Chapter 77
As I fix my makeup in Declan’s Tesla, he reaches over, giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I don’t pull away, needing this extra support as we near a place that holds a lot of memories. Even though it’s been rebranded to Bay, it’s still Ador to me.
It’s where I first saw Sorin. I always thought he was just a bartender.
Things were simpler when he was a bartender I was going to have a summer fling with.
And then I learned that he was a womanizer and a drug dealer, and I kept sleeping with him.
I did drugs for him. I did so much that I’m embarrassed about for him. But that saga is finally over.
“Before I forget, can I call someone quick?” I ask Declan.
“Of course.”
I call Kate Albert to see if she will be at the funeral tomorrow. I hope she is.
“Tiny!”
“Hey, have you heard?”
“Yes! Crazy, right? Declan told Brandon.”
“Will I see you tomorrow?”
“No. Brandon said it wouldn’t be good for his mental health.”
“I get that.” As I say it, I think about my unforgettable first impression of Brandon, how he snorted four lines of coke in front of me in Sorin’s house. But he’s been sober for years, and I’m proud of him.
“You’re going?”
“Yeah, I’m Declan’s comedic relief.” At that, she chuckles.
“Are you two finally dating?” Her tone is giddy, clearly excited. I haven’t been keeping up with Kate outside of taking on one of the nonprofits she is involved with as a pro bono client—a shelter for women and children in Chicago.
“No!” I laugh, feeling my cheeks flush and hoping he didn’t hear that.
“Mmm. Oh! I’m thirty days sober too.”
“That’s awesome! I’m proud of you.” During my Sorin summer, I saw Kate do a lot of drugs.
“Thanks, it was no longer cute, and Brandon gave me an ultimatum.”
“You guys are doing good?” I ask, thinking about how they found each other through Sorin too.
“So good!”
“I’ll see you at the foundation’s next meeting?”
“You know it! Okay. Bye. I got to go.”
I hang up, and Declan looks at my phone. “Why is your screen cracked?”
“I threw it at a wall the other day.”
Declan raises a brow, but before he can respond, his phone rings. “I have to take this.”
“Hey. Status update,” a guy’s voice says. “We figured out where they got in and have made the necessary updates to prevent them from re-entering. But they are still there in a few areas. It’s like hand-to-hand combat right now getting them out.”
“Have they removed any coins?”
“No. We’re kicking their ass, but they’re still fighting.”
“Good. Thanks. Keep me posted if you start losing.” And he hits the end call button.
I look at him, puzzled. “I never would have thought Declan Kruk was a gamer.”
He laughs. “We’re in the process of a hack. It started last night.”
“That’s why you look so tired.”
He gives me an annoyed look, then smiles. “It’s a small team, fortunately. But they are causing a lot of extra work for us.”
“How serious is it?”
“I’m more impressed. Once we figure out who they are, I’m going to offer them all a job.”
“Me confused,” I say in a baby voice. A baby voice? I am not that fucking girl.
“My entire cybersecurity team is former hackers. That’s why we are the most secure platform out there. I also give any hacker that successfully gets into Cryptoball and then reveals themself five million dollars. So, we get hacked more than most. But it keeps us on our toes and ultimately secure.”
“Fascinating.” There’s no sarcasm in my tone. The way Declan runs Cryptoball is fascinating.
My heart rate rises as we approach my hometown, Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
“You good?” Declan asks, and I hate that he can read me like a fucking book.
“I have a lot of memories at this restaurant.”
“Mmm. What did you even find attractive about him?” he asks, the disdain evident in his tone.
“Um … The blue eyes, blond hair, tats, muscles, height?” I’m fucking also describing Declan. “The motorcycle. His big dick energy. I didn’t know he was forty, not until I saw him on Tinder.”
“He was on Tinder?” Declan scoffs. “The thought of you sleeping with him is nauseating.”
“Then don’t think about it,” I say, full brat, as we pull into the parking lot of the rebranded restaurant—Bay.
“Kelsey is sassy, just so you know.”
“More than you?”
I giggle, getting out of the car. Ben rearranged the floor plan, but the bar—the one I climbed on, begging Sorin to kiss me, the bar I was fucked on and made too many memories on—hasn’t changed. I sigh and recenter myself.
“Dani!” Kelsey yells from the barstool. She looks so good and happy.
“Trouble! Nice to see you.”
Trouble. The answer Ben gave me when I asked him who Declan was summers ago.
“Kelsey, nice to officially meet you.” He shakes her hand, then grazes my lower back with it before sitting on the stool next to me. Kelsey’s eyes are now asking me a million questions. I, too, am very aware that his hands keep finding their way to me.
“Holy shit.” Ben breathes, seeing Declan and me, and I notice Kelsey quickly shake her head at him.
“What do you think of my renovations?” he asks Declan.
“It looks amazing, man. It’s fitting that this place has been washed of Sorin.”
“Yeah, sorry to hear about that.”
“It was a long time coming,” Declan says.
“You’re an asshole,” I whisper to him, and he squeezes my thigh. Fuck. Me. I need to follow the rules. I need to stop liking all these little touches.
“What are you two doing hanging out?” Ben asks. I get why he’s curious; the last he saw us together, he was telling me Declan was trouble and not the sexy kind.
“He was my ride here.”
“Dude, sweet house, by the way,” Ben says to Declan.
“Thanks. I’m hoping to spend the majority of my summer at it. We could all hang out there tomorrow after the funeral if you want.”
“I’m going back to Madison in the morning—gotta clock in for work,” Kelsey says. “I think I’m speaking for all of us when I say we want to hang out at your lake house this summer though!”
“I forgot tomorrow is Tuesday,” he says, unfazed by Kelsey’s enthusiasm. “The past few days have been a blur.”
“I can only imagine,” Ben says, sympathetically. “If my brother died, I would be in a haze too.”
“Don’t you dare say half-brother,” I whisper to Declan, a chuckle coming from him.
“He’s hardly my brother,” he whispers, placing his hand on top of mine.
I slide my hand from under his and put it on my lap.
I don’t want to tell him to stop. But I also can’t let this go any further.
I understand why Declan is flirting with me.
He knows Gideon and I are on a break, and I’m sober.
So much has happened between us since Thursday. Agh!
“You guys don’t have drinks. I’m a terrible bartender. What can I get you?”
“For old times’ sake, you have to make us purple drinks,” Kelsey says. I’m saved. If I have a drink, he will stop.
“Only if Declan’s paying.” I bump him with my shoulder, leaning into memory lane. The first night I met him. Before I knew who he was.
“How can you drink those?” He grimaces. “Can I steal you for a second?”
“Jesus, Declan! Do you remember the last time you said that to me?”
“You were wearing a low-cut halter top with no bra, I believe.”
I huff, caught off guard that he is able to recall an outfit I was wearing six years ago. But I guess I remember everything about the first night we met too. It was at Charlie’s bar in Fontana. Ben was our bartender, and I was there with Kelsey and my friend Sam.
“You’re almost making me want to try your whole get ’em young, train ’em right thing,” I mimic him, recalling the most douchey thing he said the night we met when he was on the phone with Sorin, exposing my lie that I was not at home.
He shakes his head, then tilts it away from Ben and Kelsey. He wants to talk in private. We walk to the other side of the restaurant near the front door.
“I’m sorry I was such a douche the night we met. There was a lot going on.”
“This is what you want to talk to me in private about?”
“No …”
“What then?”
“What if you didn’t have a drink tonight?”
“Ah … Well …” I stall, trying to come up with my response. “I’m mourning.”
He swipes his thumb across my pouty bottom lip. “I can’t kiss you if you’ve been drinking.”
“I am not going to kiss you either way.”
I can’t kiss him. I want to kiss him, but I can’t. Gideon would never forgive me. I like Gideon so much. My eyes start to well up and I turn on my heel, walking back to the bar.
“I’ll buy the ladies the first round—one last time,” he says, regaining his seat next to me at the bar. “Because they’re celebrating.”
I look at him, surprised. “Just for Kelsey,” I say to Ben. “I’m taking a break from drinking.”
Declan smiles at me, proud. “Look at you raw dogging life,” he whispers in my ear, then kisses my cheek. I like it. It’s the third time since I’ve met him that he’s done that.
“Don’t do that again,” I say to him, and I see the defeat in his eyes.
“Sorin, so fucking crazy.” Kelsey sighs. The air thickens. All four of us are likely thinking about him.
My phone buzzes; it’s another text from Adam.
Adam Harris
If you want to be alone, the cottage is yours. Key is in the same place.
“Declan, did you tell Adam about taking me to the wake?” I ask, looking up from my phone.
“No. I told him I was going to be less available than usual because Sorin died.”
How does he know where I am?
Dani Sommer
What do you mean the cottage is mine?
Adam Harris
It was going to be your birthday present. Then, it was going to be your Christmas present. Anyways. It’s all yours.
I show Kelsey the phone. “The life of Dani Sommer.” She laughs.
I show Declan the phone too. He shakes his head.
“You know, Adam and I had a couple of fights about you,” he says.
“We had a couple of fights about you too.” Declan and I hold a heated stare. “Gideon and I have also fought about you,” I whisper.
Adam, Gideon, Declan … Sorin’s memories. It’s too much, and I text Adam back.
Dani Sommer
Sell the place. I’m never going to use it.
Adam Harris
It’s in your name.
“Fuck this.” I huff and turn off my phone. I’ll deal with that another time. I tap the bar. “Bartender, one Moscow mule, please.”
“Back to zero,” Declan says. I’m unsure if it was an inside thought that made it out or if I was supposed to hear it.
I almost call him a self-righteous fuck, but hold back.
“I’ve had a fucking day. No normal person would argue that.”