MC Sinners Boxed Set #1-7

CHAPTER 8 | PAST - CIARA

CHAPTER 8

PAST - CIARA

D anny spins me, and my yellow summer dress flicks out. I squeal, tightening my arms around his neck. His laugh fills my ears, and the music pulses through my body. I feel so alive - everything is just so light and easy.

Danny and I have been dancing for the last two hours, twirling and laughing like two teenagers. It’s our friend, Sally’s, twenty-first birthday, and so we joined her at her fifties dress up party. Danny places me on my feet, and I spin happily. I grip his shoulders, grinning up at him. He looks gorgeous in his suit. It’s not something you would expect to see Danny wearing, and yet he manages to pull it off perfectly.

“Need another drink, Tom Cat. You want one?” he says, staring down at me with those deep, brown eyes.

“Please.”

He winks at me and turns, walking off into the crowd. I smile at his back, and then I spin on my heel and run straight into my sister. I yelp and leap backwards.

“Jesus, Cheyenne, why do you sneak up on me like that?”

She laughs softly, and waves her hand. I can tell by the way she’s swaying, that she’s well on her way to being extremely drunk. Her hair is curled and the tiny, flared, black dress she’s wearing barely covers her underwear.

“Where’s Spike?”

I hate that she calls him that. Like she knows something about him that I don’t. Something that he won’t share with me. It burns me, deep to my very core, because he won’t let me see the side of him I know she’s seen: the hard, rugged, side that is so clearly in there.

“He’s getting a drink, and his name is Danny.”

She giggles. “Not what he told me.”

“Why are you trying so hard to get his attention anyway?” I ask, swiping some damp hair from my forehead.

Cheyenne has been determined to get close to Danny from the moment she met him. Her claws are out, and she’s not backing down.

“Why does it matter to you? I thought you two were only friends? Or maybe you’re jealous because you want him for yourself...”

“We are just friends!” I say quickly. “I don’t care what you do. If you want him, go for it. I don’t have feelings for Danny.”

I hate that I’ve said those words the moment they leave my lips. I hate them because they’re not true. I’ve wanted to be with Danny since the moment I met him, and every second I spend with him that want only gets stronger. I don’t push, though, because it’s clear he doesn’t see me as anything more than a friend. I don’t want to ruin what we’ve created by throwing myself at him. He’s far too important to me. Yet saying those words to Cheyenne, and watching her smirk grow, makes me wish I had the balls to throw myself at him and take a chance. That’s not me though; I don’t take chances. That’s my problem.

“Here’s your drink.”

I hear Danny’s voice, and I pray that he didn’t hear me practically tossing him at my sister. I turn, and smile as I take the drink. His eyes aren’t as playful as they were when he walked off. I swallow, horrified that I could be so careless. Friends or not, I basically just gave my sister permission to take him for herself.

Cheyenne turns when she notices him, and takes a step forward, stopping in front of him and flashing a winning smile. She stretches her fingers out, and runs them down the front of his gray suit. He meets her gaze for a long, heated moment. I swallow and pain rips through my body.

“Hey, Spike. Fancy a dance?”

Danny turns his eyes to mine, and for a long moment he stares at me. It’s like he’s giving me a chance to say no, to pull him back and tell him I never want his hands on another woman. That the idea of anybody else touching him burns me so badly I can hardly breathe.

I say nothing, though. I can’t. I don’t want to be the girl who falls in love with her best friend, and ruins what they’ve created. I don’t want him to turn to me, and wonder why I ever opened my mouth and caused a problem between us.

No, I won’t be that girl. Danny is my friend, and I love him more than he’ll ever know, and unless I know for sure he feels the same, then he’ll never find out what my heart wants.

I’m sure I see a flash of pain in his eyes, but he quickly covers it with a hard, sexy expression. He turns to Cheyenne and grins down at her, his smile wide and alluring. Something inside me dies a little. And fuck, it’s my fault. Every moment of pain I feel is on me.

“I’d love a dance,” he purrs, taking her hand and turning her, leading her to the dance floor.

That’s it for me. That was the one moment in life, when you get a chance to change everything for yourself and you don’t take it.

I didn’t take my moment.

My moment just walked away from me.

And somehow I knew, right there, standing in the middle of the dance floor...that I wouldn’t get my moment back.