Chapter Nine
Dani tried to let the music guide her, but mostly she just wondered what she was attempting to accomplish. Her hips swayed to the country-western beat, and her partner led her around the floor, his eyes almost never leaving her chest. Dani kept her eyes firmly fixed on the cowboy’s hat. It was way safer than doing what she wanted, which was to look around to see if Finn was watching.
“Hey, Dani, you might want to go a little easy on the bump and grind there.”
Dani turned, a little startled at the familiar voice. Sam Fleetwood had his hands all over his wife. Abby grinned at Dani and nodded.
“Yeah, sweetie, you really should behave. Julian’s here. I don’t think he’s going to like you dancing like that with someone else. Sam and I know what we’re talking about,” Abby managed to shout over the loud music.
The cowboy, who Dani seemed to recall was named Brett or Brad or something, tried to whirl her away, but Sam followed easily.
“You gotta understand, there are rules to be followed, and the first one is don’t play around with other dudes. I really think Julian is going to be inflexible on that one.” Sam two-stepped with a light smile on his face.
Dani searched the bar frantically. Julian was here? What the hell was Julian doing here? But, yes, there he was. She couldn’t mistake those broad shoulders or the lush, dark hair pulled back in a sexy ponytail. She remembered what it looked like when it fell around his neck and past his shoulders. When he’d leaned over her, his hair had fallen around her face, making a little intimate world where there had only been the two of them.
“If you don’t watch it, Julian’s going to tan your hide,” Abby said with a cheerful little smile. “That’s the good part. The bad part is when he doesn’t let you have any fun, if you know what I mean. I wouldn’t push him that far, Dani.”
Dani stopped in the middle of the dance floor to the obvious chagrin of Brad whatever-his-name-was. The cowboy frowned and threw his hands up before stalking off in search of a less distracted partner. Dani allowed Sam and Abby to move her off the dance floor to the far end of the bar.
“I don’t understand. He doesn’t care about me.” Dani wasn’t sure why he was here, but he wasn’t here for her. She knew that. Craning her neck, she tried to see through the sea of dancing couples. Julian looked like he was talking to Finn and a woman. Val was trying to sink her perfectly manicured claws into Julian.
“Don’t worry about that,” Sam said, passing Dani a longneck. “Julian likes boobs on his females. If he’s in the mood for some manloving, he’ll find a guy. That sister of yours doesn’t stand a chance.”
Sure enough, Val turned from the two men, her chest heaving with obvious anger. She shot Dani a cold stare before marching to the bar where she met up with Cecelia Smith, her cool, blonde BFF. Cece was a terrible gossip. The tall, willowy twenty-four-year-old was already whispering behind her hand to her equally skinny blonde cohorts. The former cheerleading squad of Willow Fork High School might no longer wear little red skirts, but they stuck together, and they loved to cause trouble.
“See. I know what Julian’s into,” Sam said with that easy confidence of his.
A secret smile played on Abby’s face. “I wouldn’t mention that to Jack if I were you.”
“Mention what?” Jack slid an arm around his wife’s shoulders.
“Not a damn thing.” Sam winked at Dani. “I was just explaining to Dani here that perhaps she should have thought about actually wearing the other half of her skirt to this particular establishment.”
“Yes, that might have been smart. I do believe Julian took exception to Danielle’s wardrobe choices this evening.” The words were a lazy threat coming out of Jack’s mouth.
Dani was righteously confused. Finn was upset. She understood that, but Julian had dismissed her as though he couldn’t have cared less whether she stayed or went. Why should he care that she was wearing a skirt she’d bought as a part of a Halloween costume? It was one of the only things she’d left behind when she’d moved her things to Jimbo’s house. “My skirt has nothing to do with Julian Lodge. And from what I understand, he shouldn’t care either way. I talked to Lexi a couple of hours ago, and she told me all about his club. People run around there naked.”
When Lexi had explained exactly what kind of club Julian ran, Dani had been shocked, amused, and very, very interested. It wasn’t like she didn’t know places like The Club existed; she just hadn’t met someone who went to one. Except she had. Abby went to Julian’s club with her husbands. Lexi went there with Lucas. Lexi said it was one of the only places in the world where she felt truly comfortable.
“There are rules at The Club,” Jack stated implacably. His shoulders squared, and he seemed to get even taller. Dani noticed Abby and Sam both looked up to him, their eyes soft.
“There are laws everywhere,” Dani countered.
“I’m not talking about laws. I’m talking about rules. Julian’s club has rules, and the people there know they damn sure better follow the rules or they’re in for some serious trouble. There are no real rules here and no one to enforce them even if there were. It’s not fair, but it’s a fact of life that you’ll get treated differently because you’re wearing that…I wouldn’t even call it a skirt. It looks like a denim Band-Aid you wrapped around your ass. And you should be wearing a damn bra, Danielle.”
She had always wondered what it would be like to have an overprotective father. Jack Barnes was doing a fine impression of one. There was a big part of her that wanted to apologize and slink home to change. But she wasn’t letting that part of her win tonight. Tonight she was in charge.
“I’m sorry you don’t like it, Mr. Barnes, but it really isn’t any of your business.” The man Dani had come to see walked into the room from the back porch where they played horseshoes and smoked. Dani felt her eyes narrow and her fists clench. Jimbo Smart was laughing and drinking like he hadn’t put a torch to everything she owned. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make a few things clear to my ex.”
She heard someone shout at her, but she moved through the crowd quickly before one of her friends could catch her and stop her from making a mistake she really wanted to make. The Barn was ridiculously crowded for a Sunday night. Shouldn’t these people be at church? Dani moved past the pastor of First Presbyterian, who was dancing with his wife and looked like he was having a great time. Dani seriously doubted Pastor Robert Cornelious of the First Methodist Church had ever two-stepped to “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy.” Maybe she should change churches. After all, she was going to need forgiveness for what she was about to do.
One of Jimbo’s friends elbowed him, and the bastard looked up. His jaw dropped open as she approached.
“Damn, girl, you look good!” He whistled and gave his friend a return elbowing. He leaned over, but Dani could hear what he said. “I hit that.”
Joe, who worked at Jimbo’s shop, shook his head. “Yeah, we all know that. That’s probably why she bolted. You gotta hide that tiny dick, or you’re never gonna get a woman to marry you.”
Jimbo doubled over laughing. The bastard was drunk off his ass. When he came up for air, there was a pleading look in his eyes. “Come on, babe, defend my honor. It isn’t the biggest thing in the world, but it’s got stamina.”
No, it didn’t, but she wasn’t getting drawn into an argument over the size of his dick, which, compared to Julian’s, was tiny.
“Come on, babe, you gotta admit you owe me. The least you can do is take out an ad or something proclaiming that you didn’t leave me over the size of my dickor you could say you did, because it was too big for you to handle. Yeah, that’s what you should do.” Jimbo’s face was red from beer and laughter, and Dani couldn’t handle one more second of it.