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I prop my elbows on my knees and run my fingers through my hair, releasing a loud breath. “This is so stupid. I need to talk to her.”
I need to bring my girl home.
Kyler and I are both caught up in the moment watching Dani and Emmett on the screen, my sister wearing a smile that I wonder if I will ever see again. It’s not until a loud noise in the hallway where Kyler had first startled me from, that I pull my eyes from the screen.
“What the fuck are you doing?” my sister demands from where she stands.
I stare at her, watching the tears stream down her cheeks. She does not attempt to wipe them.
“I said, what the fuck are you doing? How dare you?”
Is she fucking serious right now? Oh no, this bullshit, woe-is-me ends right now. My sister stomps over like a child to me and reaches for the remote, but I refuse to give it to her.
“How dare I? Are you kidding me right now? How dare you?!” I rise to my feet, anger pouring off me. “You act like you’re the only one to have ever lost someone they love. You think you’re the only one who lost someone that day? I lost my best friend, Haylee lost a brother, Natalie and Brian lost a son. I am so sorry that you lost the love of your life, I truly am, but what about the rest of us?”
I begin to pace the living room.
“Fuck! Danielle, I didn’t just lose Em that day—I lost you too. I lost my sister. Haylee lost her best friend. We needed you, and you were so fucking selfish living in your own world that you cut us all out too. We were all grieving, but you didn’t care—it didn’t matter. For fuck’s sake, Dani, you fucking abandoned us! You just left us behind to put back the pieces of our broken world and try to move on. Do you think that’s been easy?”
My voice roars, and I don’t even care if the neighbors hear me. What is it going to take for her to understand what I’m saying? She. Left. Us. She is not going to show up after all this time and expect sympathy when we had to manage life on our own without only him or her.
“I miss him—I miss him every godforsaken day. He was my best friend, my brother. Some days, I have to just force myself out of bed, in hopes that when I walk into the kitchen I’ll see him sitting at the island drinking out of that ridiculous Batman mug, that when my phone chimes it’s a text from him seeing if I want to get a beer after work, or that I would’ve gotten a chance to give a kick-ass best man speech at yours and his wedding so that I could spill all the stupid embarrassing things over the years. I started planning that speech at thirteen because somewhere deep down I knew you two were the real deal. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?”
Does she really have nothing to say? Fine. I’ll keep talking while she stares at me.
“I can’t say that I know what you’re going through because I don’t know exactly, but I hurt too. You can’t even say his name. Emmett. Say it… Em-mett.” I’m sure to enunciate each syllable of his name.
“You, Dani, are still here. For some fucking reason that I’m still trying to figure out, he isn’t. He was denied all his dreams and plans. He wouldn’t want you to be living this bullshit excuse for a life that you are. He would want you to live, to move on. You can do that without forgetting. I do it every. Fucking. Day. You say you want to start over and move on, but look at you—have you even gone home to see Mom and Dad, visit the cemetery, or hell, even call Haylee?”
I know the answers to all of them, especially the last one. It breaks my heart every time I see or talk to Haylee, knowing that my sister hasn’t reached out. Sure, she asked about her once, and I was vague with details when all I wanted to say was that she is the woman I plan to marry. Her silence is deafening.
“Yeah, I didn’t fucking think so. So, dear sweet sister, if you want to talk about selfish, I suggest you look in a fucking mirror.” I stalk over to my keys and storm out the front door with only one destination in mind.
Fuckkkkkkkk! I can’t believe my sister is so fucking selfish and trying to act like the shit we went through only affected her. In what fucking world does she live where she is the only one who lost someone that day? I lost my best friend, and Haylee lost her brother. I needed to leave before I said something I’d regret. I almost told her to get the fuck out. When I grabbed my keys, I knew where I was headed. I knew that when I slammed the door so hard that I was grateful we no longer lived in the apartment because we definitely would have gotten a call from the building or worse, the cops.
This is fucking stupid, Hails and I living apart to be c
areful of Dani’s feelings. Well, guess what? We’re done with that. If she doesn’t like it, then she can get the fuck out of my house. The apartment Haylee is staying at isn’t too far from the house, and I make it there in record time. I pull into a parking space and shut the Jeep off when my phone vibrates.
Ky: You okay, man?
Ky: Please don’t do something stupid.
I’m pretty sure I owe Kyler a beer or two, or possibly even a case of beers for having to witness that explosion. Maybe letting Dani move in was a bad idea. Just thinking about her makes me angrier. I quickly respond to the text and get out of the car.
Me: Yeah, I needed to get out of there. Sorry to blow up like that. I’m heading over to Haylee’s. I’ll be back later or maybe in the morning. Idk.
As soon as I’m in the building, I start running to the stairs. I also fucking hate this building. It’s okay for Cam and whatever, but I don’t want my girl staying here anymore. The damn elevator has been broken for months, and I’m guessing they have no intention of fixing it anytime soon. I am having her shit packed by morning, and she is coming home with me. Enough is enough. By the time I reach the apartment door, the anger has not only grown, but I’m covered in sweat, and my heart is racing. It doesn’t matter that I live in the gym—that was a lot of fucking steps to run up.
I knock on the door and can hear her footsteps on the other side of the door. There is a pause—I assume her looking out the peephole—before I hear the sound of the lock unlocking. She opens the door in black booty shorts and a T-shirt—my T-shirt. Oh, fuck! She knows what those booty shorts do to me. As if I wasn’t wound up enough. I let out a growl after taking her all in.
There’s a look of her surprise on her face. “Hey, baby, what are you do—”
I cut her off, claiming her mouth with mine, my greedy tongue pushing into her mouth. I push her into the apartment and kick the door shut with my foot before spinning her around and hoisting her up in my arms, and she wraps her legs around my waist. I don’t break the kiss. This kiss is anything but sweet; it’s demanding, powerful, and messy. Teeth are clashing, and hands are roaming. I bite her bottom lip before swiping my tongue over to ease the sting and doing it again. Her moans go straight to my cock. I press it into her hot center, already feeling her wetness against my leg.
She is the first one to break the kiss, her cheeks pink and her lips swollen from my kisses. “Zach? What are you doing here?”
Instead of answering, I grind against her, resulting in her nails digging into my shoulder, and she lets out another moan.
