Follow You Down (10 page)

“I’m sorry, Candice. I’ve just been busy, and well, I don’t know if this thing between us is a good idea anymore.”

“Oh.” She is obviously let down, and I see a few tears run down her cheek that she quickly wipes away.

“Please don’t cry, Candice. You know I don’t want a relationship, and I realize now that it’s not fair for me to string you along like I have for years. You deserve to be happy and with a guy who wants a real, serious relationship, with you.” I shrug my shoulders. “I’m just not that guy.”

She lets out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh please, Lucas. Don’t feed me the old it’s not you it’s me bit. I’m smarter than that.” She pushes off my truck and takes a step toward me. “You and I both know that this has nothing to do with my feelings and everything to do with Dani Hartley.”

“Who told you about Dani?”

“Who do you think?” She raises her eyebrows and eyes me like I should know exactly who she’s talking about. “Nikki, of course. She told me she had seen you at breakfast with her a few weeks ago, and when we went to Ricky’s last night, she pointed Dani out as the girl you had been with.”

Of fucking course. Nikki can never seem to keep shit to herself. She has to make everything into her business, even when it’s obviously not.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Dani. She’s not my girlfriend. This has to do with me not wanting to string you along anymore. I’m trying to be a good guy, Candice. Why can’t you just take this for what it is?”

“Because you’re lying!” I have known Candice for almost ten years, and she has never yelled at me, but right now she is screaming so loudly her face is red and the vein in her neck is sticking out. “It has everything to do with her! I have been through so much shit with you, Lucas. I have stuck around even when you fucked my cousin. You are supposed to end up with me. Not some ginger bitch!”

“You need to watch your fucking tone with me, Candice. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but I’m not gonna sit here and listen to you spew bullshit at me like that.”

She takes another step toward me, but I bypass her and walk to my truck, opening the door. “Ya know, I should have ended this years ago when I knew you had feelings, but I was a selfish dick and didn’t. That’s my own fault, so for that, I’m sorry. But if you think I’m going to let you talk shit about Dani, to me especially, well, you’re just as crazy as your fucking cousin.” I shut the door and crank my truck. She is still standing there looking at me with tears running down her face.

I roll down my window. “Candice, move your car.”

“Lucas, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just want the best for you, and you don’t even know this girl. For all you know, she could be crazy. But I know you, Lucas. We are already good together. Imagine how great we could be if we were in a real relationship. I’m good for you, Lucas.”

“Candice, right now the only person who I think is crazy is you. Move your car. This is over.”

I roll my window back up and stare straight while she cries and cusses next to me for a few moments, stomping her foot like a toddler who just got her favorite toy taken away. She screams that this isn’t over and walks to her car, gets in, and peels out of my driveway.

I honk the horn to let Logan know it’s safe to come back outside. I rest my head on the steering wheel. Well, that was interesting. I completely deserve it though; I know I do. I fucked with a girl’s heart for years. I deserve for it to come back and bite me in the ass, but I won’t let her and Nikki fuck with Dani, and I know that’s what they plan to do. Logan doesn’t try to talk to me when he gets in the truck. He knows I don’t really discuss personal shit with anyone. If I want to talk to him about it, I will. No need to ask questions. He hasn’t been drilling me about Dani, even though I know he wants to. He asked me who Nikki was the other day. When I asked why, he said some girl had approached him at Ricky’s and introduced herself as my friend and told him her name was Nikki. Luckily, that was all she said and I was able to play it off as just a random chick I had slept with. Nothing more.

Nikki is a conniving bitch. Ever since I found out Lisa wasn’t mine, she has been doing anything and everything to fuck up my life. She even called my mother and told her that Lisa was actually my kid, but I signed my rights over. Luckily, my mother was with me the day I opened the DNA results so she knew that was total bullshit.

She showed up at my work for months afterwards trying to talk to me. She lost her shit, so I know exactly what she is capable of. I know Dani can handle herself though. She stood up to Nikki once already, and I know, given the need to, she wouldn’t be scared to do it again.

I pull into Ricky’s and park my truck. “Thanks for being so cool with Molly since we had that talk.” I’m so caught up in my own thoughts that I almost miss the fact that Logan is talking to me.

Since the night he and I got into it in my truck, I have been working really hard to be welcoming to Molly and keep an open mind about everything. I don’t understand her situation. I really just don’t fucking get it at all, but it’s none of my business. Logan is happy, that’s the only thing I care about. And as long as Molly is the reason he’s happy, she’s good in my book.

We walk in together and I see Justin already sitting at a high top table that Wynee has just set beers down on. We sit for a few moments, Justin and I talking about nothing in particular, but Logan has his eyes set on Molly.

Wynee walks right up and slaps him in the back of the head. “Easy, killer, we wouldn’t want your eyes to pop out of your head onto my nice clean table.” Wynee, Justin, and I laugh at her statement. She is so right.

“Come on, Wynee, give the guy a break. It’s obvious that he’s borderline obsessed with the girl; let’s not make it any worse.” I elbow Logan in the ribs while cracking the joke.

Wynee turns her attention toward me. “Oh, Lucas, if you think Logan’s got it bad, you should see the way you watch Dani Girl behind that bar. I guess it runs in the Wade blood to pine over women who are oblivious to your advances.” I laugh hard at her last statement as she walks away. If she only knew.

“Ha! I told you it wasn’t just me who could see it, asshat! Now, will you admit you feel something for that girl already and get it over with?”

I think about just saying that Dani and I are good friends when I see her out of the corner of my eye at the bar. She is pouring a whisky on the rocks for some pretty boy in a suit. She’s leaning over the counter, pushing her chest right in his face, laughing at his jokes, and stroking his arm. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I’ve never really been jealous, but right now, I want to turn pretty boy’s face purple.

I turn my attention back to Logan. “Tell me, baby brother, how I’m supposed to admit a damn thing when she is over there basically begging Mr. Moneybags to take her out back for a quickie?” I know her ex was a rich son of a bitch, so I guess that’s the type she goes for. Maybe I read her all wrong. Maybe she’s not the strong, independent girl I think I know. Maybe she’s just like every other female out there, looking for someone to take care of her. “I do feel something for Dani though, pity. I feel pity for that girl who thinks every bozo with a hefty paycheck is going to make her pathetic fucking life better.”

From the looks on Justin and Logan’s faces, I know I’ve gone too far. I don’t mean what I said. I’m just kind of pissed off by what I’m seeing, and mad at myself that I even give a shit. Just physical, that’s all that is between us.

Justin pipes in, “All right, man, that’s enough. Dani’s good people. I don’t know what’s going on between y’all, but I can’t sit here and let you talk about her like that. You obviously know something about her that we don’t, and maybe you should keep whatever it is to yourself.” I feel like shit now. Justin never calls anyone out on anything, so the fact he feels he needs to defend Dani to me, makes me look like an even bigger asshole.

“I’m sorry, man. This girl’s just got me all tied up in knots and I don’t know what to do about it. Maybe I should just head home for the night. I can’t sit here and drink, and watch her act like that. I’m going to end up doing something I will seriously regret, like fuck up my already small chance with her. Can Molly give you a ride home, little brother?” I can’t believe I just purged my fucking feelings like that. I can’t believe that I feel like this at all. Molly walks up, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “Well, of course I can, Lucas, but why the hell are you leaving already?” She must have just heard the tail end of our conversation. Thank God, she didn’t hear me bashing Dani or spreading my bullshit feelings around for everyone to see.

I look at Molly. “Hey, Molls, I think I’m just tired from work. I’m gonna call it a night.”

She eyes me sympathetically. “For what it’s worth, Luc, she talks about you a lot. She’s just been through some things lately, and I don’t know what they are, but whatever’s going on, she’s still trying to deal with it. Just give her some time; she’ll come around.”

I want to tell her that I know what Dani has been through and she has come around. Come around my dick more times than I can count.

I don’t know what the fuck happened between the time I left her apartment this morning and now to make her openly show this guy so much attention. As a bartender, I know she needs to flirt some; that’s how she makes tips, but this, this is more than working for tips. She’s been all over this guy since I walked in, so much that she hasn’t even noticed I’m here.

I thank Molly and tell everyone goodbye. I consider just walking out and saying nothing to her. I don’t want her to know this affected me at all. But I’m not a ‘walk away and let it go’ kind of guy. Instead, I walk right up to the bar. She sees me for the first time as I’m walking up. She smiles and doesn’t seem concerned at all that she’s been all over suit guy since I walked in. I lean over the bar, placing my mouth right next to her ear. “I will be waiting for you at your apartment when you get off. Go straight there. I’m going to fuck that flirty little mouth of yours tonight, and you’re going to fucking like it.”

Her eyes get big and she glances at the prick in the suit before she looks back at me. She tries to say something, but I don’t let her. I walk off smirking, knowing she probably has a shocked expression on her face right now.

As I see it, there are two solutions to this situation. Go home and get drunk and cry about it. But since I’m not my brother, that won’t work for me. Or fuck Dani so long and hard that she won’t be able to stand long enough to flirt with anyone. Yeah, I like that idea a lot better.

Oh, sweet Lord of melting panties, did he just say he was going to fuck my flirty mouth? Don’t get me wrong, I really want him to. It sounds fucking amazing actually, but why would he call my mouth flirty?

“What the fuck was that about?” Jason looks at me with surprised eyes.

I’ve passed him in the hall a few times when I was headed to work and he was headed to see his sister, Jasmine. We would chat for a few minutes each time, and I told him where I worked and that he should stop in for a drink sometime. Since Jasmine had told me he was gay, and in a committed relationship with his boyfriend, I knew Lucas wouldn’t get all territorial on me like he can sometimes. I just haven’t had a chance to introduce them.

“That was Lucas Wade.”

“Ahh!” He nods slightly like he gets it now. “He thought you were flirting with me, sweetheart. That’s why he looked like he wanted to kick my ass and said whatever he did to you to make your eyes almost pop out of your head.”

Oh, shit. It all makes sense now. I was talking to Jason and touching him, not in a flirty way, but in a friendly way. But all Lucas saw was me talking and pawing over a very good looking guy in a suit, and after knowing my history with Reggie, I don’t blame him for jumping to conclusions. I can’t understand why he would be so jealous though; we aren’t dating. He and I have both made that perfectly clear many times.

“I don’t get it.” I look at Jason as I pop the top on a light beer, handing it to a college age guy and taking the five dollar bill from his hand. “We aren’t dating. He has said many times that we’re just physical. So why get mad?”

“Because he’s a man, Dani. He may not have a label on you or own you, but you’re his. The moment you gave it up to him more than once, you became his. Are you telling me if you saw him acting a way you assumed to be flirtatious toward a good looking girl, you wouldn’t get a little pissed off about it?”

I ponder what Jason says. Would I get mad? I guess; since I haven’t been faced with that situation, I don’t really know how I would act. Part of me assumes I wouldn’t give a shit. Despite what Jason says, Lucas isn’t mine, and I’m not his. However, part of me feels like I would want to rip a bitch’s head off, and then dick punch Lucas. Yeah, the second scenario is probably exactly how I would react.

“What does this mean?” I’m looking at Jason for answers.

“What do you mean, what does this mean?”

“For me and Lucas. He got jealous. I know I would get jealous. But we aren’t together. What the fuck does this mean?” I’m starting to panic. We can’t be together. We’re both like firecrackers with a long fuse just waiting for the perfect time to explode. Together we would be volatile. And amazing. And jealous. And fun. And untrustworthy. And unforgettable. Well, shit.