Renegade (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) (8 page)

“Not
too long. Maybe twenty minutes or so,” Jude said, grunting as he kept a steady
pace with the weight machine. My eyes drifted over to how much weight he was
lifting…two hundred and fifty pounds. Fuck, I better remember to always stay on
his good side. He could probably knock my ass out with one punch.

“So,
did you both have a good time with Danni today?” I asked, starting my weights
out at one hundred pounds.

Jude
laughed. “Well, I had fun with her. Beau on the other hand…” he trailed off.

“Shut
up, man,” he growled, keeping pace with the barbells.

“What
happened?” I asked.

“Nothing,”
Jude said, shaking his head. “Beau barely spoke to her and when he did he
sounded like a fucking idiot.”

I
took several deep breaths as I kept up my pace. “Beau, seriously, what the hell
is up with you man? I know Danni’s not some random girl but we’ve all never
seen you act like a pussy over a chick. What’s going on?”

Beau
stopped lifting the barbells for a second and took a deep breath. “I’m not
acting like a pussy. This is just the first time I’ve been with a chick longer
than a day or so and I don’t know how to do the ‘after’ thing,” he said. “It’s
kind of pissing me off.”

Jude
and I exchanged looks and we both stopped lifting weights. “Danni’s a great
girl, bro. Why does that piss you off?” I asked.

Breathing
heavily, Beau said, “I don’t know. I mean, I like Danni a lot and I’ve
definitely missed hanging with her but…”

“But
what?” Jude asked, grunting and starting to lift his weights again.

“Before
we left Muncie I was starting to see myself doing the relationship thing with
her and it freaked me out. I guess I should be glad that she decided to back
out while it was still pretty new but everything feels fucked up now.”

I
kept my pace with my weights as I said, “I guess I get what you’re saying. I
wanted Everleigh from the moment I met her and it really freaked me out. I
tried to fuck some random groupie the night of the concert but I couldn’t keep
my dick hard. Ever since that night it’s just been Everleigh. If Danni is that
girl for you, grab her and hold on, dude.”

Beau
shook his head and picked the bar bells back up. “That’s just it though, man.
Danni’s beautiful, funny, sweet, and incredible in bed but I don’t think I’m
ready to be a one woman guy yet. This whole thing is just crazy,” he said,
lifting the weights again.

“Well,
why don’t you do what Ryder tried to do? The only way to know if she’s the one
you want is to hook up with a girl.”

I
glared at him. “Jude, what the hell? I did that
right after
I met
Everleigh thinking I’d never see her again, not weeks after we’d already slept
together. I honestly was just looking to get off to try and shake the feeling
Evie gave me but it didn’t work.”

“Exactly.
Finding a girl and hooking up might help him see what he really wants. If he
can’t go through with it he’ll know for sure that Danni’s the one,” Jude said.

I
started to protest, not wanting Danni to be hurt by Beau just going out and
fucking some random girl, but before I could Beau opened his mouth and said,
“You know, that’s not a bad idea.”

I
stopped lifting weights and glared at both of them. “Are you serious? You would
really risk something with her just to get laid?”

“It’s
not just about getting laid, Ryder. It’s a test to see if he can go through
with it. If he can’t then he will know if he’s really in love with Danni,” Jude
said.

“But
if he does go through with it then he’s not only going to fuck up a good thing
with a good girl, it’s going to piss Everleigh off and I’ll have to beat his
ass. I told you whose side I’d be on if it came down to this. I love you like a
brother, Beau, but Everleigh is my entire world and something that hurts her
hurts me too. Are you willing to risk this?” I asked.

Beau
put the bar bells down again and sighed. “Look, it’s worth a shot. I’m not
going to sleep with anyone, okay? I just need to know if this thing with Danni
is lust or…something more. If I feel like hooking up with a girl tonight then I
will still stop it, at least until I talk to Danni. I promise, okay?” he said.
“Everleigh has become a good friend to me too and I don’t want to do anything
to hurt her. I just need to know.”

Shaking
my head, I stood up. “Well, you two are on your own because I think that this
is going to be a disaster. I’m going to take a shower and head out. Let me know
if I need to kill you next time I see you,” I said, picking up my bag and
heading to the showers. Damn Jude and his big fucking mouth.

I
showered quickly. After I was dressed I checked my phone and saw I had a
message from Kris.

So Jess was dying to see Everleigh
and Danni so I’m currently going stag, ha. U wanna grab a beer, maybe shoot
some pool?

I
wasn’t ready to head back to the penthouse yet because I wanted Everleigh to
have time with her friends so I sent him a text back.

R: U asking me on a date, big
boy?

K: as sexy as you think u are, u
really aren’t my type, ha

R: think? Shit, I know I’m hot,
bro, haha. Where do u wanna meet?

K: The Rock Steady? I think Eternal
Down is in town playing there tonight.

R: sounds good, meet you there in
ten.

I
grinned as I dialed Everleigh’s number to let her know where I was heading. It
would be nice to see Jagger and the guys again and hopefully make me forget
about Beau’s dumb ass plan.

Everleigh

“Okay,
Ryder’s gone. Tell me what happened with Beau today,” I said to Danni the
minute Ryder walked out of the apartment.

“Geez,
can I at least take my coat off?” Danni laughed, shrugging out of her coat and
smiling.

“Come
on, Danni, don’t keep me waiting. You two haven’t seen each other in three weeks
and you have both been miserable since then. Tell me.”

Sighing,
she placed her coat on the hook by the door and motioned toward the couch. “All
right. It was fine,” she said, following me to the couch and sitting beside me.

“Fine?
What does that mean?”

“I
mean it was just fine. He really didn’t talk to me that much, it was mostly
Jude. We went all over the place. They took me to Central Park, Rockefeller
Center, Times Square…”

“What
do you mean he didn’t really talk to you?” I asked with a frown. “Danni, he’s
really been a jerk since we left Indiana. He misses you, I’m telling you.”

Danni
shook her head and huffed out a laugh. “He didn’t seem like he did. Honestly he
seemed like he would have rather been anywhere than with me and Jude.”

“Maybe
he wanted to be alone with you.”

“Ev,
I don’t think so. He’s had three weeks to call me. Hell, before we actually
hooked up we talked almost every single day on Facebook. He’s gotten what he
wanted and now he’s moved on. We both knew it was going to end that way. I just
chose not to cry over it, that’s all,” she said.

“Danni,
you’re my best friend in the world. I know you’ve cried over him whether you want
to admit it or not.”

Before
I could continue, she smiled at me and said, “Oh let’s forget about him. Do I
get to see your new tattoo or what?”

Sighing,
I started to stand to show it to her but my phone rang. “Hold that thought,” I
said and I smiled when I pulled out my phone and looked at the caller ID. “Hi
Jessie,” I said.

“Hey
Everleigh, how have you been?” she said sweetly. “Sorry about earlier. Kris
gets a little hornier than normal when we’ve been apart for a little bit.”

“Oh
it’s okay, girl, I understand. I’d be the same way if I was away from Ryder for
even a day.”

“So,
listen, I don’t want to impose or anything but Kris wanted to go check out
Eternal Down at The Rock Steady and I really didn’t feel like tagging along…”

“Come
over then! I haven’t seen you in three weeks either, girl! How soon can you get
here?”

I
heard a knock on the door and I smiled. “Pretty quick.”

I
ran to the front door and opened it. Jessie was standing at the door with her
long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and a smile on her pretty face. I put
my phone in my back pocket and I hugged her. “Hey Jessie,” I said, “it’s good
to see you.”

“It’s
good to see you too! This wedding is starting to stress me out. I needed to see
my girls. Hey Danni,” she said, waving at her.

“Well,
get in here and tell me all about how beautiful this wedding will be. We need
something to talk about since Danni won’t talk to me about Beau,” I said.

“Ev,
don’t,” Danni said, shaking her head. “There’s nothing to talk about, I
promise. Besides, I believe you were about to show me your new tattoo.”

Jessie’s
face lit up and she smiled. “You got a tattoo? I want to see!”

I
rolled my eyes and grinned. “Okay, hang on,” I said as Jessie hung up her coat
and quickly joined Danni on the couch. I lifted my shirt slightly and unzipped
my jeans.

Jessie
giggled and said, “You know Jude’s head is about to explode somewhere right
now,” and we all laughed.

I
pulled my jeans down slightly and showed them the tattoo that Jake had done the
night before. “What do you think?”

They
were both silent for a moment before Jessie said, “Everleigh…that is absolutely
gorgeous. Did Jake do it?”

I
nodded, emotion forming a lump in my throat. “He did a great job, didn’t he?”

“He
really did. Jake might be a total horn dog but he’s so talented,” Jessie said.
“He did my memorial tattoo for my grandmother.”

I
looked at Danni and asked, “Danni? What do you think?”

She
looked up at me, tears glistening in her blue eyes. “It’s so beautiful Ev. Max
would have loved that you got his guitar,” she said, and I swallowed that
emotional lump as best as I could. “What do the words mean?”

Taking
a shaking breath, I said, “They were some of the last words he spoke to me and
Ryder. Jake really got it right and made this perfect.”

Sensing
things were about to get really emotional, Danni sniffed and asked, “So tell
me, just how hot is this Jake? Maybe I should have him do some ink on me.”

“Come
on, Danni, stop it. This thing with Beau needs to be worked out before you go
throwing yourself at someone else in their circle,” I said.

“Hey,
Beau doesn’t want me and I’m not waiting around for him to figure it out. If I want
to hook up with another guy I will and he can’t say anything to me. If he
wanted me he could’ve had me,” Danni said defiantly.

“Danni,
come on,” I said but she shook her head.

“Listen,
I don’t want to talk about Beau anymore. Let’s get out of here,” Danni said.

“Danni,
you
just
got here and you were out all day. Why do you want to go back
out again?” I asked.

“Because
this is my first time in New York City and I want to go out on the town with my
ladies,” she said. “Maybe we can crash the boys’ night at that club and have
some fun. I love Eternal Down and I thought Jude said they were playing there
tonight.”

“Yeah
they are. Kris is there right now and he was going to call and see if Ryder
wanted to hang out,” Jessie said.

Just
as I was about to ask about that, Ryder called me. “Speak of the devil,” I
said, smiling. “I have to take this, hang on.” I quickly answered my phone.
“Hey rock star,” I said.

“Hey
gorgeous. You having fun with Danni and Jess?”

“Yeah,
Jessie just told me you might be hanging out with Kris at some club tonight?”

“Uh,
yeah, that’s why I was calling. Jake’s cousin’s band is in town and Kris wanted
to know if I wanted to go check them out and maybe shoot some pool.”

“That
sounds like fun, Ryder. You need a boys’ night.”

“I
know but I just didn’t want to leave you alone.”

“Ryder,
I’m not alone. I have Danni and Jessie with me. We were actually thinking of
going out tonight too.”

I
could feel his apprehension over the phone. “Evie, baby, promise me you will
take John with you if you go anywhere.”

“I
will. In fact, I’ll call him as soon as I hang up with you.”

“Good,”
he said, breathing out heavily. “So where are you thinking of going?”

“I’m
not sure,” I said. “I think Danni wants to crash your boys’ night though. She’s
looking to move past Beau but I think it’s a bad idea.”

He
sighed. “Yeah, Beau is thinking of doing the same thing. Why are they both
being such dumbasses?” he asked and I laughed.