All the Wrong Choices by C.A. Harms

Chapter Forty-Three

Jonah

Dani leftwith Addison over an hour ago, and I already miss her. Girls' night out sucks, especially when my best friend and I haven't talked since the day I told him to back the fuck off or stay away. I guess it meant he couldn't get off Dani's ass, so it is what it is.

She's my priority. That isn't going to change.

I'm lounging back on my couch. My feet propped on the coffee table as the recaps of today's games play on the television. But I'm not watching. Instead, I find myself looking around the room, seeing all Dani's things now mingled with my own. Pictures of her and her girls sit on the mantle. Even on a few shelves were her books displayed all in neat rows. Novels filled with romantic stories she loves to read by the pool. Though lately, I haven't left her with the need to seek those swoon-worthy feelings elsewhere. That's what she calls it when she reads about a guy in a book who loves his girl hard and unconditionally.

Girly shit litters my once manly and pretty plain home. It's shit like that, which makes me want to come home every night and kickback. Not mine, hers, I say nothing at all when she buys another trinket to add to another shelf. I welcome it. Frilly bathroom crap litters the countertops. Once masculine and sleek, the kitchen now has yellow and blue towels with this chef-looking fat guy on them. She loves that crap, and before her, I would have felt like it was ridiculous, but not now.

I may be biased because with those things came Dani, and I don't care if she wants to paint the entire kitchen pink; I'd be waiting with a paintbrush in hand so that I could see the happiness dancing in her eyes.

The longer I sit on the couch without her, the more antsy I become. I'm a sappy motherfucker. I know this, but without Dani, I'm unsettled.

Standing up, I hurry to the bedroom and change out of my lounge pants into a pair of jeans I know Dani loves. They make my ass look good, she says. Pulling on my long-sleeved pale gray Henley, I undo the top two buttons and smile when I imagine her face as I walk through the crowded club toward her.

Crashing girls' night should bother me, but honestly, I don't care. I need my fix.

Twenty minutes later, I'm walking through the front doors of Margaritas and offering a nod to a few guys I know. "Hey man," reaching out, I take the offered hand of Grady, and we offer one another a manly shoulder pat. "I just saw Reece walk in about ten minutes ago. You two a thing again?"

It's been a while since I've seen him, and yes, the last time I was still with Reece. The idea she is here and so is Dani leaves me feeling a little unsettled.

"Nope, Reece and I haven't been a thing for years."

He nods, and we chat for a few minutes before I excuse myself and go searching for a particular beauty who left our house wearing a skimpy little red dress and some killer heels. I might have made a promise to fuck her against the front door in the same dress if she didn't run out fast.

She hurried out to the car to meet Addison, giggling happily the entire way.

"Are you serious?" Spinning around, I see Avery and Addison both standing between me and a table of girls, both looking at me with displeased glares. "One night Jonah, one, it's all we asked for."

"I tried," and I did, but only for an hour. That is my limit.

"You really should have texted," Avery moves in a little closer, "then I could have warned you."

"Warned me?"

She looks over her shoulder, and I follow her movements, and immediately my heart seizes. There is a tightness filling my chest, making it a little difficult to breathe without great effort.

Completely enthralled in a conversation, Dani has yet to notice me standing there as she looks at a woman to her left. A woman who makes Dani feel threatened by a past we had or didn't have actually.

"I think it's because she’s drunk, but they seem to be getting along," I only nod, still watching Dani closely. "There were a few minutes there that they were discussing how you kiss." My stomach rolls, and I look at my sister. "It was a little hard to listen to that topic. I mean, who wants to hear that shit about their brother? This thing you do with your tongue and—"

"What the fuck Avery, why is Heather here?"

"Hey, don't look at me," she holds out her hands. "I had no idea she would be here, but she was with her friends." She points to a couple of girls I don't recognize. "She found me, and the next thing I know, we are all hanging out."

Addison laughs and crosses her arms over her chest. "Thankfully, Dani was already tipsy by then, and she didn't even flinch when Heather stepped up to her side and told her congratulations on landing the guy."

I hang my head and close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Jonah," I lift my head and find both Dani and Heather staring at me. The way they both scan over me from head to toe makes me a little nervous. "You wore the jeans," Dani smirks, and her grin is lopsided as she stares back at me with glossy eyes. She is feeling good.

"I did," I step closer and ignore the way Heather is observing our reaction. She practically falls into my arms, and I grip her waist, holding her close. Leaning over, I whisper in her ear so only she can hear me. "I couldn't stop thinking about what you were wearing beneath this dress."

"Red lace panties," she announces proudly, and I hear a few others around us laugh.

"Babe," I fight the urge to chuckle at her innocence.

"Huh?"

"Information for me only," I hold her stare, and she nods.

"By the way, did you see who’s here?" Dani doesn't even register what I've said as she tries to turn in my hold and look behind her. "Your friend Heather," when she understands I have no intention of letting her go, she points instead. "She's really pretty," Dani declares.

I chance a look at Heather, and she too looks to be drunk as she smiles at me. "Hey Jonah," she offers a wave, and I give a little chin lift in greeting. "It seems you lied to me," immediately I'm attempting to run over everything I've ever told her about Heather and looking for the part where I may have lied. "You said you never kissed her as you kiss me."

"Babe," this conversation would be one I'd avoid if she were sober. Having it with a wasted Dani doesn't seem like a good idea either.

"I warned you they were comparing notes." Avery bumps her hip to mine, but I don't look away from Dani.

"That thing I told you I love," she reaches up and slides her thumb over my lower lip, and I nip at it, hoping to deter her from the subject. "With your tongue," she starts again, and I refuse to listen to another word. Not caring who may be watching, I grip the back of her neck and pull her flush to my chest. I dip my head and seek out her mouth, doing what I know she is attempting to describe—teasing her with the tip of my tongue until she opens up to me. I kiss her as I've never kissed her before.

A few whistles echo and some encouraging comments. I don't acknowledge any of them enough to hear clearly. Danielle's body sags against my own. For a brief moment, I forget we aren't alone. Pulling back reluctantly, I find her with her eyes closed and her body slightly swaying from the effects of our kiss.

"Yes, that," she says breathlessly. "You did that with Heather too."

"No, babe," I assure her, and she opens her eyes to look up at me. "Those kisses have always been reserved only for you." I don't whisper my response because I want everyone around us to hear. Even the girl who is still staring at me from over Dani's shoulder in her drunken stupor. "Don't you know by now, Dani girl, you are my everything? I live and breathe for you."

I hope she isn't too drunk to hear me clearly and to understand my words.

"Don't you understand even when we were apart, you were still my everything?"

There is an echo of collective sighs around us, but again all I can see is Dani and the way her eyes fill with tears. Her lower lip trembles, and I know without a doubt she understands.

"And you'll always be my everything."

Pressing my lips to hers once more, I cage her in, needing it only to be her and I for a minute. "I love you," I whisper to her lips. "I need you and only you."

"You're making me cry, and it's killing my buzz," I chuckle because I know she's not upset about my seriousness. "But I love you too, and I'll never stop needing you."

One day, soon, I will ask this woman to be my wife. And when she says yes, because I know she will, I'll spend the rest of my life ensuring she feels consumed with the love I give her.

I never again want Dani to feel as if she is not good enough.