My Friend's Dirty Uncle

And to my disbelief, I watched as some guy – some college loser with bad skin visible even under the dim lights – asked her to dance. When she accepted, I scowled as the kid led her onto the floor and began to paw that luscious frame.

Jealousy coursed through my veins. I hated the way his arms locked around her waist, fingers trying to touch. Those creamy curves belonged to me, not him. I wanted to snatch Dani away from him, and bring her to my house. But to do what? It had been a year of silence, a tortuous, devastating cold.

Did she hate me?

Was it selfish of me to wish that she still loved me? Because I knew I loved her. In fact, I never stopped loving the girl, and I could never stop loving Dani.

But with all that had happened, how could we possibly have a future? I didn’t blame her if she hated my guts and never wanted to see me again.

Dani kept her eyes closed for the longest time, as if she was feeling the music in her soul. And when she opened them, wide and caramel, I willed for her to see me.

When we locked eyes, a bolt of electricity pulsed through the air, sizzling and hot. I watched her expression change from disbelief to shock to anger. And then, predictably, that pretty face lit up with rage. I knew I had to act now before I lost her again. I set down my beer and strode to the couple.

Dani had stopped dancing. The guy with her was trying to lead her away, but I put my hand on his shoulder and shoved him backwards. He fell to the floor in an ungainly tangle of limbs before getting up awkwardly.

“Don’t talk to her,” I snapped, not even looking in his direction.

The man’s jaw dropped. He turned to Dani. “Daniella, do you know this man?”

I was still holding her forearm, but she yanked it away.

“No,” she said firmly, refusing to meet my eyes.

Hot anger tore through my frame. I went to grab her hands again, but she stepped away and out of reach.

“Dani,” I pleaded.

The boy looked from me to her. “Daniella?”

The brunette took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry Joshua, I think I’m going to go home,” she said, before turning around and walking towards the exit. I wanted to punch this jerk in the face to assert my dominance as her lover, but this wasn’t the time. I didn’t want to lose her. Not again.

Instead, I left him standing in the middle of the dance floor and followed Dani outside. The air felt cool as we exited the stuffy atmosphere of the club. The exit was in the middle of an alleyway and Dani started to walk fast, her heels clicking on the cobblestones.

“Dani!” I growled after her. When she didn’t stop, I jogged up to her side. Reaching again for her arm, I grabbed onto an elbow, forcing her to halt. “Dani, please,” I ground out. “I need to talk to you.”

She stood there, tension radiating from her body.

“You don’t get to do this to me.” She turned around and glared daggers at my frame. “We are nothing to each other. You can’t just come here and act like that.”

“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”

“You don’t get a say in that! If you wanted a say, you shouldn’t have left!” Dani said hotly before she closed her eyes. I knew she was trying to calm herself down. When she opened her lids again, she looked at me like she was seeing a stranger. “What are you doing here, anyways?”

There was so much I wanted to tell her and I knew that the alleyway wasn’t the right place nor the right time. She got frustrated.

“You know what?” she asked, throwing her arms up, “I don’t care! I don’t care why you’re here. There’s nothing for us to say. I’m going home.”

As she bolted from me, I knew I couldn’t let her go. I wouldn’t let her go again. A second chance had been given, and I wasn’t going to waste it.

“Dani, I need to talk to you,” was my urgent explanation. “There are words to say.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she snapped, still striding furiously.

“Don’t you want to know why I left?”

She hesitated a bit, coming to a stop. “Maybe in another life. But now it doesn’t matter why you left. What matters is that you did. And I don’t think I could forgive that.”

I winced. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was what I knew I deserved. “Please, just give me a chance.”

“I’m tired. I don’t want to talk. All I want to do is sleep. I knew I should have stayed in and not gone out tonight,” she said angrily as she quickened her pace.