Darren put his hand on her neck and pulled her ear close to his lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said.
Kissing her on the cheek, Darren winked at Danni before leaning back to look at his parents. “Are you guys ready to go, or do you wanna stay for the whole game?”
“It’s your night, son,” Gerald said. “What do you want to do?”
“I’d rather not hang out here if everyone’s cool with it,” Darren answered.
“Come around and we’ll meet you at the bottom of the stairs,” Justin suggested, and Darren nodded.
As the group ascended the steps, several people congratulated them on Darren’s behalf. He was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs when they made their way through the halftime crowd. The shy grin he gave Danni melted her heart.
Danni threw her arms around Darren, almost whacking him in the face with the flowers. “I’m so proud of you, D.J.”
“I almost lost it,” he whispered.
“I know, but you didn’t,” Danni said.
“All right you two, break it up before I lose my appetite,” Justin joked.
“Bite me,” Darren said as he let go of Danni’s waist in favor of taking her hand in his.
“Where’d you park?” Gerald asked Justin.
“I had to park outside, across the damn street,” Justin replied, frowning.
“That’s what you get for being late,” Chelsea said.
“I wouldn’t have been late if D.J. told me before we left that he wanted to get flowers for Danni,” Justin said.
Danni turned wide eyes in Darren’s direction. “So that’s why you were late?”
“Yeah,” Darren admitted, lowering his eyes for a moment.
Danni wanted to hug him again. Actually, she wanted to do so much more than that, none of which she could do with all these people watching.
“All right then, I guess we’ll meet you boys at the restaurant,” Gerald said.
Chelsea frowned at Darren. “You’re not riding with us now?”
“You’d make me ride over alone?” Justin asked.
“You’re a big boy. You can handle it,” Chelsea replied.
“Okay, look, I didn’t wanna have to admit this, but D.J. has to ride with me because I’m scared of the dark,” Justin said. “I need him to protect me.”
“I don’t think I’d be much good at protecting you with only one arm,” Darren pointed out.
Justin’s expression hardened. “Don’t you ever say anything like that again, you hear me?”
A hush fell over their group. Ann and Gerald traded glances but stayed silent. Danni had never heard Justin sound so menacing. If she didn’t know him, she would have been afraid of his harsh tone and the dangerous look in his eyes. Darren bit down on his lower lip and nodded.
The anger left Justin’s eyes, and he wrapped a hand around the back of his brother’s neck. “Come on, kiddo, let’s go celebrate.”
“I second that,” Gerald said.
As the group began to move toward the gates, everyone they passed had something to say to Darren, especially the girls. A couple of the cheerleaders smiled at him and chorused, “Congratulations, Darren.”
“Thanks,” he answered.
“Hey, Darren,” another girl said. “Glad you won homecoming king.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m so happy you won, Darren,” a third one said.
“I love you, baby,” Darren told Danni when another girl waved at him.
“Why?” Danni asked. “You could have any of those girls.”
“Even if that was true, that’s not what I want,” he said. “I don’t know of any other girl that would love me like you do.”
“I’m sure one of those girls would be happy to try.”
“I don’t care. You’re the only girl I want.”
When they passed through the gates, Darren paused to give Danni a kiss. With everyone watching, he kept it short.
“See you guys over there,” Justin said.
While he and Darren headed out the gates of the parking lot, Danni and her friends followed his parents to the opposite end. Trailing behind, Danni couldn’t get Darren’s words out of her head. You’re the only girl I want.
Did he really want her because he loved her that much, or was it something else? Was it fear of not finding anyone else that would look past his disability that made him hang on to her? As she stared down at the flowers in her hands, Danni couldn’t be sure.
* * *
Justin and Darren were already at the restaurant by the time their parents arrived. Leaving the bouquet of roses on the seat, Danni ambled out of the car with her friends following. Darren smiled as he reached for her hand. She took a long look at him and realized she was right about the color of his dress shirt. It did wonders for his eyes. Darren Jacobs was still the hottest guy she’d ever been close to. Danni wished she could’ve had a more private celebration with him because she was desperate to suck on his lips and run her hands over his bare chest and tight stomach.
Gerald reached the door first. Though he held it open, Justin and Darren stood beside him and waited for all the women to enter before walking in behind them.
The hostess lit up when she spotted Justin. “Hey, Boss!”
“Kennedy, you don’t have to call me that,” Justin said. “Tonight I’m just a customer.”
“A special customer.” Kennedy winked at him before her eyes landed on Darren. “Oh my, God, that has to be your little brother. You guys have the exact same gorgeous face.”
Justin grinned at her as he reached out to ruffle Darren’s hair. “Yep, and he just won homecoming king.”
“Oh, that’s so cool,” Kennedy said. “The banquet room’s all ready. Do you want to head back there or wait for Sadie to show you to your seats?”
“We’ll wait. I’m just a customer tonight, remember,” Justin said.
“In that case, if you wouldn’t mind stepping to the side, Sadie will be here shortly to show you to your table,” Kennedy told them.
They didn’t have time to step aside before Sadie appeared to lead them to their table. Like Kennedy, she dialed up the charm, but Danni wasn’t sure if it was for Justin’s benefit because he was the boss or because he was gorgeous. As they made their way through the restaurant, it was impossible to miss how many women checked him out.
Their party of seven was the smallest in the banquet room; the other two numbered more than ten people. With three chairs on either side of the table and one at the head, Danni wondered who would sit where. If she and Darren sat together, that left only one spot by them for either Chelsea or Marcy. Of course, she didn’t think Chelsea would mind sitting on the opposite side as long as she ended up next to Justin.
“You sit at the head of the table, Darren,” Ann said. “This is your party.”
Darren shot a look at his brother that Danni couldn’t read.
“I’ll sit there, Mom,” Justin offered. “Then D.J. can sit by Danni.”
Danni smiled when Gerald moved to the opposite side of the table and pulled out Ann’s chair.
“Where do we sit?” Marcy asked.
“I’m afraid one of you girls is going to have to sit over here on the old folks’ side of the table,” Gerald said.
“I’ll do it if you promise to tell me the story of how you and Mrs. Jacobs met,” Chelsea said and then added, “The real story.”
Gerald smiled at her. “It’s a deal, young lady.”
Darren sat down opposite Chelsea at the end of the table. Danni sat between him and Marcy, who ended up on Justin’s right, which probably made Chelsea regret agreeing to sit next to Gerald.
The waitress who came to take their drink orders broke into a wide smile at the sight of Justin. “Hey, Boss, aren’t you sick of this place?”
“I’m not your boss tonight, Camille,” he replied.
“Okay, Boss,” she laughed. “Can I get everyone something to drink while you look ove
r the menu?”
Camille started with Justin and worked her way around the table. When she came to Darren, her eyes widened. Justin frowned as she took in his brother’s empty sleeve.
“Can I, um, have a Dr. Pepper?” Darren asked.
“Sure thing, sweetness,” Camille answered before moving on to take Danni and Marcy’s requests.
“I hate it when stuff like that happens,” Darren said.
“I know,” Danni said.
“Maybe I should’ve sat on the other side of you.”
“Why?”
“I can’t hold your hand on this side.”
“Sure you can,” Danni said, holding out her left hand.
Darren smiled as he stretched his hand toward hers. As she grinned back, Danni still couldn’t believe she was sitting beside the hottest guy in school. No matter how many times she looked into them, she was always amazed by his eyes. It wasn’t just that they were the bluest she had ever seen, but they had a depth she’d never noticed until she had the chance to get up close to him. Once again, she found herself wishing they were alone so she could pepper his perfect face with kisses. That wasn’t all she wanted to do to him, but it was all she dared to think about.
“What are you thinking about?” Darren asked.
Ignoring the heat in her face, Danni let her hand drop to his lap. Without taking her eyes off of his, she slid her hand up the inside of his thigh. Darren drew in a shaky breath as he shifted in his seat.
“You know, I never noticed how huge your thighs are,” Danni said softly, and Darren smirked as he raised his eyebrows. “I don’t mean fat. I mean muscular.”
“It’s from all the time I spent catching. You have to have strong quads and hammies if you’re gonna hang for nine innings,” Darren explained.
Danni furrowed her brow. “What’s a hammie?”
He laughed. “Sorry, it’s short for hamstring.”
“Didn’t your legs ever get sore from having to play for that long?”
Darren shrugged. “When I was little and I was first learning to play, but after I got the hang of it, I was fine. Besides, if you’ve ever noticed, catchers come out of the crouch any chance they can.”
“There’s something I always wondered.”
“What’s that?”
“A couple of times when I saw you play, you’d get up and run over to talk to the pitcher,” Danni said. “I always wondered what you guys were talking about.”
Darren grinned at her. “Depends on what was going on. Most of the time it was about the game, like making sure we had the signs straight or talking about a disagreement over the pitch he should throw.”
“You totally lost me with most of that.”
“Catchers use hand signals to tell the pitcher what pitch to throw,” he explained. “Those are signs.”
“How come the pitcher can’t just throw what he wants?”
“If he does that the catcher won’t know what’s coming at him, and trust me when I say you don’t want a ninety mile an hour fast ball coming at your nuts if you’re not ready for it, cup or no cup.”
Danni hadn’t realized baseball was such a complicated game. Maybe she wasn’t giving the jocks enough credit. They would have to be somewhat smart to be able to keep the rules and signs straight. She wondered if that was why the jocks she knew all sucked at school; their heads were too full of sports rules to make room for anything else.
While Danni was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of jocks being smart, Camille came to give them their drinks. Instead of taking their orders afterward, she disappeared. Seconds later, she was back with baskets of dinner rolls; one for each end of the table.
“Okay, did you want some appetizers to start, or are you ready to order?” Camille asked.
Justin looked down the table at Darren. “It’s your party, D.J. What do you want?”
“We can just order dinner,” Darren answered.
“You heard the man,” Justin said.
As with their drink orders, Camille started at Justin’s end of the table and worked her way around. Danni pulled two rolls from the basket in front of her.
Darren’s eyebrows shot up. “Hungry?”
“I’m not going to eat both of them. One’s for you.”
“You don’t have—”
“Please just stop,” Danni said. “I know you don’t like people doing things for you, but you’re just going to have to deal with the fact that you can’t do everything.”
“Isn’t that what I was doing when I had you jerk me off?” Darren whispered in her ear.
Danni’s face warmed again, and Darren grinned as she concentrated on buttering the rolls in front of her.
Camille appeared behind them. “What can I get you?”
“I’ll just take the steak and chicken combo with the baked potato,” Darren said.
Danni smiled. “Hungry?”
“How do you want the steak?” Camille asked.
“Medium well is fine,” he said.
“Soup or salad?”
“Salad with ranch dressing.”
Camille’s eyes drifted toward Darren’s missing arm. “Did you, um, need us to cut the steak and chicken into pieces for you?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Danni burst out while Darren’s face flushed.
Everyone at the table stopped talking and turned to stare at her.
Danni glared up at Camille. “Look, just bring him the food like you would for anyone else. Oh, and I’ll have the exact same thing he’s having.”
The waitress refused to meet Danni’s eyes as she walked down the table to take Marcy’s order before scurrying away. In the silence she left behind, Danni finally had time to realize she’d just dropped an F-bomb in front of Darren’s whole family.
“So, um, who do you think won the game?” Marcy asked.
Danni would have smiled at her friend’s feeble attempt to break the tension if she hadn’t been so worried about facing Darren’s parents.
“Probably not Taft,” Justin said. “They fucking suck.”
Danni’s eyes widened, but Gerald smiled. “They’re not that fucking bad,” he said. “They played some pretty good D tonight.”
Justin laughed. “Hey, D.J., you hear this? Dad says they played pretty good D.”
“Hey now, I know a thing or two about football,” Gerald protested.
Just like that, the conversation returned to normal. When Danni flashed a grateful smile in Justin’s direction, he winked back.
“Danni,” Darren said, and she turned to face him.
“I’m really sorry about that,” Danni said. “I didn’t mean to say the F-word in front of your parents.”
Darren leaned forward until his face was inches from hers. “Thanks, baby. Thanks a fucking lot,” he said and then brought his lips down on hers.
* * *
“I can’t believe how much I ate,” Chelsea groaned as she gripped her stomach.
Despite the little hiccup at the beginning of the meal, they all had a good time at dinner, even with the waitress going out of her way to make sure she didn’t stare at Darren or his missing arm. There was a lot Danni wanted to say to her, but she didn’t want to make things worse with Darren’s parents who had already overlooked her foul mouthed slip.
“I guess that means you don’t want dessert,” Gerald said.
“I don’t think I could eat anything else if I tried,” Chelsea replied.
“Me either,” Marcy agreed.
When Camille came back to deliver the check, she placed it in front of Gerald. “Will there be anything else?”
Gerald gave her a kind smile. “No, thank you, dear. We’re just fine. Thanks for the wonderful service.”
The waitress beamed at him while Danni frowned. Treating Darren as if he had some contagious disease didn’t qualify as ‘wonderful service’ in her book.
“I’ll take care of that, Dad,” Justin offered.
“You don’t have to do that,”
Gerald said.
“It’s cool. Besides, I can’t use my discount if you pay.”
Camille plucked the check from the table and gave it to Justin. Though he smiled at her, Danni sensed a coldness lurking behind it. When he pulled the money from his wallet, she fought the urge to ask him not to leave a tip.
“All right then,” Ann said. “Are you girls ready to go?”
“I can drive them home, Mom,” Justin said, and Chelsea’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, honey, you don’t have to go to that trouble.”
Justin laughed. “I have to go home anyway.”
“That’s right,” Ann said, turning to Danni. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“It’s fine with me,” Danni replied.
Everyone rose to their feet and moved toward the exit. As they walked, it was hard to miss the number of people who stared at Darren. Some of them even had the nerve to whisper something, and they weren’t bothering to hide it. Danni pressed her lips together to keep from screaming more obscenities as they filed out of the restaurant.
“Damn, it got cold out here,” Justin said when they stepped out into the night air.
Ann and Gerald said their goodbyes at the front door, and then Darren walked the rest of the group to Justin’s car. While Danni paused to give him a kiss, her friends crawled into the back seat of the Camaro.
“Call you tomorrow,” Darren told her. “Love you, baby.”
“Love you too, sweetheart,” Justin answered before he slid behind the wheel.
Danni shook her head. “I love you too.”
Darren waited until she was inside the car before closing the door behind her.
“Thanks for driving us home, Justin,” Chelsea said.
“It’s no problem,” he replied. “Of course, it might help if I knew where I was going.”
“Oh, sorry,” Danni said, giggling. “Take this street to First and make a right, then take that up to Friant Road and follow the curve until you get to Copper Ridge, and it’s the third house on the left.”
Justin whistled. “Those are nice houses. Your mom must be a pretty good lawyer to afford a place over there.”
“Actually, my parents bought it right after they got married and she got it in the divorce,” Danni said.
“Thanks for dinner,” Chelsea interjected. “It was really good.”
“Yeah, no problem,” Justin said. “Listen, Danni, thanks for what you did for D.J. at dinner. Stuff like that is the hardest part of this for him.”
“Thanks for covering for me when I dropped an F-bomb in front of your parents,” Danni replied.