Page 82 of The Rules

“Where are you going?” She scrambled toward him. “You don’t want to eat?”

“I have plans.”With Dani, and he really didn’t need his night ruined by one of these arguments.

“Okay then.” Her face tightened in defiance and he wondered once again how much of this was an act and how much was honest to God delusion. Today was not the day he was going to find out.

He leaned down and gave her a stiff kiss on the cheek, then pushed out into the cold evening to his car. His hands shook as he turned the key and took the scenic route home to clear his head.

He should call his sister. Katie would understand. She knew why this kind of bullshit made his head explode. After all the struggle, the working two jobs, the money they never had, thecrying, his mother still made those eyes when she talked about his father. And then she had the nerve to compare him to the bastard, reminding him of the genetic material he was forced to carry around.

It wasn’t like he could forget. Dark hair, green eyes, tall enough to be intimidating to his wife and kids. But Dylan had never felt that urge to impose his will over people who loved him. He’d never accepted someone’s trust and smashed it just for fun.

Or maybe he’d just never accepted anyone’s trust in the first place. He knew he wasn’t his father, but he sure as hell didn’t want to be put in a position to be proven wrong.

“Fuck you, Vince,” he said aloud. “I’m not you, God damn it.”

This bubbly feeling in her belly was ridiculous. Dani pulled into Dylan’s driveway just after dark. It was Friday night. They’d spent almost every Friday night together since the Fourth of July. Now it was November and she had butterflies. It was silly, really. The thought bounced around in her head as she dabbed at her lipstick in her car mirror, then made her way to his front door and into his living room.

“Dylan?” She dropped her things on his couch and peeked up the spiral staircase to the loft where he had his office set up. “Dylan?”

Finally she heard the slider in his kitchen open and close and he appeared from the back yard, dressed in jeans and a black sweater, a tumbler of some dark liquor in his hand.

“Hey, Dani-pie.”

A smile bigger than she could tame spread across her face, but he didn’t return it. He seemed distracted, moody. Waves of irritation flowed off of him, crossing the empty space that was still between them and stinging her skin.

“What’s wrong?”

He downed the rest of whatever he was drinking and pushed past her to set the glass down on the kitchen island. “Nothing’s wrong. You ready?”

Emma was having a dinner party tonight and everyone was going to be there. It would be their first time showing up somewheretogether.He’d said he wanted to do this. He’d seemed excited. Now her pulse ticked up and the giddiness she’d just been chiding herself over disappeared on the wind of this new mood. “Dylan.”

He turned toward her and pushed a smile onto his face, but it had no mirth. He still hadn’t kissed her. Was he having second thoughts about this whole coming out to their friends thing? Did he suddenly remember that what they were doing was as non-Dylan as it gets?

Swallowing the acid that crept into her throat at the thought, she crossed the kitchen and stood in front of him, crossing her arms.

Dylan sighed. “What, Dani?”

“Do you want to skip tonight?” she asked. She forced herself to be direct. She wasn’t going to wonder or leave things up to over-analysis. Not with Dylan. And not anymore. “If this is too much too soon, I—”

“It was my idea to tell everyone.”

“I know, it’s just, you seem…”

“I’m not having second thoughts, Dani. For Christ’s sake, let’s just go.”

Okay.She might be nervous to pull on the thread they’d built this whole thing on, but she sure wasn’t going to take that. “Hold up.” She put a hand on his chest, something flaring inside her. “First of all, don’t bark at me.”

Dylan’s jaw twitched, but he looked chastened.

“Second of all, fine, I believe you. But if it’s not that, I still want to know what’s wrong.”

Dylan stood there blinking for a few moments, his jaw set, then his shoulders fell and he stepped toward her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Let’s start over.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her mouth, then her forehead. “I’m glad you’re here. Tonight is going to be fun.”

“Okay,” she said, letting herself melt into his chest. That was weird, but she’d let it go for the sake of not going into this already weird night with any extra weirdness. “Let’s reserve judgment on ‘fun,’ though. It could be completely obnoxious.”

Even Cranky Dylan had to laugh at that, his chest shaking. She was delighted at the sound of it. “I’ll give you that. Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

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