All the Wrong Choices by C.A. Harms

Chapter Thirty-One

Jonah

"You're a dick!”Tony flops down in my recliner and pushes back, popping out the leg rest. He barged in through my front door, scowling like a grumpy old man, and flipped me off as he stormed past. Now here he sits, with a pissed-off look on his face.

"Why am I a dick?"

"Because you took my girlfriend away." Reaching out, he jerks the controller from my hand and starts flipping through the channels.

I don't say anything more, just stare at him as he pouts. I know this has something to do with Dani, and I'm not sure I'm ready to discuss what took place.

"Twelve fucking days and nights now," He doesn't look away from the television." That's how long she's been camped out at Dani's house because you called and woke her ass up in the middle of the night to rush over there. Now she refuses to leave her side for more than a few minutes."

There's a pause as if he expects me to jump in right then and add something.

"What in the hell happened anyway?" Now he focuses on me. "Why were you even over there to begin with?" Tony has an issue with Dani. His problem is about his loyalty to me, I know, but honestly, he needs to let it all go. I don't need him crossing over some invisible line to stand at my side. I'm a big boy.

"It's a long story."

"Well, that long story has broken the unbreakable."

Vague, very vague, and I have no clue what the hell he is talking about, so I ask.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Dani," he practically shouts her name. "From what Addison says, she won't sleep, can't eat, and she even called her fucking mom, after she got the news about her Great Grandma and her dad."

"What news?"

He stares at me for a few seconds as if I should know what he's talking about. "Danielle's Great Grandma passed away in her sleep about a week ago."

My heart aches. "And her dad?"

"He had a heart attack." And it feels like it cracks in my chest. She's had one hit after another and what took place between us was just one of many. "Dani called her mom, and they talked for over an hour. That alone is the end-all to end-all. She and her mother do not get along. She's hit bottom, man, confessing to her mom her life is a mess." All the air in my lungs feels like it gets sucked out; it's difficult to breathe. "Addison had to practically tackle her to get the phone out of her hand."

I know very little about the relationship between Danielle and her mom, but what I do know is her mother is controlling and condescending. She's manipulative, and that's just the tiny amount of information I've managed to drag out of Addison. The idea that Dani has reached such a low that she's confiding in her meant she's scraping the bottom of the barrel.

"What's going on with you and Heather?"

"Nothing," just the occasional text where she asks if I and the mystery woman have stopped avoiding one another yet. Then she proceeds to tell me to stop being a stubborn idiot and get what I want. Every time she sends a message, I can't help but smile because she was never that forward or direct the entire time we spent together.

She doesn't have a problem giving me a virtual smack to the back of the head, though. Tucker is more pissed things didn't work out than Heather is.

"So, you're not with Heather, and you're not with Dani?"

"No," I lean back on the couch, propping up my feet, still reeling from all the shit he's just told me about Dani.

"I don't understand you two." He chuckles. "She doesn't want you, but you want her. Fast forward, now she wants you, but you don't want her. What the fuck is wrong with you two? Do you honestly enjoy torturing each other this much? Is it like a kink thing?"

I don't answer because, honestly, he's a dumb ass, and two, I have no idea.

* * *

Danielle's car is gone,and she has her phone turned off. Even Addison's car isn't in the parking lot, which confuses me since Tony says she never left. I sat in the parking lot waiting for over an hour and still nothing.

Picking up my cell from the passenger seat, I dial Tony's number, knowing already that if Addison is with him, he's going to let me have it for interrupting their time. The guy is like a junky.

"Why are you calling?" He groaned as if he’d been hurt, quickly followed by, "Babe, stop, I just got you back." Suddenly there's a scuffle, the phone sounding like it hits something hard before laughter follows.

"Your friend is an ass," I could sense already Addison is smiling when she talks to me through the other end of the line.

"Where is she?" I could have gone for a bit of conversation first, but what's the point. I think she already knows why I'm calling. What other reason did I have?

I hear her let out a deep breath which only means she is irritated or, "She left."

I sit there in the silence of my car, hoping that left means she has gone over to one of the other girl's houses, and I'll get an address to go there and talk to her.

"She's not herself, Jonah." Addison's voice is quiet, and typically she's a little on the obnoxious side. But in a good way, the girl has some energy for sure.

"Where is she?" She's out for summer break. I know she could be anywhere at this point.

"She's with her parents." Suddenly remembering the call, Tony said she made a call to her mom. "It started when she was only going there for her Great Grandma's remembrance celebration, but then after her dad, she stayed longer helping out with him. They guilt-tripped her, in my opinion, but when I attempted to tell her that, she let me go before I could finish the sentence. Now with her sister's wedding in less than two weeks, they've managed to suck her into that massive shit show somehow too."

"She’s helping with her sister's wedding?" I say it more for myself because come on, what in the ever-loving fuck is going on?

"Yeah," Addison sounds defeated. "I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't been there when she'd dragged her bag down the hall and stated she was going to stay at her parents’ house until after the wedding."

"Her phone goes straight to voicemail."

"I know."

"How else can I reach her?"

"Well, I can't help you with that. Dani's mother hates me. It's most likely because she knows I hate her, but whatever, I have many reasons why I think she is a raging bitch of a woman. More and more being added to the forever growing list by the day."

Lifting my hand, I run it over the stubble, which has begun to grow on my jaw, and then rest my elbow on the window sill. My mind is all over the place.

"The Dani I know, the one who stood in a wedding dress while she had to hear that her groom had ditched her to run off with her sister, that same Dani wouldn't be now helping to plan their wedding. She's walking around in a daze, almost like she's empty like she feels nothing."

"I need you to help me figure out a way to reach her."

"I don't know how," she confesses, "but I'll try."