The Fighter's Block (28 page)

He was
ready to drop to his knees and beg if that’s what it took.

She continued to cry
and it broke his heart, but when she collapsed against him and
clung to
him tight
ly
, it made him
emotional
too. He hated seeing her like that, and he wasn’t quite sure if it had to do with one thing or another, but for the time being he was just thankful to be holding her again. They stood there for a long time until Dan
i pulled back just slightly,
and he leaned down to kiss her. He could taste the salt from her tears and it seemed significant. He wanted t
o be there for her through every
thing.

“Dani, will you marry me?” he asked softly. “I want us to have that permanent union, you know? I don’t know how you feel about that, but it’s something that I really want with you.
I’ve always wanted it.
Do you? I mean will you marry me?”

She didn’t even have to think about it and she nodded her head. “Yes,” she smiled,
wrapping her arms around his waist. But just the idea of it made her cry again; she was so happy to be loved by him.

Van was deliriously happy too, but he just happened to look around at the apartment they were in for the first time and he suddenly felt uneasy. It was probably the nicest place he’d ever been in and it made him feel insecure. He had to remind himself that it wasn’t what Dani was all about, but he still had to ask, “Are you sure you want my lifestyle? I mean…”

She pulled away from him and noticed he was looking at all of her parents’ ridiculous décor. “Are you kidding?” she chuckled. “I can’t wait to get out of here.”

“Really?”

“Really. And besides, i
t’s going to be
our
lifestyle, not just yours.”

He smiled and nodded his agreement. “You’re right. And I know you have your heart set on giving the apartment a little makeover, don’t you.”

She laughed but had to agree. But she
told him she
didn’t want to take over too much of his “style.”

“I don’t have any style,” he said. “I’ll leave that up to you. But there is the issue of whether or not you want to stay at Jefferson, or in
New Jersey
, even. Dani, if you’d rather live somewhere else—”

“I think we’re okay, don’t you? We’ll have plenty of time to talk about it.”

“Okay. But we have a lot of options, babe. Just so you know that. Maybe it would be a good thing to move out of Jersey…” He truly wanted to know if that was her desire, and even though Dani had thought about it several times, for now she just wanted to be with Van.

“Maybe,” she replied
, making him sit down with her
. “But for now things might be okay.”

She didn’t want to talk about Brian, but she ended up going over some of the legal steps that were being taken to keep him out of her life.
According to her father’s lawyer,
the private investigator
couldn’t find
him
and
he
believed
Brian
skipped town.

S
he definitely didn’t want to talk about that night with Quincy, but she broke down and told him anyways. She didn’t want anything
standing between them so she felt it was best to get everything out in the open. She knew that Van was furious, and he had a hard time dealing with it.

Van
then
realized that she didn’t know Quincy’s role in the whole thing. It killed him to tell her, but he too wanted everything out in the open. He didn’t know how she would react, but he was surprised that she hardly reacted at all. He could tell it affected her, but she just sat on the couch and seemed to think about it. She was actually remembering everything that Quincy did that night to get her in that apartment, and it almost made her cry again. She was angry at the same time, wondering how someone could be so
deceitful
. It made her feel like trash, like she was unimportant, but she didn’t admit that to Van. It was over with, and there was nothing she could do to change things.

“I’m ready to go home,” Dani said, laying her head against Van’s shoulder.

“I’m ready to take you home,” he replied.

He helped her pack up what she had in the penthouse, which wasn’t much, and they loaded it in her car where a lot of her other stuff still was. Unfortunately they had to drive two vehicles back to
Jersey, and it made Dani miss
Van already, but
when she
return
ed to T
he Block, it
feel like she was home again. 

             
             
             
             
             
Chapter Fourteen

June 5
th
was
the happiest day
of Van’s life. He married the girl of his dreams and took her to the Bahamas for a weeklong honeymoon.
Life was perfect for them when they returned home to find all of their wedding gifts waiting for them in the apartment, and the bedroom was decked out with dozens of roses that Dani knew came from Jaime. Although they were sad to leave paradise behind, the couple felt happy to be home.

Dani felt more secure than ever. They had money in the bank, a place to live, and
most importantly,
she was married to Donavan Kemp.
Her parents helped Simon sell his h
ouse and find an apartment in LA
, which was where he was now working permanently. Dani was still working at Flegal design and she enjoyed it, but one weekend a month she worked for her parents. Because
Simone and
Dominic
were afraid to lose their daughter again, there wasn’t the pressure and stress like there was before, and Dani actually enjoyed it.
Life couldn’t get any better for her and she counted her blessings everyday.

The only thing that w
as still unsettled was Brian. Unfortunately he was right when
he said he was a step ahead of her. He’d already “moved” by the time
he’d tricked her
into seeing him
, and there was even plenty of “evidence” that said he was in Atlanta that night. He’d given his notice at work two weeks prior, there was no proof that he’d sent Dani the text message, and there was no proof that anyone had seen him in New Jersey that week.

Except Quincy.
But he wanted nothing to
do with the investigation and
wouldn’t keep his story straight
. Van didn’t want anything to do with him in the first place, but when Q wouldn’t even come through for them to back up Dani’s side of the story, Van was through with him. He forced him to move out of the apartment complex—everyone did—and when Quincy finally came to
move
his stuff out, Cody had to hold Van back when he saw him in the hallway.

It broke
Dani’s
heart to have a friendship ruined because of her, but after everything that had happened, she felt better knowing that Van wasn’t friends with such a shady character in the first place. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

“Do you even like your job
at Flegal?” Jaime asked her one
Saturday. They were having lunch at McDonald’s with
Jacob
and Naomi.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you spend forty hours a week there and make less than you do working one
weekend
for mom or dad. Wouldn’t you like to have all of that time?
Maybe you should quit your fulltime job and just work part time. Then you’d have more time with Van.”

Dani had considered that, especially since Van
was
at the gym six hours a day, plus another two studying video footage of previo
us fights. Also,
he’d already fought in
two
matches during the month of May.

“I’m afraid to make any changes right now,” Dani admitted. “If I quit Flegal, I don’t think it would be easy to get a reference from them in the future.”

“You’ve got your savings back, you can make a few grand a month just working a weekend with mom and dad, Van’s getting paid to, uh, kick someone’s ass, I guess—” That made Dani laugh. “—It was just an idea,” Jaime finished.

“I know, but… I’m afraid to make changes. This past year has been a rollercoaster with work. I’m thankful to have a job again, and I don’t ever want to be without one.
And I never thought I would step foot in modeling again, especially with Mom and Dad, but it’s been…different this time. I’ll see how it goes for a while before I decide anything like that. And Van’s
fights are usually on Fridays,
so
if I go in an hour early, I can get out an hour early.”

“What about doing some design on your own?”

Dani studied her sister for a few seconds. “What is it with you trying to get me away from Flegal?”

She sighed. “I’m not, it’s just… I don’t know. I love how happy you guys are. I think if Steve and I had more time together
in
the beginning, maybe we would have lasted. We just grew apart. And I was talking to your friend Marnie at the wedding. She kind of offered her condolences about my divorce, and then we just started talking about stuff. She said that her and Paul aren’t as close as they used to be.”

“Yeah, I know,”
Dani
said sadly.

“And she said they’d probably be split up too if either one of them could make it on their own. Right now they just kind of help each
other along. But it makes me sa
d, you know? I just think people focus on so many things instead of thinking about what’s important. Sure you have to make a living, but can’t it be done as you put your marriage first? I mean Steve never did that. It was work, work,
work
. And when he was with us, he was so used to being in that work mindset that he couldn’t shift over to family time.
”

“But of course there
are
negative effects of less work,” Dani pointed out.

“Depending on the job. Steve was salaried. I think
he
could have adjusted a few things, but he chose not to. I just hope you guys know how to balance it all.”

“We’re doing pretty well. He works when I work, and we have evenings and weekends together. But I do wish we had more time together because I miss him during the day.”

“Then go on your own. You like variety, D. Do some photography, do some design on the side,
do
some modeling… You’re a triple threat
.
Mix it up a bit and make your own hours.”

Jaime really had her thinking after that. It wasn’t that Dani hadn’t considered it already, but to hear someone else encourage her same ideas felt a little empowering. Van had also encouraged her to go any direction that she wanted to, and she knew she could do anything with his support.

The four of them walked a few blocks to the Divehouse after lunch
to see Van
.
Jacob
was really obsessed with mixed martial arts lately, especially after seeing Van’s last match. Dani had kind of discouraged it, but Jaime had no problem letting her kids see an MMA fight. Naomi liked the gym too, but she liked all of the equipment she could punch and kick.
Jacob
liked full contact with another human being, and since an eleven-year-old couldn’t possibly hurt Van, he let the kid go to town on him.

The mood shifted, however, when t
he two of them
were playing around in the ring
and
Quincy walked through the door. Dani saw the
change
on Van’s face, but even though he was staring at his traitor
ous
friend, he was able to stop
Jacob
’s fist from punching him at the same time.

“Oh great,” Dani said, jumping up from her chair. Van had already left the ring, leaving
Jacob
standing there confused by his
sudden
departure, but Dani made it to her husband in time to step in front of him. “There are kids in here,” she told him
quietly
, even though Quincy pointed at him and said, “
Stay the fuck away from me, Van!
”

Cody had been nearby and he came over quickly to monitor the situation. Scotty and Gary
left what they were doing to wander over to the two
, and so did
Mickey, who told Quincy he wasn’t welcome there anymore.