Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(44)

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea right now,” Brett informed him.

“Oh,” Daniel replied sounding disappointed. “Well, bring your girlfriend. It’s a Saturday night so I’m sure she’s bound to be with you.”

I waved for Brett to continue. It was the perfect entrance to tell Daniel that we weren’t together. Brett sighed heavily and sounded distraught when he spoke, “Actually, she’s not with me right now. We’re not together anymore.”

Daniel spewed his drink and coughed loudly over the phone. “Are you serious? What happened?”

Brett rolled his eyes and repeated what we’d talked about. “I did something to her and it pissed her off. She broke up with me and said she didn’t want to see me anymore. Not to mention, she said she thinks she might still have feelings for her ex-husband. So I guess you could say it was a mutual breakup.”

Daniel stayed silent for a few seconds and then whistled. “What did you do, cheat on her?”

Shaking his head, Brett remained quiet so Daniel could come up with his own conclusions. “Hey man, I know how that goes. I cheated on my ex-wife and she was a spitfire when she caught me. She doused me with the water hose in our own bedroom, and kicked the girl out naked in our front yard. Boy, she was a firecracker. I’d give anything to get her back in my bed again.”

All Brett saw in that moment was red, and all I wanted to do was jump through the phone and punch Daniel in the face again. Hearing him call me firecracker just sounded wrong coming from his lips. Brett was the only one allowed to call me that and he didn’t deserve to have to listen to Daniel’s ranting. Daniel was drunk and I knew under normal circumstances he wouldn’t talk that freely about me.

Without commenting on his last remark, Brett was fed up with the talking. “Okay, well I’m going to jump off here and get my week planned. Enjoy your party.”

“All right, brother. Keep me updated when you get to California. I would join you out there but I have a ton of shit going on this week.”

“Will do,” Brett agreed, before swiftly hanging up the phone. Once the call was ended, Brett paced the floor angrily. “I’m not calling that douche bag while we’re gone. I can’t believe he said that shit about wanting to f*ck you again. It’s going to kill me being away from you tomorrow night while you’re here all by yourself. Whatever you do, don’t let him in this house with you by yourself. You understand?”

I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. His gray eyes softened when I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him tenderly on the lips. “I’m not stupid, Brett. I have no intention of letting him in my house.” I was able to kiss him one more time before my phone buzzed in my pocket. “You have got to be kidding me?” I uttered incredulously.

“I told you,” Brett said. “He’s going to pounce.”

When I looked down at my phone, sure enough there was a text from Daniel.

Daniel: We need to talk. Dinner tomorrow?

Groaning, I shook my head and closed my eyes. “He wants me to have dinner with him.”

Brett grumbled under his breath and ran his hands through his hair. “Please tell me you’re going to say no. I don’t want you anywhere near that f*cker.”

I curled my lip in disgust. “I don’t want to either, but think about it … if I go out to dinner with him, maybe I can get him to confess to some things if I pretend that I want to get back together. I can get Mason to wire me up and get him recorded on tape. It’ll be a good blackmail tactic, and hopefully save my ass if he decides to screw me over.”

Brett clenched his teeth and sighed. “I still don’t like it, but unfortunately you have a point. If you decide to go I can’t stop you, but if you do I want Mason close by.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I retorted with a smirk on my face. Typing up a reply, I sent a quick response back to my ex-husband.

Me: What time tomorrow?

His answer was almost instant.

Daniel: Seven o’clock. You won’t regret it.

Me: I look forward to it.

I shut off my phone and laid it on the counter in my kitchen. Worry lines marred Brett’s face and I hated that I put them there. Taking my fingers, I traced over those lines and met each one with a light brushing of my lips.

“Let’s go to bed, babe,” I whispered. “I need to get these lines off your face before they stay there.”

Brett smiled and lifted me in his arms, holding me close against him. “I don’t need any more convincing than that. Let’s go.”





Twenty-Five


As soon as I dropped Brett off at the airport the next morning, I called Mason to fill him in on my plans to meet Daniel for dinner.

“I think it’s a waste of time, Mel. Daniel isn’t going to expose any of his secrets to you over dinner. Maybe if you got him into bed, but we both know that shit isn’t going to happen,” Mason explained. “But I’ll wire you up and record your conversation. Who knows, you might get him to mention the whole blackmail scheme. At least that would help with your case if he were to try to f*ck you over.”

Enthusiastically, I nodded and replied, “Exactly. That’s why I’m even considering going out to dinner with him.”