You Can't Go Home Again (19 page)

Jenn paused a beat, thinking. “Dani, do you think that maybe
it was only a mistake because you were gone? Maybe if you’d stayed it would
have been different. You know, a self-fulfilling prophecy?”

Dani nodded. “God, you’re quick. Actually, that finally
occurred to me yesterday. But at this point it doesn’t matter, not really.
Yesterday, I told him…about my visions. I don’t think he believes me, which is
almost better. Imagine how he’d feel if I told him I’d seen his accident.
Before it happened. Jenn, if I could have stopped it, could have saved him…”
She took a slow breath, fighting back the tears she hated so much. “If he does
believe me, he’ll hate me for sure.”

Seeing Jenn’s face fall, Dani knew. She agreed. She hopped
off the counter. She couldn’t think about Jace anymore. She’d had one more
night with him, which was more than she’d ever thought would happen. It would
have to be enough.

“Not everyone gets a happy ending, Jenn. But you do. So, let’s
go get everything ready for yours.”

* * * * *

When Jace opened the back door to his apartment, the one
that led in from outside, not the bar, he wasn’t really surprised to see Brian.
He was supposed to meet him and Jenn at her parents to finish setting up for
the wedding tomorrow. Seeing him here, an hour or so early, was almost
expected. Last night, anger and desire had gotten the best of him. He’d had
enough of Zack flirting with Dani, so he’d made a very public statement about a
very private situation. He should have expected Bri to come over.

Brian walked past Jace, without any greeting whatsoever,
wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee. Meanwhile, Jace watched
ESPN and pretended he wasn’t there.

“So, that didn’t seem new last night. Seemed like maybe
something that had been brewing awhile.”

“Yeah…probably longer than you think.”

“Really? So, how long?”

“Don’t want to talk about it, Bri.”

“Okay…Jenn’s over at Dani’s right now, so I’ll just ask her
when she gets home.” He stood and headed to the door. “See you at the house in
an hour or so?”

“You’re just going to go ask Jenn? Seriously?”

“You said you didn’t want to talk about it. I want to know.
You never mentioned it was a secret.”

“You suck, you know that.”

Bri just smiled. “Yeah. Okay, see ya.” He shut the door just
in time to hear Jace swearing.

“Fuck! Get your ass back here.”

Bri opened the door. “So…I guess you want to talk about it
now?”

Jace just glared, making Brian laugh as he sat back down on
the couch. Once he was settled, ankle crossed at the knee, he decided to go
ahead and get straight to the point.

“How long have you been in love with her?”

“Who said I was in love with her? Maybe I just want to screw
her. She’s always been hot…got more so out there in Cali.”

“I could believe that, except you would have backed off and
let Zack have a shot first if that were the case. Plus, you spent weeks calling
out her name.”

“What? When?”

“In the hospital. At first, I thought maybe you had a buddy
over there named Danny. He’d gotten hurt or something. I never really knew for
sure until she showed up here. So, I ask again…how long?”

“Senior year. Although I don’t think I really even knew it
until she told everyone she’d gotten that job in L.A.”

Bri nodded. “Makes sense. Finding out she wouldn’t just be
waiting here when you got back. Is that why you’re pissed at her?”

“I’m not…mad at her. I was more pissed at myself. I screwed
up. I think that’s why she hasn’t come back sooner.” He ran his hand over his
face, shoving his fingers through his hair. Realizing this was likely the move
Dani had been talking about made his scowl even deeper. “I kind of…shit…I made
love to her. The night before she left.”

“Yeah? Okay. So, where’s the mistake? You called her someone
else’s name, said her ass was big, what?”

“No, nothing like that. Come on, it’s Dani. There is no way
that perfect ass could ever be big. And I knew exactly who I was with. I just
made love to her.”

“That was the mistake?”

“Apparently. Because she was gone when I woke up.”

Bri stared over at Jace, incredulous. “She left?”

“Yeah, like all the way to L.A. She was on a plane before I
even woke up. I tried to catch her at the airport, but some lady said she took
an earlier flight.”

“And you never called her, or talked to her? Asked her why
she left?”

Jace said nothing. After a couple of minutes he asked Brian,
“Do you believe in psychics?”

“Psychics? Like talking to ghosts, fortune-telling
psychics?”

“Yes…no…like real psychics. Normal people who get visions or
something. Who can see things before they happen.”

Brian kind of shook his head from side to side. “Sure, I
guess. Why?”

“Do you think someone you know could be psychic and you’d
never know it?”

“Probably not. I would think you’d be able to tell. They’d
be weird or something.”

“Did Jenn ever tell you how Dani saved her life?”

“Yeah, knocked her out of the way of a falling tree house.
So, wait, you think Dani’s a psychic?”

Jace shrugged, shook his head, then shrugged again. “I don’t
know. She told me she saw a vision of me the next morning, heard my thoughts.
She said she knew I was thinking that was the biggest mistake of my life. Bri,
that’s exactly what I was thinking, still think, actually. I never told anyone
about that night, let alone that she left.”

“Okay, so…just say she is, that she actually saw that. Was
it? The biggest mistake of your life? I mean, that’s pretty serious, especially
considering… I would have thought joining the Marines, or taking the second
tour in Afghanistan… Shouldn’t that be higher on the list of fuckups?”

Jace looked over, being more honest with Brian than he ever
had before. “No. If I had just been able to keep my damn hands to myself, she
wouldn’t have run away.”

Brian was obviously floored. “How did you keep this from me?
How did I not see it? Or Jenn, for that matter. Girls are more touchy feely
emotional. How did she not know?”

“I don’t know. I guess Dani never told her. It was obviously
not something she wanted to think about.”

“So, then…last night…the kiss?”

“Yeah…same thing. I can’t be around her very long or I… I
don’t know, I just kind of forget that I’m not supposed to touch her. She
stayed the night, after the hospital. Hell, Bri…the dreams I’ve been having. I
can’t even be in the same room as her. It’s making me fucking nuts. And then
the damn doctor asked her out, and with Zack hitting on her since she got here,
I just kind of lost it.”

“Dude, you have got it bad.”

“Yeah, no shit. So quit fucking laughing!”

“Okay, okay. I’ve just never seen you so tied up, man. What
are you going to do about it?”

He didn’t know. He knew he couldn’t fight with her anymore.
Not now that he admitted he was mad at himself, not at her. But he wasn’t sure
he could keep his hands off her either. Not if they weren’t fighting. And then
there was the damn necklace. She had a boyfriend out west. But, if she had a
boyfriend, why did she respond so sweetly when he touched her?

“Did Jenn mention…does Dani have a boyfriend?”

“Nope, not that I know of. Hasn’t in years actually. Or at
least no one who was important enough to mention, otherwise Jenn would know.
Why? You gonna give it a shot?”

For the first time in weeks, Jace smiled. An honest smile.
“I think I just might.”

“Well, good. So, let’s go get started. Jenn and Dani should
be on their way to Jenn’s parents to set up. You and I got called in to do the
heavy lifting.”

Friday afternoon was busy, but fun. It was only the four of
them, Jenn and Bri, Dani and Jace at the house. Jenn’s mom was directing
traffic, while her dad was busy following orders. The rest of the wedding party
all had to work. Jenn was off for the summer, Bri had taken the last few days
off, and Jace… Well, he was the boss. They worked around the crew setting up
the tents, placing the tables, putting out the centerpieces. Once the stage was
set up, they brought out the decorations for that.

And they had a blast doing it. Jace was friendly,
flirtatious even. Smiling at Dani, showing off. When the two men carried around
the archway by themselves, Jenn and Dani hooted and hollered. The guys stopped,
flexing into the muscle-man pose, making both women laugh. When Dani looked
over at Jace, he winked at her.

At the end of the day, they all flopped down on the pool
deck, trying to cool off after working all afternoon. Dani was lying there next
to Jenn when they were doused with twin buckets of water.

Laughing and sputtering, she jumped up and made a flying
tackle at Jace, knocking them both into the pool. When they surfaced, he had
his arms around her as he laughingly placed a soft kiss against her neck. When
he moved her hair aside, she felt him tense, his arm gripping a little tighter.

She sucked in a breath, knowing why he’d frozen in place.
He’d seen the red mark she still wore on her neck.

She felt his shaft throb, pulsing against her back where she
pressed against him. Chills shot up her spine when he leaned in, whispering in
her ear. “It wasn’t a dream.”

She turned her head to meet his eyes, shaking her head
almost imperceptibly. She waited for the anger as he hissed out a breath. He
pushed away from her, swimming over to the steps. She was absolutely shocked
when he turned back and smiled at her.

“You coming?”

Seeing his crooked grin, the humor in his eyes, she
recognized the double entendre for what it was. She smiled in spite of herself.
She was really enjoying this new Jace. Or maybe this was just the old Jace
returned. Either way, she liked it. A little too much. She swam to the steps,
climbing out of the water and shaking out her hair. She knew her tank top and
shorts were clinging to every curve. She also knew they would dry fast enough
in the heat. So, skipping a towel, she figured she might as well use it to her
advantage. She added an extra swing to her hips as she walked by. A quick
glance over her shoulder assured her his eyes were exactly where she wanted
them.

She shook her hair all over Bri, plopping down on his lap to
make sure he was soaked too. Jace grabbed Jenn, swinging her up into a bear hug
while she squealed and laughed.

While they all sat there, drying off, Jenn’s mom brought out
pizza. Seeing them all, air drying in the loungers, she couldn’t help the soft
motherly smile that popped to her mouth. “You two are getting married tomorrow,
yet here you all are acting like a bunch of teenagers.”

When they all glanced up, trying to look properly chastised,
she laughed again. “Don’t ever lose that. Now, eat your pizza and send the boys
home. A groom can’t see the bride on the wedding day. It’s bad luck.”

Jace and Brian were going back to Jenn and Bri’s house. Dani
had packed a suitcase and was staying the night here, at Jenn’s parent’s house.
They had hair and nail appointments in the morning, and the wedding was at five
o’clock. Hopefully after the worst heat of the day.

As the guys left, Bri and Jenn snuck off for a minute alone.
This also left Dani and Jace alone. He’d brought his truck over, so he flopped
down the tailgate and hopped up, patting the seat beside him. She climbed in,
leaning back on her hands to watch the stars.

“I can’t believe they’re getting married tomorrow. It
doesn’t feel like we’re old enough for that. Being back here, this afternoon,
it felt like we were still in school.”

“No, not really.”

“Oh, well…you’ve been here for a while; maybe it’s just
because I haven’t been. I just had a really good time this afternoon. With the
four of us again.”

“That’s not what I meant, Dani. I had fun too. I just mean
it’s different. In college, Jenn and Bri wouldn’t have snuck off to neck. Which
means I wouldn’t have been able to do this.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him.
When his lips touched hers, she felt the soft sigh through her lips. His tongue
gently brushed hers, teasing and tender.

Tender quickly turned smoldering, his hands digging into her
hair, hers fisting into his shirt. He pulled back on a groan, pushing her
shoulders, gripping them in some sort of war with himself. He jumped off the
back of the truck just in time to see Jenn and Brian coming back around the
front of the house.

She hopped off the truck, closing the tailgate with a slam.

Bri grabbed one more quick kiss before jumping in the cab of
the truck while Jenn waved at him, a soft look in her eyes.

Jace turned, pulling Dani against him, just close enough to
let her know he’d been aroused too. He kissed her lips, just a warm, soft
touch. With one more groan, he stepped away and climbed into the truck. He had
it started and in gear in a matter of seconds. As they drove off, Dani could’ve
sworn she heard Jace cussing and Bri laughing.

The wedding was beautiful. The day had been cooler than the
norm for a Texas summer and the air-conditioning units had worked beautifully,
keeping the guests, as well as the bride and groom, cool.

As they settled into their seats at the wedding table,
everyone cheered, welcoming the new bride and groom. The meal was served, and
as everyone began to eat, it was time for the toasts.

Dani went first, standing and clinking the spoon against her
glass to get everyone’s attention.

“As the maid of honor, it falls to me… To threaten the
groom.” She paused while everyone laughed a little. “I’m supposed to threaten
to cause him all sorts of pain if he dares to hurt my best friend.
Unfortunately I need to break with tradition. I just can’t do it. They would be
empty threats. Because Jenn, my best friend, the sister of my heart, has found
one of the good ones. So, instead of threats, I ask simply for a promise.
Brian, I ask that you promise to love her, to cherish her always, just as you
do today. With that, you two will never be anything less than blessed.”