Page 107 of I Promise You
He stands with Rooker and Noel. Kane and Lopez are at the table next to them, and they’re deep into light-hearted conversations. I can’t hear them over the loud chatter and the music that drowns them out, but their body language tells me a lot.
They’re all covered with medals and achievements, and Danny has the most out of them all.
We were supposed to come here together. Our official outing as a couple was supposed to be tonight.
He brings a glass to his lips and catches me. He looks my way for a split second and blinks. At first, he does a double take. He looks back at his glass and swallows the familiar dark amber poison.
Then I spot another pair of beautiful blue eyes looking my way.
Kane eyes me with pure shock and warmth. Danny, too.
My ex deadpans as he grits his teeth, staring into my soul as he always does, sending me to melt into a pool of serenity. My vision changes to the dark-haired Navy SEAL now.
Kane looks mesmerized with his mouth falling open, licking his lips. He closes it, swallowing. His Adam’s apple bobs, and he shifts in his seat.
Meredith occupies his left, and she overlooks Violet and me. She’s talking to Lopez, throwing her head back, laughing hard, smacking her thigh as she laughs at something he said. Lopez leans in close to her ear as they laugh.
Danny looks tense, and Kane seems the same. Danny doesn’t budge. He won’t break. He’s so… intimidating. Kane is entrapping. They both are… It’s like they can’t believe I showed up.
Michael Bublé’s Christmas music begins to play, and after what feels like an hour of holding these intense expressions, I break away.
This was a bad idea.
I clear my throat as Violet holds me closer. She notices my hesitation and quickly hovers over me protectively.
“Don’t worry, we’re not sitting with them. We’re sitting with Zeke’s team over here,” Violet whispers as she guides me along. I nod, pursing my lips and forcing a small smile.
I clutch my small wallet as my breathing starts to pace evenly.
I’m wearing a long red dress ball gown that hugs my body. It’s a see-through mesh embroidery that barely covers my chest. You can see cleavage, red rhinestones threaded carefully into the fabric along my chest and I’m embracing the new me. I’m showing off the body that Danny showed me how to love.
To love myself and to be unashamed of my body.
No.
I don’t want to think of him. I don’t want to think about the night we fought. The night I yelled and screamed at him. The night that ended things.
Zeke pulls my chair out first and then Violet’s.
“Enjoy watching grown-ass adults act like children that get shit-faced,” Violet says sarcastically, shrugging.
“Looking forward to it,” I say as I turn to Zeke, tucking in the dress carefully as I shift in my chair. I want to avoid wrinkling the dress Danny bought me. He slides me a glass of sangria—my favorite.
31
ARI
The rest of the night, I stayed close to Violet. Meredith has been giving me a cold shoulder lately to the point where she didn’t acknowledge me the entire time I was here.
I would sneak glances at my best friend every so often to see if she could sense my desperation to make amends for an unknown cause. I replayed every conversation and text with her, trying to figure out where I had gone wrong.
She hovered over Kane, kissing his neck and cheek with desperate need, with her hands constantly traveling all over his body and groin.
Kane looked amused and yet standoffish at the same time.
Occasionally, I looked for Danny. At one moment, I found three women walking up to him as the event went on, star-struck and flushed. The way they looked at him was apparent in their intention with him. But each time, he looked uninterested, and eventually, they got the message, leaving him alone. The last one put her hand on his biceps, wide-eyed and curious. I found myself hitching a breath and tore my eyes away from them, gripping my sangria tight in my hands. Seconds later, the woman stomped off, disappointed. I’m guessing whatever shewas trying to do with Danny didn’t go the way she wanted it to. He didn’t even look their way, once.
Yet Kane and Danny continued to peer at me over their drinks or shoulders the entire night.
