Danika pulls the cherry off the end of the tiny blue umbrella in her drink and slips the round, red fruit between her lips. She eyes the bartender, smiling seductively as she pops the stem off. Danika snort-laughs, a sound so uniquely hers it sends a shiver through me. I missed that sound more than I’ll ever admit. “That bitch remembers me.”
I grit my teeth. I forgot what it was like to watch her want someone else. I slam my hand on the bar, startling her and the older woman beside me. “Dude! Where the fuck is my drink?”
Dickbag sets a full glass on a fresh napkin square then drifts to the other side of the bar. Smart man.
Danika shifts in her seat to face me, her lips pressed together into a tight line. “Why are you here, Logan?”
Truthfully, I don’t fucking know. I’m more confused than a goat on astroturf. I hate Danika. I hate her with every call in my body because she is everywhere I look. Time has done nothing to dull the pain and the alcohol I soothe my soul with only makes things worse, bringing back memories I sometimes wish I could forget.
I hate how every woman I’ve been with has left me unsatisfied, wanting more than they could offer because they weren’t her. I want Danika to hate me as much as I hate her and then I want to bury my dick so deep inside her she won’t be able to walk straight for a week. But no matter how hard I try to hold onto that feeling, my hatred never lasts. I fall back into longing and the cycle starts over again.
“Our parents are getting married in fifteen minutes.” I pull her drink closer to me. “Maybe someone should cut you off.”
Danika laughs, playfully pushing my shoulder in the process. “I forgot how much of an ass you were.”
I lean in, invading her space. She stills. Her heart’s racing a mile a minute. Her mind scrambling to decode what I’m going to do next. How do I know? Because mine’s doing the same. “If I remember correctly, this used to be our foreplay back in the day.”
“Seriously, you two, get a room,” Cooper drawls from behind us.
Danika squeals and leaps off her stool. She throws her arms around Cooper’s neck, giving him the embrace I desperately crave. I toss Danika’s drink back, grimacing as I swallow and flip him the bird. Just to be a dick, Cooper lifts Danika off her feet, spinning her around and earning another squeal from her pretty pink lips.
On her feet again, Danika squeezes Cooper’s arms, openly admiring his new-to-her physique. I hate the way she’s touching him. Looking at him. “Holy crap, Cooper. Your guns are as big as my head!”
He laughs and runs a hand through his military-short hair, exposing the edge of the ink hidden beneath his sleeve. “There’s not much to do besides work out when you’re deployed.”
“And you’ve got a tattoo!” she gasps, running her fingers across the black lines. “I thought you said Logan was an idiot for permanently marking his body.”
Cooper shrugs, a shadow falling across his face. “People change.”
Danika nods in an unspoken understanding that makes me wonder if she enlisted after she left. It would explain her lack of communication with her dad these last few years. “What branch did you join?”
“Navy. You?”
Danika shakes her head, smiling sweetly. “Oh, I’m not brave enough. My girlfriend’s husband did a tour in the Army. He was honorably discharged a few months ago and is having a hard time re-adjusting to civilian life again.” She shrugs. “You know, changed.”
Cooper nods in understanding, silence falling between them. I hate that they’re having this moment. They’re bonding. Rekindling their friendship while I’m stuck on the sidelines.
I hold my glass up at the bartender for another round, but he ignores me, busying himself with another pretty girl. It’s for the best. Drinking has a way of bringing up things I’d kill to forget. If I’m going to make my plan work, I need to forget the past and focus on the now. “Girlfriend, huh? Did you change teams after you left?”
Danika groans and walks back to the counter. She leans her breasts against the edge and signals for her bill. “You wish.”
Dickbag hands Danika a black billfold and she grins. I sit up straighter to look at her receipt. I’d offer to pay for her drink, but I already know the answer would be no. She’s always been an independent woman. Besides, the bartender’s taken care of it with a no-charge note on the receipt with a request for her number.
Danika scribbles the ten digits I’ve been denied by Walter and Mom too many times to count. My stomach churns. I feel like I’m stuck in high school again, sitting on the sidelines while she chases the wrong man.
Danika squeezes Cooper’s arm, completely ignoring me. “See you out there.”
7
Danika
I lean my elbows on the banister separating the hotel from the beach and look down at the shoreline. Guests begin to fill the folding seats the hotel set up in the sand. I don’t recognize hardly anyone in attendance, but I do see Sheriff Tomlinson. It’s possible he was at the rehearsal dinner last night, but I arrived too late and was too nervous to notice anyone besides Logan.
“Are you ready?”
I jump and look over my shoulder, a wave of nervous jitters washing over me.
What happened to the walls I built up?