Bare Skin (Skin Deep 5)

Chapter 18

Dani

My heart sank and tears filled my eyes as he peeled away from the curb.

He’d been right, I was falling for him. More than that, I was pretty sure I’d already fallen.

I looked up at the man standing beside me, but he was glaring, teeth clenched.

“Why the fuck wouldn’t you say something, Dani? What the hell are you playing at? And who the fuck is Kaden?” he roared.

I winced and then covered my mouth with my hands as a sob broke free.

I heard him sigh and then he wrapped me in his arms, rocking me back and forth, trying to calm me down. It took a while, but I finally pushed away from him, wiping my tears away with my hands.

I blew out a breath and told him, “We need to talk.”

So we did.

It took a couple hours to go through everything, and it killed me to sit there and do it instead of running after Calland to try and make him understand, but I needed to tell T.J., to finally get it all out. I’d waited so long to do it, and he deserved to know.

When I was finished, he looked stunned…and a little pissed.

“But, why…?”

“I don’t know,’ I told him gently. “But I did the best I could, especially because you refused to tell me where you were or what you were doing. I could hardly ever get ahold of you, Taylor. And Goddamnit, that hurt! You knew I had no one else!”

He reached over and took my hands in his, his face earnest as he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Dani. I never meant for it to go down like this, but…Fuck. We’ve got a lot to fix, don’t we?”

I nodded, blinking back tears again.

He took a deep breath. “Well, I’m not going anywhere, so we’ll work it all out soon, okay? But right now, I think there’s someone else that you really should be talking to. Fix it, Dani. I can tell he makes you happy, and in the time I’ve been here, I’ve never seen him like he is with you.”

“Yeah, Taylor, but I’ll have to tell him…”

He cut me off, his head nodding gently. “I know. It’s okay. Just go…and call me later.”

I stared at him for a second, then slowly nodded. “Okay. I will.”

I got up and went to the door, opening it and stepping outside. He followed me, leaning against the door and winking at me when I looked back at him.

“Love you,” I said.

“Love you, too.”

***

I went to Calland’s house first, though I knew that he wouldn’t be there. He wasn’t, so I took a minute to call Emma and check on Kaden. When T.J. had called, asking if I wanted to come hang out for a little bit, I’d asked Emma if she could keep the baby for me. I hadn’t told T.J. about him, yet, but I was planning on doing it today.

Things just didn’t work out the way I intended, so the whole telling thing was a little fucked up. He’d cried, I’d cried…and like he said, there was a lot that needed to be fixed. But in order to do that, I needed to start with Calland.

I didn’t get into it with Emma, but I knew she’d heard. She was short with me, but she still promised to take care of Kade until I could get things sorted with her brother. Before I hung up with her, she’d called my name, telling me, ‘I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here. Not just because I don’t get that vibe from you, but because I know in my heart that T.J. would never betray him like that. But, you better pray I don’t regret it.’

I didn’t blame her for the threat, nor had I said anything back; I didn’t need to. Because I knew T.J. better than anyone and no matter how he’d fucked up in the past, she was right. He’d never betray a friend. He knew how bad it hurt when that happened.

I headed towards Griff’s, thinking he might have gone there, and I was right. I saw his truck sitting there, parked, and went inside to see him slumped at the bar, a bottle of beer in his hand as he slowly shredded the label.

“Hey,” I said softly, stopping behind him.

He didn’t turn around, and he didn’t answer me, either.

“Can we talk?”