Chapter Twenty-Seven
Micah
“YOU KNOW, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO JUST TELL ME where we’re going sometimes. It ain’t always gotta be a surprise,” Dani complains with her eyes closed in the passenger seat as I make another turn.
“I could. But admit it, you like the surprises.” Last night when Dani came over, she couldn’t stop gushing about her trip to the rec center and meeting Veronica. She had this renewed passion for her work that I haven’t seen in a long time. It was wonderful.
“I admit nothing,” she teases.
“Whatever you say, Storm.”
She reaches out to hit my arm but misses since her eyes are closed. She looks so cute swinging aimlessly, so I move my arm within her range.
“Did you move your arm?” she asks, her nostrils flaring.
“I couldn’t keep watching you flail around.”
“Flail? That’s insane, actually. I’ve never flailed a day in my life.”
“Considering you just did, I don’t think that’s true.”
She swings at me again, huffing when she misses. “Put your arm back.”
Laughing, I put my arm back in the line of fire. “All yours.”
She thanks me as her hand connects. “Anyhoo, did you guys end up buying that building?”
“We’re putting in an offer today. Hopefully he accepts it, but he was basically fangirling over Jalen the entire time we met with him, so I think he will.”
She keeps her eyes closed but turns her head toward the sound of my voice. “That’s awesome, Micah. We should all go out and celebrate.”
Funny she should say that, since the purpose of today is to celebrate her. “I’d be down for that.”
Dani blindly reaches out in search of something and when she finds my hand, she grabs it and squeezes. “It’s an honor to know you.”
Damn. That has my heart jumping out of my chest. Her words mean more to me than she’ll ever know and I squeeze her hand back in thanks, but as she flashes a bright smile my way, all I can do is laugh.
“I’m sorry. You just look so ridiculous.
” With her eyes squeezed shut and her cheesy grin revealing her bright white teeth, she looks like a kid with a secret.
She gasps and yanks her hand away, making this all the more amusing. “Oh, boy, fuck you! I should open my damn eyes.”
I pull up to our destination. “Go ahead. We’re here.”
She sucks her teeth, but then her jaw drops when she opens her eyes and sees where we are. “We’re at my parents’ house?”
I step out of the car and walk to her side to open the door. “We are. And before you say anything, just wait and see.”
She blinks a few times, taking in the sight of me in front of her parents’ house, and then she makes my day and smiles. “Okay. I trust you.”
Music to my ears.
We walk up and I knock twice before her dad opens the door.
“Peanut!” He wraps her up in a big bear hug before turning and dapping me up. “Micah. Nice to meet you in person.”
“In person. I’m just wondering how you met any other way,” Dani muses as she steps past her dad into the house.
“Girl, you don’t know everybody I know.”
She turns back to him, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Yes, I do.”
I get the sense that she’s about to start naming everyone he knows until her nose turns toward the kitchen and she starts sniffing. She walks away without a word, her nose turned up.
Her dad nudges me with a smirk and follows. When we walk into the kitchen, Dani is completely still, facing the spread of food laid out before her.
“A pancake breakfast was in order,” Julian says.
I hear her sniffle before she turns to us. “Oh, really? For what?”
Julian rolls his eyes at her. Her parents know about her video on Nigel. Her mom called her maybe ten minutes after she posted it. “You know for what. And Micah says you’re mentoring someone too. You always wanted to do that, Peanut. I’m so proud of you.”
Dani and her dad talk animatedly, and when her mom comes downstairs, she’s just as animated. Dani is a perfect blend of her parents, with her dad’s smile and her mom’s mannerisms. The love in this house is easy to find.
We sit down to eat and I devour the pancakes. They’re just as delicious as Dani always hyped them up to be.
Her mom asks me about my career, and her dad and I talk about Tanya’s Lincoln. Dani has a giddy look on her face while she shoves bite after bite in her mouth. A drop of syrup lands on her chin and I wipe it off without hesitation.
She raises her brows at me, and I know what she’s thinking. This gives relationship, no? The thing is, it’s been that. For a while now.
After breakfast, her mom refuses to let me help clean dishes, much to Dani’s chagrin, but her dad pulls me aside before she can plead her case on why I should help and not her.
“I wanna touch base with you because she didn’t introduce you as her boyfriend, but you’re the first man linked to her that’s ever walked through those doors. So, what’s up?” He’s asking a question without a simple answer.
“Sir, all I can say is I care about your daughter. A lot. And it’s my goal to make sure she always knows and feels that.”
He nods slowly. “Well, she might not say it, but that smile on her face tells me what I need to know.”
I sure hope so.
When we leave her parents’ house, she squeezes her parents tight. Her mom whispers something in her ear that makes her face light up, and then she does something I wouldn’t expect her to do in front of them. She links her hand with mine.
We drive in a comfortable silence to her place. The lingering happiness on her face fuels me to bring up a topic I’ve been sitting on for a while. I overstepped with Bailey. I took away her choice and I can’t do the same thing with Dani. We have too much on the line for me to mess up now.
“I have a confession,” I say as I park in front of her house.
Her eyes drift over to mine. “And you buttered me up for it by taking me to see my parents first?”
“I could see how you would think that, but no. I just can’t keep it in anymore.”
“Well, please, unburden yourself,” she says with a wave of her hand.
Here goes nothing. “When you first told me about Nigel, I got Rome involved. I didn’t tell him why I needed the information, but I had him look up anything he could find on him.”
“Why?”
“Because he caused you pain and he needed to suffer.”
Her eyes widen. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. Yet. But we did find out that Nigel doesn’t own his agency. He’s a figurehead. The real owner is more than willing to negotiate terms of sale because Nigel isn’t making him the money he wants.” He’s even more motivated now that Dani’s video has demolished his reputation.
Her head starts shaking rapidly. Her words coming out in a stutter. “W-wait. Woah. Hold on, so you’re planning on buying Nigel’s agency?”
“I was.” I wanted to pry it from his hands and serve it to Dani on a silver platter. I didn’t care what she’d do with it. If she wanted to burn it to the ground, I would hand her the match. “But then I realized I’d be taking that moment from you. If you want it at all.”
“This is a lot right now. I need you to spell it out for me. What exactly are you saying?”
I brush a flyaway hair behind her ear. “I’m saying that if you want his company, say the word.
I will make it happen for you. Or I can introduce you to the owner and you can make it happen yourself.
Or if you’re satisfied that he’s suffered enough, I can walk away and leave this be.
Whatever you want to do, we’ll do. But I want it to be your decision.
” Selfishly, I don’t want her to pick the last option, but if that’s what she chooses, I’ll accept it.
She stretches her neck, rubbing the back of it with her hand.
“I would’ve been pissed if you had just outright bought it and gave it to me, so thank you for realizing that.
And I think, prior to meeting Veronica, I might’ve said it wasn’t worth it.
But after meeting her, and seeing the videos from his other victims, I don’t want him to have access to us anymore.
He deserves ten times the hurt he’s dealt.
He needs to be stripped of all his power and every fucking thing he has. ”
Warmth settles in my chest. “Now it’s your turn to spell it out for me, Storm. What do you want me to do?”
Resolve settles over her features. “Bring me his head.”
“Consider it done.”