and get your ass over here.” There, that ought to piss her off and get her to come here. Though, she may not be as willing to help me out now, but I’ll deal. I’ll just play the “clients deserve the best, so they come to the best” card with her. Gets her every time.
Not even three seconds pass before I hear her kick something and storm in my direction, cussing me out the whole way. This is gonna be fun!
She comes storming into my room, and the second she sees the shit-eating smile on my face, she gets even more pissed! It’s a hilarious sight, but scary too. I’m man enough to admit a pissed off Dani scares me.
“What’s up, buttercup?” I say in a sugar sweet voice, hoping to annoy her more. I don’t know why I push her buttons, but I do. I just can’t help myself sometimes.
With her face red with rage and her eyes blazing with mirth, I realize I love this girl. I love her in a way a person loves their best friend, in a way that a brother loves a sister, in a way that I never want to see her hurt but always happy. I already knew I cared about Dani, but after everything that went down between us I guess I was afraid to admit I loved her, for fear that no one would get that it was a different kind of love, myself included. But now I see the difference. You can love someone you aren’t in love with, and that’s okay.
Before she can say anything to ruin my revelation, I get up and grab her up into a crushing hug, no longer afraid to show or tell her how I feel. “I love you, Dani Girl,” I say into her hair.
Instantly, I feel her deflate before she wraps her arms around me too, squeezing me tight. “I love you too,” she answers back, tears evident in her voice.
“Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me,” I hear from the doorway.
Letting go of Dani, we both turn to see Harlow standing there, looking at us both with confusion, anger, and unmistakable pain in her eyes, but she quickly covers the hurt with contempt.
“Harlow, what are you doing here? You aren’t scheduled to work today,” Dani says in answer, which was the wrong thing to say, and she knows it too when she watches the rest of Harlow’s sanity leave her eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt something by showing up unexpectedly? I didn’t realize I couldn’t come here on my day off, but I see now why you wouldn’t want me here,” Harlow says to both of us, but then she directs her gaze solely on Dani. “So tell me, how does it feel to have all the brothers slaving for you?”
“Harlow, I don’t know what you think is going on here, but you’re wrong. And of course you can come by on your day off. What is the matter with you? Ever since you came back, you’ve been off your rocker,” Dani says while keeping her calm. I think she’s finally had enough too, or maybe this time Harlow has gone too far.
“Off my rocker, huh? Didn’t know you were keeping such close tabs on me and how I’ve been acting. But I’m sure you have your reasons,” Harlow says as she looks back and forth between me and Dani.
I step forward to put myself between the two women, knowing this is about to get outta hand and fast, but Dani puts her hand on my shoulder, stopping me. And of course, Harlow zones in on that one touch.
“Oh, I get it now. It wasn’t enough that you fucked him once, you had to come back for more, am I right? Or, maybe , Blaze isn’t giving it to you like he used to anymore. Having kids must put a huge strain on your sex life, huh? So since you aren’t getting it enough from your man , you have to get your rocks off elsewhere, so you come to the good ol’ dependable Louie. Isn’t that what you called him, Dani—dependable?”
Harlow barely finishes that sentence before Dani quickly steps up to her and slaps her, hard, across the face. The force of the hit causes Harlow’s face to jerk to the side, and her whole body goes with it.
Dani moved so fast I didn’t even see it coming, so I’m sure Harlow was
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