Oh my god. Over 10.000 views. Here is was thinking maybe a couple of reads, but I never expected this. Thanks for the votes and I really hope you enjoy the story. Leave a comment if you have tips or suggestions or just because I love to hear from you.
That evening we get ready to go to the party Derek invited us for.
Michael and the girls are also coming with us, so it should be a lot of fun.
We did ask Derek not to tell everyone Daniel was coming, because that would have made the place blow up.
I put on a cute bohemian style blush pink dress, it will be warm in there anyway and I we can dance.
When I get out of the bedroom Daniel is sitting on the couch waiting for me.
"Daaaamn you look hot my lady." He gets up, takes on of my hands and spins me around.
"Thanks babe, you look very sexy yourself."
He's wearing ripped jeans and a denim blouse that I would rather just rip off his body right now.
"Ready to go love?"
I grab my purse and keys and we head out. It's only 2 blocks away so we can walk there. We decided to get there a bit early so we can find ourselves a spot a bit out of sight. The place looks great, it doesn't even look like a gym anymore. There's a stage, Derek told us there would be a band playing, so that could be fun.
They put up disco lights and the bar has transformed as well. Usually there are protein shakes and stuff you can get there, now I see all kinds of alcohol. I'm not going to drink though, I haven't done that in a while and I don't want to get drunk after 2 drinks.
We get some drinks and then Derek spots us.
"Wow you are actually here." He hugs me and now he is able to shake hands with Daniel.
"We said we would come didn't we?" I reply taking a sip of my virgin cocktail.
"You did, but something could have come up."
I look at the door where I just spot Michael and Blake who came in.
"Guys we're here!" I wave to them and they make their way over.
"Oooh lord Michael Italiano is here!" Derek is almost freaking out again.
"Hey there mate, Skylar told us lots about you. Maybe we can chat a bit, share some work out routines?" Michael asks Derek and before we know it Derek has taken him for a tour around the gym.
The girls also come in and we see more and more people come in.
"So does anybody know what kind of band will be playing tonight?" I ask Jenna.
"No haven't heard anything about it yet. But I'm sure we will find out soon enough."
And she is right. At that exact moment there is movement on the stage and the blood in my veins suddenly runs cold. I can just feel the color drain from my face.
I gasp and Daniel looks at me with a worried look on his face.
"Sky? What's the matter?"
"I....that.... Shit." I can't even form a sentence anymore.
Bri and Jen look at the stage and their faces turn just as shocked as mine.
"Oh no... fuck." I hear Jenna in the distance.
"Whats going on? Talk please!" Daniel gets irritated that he has no clue what's going on.
I try to focus on him, but he looks blurry as my eyes tear up.
"That uhm... are Shane's friends. That's the band he was a part off." Daniel looks at the stage and now he understands.
I'm pretty scared, because I don't know how they feel about me since Shane died. If they also blame me for his death or not. I don't know if I want to find out.
I see Derek and Michael come back and Derek talks to the guys on stage. He introduces them to Michael and then I can see him pointing in our direction. I quickly turn around, but then I hear Bri whisper, "they are coming this way. I think he wants to introduce them to Daniel."
I stand there with my back towards them, even though it's stupid. Everybody in this town knows Daniel is dating me, so I don't know why I try to hide.
"Kevin, John I would like you to meet the one and only Daniel Ricciardo. And you already know his girlfriend Skylar I think. She's from here as well." I hear Derek behind me and I wish I could just vanish.
"Yeah we know Skylar." I slowly turn around and I know I must be white as a sheet right now.
As soon as I face them Kevin actually puts his arms around me and I just freeze at the spot.
"We are so sorry Skylar. If we knew what Shane was up to we might have been able to stop him." I let out a shaky breath.
"Wait what?" I hardly hear what he is saying.
"We feel so guilty that Shane put you through such misery. We should have known, we've known him for years, but we never realized how troubled he was." I hear John's voice besides me.
"You're not mad at me?" I ask when Kevin finally lets go of me.
"What? No! Why would we be mad at you? We've read the police reports, we know what happened. It wasn't your fault." Hearing Kevin say that makes me feel like I can breathe again.
"I thought you guys would feel the same as his parents. They obviously blame me for it." I pick up my glass and see my hand is still a bit shaky.
"His parents are blinded by their love for him. They don't want to believe he would be capable of doing something like that. We didn't believe it at first either. He convinced us that you were the one who was stalking him and everything. His parents still believe those lies." John explains and I understand it all a lot more now.
"Oh wow, damn I feel so relieved. I was really scared when you came over here." I admit and they both smile.
"Don't be, trust me, we are good ok." They both give me another hug and I introduce them to Daniel.
"You make her happy, we can tell. Keep it up, she's a keeper." Kevin tells Daniel and he nods. "I already know that and I have every intention of keeping her." After a short talk they turn around to go set everything up.
"Oh and we expect you to do a song or two with us!" They shout back at me.
"I don't know about that. That would be weird right?" I can't really go on stage with the band my dead ex used to be a part off.
I can see they have a new band member. I haven't heard them play since the first time I met Shane, so it feels very strange. But they are still good, so after a while I just try to ignore it and enjoy the music.
Daniel and I dance together and me and the girls do as well. So we do really have fun.
After a while I have to go to the bathroom so I excuse myself and head there.
When I come out of the stall, I wash my hands and then open the door to go back to the party when suddenly somebody pulls my arm and throws me against the wall.
I'm completely taken by surprise, but then I see who grabbed me and it's Shane's father.
"You fucking whore. Having fun huh, while you are the reason my boy is gone." He is so close to my face I can smell his breath and it reeks of alcohol.
"Keep your hands off me. I know you are in pain, but I am not the reason he is dead." I have my jaw clenched, he scared me for a second, but now I'm just mad.
"Don't play innocent. First you get my boy killed and then you go be some famous drivers slut." He is definitely out of his mind with rage and grief, so I start to get a bit nervous.
"Leave me alone, you don't get to call me names. Shane and I were over way before he attacked me."
"You don't deserve to live your life as if nothing happened." He spits the words in my face.
"As if nothing happened? I have the scar to remind me every day about what your son did to me. He tried to kill me remember." I look over his shoulder, but the hallway is still empty and all I hear is the music on the other side of the wall.
"Well you should have just left him alone. Let him live his life without you." His eyes turn almost black when he whispers in my ear.
"You know that is not how it went. You might not believe me, but the police has everything documented and I know you've read those reports. He should have left me alone. Just like you should do right now." I try to push him away from me so I can get back inside.
With force he pushes me back against the wall and I feel the air being forced out of my lungs.
"AU! What the hell! Let me go right now!" I yell when I get some air back.
"Why would I? Just like you let Shane go right?" He's definitely blind for the truth, I can't blame him as Shane had been feeding him the lies.
"Look you won't believe me, fine! But you're not going to hurt me, I won't let you. So you might as well let me go now." I try again, because I really don't want to have to fight him.
"DAD! Let her go! This is not the way!" Finally somebody came in the hallway. What are the odds that it's actually Shane's brother.
"Son, she is to blame that we lost Shane, she needs to be punished." Shane's father tries to convince his other son.
"No dad she's not! You have to let that go. And let her go as well. I'll take you home ok?"
He comes closer, but I can tell his father isn't convinced.
The door opens again and I see Daniel walking in as well.
"What the hell! Get your hands off her now!" He shouts and I hear the rage in his voice.
"Calm down babe, I'm ok." I really don't want things to escalate so I turn back to the furious man in front of me. "Look, listen to your son. Go home with him. Go to your wife. Nothing good will come of it if you hurt me. It will only make things worse."
I feel the grip on my arms loosen a bit. Hopefully he realizes that if he hurts me things won't get better.
"Come on pops, let's go home. Leave her alone. We'll talk when we get home ok. Now let her go and come with me." His son comes closer and puts his hand on his fathers shoulder.
The touch makes his father turn from an angry man into a broken man.
He starts to sob in front of me, but at least he lets go of me so I quickly move away towards Daniel.
He pulls me into his arms so tightly I can almost hear my ribs crack. But I don't care, I feel safe with his arms wrapped around me.
"I miss him so much. I want your brother back. He should be here with us." It actually breaks my heart hearing him say that. He just misses his son, for him it doesn't matter what happened, all he knows is that his son is gone.
"I know dad, we all do. But nothing will bring him back. Hurting her won't make it any better." He puts his arm around the old man's shoulder and looks at me.
"I'm sorry Skylar. Are you ok?"
I nod, "I'm fine. Take him home. Find him the help he needs."
They leave the hall and I can finally breathe again. With my head against Daniels chest I just listen to his heartbeat to calm myself down a bit.
"What was that all about? I think I might know, but please tell me."
"That was Shane's father. Who blames me for what happened to his son. I guess he wanted to make that very clear to me." Now it's just me and Daniel and I talk about it I feel I'm shaking. I tried to stay calm during it, but now I feel I was a lot more scared than I wanted to show.
"Do you want to go to the police?" Daniel asks me while he's running his hand over my back to calm me down a bit.
"No, it's alright. What good would that do? Let's just hope his family can make sure he gets the help he needs." I take some deep breaths to calm my nerves and then look up at Daniel.
"We should go back. I could use a drink...with alcohol this time."
Luckily the rest of the evening goes by without any problems. I don't go on stage with the band, it feels wrong because Shane used to be a part of it.
Somewhere around 1 we head home and after a quick shower we pretty much fall asleep right away.
We're on our way to my nieces birthday. I didn't tell my brother Daniel would come as well, so that should be fun.
They spoke over FaceTime when me and my brother called, but they didn't meet in person yet.
When we pull up to the house, I can see we are the first ones to arrive.
"Ready for this babe?" I wink and he nods.
We go through the backyard and when we walk in I see my sister in law Abigail making coffee.
"Abby!! Congratulations with my favorite niece." I shout and she almost drops the coffee.
"Holy cow Sky, you scared the crap out of me." But she comes up to me to give me a warm hug. "It's really good to see you though. It's been so long." She then looks over my shoulder and sees Daniel closing the door behind us.
"Oooh Damian is going to freak out. Hi Daniel it's so nice to finally meet you in person." She shakes his hand.
"Thanks, it's good to meet you too. So where is the birthday girl?" He asks and Abby shouts towards the living room.
"Damian, your sister is here. Pixie!! Auntie Sky is here for you!" I hear my niece cheer and then little feet running towards the kitchen.
"Aunt Sky!! You came!!" She jumps into my arms and I hold her tight.
"Of course I did. You're a teenager now. Did you really think I would miss that. You're my favorite niece."
"I'm your only niece. So I'll always be your favorite." She smirks.
"You have a fair point. Happy Birthday Pix. Can I put you down so I can get your gifts?" She immediately lets go off me and I take her gifts from my bag.
"But first I want you to meet someone. Pixie this is Daniel. Daniel this is the best niece in the world Pixie." Pixies eyes become twice their normal size. She always watches F1 with my brother so she knows Daniel. And now he's in her house at her birthday.
"Nobody is going to believe me at school Monday." Abby nudges her daughter.
"Pix, say hi first."
"Oh right, I'm sorry. Hi Daniel. Or should I call you Mr. Ricciardo?" She shakes his hand.
"Oh No it's Daniel. As long as I can call you Pixie. Or should I call you Miss Hayes?" She laughs at his joke.
"No you can call me Pixie. Or Pix, that's what my family calls me. And you are aunt Skylars boyfriend so that means your family too right?"
He nods, "I sure feel that way. So that means I have a new niece then?"
She shrugs, "sure. Oooh I have a famous uncle now. Cool."
I give her the presents and she is thrilled by her necklace and new earrings. She wants to put them in straight away.
"So where is that brother of mine?" I ask Abby.
"I think he's upstairs with Mason. You should go up there and surprise him." I make my way upstairs together with Daniel.
"Oi Damian, come say hi to your favorite sister ever!" I call out to him and he comes out of my nephews bedroom.
"Skylar!! You made it! Oh damn it's so good to see you." He gives me a bear hug and it's great to finally see him again.
"I'm glad to be here. By the way, there's somebody you should meet." Daniel comes up and my brothers jaw drops.
"Holy cow, Daniel, oh wow. Skylar! You said you were coming alone. Hi Daniel it's so nice to meet you." They shake hands and I let them talk while I go into my nephew Masons room.
"Mason? Where are you? Are you hiding from me?" I can't see him, so I'm sure he's in his closet or somewhere else hiding so he can scare me.
Suddenly the top of his toy chest pops open and he jumps out.
"BOOOO!!"
I pretend to be scared and put my hand on my chest.
"Oh my god you scared me. Come here you little monster." I pick him up and he wraps himself around me like a little monkey.
"Auntie Sky, did you bring me a present as well?" He asks me and I shake my head.
"Really? Isn't it enough that I'm here?"
I can see he's thinking about it.
"What do you think. I would come here without bringing you anything?" He shakes his head and I put him back down.
"Come on let's go downstairs so we can see if I got you anything."
Daniel and my brother already made their way down so me and Mason quickly get down the stairs as well.
"So Mason, I brought a friend." I tell him when we open the door to the living room.
"Really? Oh did you bring Daniel? Because daddy hoped you would." He says and then spots Daniel who is still talking to my brother.
"I knew it! Hey Mr. Daniel! I'm Mason!" He runs up to Daniel and like a big man he shakes his hand.
"Well hi there Mason. What a pleasure to meet you."
Mason turns back around at me, "so what did you bring me?"
"Mason! That's rude!" My brother warns him.
"Ok I'm sorry. But auntie Sky, what did you bring me?" He tries again and I cannot help myself but I start laughing.
"Come here, let's go get it together."