Page 28 of Home Tears

“Robbie knows the answer. He’s just comfortable with those girls. Kate’s so far-off on that guy, but he’s clueless.”

“Most guys are,” Dani noted. She set her bottle on the table. “What else do you know?” She returned his gaze, almost like a challenge. She lifted her chin up, just half an inch. “I feel like there’s a lot more you know than you let on.”

Jonah let out a small grin. “I know that my sister worries about Kate. I know that my sister feels guilty because she’s always been accepted, and Kate has to fight for it. I think Robbie might develop a little crush on you if you give him attention.”

She held up a finger. “Noted. No nice attention to Robbie.”

Jonah’s grin deepened and he kept going, “I know that Bubba secretly loves it when Aiden and Kate drag him onto the dance floor. I know that Stilts has a thing for Lori—you can’t say anything about that, by the way—and I know that Aiden and Kate both really like you.”

Dani held her breath, but Jonah continued, a slow drawl, “Kate feels a camaraderie with you because you weren’t accepted by your family like she wasn’t accepted by everyone in town. And she idolizes you because you stood up to your sister.”

“I did?”

“You’re not hiding from your sister. In Kate’s mind, that means you’re standing up to her, and you are.”

Dani was starting to feel warm. She glanced to the beer. Maybe it was the two sips she took.

Jonah’s voice was beginning to feel like a soothing caress. “Kate was scared of Erica and she’s scared of Julia. And I think Kate and Aiden are both relieved they don’t have to talk with Lori or Brooke anymore. There’s another female around, so it’s not as obvious when they want to snub Robbie’s girlfriends.” He pulled his legs in, set his beer down, and turned to face her more squarely. His baritone softened again. “I know that Kate has a little crush on me, but she’ll never act on it. And I know that you let me come here tonight because of a reason. I’m just trying to figure out what it is.”

They didn’t know her. Kate. Aiden. That group, but they wanted to and Jonah knew things she hadn’t even told him.

She looked down to where he was holding his beer, still sitting on the little table between them. “It’s a little alarming how intelligent you are.”

Jonah chuckled. “So, Dani, what’s the reason you let me come back here with you?”

She held her breath. Her hands tightened around her beer. She looked back up, saw that he was even closer. His eyes held hers captive.

He asked again, “What’s the reason you brought me here tonight? Do you want me to hold you and keep the nightmares at bay? Is that it?”

She didn’t move. She didn’t dare. Her body was already heated, and her lips became parched.

He leaned forward, and his eyes were downright smoldering in the soft lamp glow. “Or maybe you want me to screw you? Do you want me to make you forget that other guy?”

A normal girl would’ve gotten pissed. But, Dani wasn’t like other females and pushing the lust at bay, she saw right back into him. She said, “You’re either a dick who pretends to be a good guy, or you’re a good guy who can be a dick. Because right now you’re being a dick no matter what.”

“You haven’t picked.”

God. Those three words.

Her heart was racing.

“No.” She shook her head, trying to calm her body’s reaction. “Maybe you’re pushing on me because you want to know more truth from me. Is that it?”

He remained cool. He lifted up an eyebrow, and smirked. “What do you think?”

He was an asshole. His words struck deep. Then again, maybe that was his intention in the first place. To go deep, make her feel something. Well, she was. She was feeling all sorts of things, and she didn’t know if she should ask him to screw her or—she went with the other choice.

“Nightmares.” The words tumbled from her. “I get them, and I hate them. I honestly hate them. If I could murder and destroy them, I would, but they’re in my mind. I can’t destroy that. I’m tired of hearing water rushing down on us and screams as everyone is running for cover. I’m really goddamn tired of hearing the sound when someone gets trampled. Have you ever heard someone get stampeded? You can hear the bones cracking under the weight, and then it’s nothing. It’s a dull sound after that, like they’re a sack of potatoes. But that’s not even the worst. The breathing stops. They’re gasping for breath. They start to wheeze. It turns into a gasping sound until they choke on their last breath. Then nothing.”

She didn’t talk about the other type of breathing, the kind where it’s quiet. Like when someone is sleeping. You know they’re going to die. They haven’t eaten, or drank anything in days. When they stopped emptying their stomachs. When they just lay there, and you can’t help them. You can’t make it go away. You can just lay there with them, and listen for the next soft breath because when they stop breathing, that’s when you know you’re lying next to a dead child.

She didn’t talk about that sound because it was the worst of all.

Jonah murmured, so damned gently, “A buddy of mine told me once that he could handle the nightmares. He always knew to just expect them, but it was the flashbacks that got him. He said they’d rip through him like a scorned tornado.”

Scorned tornado. She felt her mouth curve up at that. “What happened to him?”

“A kid went under. He tried to save him, but the undercurrent swept the kid out of his grasp. The body had moved farther down the river by the time he got to him, it was too late. He said when they found the body he couldn’t get the eyes out of his head. They were glossed over.”

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