Page 49 of Under My Skin

Yes, our relationship was a huge, tangled mess right now. We still had alotto talk about and work through. I still needed to find out why the hell she’d kept this from me for so long. And that wasn’t a conversation we needed to have while we were both this raw.

But the way I felt about her? That wasn’t going away. And now that I’d heard her say she was falling for me too, even if she wouldn’t let herself give in to it yet…well, once again, I dared to hope.

Dani took a deep breath as she unbuckled her seatbelt and started to open the car door. “I’ll pay you back every penny and tell Lina she doesn’t have a j?—”

“Like hell,” I cut her off, harsher than I’d intended. “That’s my son. I’m not about to?—”

“We don’t need your charity,” she snarked.

“It’s not charity, sweetheart.”

I mentally kicked myself as the endearment slipped out before I could stop it. This wasn’t the time, and I knew it. But calling her “beautiful” and “sweetheart” was as natural as breathing at this point.

“Guilt, then,” she clipped out. “Whatever it is, we don’t need it. We can get by just fine without you.”

Fuck, she was killing me right now. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to make a clean break. Protect herself from any more heartache because she’d already been through so much and she couldn’t handle anything else.

But she wasn’t going to get rid of me that easily.

“I know you can, Dani. But you don’t have to. I’m going to provide for Isaac, and that means providing for you too. Not because I feel guilty – even though I do, more than you’ll ever know – or because I feel obligated, but because you’re both my family and I care about you.”

That other word, the one I’dneversaid to a woman before, was on the tip of my tongue. I was desperate to find some way to make her understand how deep my feelings for her and her baby boy – no,ourbaby boy – went. Yet I couldn’t say it. Not now. Not like this.

“I can’t,” she gasped on a trembling breath. “I can’t do this.”

When the car door opened all the way and one of her legs slid out of the seat, I reached out and gently grabbed her arm.

“Dani, plea?—”

“Letgo, Braden!” she wailed as she yanked her arm from my grasp, got out of the car, and slammed the door behind her.

“FUCK!!!” I screamed, banging the steering wheel with both hands. “GOD DAMN IT!!!”

As I watched Dani make a mad dash for the staircase, it took everything I had not to get out and run after her. I hated the thought of leaving her alone while she was falling apart like this, but at the same time, I knew I was the last person on the planet that she wanted to be with right now.

Then I remembered she wouldn’t be alone. Morgan was up there taking care of Isaac.

Fuck. Me.

Morgan.

Dani’s best friend was Malachi’s girlfriend. AndMalachihad been the one who’d told me about Dani and her situation. About how a professional football player had gotten Amara pregnant and then sicced his publicist on her and Dani rather than manning up and taking responsibility for the life he’d helped create, even after finding out Amara was dead.

They. Fucking. Knew. They’d known all along. And they hadn’t said one goddamn word to me about it.

My brakes let out a loud screech as I peeled into the driveway at Malachi’s house. Throwing the door open so hard I was surprised it didn’t come off its hinges, I jumped out of my car, then slammed the door closed with just as much force. And then I stormed up to his front door and banged my fist on it so hard, the entire wall vibrated.

“Malachi! Get your ass out here!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, pounding on the door again.

A light flipped on in the living room, and a few seconds later, my so-called friend appeared in the doorway.

“B, what?—”

I surged forward, gripping his shoulders and pushing him back against the wall in his foyer. Not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to make him pay fucking attention.

“Motherfucker! How could you?! I thought you were my fucking friend!”

His eyes got as big as saucers as utter shock and confusion crossed his face. “Whoa, B! Back up. How could I what?”

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