Double Dare (Neighbor from Hell 6)

“Probably,” Darrin admitted easily, keeping his back turned.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“The hotel that we were supposed to stay at was overbooked so we came here,” he explained before he added, “I didn’t mean to, umm,” he cleared his throat, “interrupt,” he added with a cringe.

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“Marybeth and me,” Darrin said, raking his hands through his hair, knowing that he was fucking screwed now.

“Then why are you in my room?” Danny snapped.

Sighing, he shook his head. “I fucked up and she isn’t talking to me right now.”

“I see,” his brother murmured thoughtfully.

“Anyway, I was hoping that you wouldn’t mind switching with me. I figured the girls could share a room and I could bunk here with you,” Darrin said, hoping against hope that his brother took pity on him.

“She’s been pissed at you before,” Danny pointed out.

Darrin chuckled without humor as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Never like this.”

“I see,” Danny murmured thoughtfully and Darrin knew in that instant that his brother was going to fuck him over.

Not that he could blame him, because he couldn’t.

He’d do the same thing for Marybeth.

“Yeah, that’s just not going to happen,” Danny said right around the time that he grabbed him by the back of the neck.

“Wait!” Darrin said with a touch of desperation as he tried to slap his brother’s hand away, but Danny just ignored him as he shoved him towards the door. “I’m your brother, you asshole!”

“Uh huh, that’s nice,” Danny said, reaching over and opened the door. He swung the door open and within seconds Darrin was shoved unceremoniously from the room.

“Where the hell am I supposed to go?” Darrin demanded, turning around to shoot his brother a murderous glare.

“Go beg for forgiveness,” Danny heartlessly suggested with a shrug.

“I already did!” Darrin snapped. “The stubborn woman won’t listen to reason and-”

“Yeah, you have fun with that,” the bastard said, cutting him off. “I’m going to go spend the night with my incredibly hot girlfriend.”

“But-” Darrin started to argue when the door was suddenly slammed shut in his face.

“Son of a bitch!” he growled, shoving his fingers in his hair and wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.

*-*-*-*

Food, he definitely needed food to help him figure out a few things, he decided a few hours later when he got sick of hanging out in the lobby.

“That bastard!” he heard Danny hiss, making him smile, because if there was one thing that could make him smile tonight, it was screwing over one of his brothers.

“I think I saw a pizza place down the street,” he heard Jodi suggest almost desperately as he glanced over his shoulder and watched his brother step up behind him in line.

“I was here first,” Darrin reminded his brother with a glare, noting the way that Jodi blushed prettily and decided that it would probably be for the best if he left the poor thing alone tonight.

“Too bad,” Danny bit out, ignoring Jodi’s obvious attempts to escape and pulled her in line right behind him.

“You know the rules.”

“Yes, I do, but since you haven’t even paid yet this buffet is still up for grabs,” Danny said, getting in his face.

“There are plenty of buffets in this city,” Darrin said, getting in his older brother’s face, “why don’t you go to one of them?”

“We’re not going anywhere.”

“Umm, I don’t mind grabbing pizza,” Jodi offered, but they ignored her because there was no way that any self-respecting Bradford would ditch an all you can eat buffet for a slice of pizza.

“When you fuck this up, and you will, you better not take me down with you,” Darrin bit out, staring his brother down.

“I’m not the one who’s going to fuck this up,” Danny said, almost nose to nose with him now.

“How many?” the anxious woman standing behind the cash register asked, glancing nervously between the two of them.

“One,” Darrin said tightly just as Danny bit out, “Two.”

Shooting his brother one last glare, he pulled out his wallet and turned his attention to the small woman standing behind the counter, noticeably swallowing as she shot a hopeful look towards the exit, making him wonder if this was the buffet that Jason and Trevor had managed to get themselves banned from last June when they’d brought their wives down here for Book Bash.

“My treat,” he said, gesturing to his brother and Jodi, making sure to flash the nervous woman his badge as he pulled out his money to help reassure her that they weren’t about to go on a rampage and tear the place apart.

She visibly relaxed, shooting them a warm smile as she pushed her glasses back up her nose and returned her attention to the cash register. “With three adults, that will be thirty-”

“Better make it four,” his reluctant wife said as she walked past them and headed towards the buffet tables.

“Oh, okay,” the cashier said with a slight frown. “With four adults that will be-”

“You got this?” he asked his brother, keeping his eyes locked on his wife as she strolled through the busy restaurant.

“Don’t worry about it,” Danny said, pulling out his wallet as Darrin shoved his back in his pocket and went after his wife, deciding that perhaps it was time to try a different approach.

Chapter 25

“We need to talk,” Darrin said without preamble as he grabbed a plate and joined her in line.

“About our impending divorce and your promise not to threaten to end our friendship again?” she asked, forcing herself to remember that she needed to push him away and end this for him. He deserved better and she was going to make sure that he got-

“Fine. Then why don’t you tell me why you want a divorce,” he suggested, taking her by surprise, because she honestly hadn’t expected that. What she had expected was some more arguing, perhaps an attempted kidnapping or two, basically the typical Bradford response. Actually asking about the reason behind her decision was completely unexpected and for some reason, absolutely terrifying because she knew the large bastard was up to something.

“Maybe we can discuss this,” he said, sounding perfectly amicable to discussing this like two calm, rational adults.