12. Lennox
Chapter 12
Lennox
We’d opted for the beach below Evan’s house since he was in Sacramento. He’d given me a key long ago, and when I’d suggested we come here to watch the fireworks, Camile was all in.
I stalled as long as I could before Daniel and I built a campfire.
“How did you learn to build a fire?”
I smiled. “When we were kids, your dad and I almost set the woods on fire until your granddad stepped in. He took us camping and taught us how to do everything.”
It was a memory I wished Dane were here to recount with him. I couldn’t help but think his father should have been here instead of me.
Once the fire was low enough to manage, we’d roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. But the closer we got to the sun sinking completely into the ocean, the reality that I’d fucked this up for Daniel set in. I should have gone home and stayed there.
I was sitting on the beach by the fire when Camile confirmed what I already knew. I’d gone inside to show Daniel where the bathroom was and returned just as she pulled out her phone to answer a call. As she talked, I watched her face as her hopeful expression slipped into irritation. When she glanced at me, the aggravation I felt was reflected in her eyes.
She finished her conversation and ended the call, scowling at the phone in her hand. When she looked up at me, I knew.
“He’s not coming, is he?”
She hesitated a moment as she took one last look at the screen. “No,” she said. “He just lied and said he’s not feeling well.”
My eyebrows went to my hairline. “Wow, that’s kinda harsh.”
She rolled her eyes. “Have you considered why you haven’t had a relationship? What’s holding you back?”
I was shocked at her reaction, but I shouldn’t have been. She was blunt and called them as saw them.
“I don’t do relationships.”
“And why is that? Did you have a girlfriend in high school?”
I laughed. “God, Camile. Why are you digging up ancient history?”
“Just answer the question, Lennox.”
She was a ball buster. “No, not really. I went out, but never said ‘Hey, you wanna be my old lady’.”
She looked off to the side, closed her eyes, and shook her head. She was disgusted with me. “Why not, Lennox? Why didn’t you ever want an old lady to hang out with all the time?”
I laughed, taken aback. “Damn. You should consider a career in law enforcement if that flying thing doesn’t work out.”
“Just answer the damn question,” she barked.
“I don’t know.,” I said in a pitch only dogs could hear. “I just never found anyone I wanted to be with more than Dane.”
“Think about that, Lennox. Do you think that’s the way Evan feels about Hudson? Do you think they’d rather hang out together than say, with you?”
I was confused. “What do Evan and Hudson have to do with me and Dane?”
She raised one brow and looked at me like I was thick.
“What are you saying?”
She threw her hands in the air. “Ugh! You two are idiots. That’s what I’m saying.”
And… all the pieces began to fall together.
There was no way. You don’t walk away from someone you love. But I knew that wasn’t true. Somehow I’d given the one person I loved the most in this world a reason to turn his back on me.
And I had to find out why from him.
With each colorful explosion overhead, memories flashed in my head right on cue. I shifted through them, looking for any sign from him I’d missed.
I knew what I had to do, and he was not shutting me out any longer.
When the fireworks ended, I put out the fire as we cleaned up the area. Daniel talked a mile a minute, but I was focused on what I had to do. What I would say to him.
Leaning in, I kissed her cheek. “Thank you for being a good friend. I don’t deserve you in my corner.”
She patted my cheek, then pushed me away. “Yes, you do. Now go talk to him.”
Turning to Daniel, I squatted down. “I’ve got to go check on a friend. I’ll catch you at the center this week.”
“Okay,” he replied with a smile. “Can you check on my dad, too?”
I smiled. “Sure, buddy. I’ll be happy to.”
As I waited for them to pull away from Evan’s house, I opened the message Camile had sent with Dane’s address. Tapping on it, I set my GPS to lead me back to him. I didn’t know what I was going to say, but I wasn’t leaving until we hacked our way through it.
I pulled out onto the road and concentrated on not exceeding the speed limit. My pounding heart and my head, however, were not cooperating.
When I pulled into the complex, I found his townhouse and parked out front. I took the space beside his truck and considered that an omen that I was doing the right thing.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. How dare that asshole do this to me.
Climbing out of the car, I slammed the door to my Porsche and stomped up to his front door, trying not to draw attention to myself. I was sure I looked like I felt. Like a caged animal ready to pounce.
I pounded on his door and took a step back. Pacing the concrete walkway, I tried to calm down, but that was proving impossible. When the sound of the door lock disengaging and the light flicking on ramped up my pulse, it ignited something inside of me. I’d never been this angry in my life, and I couldn’t stop what was about to happen even if I wanted to.
And I didn’t.
Turning back to the door, it swung open before I got there, and I let myself feel for the first time in a long goddamn time. Emotions and feelings I couldn’t name swept over me like a warm wind and heated my blood.
Dane’s eyes flew open as he saw me charging toward him.
“Lennox. What the?—”
I didn’t give him a chance to tell me to get the fuck out or ask a single goddamn question. I slammed my left hand onto his bare chest as my right circled his neck, my fury reaching a fever pitch.
Shock and confusion filled his blue eyes as I pushed him through the doorway, and then kicked it shut with my foot. When his back hit the wall with a heavy thud, his mouth hung open and his eyes were wide as they shifted back and forth between mine.
We stared at each other for a fraction of a moment before I leaned in, nose to nose, leaving only enough space for our breath between us.
“I’m so fucking angry at you for doing this to me. Why the fuck haven’t you told me the truth?”