Triple Beat-nook(32)

Great. She’d spent the better part of the morning trying to convince herself that a ménage a trois was fantasy fodder, not real life.

Now she was face-to-face with a real-life threesome.

“How long have you been together?” Bryson asked.

Aaaand now Bryson was gathering ammunition. She’d gotten a sense that neither man was interested in halting what they’d begun the night before. Dani was going to have to be the voice of reason. But that was going to be hard to do. Mainly because she wanted very badly to throw caution to the wind.

“A couple of years,” Ned answered. “Gets better every day. We work together at Lewis and Kinnaman, the marketing firm Justin and I started. Bella is our graphic artist. She can’t stand to spend one minute away from us because we’re so damn irresistible.”

Bella grinned at his joke. “I work for you because of the awesome health insurance.”

They all laughed, then Mama Lewis asked Zac and Noah to grab some more chairs. After a bit of plate shifting, they were all squeezed around the huge dining room table, multiple conversations going at once. It was as loud as a rock concert and every bit as much fun.

Dani soaked it all in as she took another bite of Mama Lewis’ homemade scalloped potatoes. Sunday dinners had been her favorite part about living here. With so many kids, most of them teenagers who were constantly in and out, Mama Lewis made only one demand of them. On Sunday afternoon, come hell or high water, they would all have their butts in a chair at the table to come together for a meal. It was the only day of the week where they were all home at the same time to talk, catch up, settle arguments and discuss the chore schedule.

Though she’d been away a long time, sitting there at that table, Dani felt as though she’d never left.

Once they’d put a fairly substantial dent in the mountain of food, they slowly started rising, most of the guys heading for the living room to watch baseball, while the women cleared the table.

Dani had begun to help, but was interrupted when Jett came into the dining room and gave her a quick head jerk toward the front door. She followed him out onto the porch, where Blake was sitting on an old wicker rocking chair. Jett and Dani claimed the porch swing as Dani glanced toward the house.

“Aiden and Bryson are watching the game with the others,” Jett said, clearly aware of her concern.

Blake leaned forward. “What’s going on, Dani? Jett said you were having some trouble with your dad.”

Quickly and quietly, Dani filled Blake in on the letters, text message and phone call from her father.

Blake listened intently until she’d finished. “So you haven’t seen him at all?”

Dani shook her head. “No, but I’ve sort of felt like someone’s been watching me since I’ve gotten back in town.”

“What?” Jett asked, obviously upset to just be learning that tidbit.

“It’s probably paranoia. Right, Blake?” Dani hoped the police officer would set her mind at ease about it.

Blake tilted his head. “Maybe, but I think you’d be smart to listen to that voice and make sure you’re never alone in public. At least until you see what your father wants with you.”

“What he wants?” Jett asked hotly. “The guy is threatening her.”

Blake shrugged. “We don’t know that, Jett. I’m not sure the law would recognize his contact as such. The only thing he’s said is he wants to see you again. Finish things right. And while that day of reckoning comment is definitely ominous when you consider the past, there are some who might read it as your dad wanting to make amends, to set things right.”

Dani shook her head. “No. That’s not what he wants.”

Blake raised his hand quickly. “I agree with you. But I’m playing devil’s advocate. I’m not sure you have enough to request a restraining order. In fact, there’s not enough here for you to take any sort of legal action right now.”

It wasn’t the news Dani wanted to hear, even though it was exactly what she’d expected. She’d learned at fifteen, she was on her own when it came to issues with her dad. “So the plan remains the same. I contact him, set up a meeting in public and find out what the bastard wants.”

She didn’t want to return to Nashville with the shadow of her dad still looming over her. She wanted the terrifying calls and the messages to stop.

Blake rocked slowly in the chair. “Before you proceed with that, let me do some background checks on your dad. See if I can find a current address, place of employment, previous records, stuff like that. We need to know exactly what we’re up against before we seek the man out.”