Fighting For You by Megan Noelle Page A

afternoons were officially my least favorite thing in this world.  The bar was a ghost town, minus the constant and obnoxious bickering between Sanders and Alex.  Those two guys were two of the closest people to me.  Alex was one of my best friends and Sanders had always been like a little brother to me.  But my God! They bitched like chicks about everything.  It had been over a week since I last saw Dani and I was going out of my mind, which made my attitude come off irritable and short with the two yahoos that had nothing better to do.
    “Yo! Guess who just text me Core?” Alex waved his hand in my face to get my attention.  I shot him a clearly uninterested glare.
    “I don’t give a damn.”
    “You might.” Most of the time I’d tell Alex off and go about my business if I was in a bad mood.  There was something in the way he said it that told me he could be right.
    I gave a reluctant sigh and gave into his gossip.
    “Who?”
    “Gabriella.” He didn’t need to clarify.  Although Alex was quite obviously getting around, I knew there wasn’t another Gabby he would be referring to other than Dani’s friend.
    “And what did she want?” I asked as if it was an afterthought.
    “It’s actually a message she wants me to pass along to you.”
    “Well, I’m listening, Alex.  What’s the message?”
    Alex looked back down at his phone, as if he hadn’t already memorized the contents.
    “Dani just dropped her off at the airport and Dani was a total wreck when she left.  I guess Gabby’s going back to New York for good and Dani’s on her way home—alone.”
    Someday Alex would learn to save his breath.  He didn’t need to tell me nearly all that he did.  If Gabby was headed home, I knew well enough that Dani would need someone to comfort her.  And there was no one else I wanted to be there for her besides me.
    My head whipped around towards Sanders and he was already waiting for what was coming.  With a smug ass grin on his face, he nodded his head towards the bar door.
    “I’ll hold down the fort,” he confirmed.
    With that - I was gone.  Every single time I ran out of work to go to Dani’s side, I came back to the relentless teasing from my crack staff.  They were lucky as hell that I didn’t fire their asses and hire a new crew that was too afraid of me to even think about smiling at something I did.  Maybe running off the way I did made me look whipped, but when your best friend needs you—you don’t ask questions.  And, with Dani, I would never ask.  If I thought she needed me—I’d be there.  Always.
    I pulled up to her house to find that she hadn’t returned yet.  A million different thoughts surged through my head.  Was she still at the airport?  Did she go into work?  Did she get into an accident?  Could she have gone to a new dude’s house for comfort?
    Luckily for my psyche, Dani pulled up a few minutes after I did.  Even through the windshield I could see how red and puffy her lips and eyes were from crying.  God! Even now, there was no one I knew that could ever be as stunningly beautiful as this woman!  Dani seemed to hesitate behind the wheel before she finally saw me. 
    Within seconds, she was out of her car and crossing the driveway to meet me at the front door.  Her bottom lip stuck out ever so slightly in a pout as she spoke.
    “Gabby’s gone,” she whispered, not even bothering to mask the broken state she was presently in. 
    “I know she is.  That’s why I’m here.”  For half a second I feared that she would send me away and tell me to butt the hell out of her business.  Instead, she staggered forward and molded herself into my arms.  Her head buried deep in my chest while her fingers grabbed handfuls of my jacket to keep me from backing away.
    As if I could ever leave her.
    “Let’s get you inside,” I whispered against her hair, letting my lips be brave and press soft kisses to the crown of her head. 
    Dani nodded slowly against me