I Love You, I Hate You: Part 2

“I’m fine,” I mutter, trying my best not to let the rage seep into my tone. “It slipped.”

We finish the rest of our meal in silence. Danika eats every bite while I push the food around my plate. She stands, walks over to the cart, and sets her empty dish on top of it. “I should go.”

My pulse kicks into overdrive. As fresh as my wounds feel for Danika having left me, I don’t want her to go. Not yet. Fear overrides my anger and I hurry to my feet. “Can I walk you?”

She grimaces. ”I don’t know.”

I’m sure the thought of getting caught with me by anyone in our family is daunting, but we’ve

only got one night left. If I’m going to get in her pants—and more importantly, under her skin—I need to up my game and be the most nauseating, charming version of myself I can muster. “Babe, your dress is probably itchy from the saltwater and you're wearing my shirt. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t see you safely to your door?”

Danika sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, a habit I assumed withered away when her heart turned black. Something so cute can’t possibly be done by someone so evil. I need to stop thinking this way. It’s been eighteen months since I conquered my hatred and turned it into indifference. I can get there again. I need a drink to clear my head.

Danika exhales, her soft lips lifting into a nervous smile. “Okay.”

I drape her dress over my shoulder and pick up her red heels, picturing her in my button down and these shoes. She’d look like Tom Cruise in Risky Business, only a million times hotter.

“Where’s Cooper’s room?” she asks as the door closes behind me.

It’s idle chatter, but I’ll take it over awkward silence. I hitch my thumb over my shoulder but keep my gaze on her. “Four doors back, number five-oh-seven.”

Danika nods and her hair creates a curtain between us. My fingers tingle, itching to push the locks behind her ears. I don’t give into the temptation. Instead, I tuck my free hand deep into my pocket. I veer towards the elevator but Danika shakes her head, and smiles again.

“I’m on this floor, too.”

That makes sense. Mom tried to book us all as close to each other as possible. Piper and Rex are the only ones I know who aren’t on this floor. They’re two stories up, in a suite. “That’s cool.”

“Yeah, Sarah and I have adjoining rooms.” Danika laughs nervously. I almost wonder if she’s as uncomfortable around me as I am her, but then I remember she has to care to feel uncomfortable, and if she cared she wouldn’t have left. “I’m sure she’s freaking out, wondering where I am.”

I bite my tongue from lashing out my opinions on Sarah Archer. She’s obsessed with my brother, almost to the point of stalker status. She even broke into our house senior year and waited in his room for him. On his bed. Naked.

It was the night after prom, while Cooper was in the hospital with Mom and Piper. I went in to grab him a change of clothes and there Sarah was, naked as a jaybird. I don’t want to know what she did while I was away at college. Cooper stayed home, opting to do the community college thing which was smart, considering he dropped out of school to enlist in the military.

Before I got kicked out of school, I made it a point to come home as little as possible and whenever I did, Sarah was there. Lurking in the shadows. Not really, but it felt like it because damn near every time I turned around, that girl was within ten feet of Cooper. I asked if they were an item on more than one occasion, but he always said no.

“It’s barely nine o’clock. With as much as Sarah had to drink last night, I’m sure she’s still sleeping.”

After a few steps of uncomfortable silence, Danika says. “This is me.”

We stop in front of room five-twenty-two. I feel a smile forming, but fight it back. Last night, Danika laid in my bed. Slept in my shirt. Tonight, I’m not sleeping on the hard floor with a pillow.

Tonight, I’m sleeping in the bed in this room.

With her.

5

Danika

The Horizon Hotel is the same as I remembered, minus the tacky Homecoming decor. Although, they did keep the string lights spanning from the ballroom out onto part of the pool deck. Even though I arrived last night, I was too nervous to take in my surroundings. When I finally calmed down, I was too drunk to appreciate it. Looking around now, it’s surreal being here again.

Listening to the waves kiss the shore as I walk to the poolside cabana bar, I can’t help but smile. Logan and I had a lot of beginnings. Each stage of our life a new chapter unfolding. If I had to pick a specific moment that defined the beginning of us, it would be Homecoming. Here.

I run my tongue over my bottom lip, biting down. Taking a deep breath, I exhale anxious breaths and try to settle my nerves. I can do this.

I slide onto the only open wicker topped stool at the end of the bar and silently curse as the skirt of my dress snags. Of course the stool would be wicker. What better completes the beachside, bohemian feel than woven twigs adding to the ugliness of this bridesmaid’s dress? Just one more thing to add to the list of what sucks about today.

I glance over to the pool. Logan sips a beer and talks to Piper’s husband, Rex. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him yet, but from what I can tell from Piper’s social media, Rex seems like a great guy. I’m happy for her. She deserves to be with someone nice after everything she’s been through.