Hailey's Truth (14 page)

“I love it. It’s beautiful. The view’s sensational.” Her eyes brightened, unable to conceal her enthusiasm. Hailey fiddled with her straw again. “What about you? Do you like yours?”

“I can’t complain. We should definitely enjoy ourselves while we’re here. Ethan sent me pictures of our accommodations for the next few months. They’re very…basic.”

She chuckled. “That nice, huh?”

“Yeah, that nice.” He smiled, relieved they were on the right track. “We could drive over and get a firsthand peek this week, or we can enjoy a little piece of paradise and deal with reality when we have to.”

“Let’s deal with it when we have to. I don’t want to leave. The resort’s too beautiful, too perfect.”

Hailey was describing herself and didn’t even know it. The sun sunk low along the horizon, casting her creamy skin golden in the last of day’s light. White Chinese lanterns glowed, dancing about in the wind, lending an air of romance to the warm tropical evening.

“How pretty.” She sighed, smiling.

Austin made a sound in his throat as he chewed, trying and failing to be unaffected by Hailey in candlelight.

She set her fork down. “So, what are your plans for your first full day of vacation?”

“I’m not sure.” He would be tagging along wherever Hailey and her pals were going. He just didn’t know where that was yet. “What about you?”

The waiter came back, taking the empty plate.

She shrugged. “Everything’s up in the air. Mateo told me he and Jeremy might have to work. I guess Mr. Rodriguez called after they landed.”

Austin noticed Hailey had nothing to say about Jeremy’s absence this evening.

Colorful plates were set before them, and she breathed in deeply. “Oh,
look
at this. I can’t wait to try it.”

“Go ahead.” Austin was enjoying her pleasure for the simple things.

Hailey picked up her fork and cut a small piece of salmon, picking up a chunk of mango and lobster with it. She brought the bite to her mouth, closed her eyes, and moaned. “This is
so
amazingly good. Here, try.” She cut another piece of fish and held it to his lips.

Austin stared at her as he took the food from her fork. The sweet mango and subtle Cajun spices created a delicious contrast of flavors. “Wow, really good.”

He picked up his own silverware and dove in, pretending that her quiet moan moments before hadn’t sent his hormones into overdrive.

After several bites in silence, Hailey met his gaze, smiled. “So…I guess I’m glad you happened by my table tonight.”

Austin grinned as he swallowed another sensational bite. “I’m pretty glad too.”

“If Mateo and Jeremy can’t sightsee tomorrow, I’m thinking about doing the horseback tour. I’ve never ridden a horse. It should be—“

The boisterous hoots and hollers of a small crowd below cut her off. The group strolled by, laughing, as they made their way into the resort’s casino.

Mateo had an arm slung around a pretty woman’s waist. Jeremy was talking loudly, holding a young blonde’s hand, a beer bottle in the other, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his lips.

Hailey set down her fork and stared as Jeremy disappeared through the door. “What is he doing? Jeremy doesn’t drink. He gave it up.”

“Apparently not.”

Hailey’s heated gaze snapped to his.

Austin shrugged, trying to keep it casual. “He’s over eighteen, Hailey. There’s nothing saying he can’t have a beer down here.”

“But Jeremy told me he doesn’t drink anymore.”

Austin stared at Hailey, running his tongue over his teeth. Did she finally see? Did she finally get that her brother was a liar? “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Hailey held his gaze for a moment, then got to her feet. “I’m not doing this with you.”

“Doing what?” He sat up taller.

“Give me a break, Austin.”

“What? I didn’t even
say
anything.”

“You didn’t have to. Your self-righteous smirk says it all.” Hailey stormed down the balcony steps.

He hadn’t been smirking, had he? Austin raised his hand for their check, then noticed the man in the corner, eating his meal, watching Hailey’s hurried steps along the beach. Austin scrutinized the burly diner as he continued to study Hailey. Was this guy being paid to keep an eye on her, or was he simply intrigued by a beautiful woman?

Unsure, Austin committed the guy’s face to memory before he scribbled a twenty percent tip on the bill, signed his name, and took the stairs in twos before he lost sight of her as she rushed to her cabana. “Hailey, wait up.”

She glanced over her shoulder, walking faster, finally breaking into a run.

“Damn it.” Austin started to run himself, catching up with her steps from her room. “I said wait up.”

“I don’t want to wait for you. I have nothing to
say
to you.” She continued to her miniature porch and jammed her key in the lock.

“
Wait
a minute.” Austin followed, placing his hands on her rigid shoulders.

Hailey’s hand stilled on the knob. “Don’t touch me,” she said, her voice unsteady. “Just leave me alone.”

He couldn’t leave her alone now—not when she was on the verge of tears. “Hailey.” He moved his thumbs back and forth over her soft skin, trying to suppress his frustration for taking hit after hit while Jeremy stayed forever in the clear.

“It’s been a long day.”

Austin turned her to face him. Tears swam in her miserable eyes. “Please don’t cry.”

“I’m not. I’m fine.” Her lip wobbled, and she sniffed.

“No you’re not.” He pulled Hailey against him, wrapping her in a hug. Austin thought back to the moment at Ethan’s when she stood by the big window, alone, with a single tear running down her cheek. Hailey wasn’t going to be alone this time. “I’m sorry,” he murmured close to her ear.

Hailey eased back. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m mad at Jeremy and took it out on you.” She pressed her fingers against her temple. “Just when I thought he was on the right track…” she shook her head.

Austin took her hand and tugged until she sat beside him on the step. “He’s a grown man, Hailey. You aren’t responsible for the choices he makes.”

“I’m not ready to give up on him. There’s a good person underneath the rough exterior. I’ve seen it. I
remember
it.” She shook her head again as she tried to stand. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

He did. Austin snagged her fingers, tugging her down again. He wanted to understand why Jeremy deserved so much love and loyalty, especially when he clearly didn’t give her any in return, so Austin pushed. “How old were you when your parents passed away?”

“They died the week before my fifteenth birthday. Jeremy was nine, almost ten. His birthday’s in March.”

“What happened?”

“We were on our way home from a welcome home party. One of Daddy’s friend’s sons had come back from some sort of military training. It was a big deal. We lived in Northern California and it was cold—colder than any of us ever remembered. The roads were icy. Daddy swerved to avoid a car that came into our lane. We hit a tree.” She squeezed his hand. “It didn’t occur to me until a couple years later that everyone was still alive after that initial impact. We all would’ve walked away, but then the car hit us and we collided with another tree. That’s what killed my parents. I thought Jeremy was dead too, but all I cared about was my seatbelt. I remember that more than anything else; I couldn’t get out of my seatbelt. I stared at the blood dripping from my mother’s face, at my dad hunched over his airbag, and Jeremy so still against the window. But all I wanted was out of my seatbelt.”

Austin stared at Hailey’s profile as she spoke quietly, lost in her memories. “You were just a kid.”

“I’ve never been just a kid.” Her lips curved in an absent smile. “When you grow up in the system, you don’t have a chance to be
just
a kid.”

“What was it like?”

She looked at him for a long time before she answered. “I don’t usually tell people about my past. I think it changes who I am in their eyes, and I hate that.”

“I like who you are now. Your past can’t change that.”

She held his gaze until she turned back to stare in the dark. “My first four years were bad, as bad as they get, or so my mom told me when I was old enough. My biological mother was a drug addict and prostitute—a pretty way of saying crack whore.” She raised her chin, meeting his eyes, waiting to be judged.

“I came home to fresh-baked cookies after school and ate a hot breakfast every morning after I milked the cows. That doesn’t make me better than you, Hailey. It just makes me damn lucky.”

She rested her head against his shoulder in what could only be a moment of weakness. His arm came around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

“When the State stepped in and took me away, I was malnourished and didn’t speak. They found me nibbling stale bread in a crib, sitting in my own waste. I was covered in sores from the ammonia in my urine and infected bug bites. My mother said it took them a year to finally get me to come around. The State hadn’t held out much hope. The doctors told my parents I would more than likely have severe emotional and cognitive setbacks, but Mom and Daddy didn’t listen. My parents loved me unconditionally. They never gave up. They saved me with love.”

Austin took her hand, kissed her palm. If he’d thought Hailey remarkable before, he had no words for what he thought of her now. And he finally understood her need to protect Jeremy. Her parents had saved her; now she needed to save Jeremy. “What about Jeremy? What was it like for him?”

“My parents brought Jeremy home when I was seven. I fell in love with him the moment I laid eyes on him. He was so bruised and broken, literally. His mother’s boyfriend sexually abused him as often as he could and ended up breaking his arms and leg in a fit of rage. Jeremy wouldn’t let Daddy near him for weeks, but he responded to me and mom. His eyes were so tortured, so sad—sadder than a two-year-old’s should be. When I got off the bus each day after school, he would be waiting for me, ready with a big hug. I would get out my homework book and practice reading it to him until mom called us for dinner. The first word he spoke was ‘sissy.’ I adored him, treasured him, until the day my parents died and the State separated us. I still do.”

Austin couldn’t begin to imagine what Hailey and Jeremy must have gone through. “That’s cruel. I’m sorry.”

“What’s cruel is that I didn’t do enough to protect Jeremy.” Self-loathing sharpened her voice.

Austin skimmed his thumb over her knuckles, attempting to sooth the deep pain away. “You were fourteen.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I should’ve fought harder to keep us together, but I didn’t. I left him alone, small and scared in his hospital bed. I walked away. I can still hear him crying, calling for me, and I can’t stand it.” Hailey freed her hand from his, stood, and stepped into the sand.

“You can’t blame yourself, Hailey.” Austin toed off his shoes, pulled off his socks, and followed.

“But I do.” She walked closer to the waves. “I don’t want to talk about sad stories anymore. This is supposed to be paradise. There are no sad stories in paradise.”

He took her hand again, wanting to touch her. “Did you get enough to eat? Do you want to try dinner again?”

She smiled. “Nah, unless you’re hungry. You didn’t get to finish your meal.”

“What about dessert? We could try the dessert bar in the west lounge.”

“Do you want dessert, Austin?”

He wanted
her
. Her story still played through his mind. This strong, beautiful woman came from hell, and she’d risen above it, not only because her parents had loved her, but from sheer strength. At the heart of her sweet center, Hailey was a fighter. He’d always found her attractive, but their last hour on the porch changed something. “Uh-uh. Have you gone swimming yet?”

Hailey’s eyes widened as she looked toward the black water in the moonlight. “No, and I’m not about to go now. You couldn’t get me to swim in the ocean at night.” She shuddered. “I have no intention of being some shark’s dinner.”

He smiled. “Are you brave enough to get your feet wet?”

“That I can handle.”

They walked into the warm surf. Austin nudged Hailey out three inches above her ankles.

She tugged on his hand. “This is as far as I go.”

“We’ll have to work on that. There’s something elemental about night swimming.”

“You’ll have to be elemental on your own. It’s not happening.”

He chuckled.

Hailey tipped her head to the stars, letting out a deep breath. “The water’s so warm. It feels different here—softer, I think, than in California.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” She nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t laugh at me, Casey.”

“I wouldn’t dare. Rumor has it you have a mean right hook.”

Hailey laughed. “Hunter told you about that?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled again. “I don’t think he’ll be giving you another pair of boxing gloves anytime soon.”

“He said, ‘Swing on go.’ I simply confirmed the word ‘go,’ and he repeated it back to me. I thought he was giving me the signal.” Hailey bent forward with another peal of laughter. “I swung with all my might and knocked his head back. He stared at me, rubbing his cheek and cursing the room blue. I think I saw a hint of bruising at my birthday party.”

Austin loved to listen to Hailey laugh. The sound was so full, so strong. She still chuckled as they wandered from the water toward her cabana.

“You don’t sound very sorry about the whole thing.”

“No way, I’m not. Hunter said ‘go,’ so I did. And he’s also a what—twelfth degree black belt or whatever? He should’ve blocked me.”

“You have a point.”

“Darn right, I do.” She flashed him a grin.

They climbed the steps to her room.

“Thanks for an…interesting evening,” Hailey said, still smiling.

“Wow,” Austin stumbled back, as if Hailey had struck him. “I think you just bruised my ego.”

She grinned again. “No need for a bruised ego. Interesting doesn’t mean bad, it just means…interesting.”

Austin stared at Hailey, not wanting the night to end. The breeze blew a curl of hair against her cheek. He scooped the soft tendrils back, skimming his finger along her skin, testing both her and himself. “Interesting’s okay, but I think we can do better, don’t you?”

Hailey’s smile disappeared as she stepped away. “What are you doing?”

He wasn’t entirely sure, but it felt right. Closing the distance, he skimmed his knuckles against her temple, her cheekbone, watching the dim outside light play over her confused gaze. “What I’ve wanted to for a long time.”