Fighting for Love (26 page)

She snatched the picture out of my hand with a scowl on her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This picture doesn’t mean shit.”

Hayley brushed right past me and started down the steps, but I followed close on her heels until we got to the bottom floor. “Fine, if you don’t want to admit to this picture, why don’t you tell me about the time you threw a vase at Matt’s head. I’d like to know how you’re going to lie your way out of that one. Or better yet, what did I ever do to you for you to turn on me like this? You were like family to me, Hayley.”

Mouth wide, she gasped and turned to face me. “What did Matt tell you? He’s the one who likes to lie. I bet he said I was the one who came onto him, didn’t he?”

“Really?” I scoffed. “And you’re going to tell me that you didn’t? You expect me to believe that?”

“It’s true,” she cried, wiping her dry eyes. “He tried to attack me.” Hayley was a dancer, not an actress, and her pity party attempt to thwart me wasn’t getting her anywhere. It was pathetic, and I could see right through it.

Grabbing her by her shirt, I slammed her into the nearest wall as hard as I could, knocking the breath out of her. “Enough of the lies,” I yelled in her face. About that time, Matt and Josh both rushed in through the front door.

“Tell me why?” I shouted.

Almost instantly, her whole mood changed and her gaze narrowed, honing in on me with nothing but hate. Where was the Hayley I thought I knew?

“Okay, Miss Perfect, you want the truth? Well, here it is. I had my eye on Matt for the past couple of years and no, I didn’t know at the time of your history together. We partied with the same crowds, and one night I figured it was time to make a move. Never have I been turned down by a man before, but he had the audacity to look at me like I was a piece of trash on the side of the road.”

“That’s probably because you ripped off all your clothes and basically tried to force yourself on
him,
” I snapped in disgust.

She gasped. “He told you that?”

“He told me everything.”

Rolling her eyes, she scoffed and continued, “Whatever, he’s not worth it anyway.”

“You still didn’t answer my question. How did you know about mine and Matt’s past? Lexi promised she didn’t say anything to you.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, and her lips spread out in a mischievous smile. “No, my sister didn’t say a word since she’s completely loyal to you no matter how much I prodded. It was your mother, Shelby. She was the one who told me about Matt when I ate lunch with her and my mother.”

You have got to be kidding me.
I knew my mother loved to spend time with Janet, Lexi and Hayley’s mother, but I never thought she would bring up Matt after all this time.

“When?” I asked incredulously. “When did you talk to my mother?”

“Oh, you know how our mothers are. They like to meet a couple of times a month for lunch. I’m surprised she didn’t tell you she saw me; although, it figures since no one
ever
seems to notice me. Anyway, of course, you were the topic of conversation. Since your mother thought I already knew everything about you because we’re such great friends, she didn’t have a problem with telling me a few things. Like, take for instance, all about your high school sweetheart, Matt Reynolds.”

“At first, I was thinking there was no way she could be talking about the same Matt Reynolds, but when I asked if he was the MMA fighter, she confirmed it. Then again, you’re Shelby Dawson … you get everything you want,” she sneered.

Exasperated, I scoffed and shook my head. It made me sick how much she reminded me of Kyle. It was amazing how selfishness and greed could warp someone’s mind to turn on those that care for them.

“I don’t get everything I want,” I said, raising my voice with each word. “I bust my ass and work hard for the things I have. I get them the right way … the honest way.”

“Yeah, well, you got the perfect job earning more money than I could ever dream of making, a sexy and famous boyfriend, and a family that supports you know matter what you do. For ten years I’ve watched my sister idolize you and follow along in your footsteps, practically living in your shadow. Our own mother talks about you as if
you
were the daughter she never had and always wanted. I can’t even be around her without her asking about you and fawning all over you. All I heard after I graduated high school was why couldn’t I be more like Shelby, why don’t I do this like Shelby. I’m sick of being second best.”

By the time she finished speaking, her chest was heaving up and down with angry, ragged breaths, and the gorgeous crystal blue eyes of hers that I loved so much were now emotionless and bitter. I barely recognized her.

Slowly releasing her shirt from my grasp, I stepped back and took in a calming breath, hoping it would help me think of the right things to say. I never knew she felt that way, but whatever she felt was not my fault. That was her own insecurities and jealousies.

“Hayley,” I began more smoothly, keeping my voice low and hushed, “I hate you feel that way. I never once wanted or thought Lexi followed me around like that, because honestly, I enjoy walking around in
her
footsteps. She’s shown me so much and became more than just a friend; she’s my family. As far as your mother’s concerned, I know she’s proud of you and that she loves you.”

Hayley wouldn’t make eye contact with me because she knew she was in the wrong, and in my mind I wanted to lash out and hate her for trying to ruin my life, but in my heart she was still the spunky Hayley I’d met and watched grow into an accomplished woman over the past ten years.

Matt waited for me by the door with Josh, who stood there wide-eyed and confused, glancing back and forth between me and Hayley. She still hadn’t lifted her gaze, even when she knew Matt was standing right there in the room, and why would she, knowing she made herself look like a fool.

Before turning and walking out the door, I glanced back at her one last time. “If you think you’re second best, then you might want to take a good look around. Sabotaging people to get ahead is bad, but doing it to the people who love you is one of the saddest, pathetic things anyone could do. If you want to continue to fuck with me, then go ahead … because there’s nothing you can do that would hurt me more than the knowledge of you betraying me. That cut deeper than anything you could ever imagine.”

Hayley sagged to the floor and I stared at her for a few more seconds, watching her cry silently, before glancing over at Josh. “What’s going on?” he thundered.

Whether Hayley planned on telling Josh the truth I didn’t know, but I definitely knew it wasn’t my place to. “Josh, I’m sorry for barging in this morning. I’m hoping the issue Hayley and I have is just a misunderstanding. However, I’ll leave it up to her to decide.”

With those last words, I walked out the door with Matt by my side. Even though we knew who was responsible for helping Kyle, it still didn’t help because we knew that Kyle would keep pushing until he got what he wanted. He wanted Matt to fail so he could take back the title. I hated not knowing what was going to happen next.

THE RIDE BACK TO MY
house was silent. Matt didn’t exactly know what to say to make me feel better, and I didn’t know what I wanted to hear. I was still in shock.

“What do you want to do today?” Matt asked. He turned the key to shut off the ignition and sat back, watching me nervously as if I was going to break.

I wasn’t going to break; I was far from it.

Sighing, I turned to him and said, “Don’t you need to go back home and train with your coach? I swear, he’s going to forbid me to come around if you start slacking.”

He scoffed. “Hey, I’m the one who calls the shots. I train when I want. How about we do something today, just me and you? Surely your boss won’t mind, would he? After all, you’re working on
my
article.”

If I had any qualms about taking off another day of work, they were just erased by the smile on his face. He had the slight indention of a dimple on his left cheek, which made his face look almost boyish underneath the rugged stubble he had yet to shave off. I loved it when he let the hair grow in on his face for a few days; it tickled when he’d graze it across my skin.

Running my fingers through his hair, I smiled. “What did you have in mind?”

He shrugged, his grin growing wider when the first sign of rain started to drop onto the windshield. “Do you have any bananas?” he asked.

“Bananas? What do you want to do with those?”

As soon as I said it, I felt like an idiot. How could I have forgotten about one of our favorite things?

“I think there might be a couple left in the kitchen,” I told him. “Don’t tell me you finally mastered the art of flipping pancakes. You kind of sucked at it when you tried making them before.”

Chuckling, he shrugged his shoulder. “I don’t know. I got kind of good at it over the years.” He pulled the keys out of the ignition and opened the door. “But if I suck, I know that you’re the expert so I can always watch you make them.”

The first time we skipped school together we were in the tenth grade, and we did something that ended up beginning a whole new trend for us; it even led us to our favorite song by Jack Johnson, “Banana Pancakes.”

The rain started to come down harder, so we both rushed out of the car and up the sidewalk to my house. Before we could get under the shelter of the front porch, Matt held onto my waist and pulled me to him, both of us getting drenched.

We stared at each other in the cool California rain, wrapped in one another’s embrace while everything continued to move all around us. Matt brushed his thumb along my cheek, to my chin, and across my lips before leaning down to press his own lips to mine. The rain tasted a little bitter and salty mixed in with the sweet taste of his tongue. The smell of his skin as I breathed him in was intoxicating, and I couldn’t see how I survived the last ten years without him.

“Do you believe in fate?” I whispered against his lips. “That two souls no matter where they are in life will always come back to each other if they were meant to be. Do you believe that’s true?”

Matt brushed the wet hair off my forehead and cupped my face in his hands, gazing down at me with a humorous twinkle in his eyes. “What is it with you and your philosophical bullshit? You used to ask me this stuff all the time.”

“Hey, I was being serious.”

Sighing, he rolled his eyes and held me tighter. “Okay, let’s see … soul mates. Before, I would’ve said no, I don’t believe in fate or soul mates. I think we choose our own fate, our own destiny, but with you standing here before me now it’s kind of hard not to believe in it. We just have to do it right this time because I don’t think fate’s going to give us more than a second chance.”

“What if one of us screws up?” I asked hesitantly.

My secrets would be the death of me if I didn’t get them out. I needed to tell him everything and pray that he could forgive me. If we were strong enough, like he thought, then I had to believe we could get through anything.

Matt chuckled and tilted my chin up. “I’m not going to screw up, angel. You might get pissed at me from time to time, but I’m not going to do anything to hurt you.”

Wearily, I nodded and stared up at him. “I know you’re not going to hurt me, Matt. There’s just something that’s been bothering me and I really need …”

I was just about to tell him everything when my phone buzzed in my pocket. “Perfect timing,” I hissed.

Grabbing my elbow, Matt hauled us up the steps so we’d be out of the rain. “Who is it?” he asked.

I was almost afraid it would be Kyle wanting to stir up more trouble, but when I glanced down at my phone it was Bryan. “It’s my boss,” I told him, “and he’s probably wondering where the hell I’m at. If you want to get started on the pancakes I’ll just handle this and be in there in a second.”

“Hopefully, I won’t burn your house down,” he teased. Kissing me on the lips, he grabbed my keys and walked away, disappearing inside once he had the door unlocked.

Surely, Bryan wasn’t calling me to yell at me for not coming in. He was pretty reasonable as far as my schedule, and for the first time in seven years, last week was the first time I had ever taken off. Dripping wet from the rain, I was freezing cold and trying hard to keep my teeth from chattering when I answered his call.

“Hey, Bryan,” I sputtered into the phone.

“Good morning, Shelby. I see you haven’t made it into the office yet. Are you feeling okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I’ve been working on my article and following Matt around. The sport is very intriguing.” That was putting it mildly considering all of the crap that had been going down. As far as working on the article, it wouldn’t take me long to actually write it; maybe a few days.

“That’s great news. I’m glad you like it. That means it’ll make for a great article. The reason why I’m calling is that Lexi’s really sick and I didn’t know if you knew or not.”

Oh, no I hope she’s okay
, I thought to myself.

Lexi hardly ever got sick, and when she did it was usually minor. She must really be bad to be calling out of work. “Yeah, she left here last night not feeling good,” I told him. “I figured it was from all the pizza she ate. I’ll give her a call and check on her.”