You Can't Go Home Again (18 page)

He didn’t know whether or not he believed she was psychic,
but she’d been dead on the money. He had been sitting there that morning,
thinking he’d made the worst mistake of his life. Whether or not his head was
in his hands, he didn’t remember, but her knowing his thoughts, thoughts he’d
never shared with anyone, not even Bri… Well, that was creepy enough.

He pictured her walking out again, phone in hand, and tried
to understand her expression. She’d been hurt. Before she could cover it with
calm, he’d seen the flash in her eyes. It hadn’t registered right away; nothing
had, really. But unless he was completely off base, she’d been hurt that he
hadn’t believed her.

As he walked into the bar, he saw the guys already there, on
their first round of beers. This was bachelor party night. They were heading
out to the local Hooters before landing back here. He was closing the bar at
eleven tonight and bringing the guys back here for a private party. He’d hired
a stripper—although Bri had tried to talk him out of it, the rest of the guys
were single, so… Anyway, she was due at a quarter after.

The limo was outside waiting for them. He’d thought about
driving, being the DD, then decided against it and rented the car and driver.
Safer that way.

When they saw him, the guys all cheered, toasting him and
offering him a glass. He laughed, determined to have a good time. He would just
force thoughts of Dani from his mind. Yeah, right.

* * * * *

They were all having a great time—even Dani, believe it or
not. Jenn was wearing a tiara and a T-shirt that said “Bride,” so everyone in
there knew it was a bachelorette party. The champagne had been opened before
they’d even left the house, and had been flowing freely ever since.

Seeing the festive atmosphere of the group, not to mention
the pretty women, the waiters had been giving them all more than their share of
attention. One of them, a tall, dark-haired Italian guy with soft brown eyes,
had been shamelessly hitting on Dani all night.

“Girl, if you don’t take him up on that, I will,” Beth
slurred out, trying unsuccessfully to whisper in her ear.

Dani leaned over, whispering back, still sober compared to
Beth. “Go right ahead. Not my type.”

Jenn caught the comment, adding her two cents. “Sweetie,
he’s everyone’s type. If I weren’t getting married, I might take him home
myself!”

Dani laughed. “Liar! You’re so in love with Bri it’s not
funny.”

Jenn’s face got all mushy. “Yeah…I am. It’s gross, isn’t
it?”

They all laughed, and Jenn leaned her head over on Dani’s
shoulder. “I know this is supposed to be my last hurrah as a single lady, but
it’s not like we’ll never go out again with just us girls. Can we go to
Hooligan’s? I want to see Bri.”

Dani was exhausted anyway, and the other girls were plowed
beyond belief. She figured they’d be lucky to get home without someone puking
in the car. “Yeah, why not. Let’s go get your man!”

Jenn laughed, clapping her hands like a kid. Dani paid the
tab, poured the drunks into the car and told the driver where to go.

* * * * *

Jace was sitting there, watching Zack flirting with the
stripper. Bri had barely even looked twice at her, but the others were having
fun. He saw Bri looking kind of lost and dreamy eyed. He thought about chocking
it up to tequila, but he knew Brian had only had a couple of beers.

Grabbing another mug for each of them, he wandered over and
sat next to his buddy. “Hey…what’s up? You don’t look like you’re having any
fun.”

“Naw, it’s fun. I’m just tired. It’s been a long week. What
about you? You’re newly single—why aren’t you hitting on that poor girl?”

Jace glanced over at the young blonde. She was curvy, almost
too curvy, and the boobs were obviously fake. “Not my type.”

Bri glanced at Jace, a sly grin crossing his face. “Too
blonde?”

Nicole had been blonde, as had almost all of Jace’s
girlfriend’s, so he thought he knew what Bri was hinting at. Raising an
eyebrow, he simply answered, “Something like that, yeah.”

“Yeah, I know. I miss Jenn, too.”

“Well, let me pay the lady, call a cab for these yahoos and
we’ll get you home to your girl.”

It was about two minutes later that “his girl” walked
through the door. She bee-lined toward Bri, sparing a small glance at the
blonde, before settling herself into his lap with a big kiss. “I’m done being
single. I missed you.”

He squeezed her to him. “I missed you too. It’s more fun
with you than without.”

After a long kiss that left both of them breathless,
clapping sounded in the room around them.

Jace watched as Dani walked in, seeing everyone clapping,
she turned to Zack. “What’d I miss?”

Zack, obviously more than half soused, swept her into his
arms, bending her backwards and planting a long, lips-only stage kiss on her.

Dani stood up, laughing, patted his cheek, and headed to the
bar. Jace knew he was glaring again when her smile faltered and she sighed.

She gave him a nervous looking smile and asked if she could
possibly get a glass of wine. He poured the wine, trying to calm himself down
before leaping over the bar.

He’d seen her walk in and felt his breathing stop. It hadn’t
started again until Zack had finally let her go. He knew it was a drama kiss,
not a real one, but the surge of jealousy had almost had him ripping Zack’s
head off.

When he handed over her wine, he forced a polite smile.
“Here you go.” She took a sip, thanking him.

“So, what brings you guys here tonight?”

She laughed softly. “True love.”

When he looked at her questioningly, she pointed to Jenn and
Bri. “She wanted to see Brian. I figured it’s her party, why not. I didn’t
interrupt anything, did I?” She glanced meaningfully toward the stripper.

* * * * *

With Jace’s casual shrug, Dani felt her shoulders sag in
relief. He wasn’t interested in the blonde at all. Why she cared, she didn’t
want to consider too closely.

“Nah. Zack’s being Zack, but that’s about it. Bri was too
busy missing Jenn to even notice her.”

They both turned when they heard the music stop, and the
sizzle and click of the karaoke machine.

Beth was on stage, beckoning wildly for Sara to come join
her. They all settled around the tables, ready to be entertained. Zack paid the
stripper, sending her on her way, leaving only family and friends in the bar.

After a few rousing songs, sung badly, loudly and incredibly
off key, Jenn started shouting Dani’s name. When Dani called out, “Only if you
join me,” she hopped off Bri’s lap and climbed up onto the stage.

“Let’s go, girl!”

They started with the Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye, Earl,” moving
on to Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine.” They went on to the Jane Deere Girls’
“Wildflower.” When Jenn climbed down, they all shouted for Dani to keep
singing. The next song that came on the machine was Taylor Swift’s “You Belong
with Me.” Dani started singing before she really thought things through.

As she sang, she realized just how true the words were. She
found herself looking at Jace, watching his reaction. He was staring at her,
hard, as if trying to see something.

“Can’t you see that I’m the one who understands you, been
here all along so why can’t you see, you belong with me. You belong with me.”

At the end of the song, Dani nervously glanced around,
seeing Zack walking toward her to help her off the stage. Everyone was
cheering, making her self-conscious. She was too nervous to pay any attention
when Zack kissed her cheek, announcing loudly that he had finally seen the
light. When everyone else laughed, Dani looked over. Seeing a flirtatious grin
on his face, she finally grinned back, joining in the teasing.

“Well, hell. Let’s go…” She grabbed his hand, making like
she was going to the door, only to run into the solid wall of Jace’s muscled
chest, face-first. She had kicked off her shoes, so she had to look up at him,
and what she saw stole her breath away.

He was furious, a look of murder in his eyes, but there was
more. When she looked closer, she saw the barely restrained passion.

He glared over at Zack, who promptly dropped Dani’s hand and
backed away a couple steps.

Seemingly oblivious, everyone around them was still chatting
and laughing. Dani didn’t understand how they couldn’t feel the heat sizzling
between them. The room had gone up at least twenty degrees.

After what seemed like minutes, but was probably just
seconds, Jace grabbed her, pulling her into him with an arm around her waist,
and another one in her hair.

His lips closed over hers, their mouths melted together. His
tongue swept out, begging entrance.

Her legs turned to jelly, her hands grabbing his shoulders
for balance. She felt the evidence of his desire pressing against her belly,
making her yearn for him. Just when she thought she might tumble off into the
abyss, Jace pulled his head back.

The room had gone silent, but he pretended not to notice,
looking only at her. He backed away, slowly, turning after a minute to head
back to the bar. Dani snapped out of it, looking around and seeing all eyes on
her, every mouth hanging open. Except Brian’s. He was smiling like the cat that
ate the canary.

After a few quiet moments, Zack finally let out a wolf
whistle. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Everyone laughed nervously, not sure what else to say.
Thankfully, Jace had started the radio again, so, slowly, everyone returned to
their conversation. As she sat back down, she heard Jenn whisper in her ear.
“At some point, I will get the rest of the story. I get the impression you left
some things out.”

The next morning, or rather early afternoon, Dani was
downstairs when the doorbell rang. Since it was immediately followed by, “Hello,
I’m here,” she knew it was Jenn without having to leave the table.

“Kitchen, I’m still working on coffee,” Dani called out.

When Jenn walked in, she saw Dani, dressed, but barely
awake, sitting on the counter and sipping coffee.

“So…lay it on me.”

“Good morning to you too.” Dani laughed.

“Uh huh. I don’t have much time, and neither do you… We need
to go and finish the setup at my parents, approve the tents, etc. So…just spit
it out, will ya.”

Dani laughed. Knowing there was no way around this, not after
Jace’s kiss last night, she decided to spill everything, and hope Jenn didn’t
think less of her.

“Okay, straight to the point. Five years ago, we had sex.
The night before I left. Afterwards, I got a vision of him thinking it was the
worst mistake he’d ever made. I bailed before he woke up.”

Nothing. Not a sound. You could hear crickets chirping
outside.

Finally Jenn spoke. All she said was, “Uh-huh.”

“That’s it? Uh-huh? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“Well, yeah, actually.”

“You don’t think I’m slutty, horrible, even worse for not
coming back sooner. You don’t think I’m a wuss?”

Jenn kind of scrunched up her face, contemplating that for a
minute. “Nope. Not at all. So, that’s why he’s so pissed. It makes more sense
that way.”

“Why? What does?”

“Well, you never talked about him, he never asked about you.
It just makes more sense that something happened before you ever left that
caused it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been mad until two years ago.”

“You really are much more observant than we ever thought.”

“Ummm, thanks, I guess. So, what happened last night that
changed things? Or, maybe just start when you got here. Might be better.”

“Yeah, okay. Well, you pretty much saw most of it. He was an
ass, calling me names, my freak-out over the scars, and what caused them. There
were a couple of steamy make-out sessions I didn’t tell you about. They all
ended with more fighting. And then, last night…”

She huffed in a breath, not really sure what to say. “Well,
I told him at the rehearsal that I didn’t want to fight anymore. Whenever he
started trying to talk to me, to apologize, I just kind of left. Then, your mom
sent me on that damn hospital trip. I don’t know why she sent me; it would have
been better to send Zack. Anyway…well, if you didn’t think I was a slut before,
you will now. Basically, I got him drunk, or rather stoned, and took advantage
of him.”

“What?” Jenn laughed. “I think I might have paid good money
to see Jace stoned!”.

“The nurse gave him some sort of dopey shot. He was wasted.
I stayed there, mostly to make sure he didn’t stop breathing or something. He
talked me into sleeping in bed with him. I woke up sometime in the middle of
the night, having a dream, or maybe a vision. It felt like a vision, not a
dream. But I never have good visions, only terrible stuff, so I guess it was a
dream. Anyway, I jumped him. Literally.”

“So, you had sex, and then he was kissing you last night?
Why didn’t he just wait until later, or drag you upstairs for a quickie? Why
the PDA?”

“Well, we didn’t have sex, not completely. And I don’t think
he remembers it.”

Now Jenn was laughing hysterically. “So, you had almost sex,
and he doesn’t remember it? That is awesome!”

“What? Why is that awesome? You don’t think I’m a horrible
person? Bad enough that I ‘nailed and bailed’ five years ago, but then I took
advantage of him and he doesn’t even know it. Oh my God!  I date raped him!
Jenn, stop laughing. I have to tell him!”

Now she was laughing hard enough that tears rolled down her
cheeks. “I’m betting he participated willingly. And based on that kiss, he
remembers enough to want more. Stop beating yourself up.”

Jenn finally staunched the laughter, a few more giggles
escaping despite her best efforts. “Dani, why didn’t you tell me? I mean
really, it’s been five years. Why the big secret?”

“Because I was embarrassed. Jenn, I have been head over
heels in love with him for years. Literally years. I had a crush on him even
back in high school. After my parents died, I fell like a ton of bricks. I was
humiliated to be labeled the biggest mistake of his life.”