The Fighter's Block (21 page)

“You really want me to come back after you accuse me of taking your virginity just now?”

He laughed. “I’ll have my guard up a little better.”

She realized that he was serious about having her come back, so she nodded her
head. “Okay, I’ll come by. Can I
bring you something
to eat then
?”

“Definitely.
I mean if, you know, we’re here.
”

“Sure. I’ll call ahead
, just in case.”

“I love you, Dani,” he said, pulling her close to him for a hug.

“I love you
,
too,” she replied,
holding him tight.

It was hard for her to leave him, but she did a minute later. And Van certainly had a difficult time letting her go when he walked her to her car. He’d only been away from the guys for about
twenty
minutes, but he had no idea what they were going to throw at him when he returned to the main lounge. Fortunately for him the room contained a few more people—guys that they didn’t share just anything with, and Cindy, one of the female firefighters on their shift. Van sat down on the couch where Ian and
Dicky
were watching a baseball game, and the three of them just glanced at each other until it caused a few chuckles.

“You are so whipped,” Ian murmured.

“She broke you down,”
Dicky
added.

“Just keep it to yourselves and no one gets hurt,” Van replied quietly, putting his feet up on the
coffee
table.

Both guys snickered again and Ian asked, “
Upstairs
bathroom or
girls’
lounge?”

There was a pause amongst the three of the
m until
Dicky
decided, “L
ounge,” and that was that.

Van trusted
both guys
so it wasn’t an issue. They knew he wasn’t the
kind
of guy that broke the rules, nor was he the type to brag about it. He would never share anything about Dani that would embarrass her, and he would never allow anyone to demean her.

They all knew better.

“Where’ve you been?” Marnie asked when Dani returned to the apartment around seven.

“Why do you ask,
mom
,” was the reply as Dani unlocked Van’s apartment.

Marnie chuckled and followed her inside. “Just curious, that’s all. Van likes us to keep tabs on you.”

Dani smiled and tossed her purse onto the kitchen table. “Well I was just
with
Van, so I suppose you don’t have to account for the past hour.”

“Oh God, you finally saw him at work. It’s about time.”

Dani laughed and shook her head. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“That big of a—? Yes it’s that big of a deal. The guy begs you to visit him at work and you always turn him down.
It’s done a number on his
confidence.”

“Well I thin
k I just boosted his confidence
and he probably won’t risk having me back
for a while
,” Dani smiled
mysteriously
.

Marnie gave her a curious look. “What? I’m confused… Wait, where are you going?”

“To shower
off his confidence
,” Dani replied, casting a smirk over her shoulder.

Marnie laughed out loud as she heard the bathroom door shut.
 

She returned to her own apartment a minute later, just as Paul was getting home from the gym.

“Well?” she asked. “How did it feel?”

“It felt okay actually. Just a little sore right now, but not bad.” He set his bag on the floor and was going to drop onto the couch, but the look from his wife was a little too familiar. “Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll shower first.”

Marnie left it at
that,
glad they at least weren’t going to argue about it.

“Where were you?” he asked. “With Dani?”

“Yeah. She just got home from having sex with Van.”

That stopped him quick and he gave her a funny look. “Excuse me?”

She shrugged. “She didn’t offer details.”

Paul chuckled. “Van’s at work…
Nuh
-uh,” he scoffed. “Van would never…”

Marnie was slowly nodding her head with confirmation.

“At the firehouse?” he wanted to clarify.

“Yup.”

He thought about that for a second. “Wow, she’s good.”

It was Marnie’s turn to scoff.

“I just mean that Van’s
so
—”

“Yeah, I know wha
t you mean,” she interrupted. “But t
hose two
have sex more than anyone I know.”

“You don’t have to be jealous,” Paul grinned. “I’m sure we can outdo ‘em.”

Marnie smiled. “You mean now or four years ago?”

“Pssh, no one would even come close to our numbers four years ago.”

She laughed, but it kind of hurt to think about those days. She wished she could have them back.

Paul didn’t say anything further and headed for the shower. It bothered him just as much, but they had let too many things come between them. Now he just accepted the fact that they were married, but acted more often like roommates instead.

Neither of them knew what to do to change that.

Dani got off the phone and sighed. Her brother was getting that way again—depressed and talking unreasonably. She didn’t know what to do for him anymore, and especially financially she’d been sucked dry. She barely had a thousand dollars in the bank right now, even with her new job. Her last two paychecks just went towards paying her brother’s mortgage and other bills… She didn’t know how long she could keep supporting him.

“I told you not to do this,” Jaime said over the phone after hearing the latest. “Something has to change.”

“He can’t work—”

“No, he
won’t
work.”

“How can he when there’s always something wrong with him? This whole kidney thing just really did a number on him.”

“Lots of people have only one kidney. And he’s got a
healthy
kidney.”

“Why can’t mom and dad just find him a couple of jobs?” Dani complained.

“Does Simon
want
to get back in the industry?”

“Yes, I really think he does. He needs
something
to give him a boost.”

Jaime was quiet for a few seconds. Finally she said, “Let me talk to Fontaine. Maybe she can help out.”

“She’s in California for a few
months
.”

“Maybe we can ship him over there.”

Dani chuckled. “Maybe.”

“And how are
you
supposed to get along, Dani? You’ve really got to establish your own security,
ma
chère
. Please stop giving Simon money. I think he’s starting to depend on it. In fact, I’m
going to
just tell him that you are flat broke and living with your pimp right now.”

With a laugh Dani replied, “He might be jealous.”

“True.”

“Don’t make him feel bad, though.”

“Feel bad? He
should
feel bad. You’ve probably given him
two hundred
grand in the past six months.”

“
We’ve all contributed.”

“Yeah but you’ve given the most.
Dani, you are never going to get that back if he doesn’t get himself together.”

“It’s not his fault all of this has happened.”

“But he should have applied for that loan like we told him to. At least that would have taken care of his
bills
for a while.”

“Well, it’s too late for that. The medical bills have been paid. Now it’s just a matter of Simon getting back to work to make a living.”

“Right, and if he doesn’t sell that house, you’re never going to see you
r
money again. He needs to sell the house.”

“And live where?”

“I don’t know. That’s the question of the year. He just needs to do it and find an apartment. But he’s not going to if you keep paying his bills
.
”

“He loses the house, there’s no
way I’m seeing my money again.
The mortgage needs to be paid.
”

“True.”

“I don’t know what to do anymore, Jaime.”

“You’ve done a lot already. Let me talk to Fontaine, okay? If she can’t find him something then I’m going to figure out a way to get it out of mom and dad.”

Dani chuckled. “Should we have another online auction?”

“Something
like
that. Anyways, I need to get Naomi from piano. I’ll call you when I know something, okay? But damn it Dani, if you give him any more money I’m going to auction
your
stuff off, starting with your
Dussault
jeans.”

“Don’t even touch my jeans.”

“
I can’t believe people pay that much money for a trashed pair of pants.”

Dani chuckled. “I know; it’s ridiculous. If they hadn’t been a gift,
there’s
no way I’d ever have a pair.”

“What about your other stuff? The stuff you think Brian took from you.”

“I’m sure he probably sold
it all
.
Nothing I can do about it now.
He already robbed me of my dignity,” she laughed bitterly.

Jaime smiled but shook her head. “Well you’ve moved on, so don’t dwell on the past.”

“Noted. But I’ll let you go. Give your kids a hug for me.”

“Sure thing.”

Dani took a deep breath when she got off the phone with her sister. She didn’t like the emptiness of the apartment, so she turned on the TV to have some company. She thought about her conversation with Jaime and decided that she really did have a different life than she did a few years ago. She had a different career, a
simpler
lifestyle, and pretty much an entirely different outlook on life. The only thing that had remained the same was her interest in fashion.
She did have a lot of clothes. N
ot as many as before since she really had sold dozens of high dollar pieces
from modeling jobs
to help out her brother
, and then later just to pay rent before she lost her apartment. B
ut the interest had always been there. She wanted nothing to do with modeling ever again, but she did like
the
clothes.

She was just about to sit down and watch a movie when her phone signaled her with a text. It read:
I found Leah Kemp.
There was an address in East Orange with a description of the apartment building.

Dani couldn’t believe she got the information so fast. And Salvatore just gave it to her without wanting something in return? Not even the promise of a date? She was grateful, even believing that he really had decided to just help her out.

She
grabbed the phone in the front room to call
Jaime really quick to see if she could come with her, knowing she probably couldn’t. She even tried to talk her into the morning, but Jaime was taking
Jacob
to a doctor’s appointment for an ear infection.

“You have to work anyways,” Jaime told her.

“I know, but I’m willing to call in sick if I can finally track down Van’s sister.”

“You should probably wait until he can go with you, Dani. It will be just as much of a surprise that way.”

“I know, I’ve already decided that I guess. O
kay, sorry to bug you again. I’ll let you know when I find something.”

There was a knock and Jaime
asked
, “Is that the d
oor?
”

“Yeah, let me go peak and see who it is.” Jaime was quiet while Dani walked across the living room until her sister said, “Oh,
it’s
just Quincy.”

“Okay, I’ll let you go.”

“Bye
,
Jaime.”

Dani unlocked the door and Quincy stood there with a big stupid smile on his face. He always made Dani laugh because he was so
unusual
.

“What’s up, my best friend’s pretty lady,” he greeted.

“Nothing much. What do you want?” she
narrowed her eyes
playfully
.