Chapter 35
“Stop pushing me, you evil little munchkin!”
Taking a sip of her soda, she simply shoved him and kept walking.
He threw her a murderous glare over his shoulder, but he smartly kept that incredibly fine ass of his going.
Shaking her head in disgust, Jodi took another sip of her soda as she watched the pouter walk towards the ticket booths where his brothers were waiting for them.
She still couldn’t believe that he’d used her to get out of spending time with his family. It was shameful, Jodi thought, eying an Eeyore stuffed animal that she decided the big baby in front of her was going to buy her for playing this little game with her.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” Danny threw over his shoulder, obviously trying one last pathetic attempt to get out of this. Her ass hurt with every step she took, but it wasn’t anything that she couldn’t handle.
“Keep walking,” Jodi said, making a mental note of where that cart selling the Eeyore doll was for later.
“Little demon!” Lucifer snarled, reaching for the stuffed Eeyore only to get his hand slapped away.
“It’s mine,” Tinkerbelle snarled back, hugging the Eeyore that she’d made Danny buy her a few minutes ago when she’d discovered that it was the only one left in that size in the entire park.
“I hope you get trampled by dwarves,” Lucifer bit out with a glare aimed at Tinkerbelle as he shook off his hand.
“Lucifer Bradford!” his mother gasped, looking absolutely stunned as she came to a stop beside them.
“She started it,” Lucifer muttered, sending the stuffed Eeyore in Jodi’s arms another glare as he folded his arms over his chest and walked off to glare at her from a distance.
“Keep walking, mama’s boy,” Jodi said, making a pathetic attempt at trash talk with a taunting smile, only to let out a little squeal of surprise when Lucifer suddenly came back, forcing her to jump behind Danny and hide.
“Mama’s boy?” Lucifer snarled, trying to reach around him to grab her.
Sighing because this was just getting sadder and sadder by the minute, Danny reached behind him, grabbed Jodi by the arm and gently pulled her in front of him, where he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close as he glared over her head in warning.
Lucifer grumbled something about little bullies as he walked off with a pout.
“Where would you kids like to start?” their mother asked, adjusting the Mouse ears she’d made his father buy her.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Danny said while the rest of his siblings started debating where they should start, kissing the top of Jodi’s head as he noted the exact moment that his mother realized that he wasn’t going to be able to go on ninety-percent of the rides.
“Oh, Danny,” she said, looking absolutely heartbroken. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking when I-”
“It’s fine, mom,” Danny said with a wink, pressing another kiss against the top of Jodi’s head as he pretended that he didn’t see the look that passed between his brothers and sister or the fact that his father looked like he wanted to put his fist through a wall.
“No, no, it’s not,” his mother murmured as she gave him that look that he’d grown to hate soon after he came out of his coma. She reached up and rubbed her temples, with a little shake of her head, she said, “I should have planned this better.”
He chuckled as he dropped his arms away from Jodi and took her small hand in his. “Stop worrying about it.”
“We can go somewhere else,” Duncan said with that same damn smile that was going to get him punched.
“We’re fine,” Danny said more firmly as he gestured to the guide map in his mother’s hand. “Where do you want to go first?”
She opened her mouth to say something, but his father cut her off before she got the chance. “Why don’t we start with Splash Mountain?”
“I’m not sharing a room with that bastard!” Garrett snarled, getting into Duncan’s face.
“Stop your bitching!” Dr. Bradford snapped, shoving a keycard in his son’s hands and gesturing towards the elevator where Jodi stood, watching the show with morbid fascination as she waited for the elevator.
“Behave yourselves!” Mrs. Bradford said, hushing her boys with a look that left her sons looking appropriately chastised.
“Why don’t we go grab something to eat?” Danny suggested, leaning down and giving her another one of those chaste kisses that had her biting back a frustrated sigh.
“Sure,” Jodi said absently as she glanced around the hotel foyer. “How exactly did they get kicked out of their hotel?”
“Room service,” Danny said with a shrug as he took her hand in his and led her towards the doors.
“Room service?” she asked, unable to help but frown in confusion.
“Probably for the best if we don’t mention it. Mom’s still pretty pissed that they broke the rules.”
“Rules?”
“It’s probably for the best if we don’t talk about that either,” Danny said, smiling down at her as she raced to wrap her mind around what he was saying. They had rules about room service?
“Where are you going?” Aidan asked, pushing away from the wall to join them as they walked past him.
“To grab food,” Danny said, not slowing his pace as they walked outside and forced his brother to jog to catch up with them.
“Great! I’m starving,” Aidan said, grinning hugely as he joined them.
“You’re not invited,” Danny said, not missing a beat. “So, fuck off.”
“Where are we going? Pizza? Buffet? Burgers? Italian?” Aidan asked, ignoring Danny’s homicidal glare as he continued walking alongside them.
“What’s going on?” Reese asked, tapping his twin on the shoulder and gesturing towards them.
“We’re grabbing a late dinner,” Aidan answered before Danny had a chance, and judging by his glare, he desperately wanted to say something.
“I’m starving,” Duncan said from behind them, sounding relieved as he joined them. “What are we having?”
“I could go for Chinese,” Jodi said, trying not to laugh at the look on Danny’s face when the rest of his brothers and his sister joined them.
“Great!” Garret said as he joined them on the sidewalk. “There’s a buffet right down the street.”
“I’m sorry,” Danny said, having absolutely no idea what else he should say.
“It’s fine,” Jodi said with a little sniffle.
“Really?” he asked, kneeling down in front of the bathtub and for some reason, not believing her.
“I-I just need a minute,” Jodi said, squeezing her eyes shut tighter as she licked her lips and somehow managed to curl up into a smaller ball.
“No one got hurt,” he said soothingly as he reached down and touched her shoulder, only to pull his hand back with a muttered curse when she flinched.
“I just need a minute,” Jodi said, taking a deep breath as he knelt there, contemplating hunting his brothers down and kicking their asses.
“Sweetheart, it’s fine. It was just a little misunderstanding,” Danny said, reaching for her, only to have her flinch away from his touch again.
“I-I just can’t get the screams out of my head,” Jodi whispered. “The screams…they were just…” she said, swallowing as she shook her head, clearly unable to go on.
He sighed as he stood up and pulled his shirt off. He tossed it aside as he kicked his shoes off. “It goes away. Trust me,” Danny said as he unsnapped his fly and pushed his pants and boxers down.
“When?” Jodi asked with a shuddering sigh that had him chuckling as he grabbed the shower curtain and pulled it aside so he could join her, careful not to step on the beautiful woman curled up in the fetal position on the bottom of the tub.
“Soon,” Danny promised her as he reached down and picked her up.
“It was horrible,” she said with a little sniffle that had him smiling as he kissed the top of her head.
He settled her on her feet but didn’t let her go. “I know,” Danny said, still wondering how his brothers could have fucked up this badly, especially right after their mother had taken each of them by the ear and read them the riot act before they’d been allowed inside.
“Your mother looked mad,” Jodi said, pressing her face against his chest as she grabbed onto his biceps and held on tightly.
He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her, careful of the healing rugburn covering her back and arms. “Well,” Danny said, thoughtfully pausing only long enough to press another kiss to the top of her head, “they did break the rules.”
She sighed against his chest, but he did feel her relax. “Rules?”
“Mmmhmm,” Danny murmured, closing his eyes as he enjoyed holding her in his arms. Nothing in life ever felt more perfect than this. “My mother created a list of rules for us when we were little to help cut back on incidents like the ones today.”
“Smart,” she said, pressing a kiss against his chest as she settled more comfortably in his arms.
Danny chuckled as he closed his eyes and stood there, savoring this moment with her.
For the past three days, he’d forced himself to be satisfied with holding her hand and small kisses when all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her, touch her, kiss her, run his hands over her and slide back inside the tightest, wettest hold that he’d ever experienced.
“Is that why you were avoiding your family?” Jodi suddenly asked him, but it wasn’t enough to distract him away from what was really on his mind.
“Hmmm?” he asked, kissing the top of her head as he gently ran his hands down her back, testing the waters.
“Your back,” she said, reminding him of the biggest reason he hated these trips.
Another kiss. “I didn’t want to wreck their trip. The bullet didn’t paralyze me, but it was close. It did a lot of damage and so did the surgeries. So anytime I go somewhere that has restrictions for back injuries, I warm a bench.”
She nodded as she pressed another kiss to his chest. “That’s what I figured.” Which, of course, made him curious…
“Is that why you didn’t go on any of the rides today?” he asked, tracing his fingers up and down her spine.
“I went on all the fun rides today,” she assured him, removing her hold on his biceps and wrapping her arms around him.
“You didn’t go on any of the rides that I couldn’t go on,” Danny pointed out, allowing his fingers to move further south, tracing the cleft between her cheeks.
She chuckled softly as she admitted, “I didn’t want to go on any of the rides that you couldn’t go on.”
“Because you’re in love with me?” he half-teased.
“Yes,” she said softly, taking him by surprise before she added, “That, and I’m afraid of heights.”