, Joe,” and saw how she quickly looked away, those creamy cheeks blushing a pretty pink.
“Mm-hmm. Well, you’d do well to remember that.” With the last word spoken, Joe shouldered past me and made his way out of the coffee shop.
I watched him go and noticed several other people giving me the same look he just had. And it wasn’t because I’d cut in line. Oh no, it was because they knew I was the villain who’d slighted their precious Dani.
I slowly spun around, turning my gaze to the beautiful woman across the counter, but she was doing her best to pretend I didn’t exist. Giving the next person in line that big smile that never failed to heat my blood, she asked, “What can I get you today?”
“I’ll take a—”
“Danika,” I said, speaking over the customer. “Can we talk?”
She hit me with a cold, dead stare. “No we can’t. But while you’re here, I’ll ask that you have a word with your wife and ask her and her friends to stop spreading nasty rumors about me.”
My back shot straight, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “Ex-wife, and what the hell is she sayin’ about you?”
“Vicious woman,” another man farther back in the line piped up. “Goin’ round sayin’ sweet Dani’s a homewrecker who stole you away. Load of hogwash. Dani’d never do somethin’ like that.”
There were murmurs of agreement coming from all around, but I was too focused on the rage simmering inside me to pay attention.
“I’ll talk to her,” I swore to Danika. “I’ll make her stop. But there are some things I need to say to you.”
“As you can see, I’m in the middle of the afternoon rush.” She dismissed me, returning her focus to the woman standing beside me. “My apologies.”
“It’s fine. As I was saying—”
I cut them off again. “Please, sweetness. It’ll only take a minute.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and inhaled deeply, as if she was in pain, and when she opened them again to look at me, I could see clear as day that she was. Fuck me, but that killed.
“Pretty sure you said everything there was to say the other night.”
“Excuse me, but I’d really like to get my coffee.”
Dani looked back to the customer, a grin back in place, but this time it was easy to see just how fake it was. “So sorry about that. What was it you were wanting?”
“I need to apologize,” I blurted before the woman could get a word in edgewise. “I talked to Nona.”
“Freaking Nona,” she mumbled with a shake of her head. “I need new friends.”