Never Let Me Go (11 page)

It’d definitely be interesting explaining all to Colin later.

Chapter Seven

When we’d gotten home, Colin was livid.

He couldn’t have cared less that she’d fought Madilyn—he was more upset about the fact that she’d marked up her face the day before she started her internship.

He’d iced her face to keep it from swelling and I helped her in the morning with putting on her makeup to cover up the bruise. When I finished, she looked flawless, and I sent her on her merry way—wearing the high-waist shorts that I’d secretly bought her before we came out to Big Springs.

Madilyn had come over crying, and I’d gotten a firsthand look at how badly Nic had hurt her: her lip was busted, her nose was bandaged and swelling, and she had a black eye. Madilyn had tried to convince Colin that Nickayla attacked her unprovoked and that she was the victim, but he was having none of it. He reamed her out and sent her away, warning her that if she showed up unannounced there’d be problems.

Needless to say, our weekend was extremely eventful, but when Monday came, it totally made up for the drama of the weekend before.

I’d totally
killed
my interview with Pat and was offered the job right on the spot. She asked Melanie to train me—which didn’t take very long since my aunt and uncle owned a restaurant back in Harlow—and then I was allowed to go home. Pat gave me my apron, my name tag, and my schedule that started the next day, and then sent me on my way.

I felt incredibly accomplished.

What shocked me the most, though, was that when I got back to the house, I immediately wanted to call Brody and then Hayden. I’d forgotten that I was only able to call one of them, so I did.

I waited for him to answer my phone call, tapping my fingers anxiously against the table. I was wearing the tank top that I bought from Casey’s Captures, a pair of light wash jean shorts, and white wedge heels. I crossed my legs, picking off a bag of chips that were in the kitchen.

“Hayden Jax,” he answered, his tone clipped and slightly annoyed.

“Hi, Hayden, it’s Michele. Did I catch you at the wrong time?” I didn’t want to bother him, and I instantly regretted calling him.

He laughed, and I could hear a door close.

I put a chip in my mouth, crunching on it as I waited for his response. “No, you didn’t. I have my cell phone calls forwarded to my office phone when I’m at work in case they call me from Skylar’s day care. It’s just been a very long day.” He paused for a few moments. “How are you, Michele?”

I tapped my feet against the other chair, grinning widely just at the way that he’d said my name. There was something about the way he said it…it was like I was on some pedestal, and he said my name with reverence.

“I’m great, actually! I got the job and I start tomorrow!” I was beyond excited to share my news with him. I was drawn to him and I didn’t know why, but I was glad for it, because every time I was around him or talking to him, I was pulled out of my funk.

“Tomorrow?” He seemed to ponder this for a moment. “So does that mean I get to see you today?”

God, I’d hoped he would say something like that. I had the house to myself for a few more hours until Colin went to get Nic from her first day at Vixen, so spending some time with Hayden would be amazing.

“Well, I’m at home now, but if you’d like to come over and see me, I definitely wouldn’t object.” I twirled my hair with my fingers even though he couldn’t see me.

“Well, Skylar’s having dinner with Livie and the kids tonight, and I’m done with work for the day, so I think we could arrange something. I’ll be over in about ten minutes? I can pick up some frozen yogurt if you like.”

I grinned. I
loved
frozen yogurt, but what I loved even more was that I didn’t have to ask him for anything—he just offered like it was second nature to him.

“I think I’d like that very much.”

“What kind of fro-yo would you like?”

I pondered his question for a long time, and then I grinned. “Surprise me.”

“Will do. I’ll see you in a little while.”

Twenty minutes later, Hayden was at the front door with two cups of frozen yogurt. He grinned widely as he took in my appearance, and I grabbed his hand, leading him through the house so that we could hang out by the pool.

“Congratulations on the job,” he noted, taking a bite of his yogurt. “I know it takes a
lot
to please Pat, so seriously, you’ve accomplished what most people can’t.”

I smiled. “Thanks. So is this the part where we decide whether or not we’re going to have the talk about the exes?”

He’d taken off his shoes and socks, then rolled up the leg of his pants and dipped his feet in the pool. He kicked the water a little bit, then looked back at me, extending his hand in an invitation for me to sit next to him.

I stood up from where I was seated on one of the chaises, and I kicked off my wedge heels. I sat on the edge and stuck my feet in the water beside him.

“I guess that depends on whether you think this is a
second
date, or just a second date.” He turned to me with a shy smile, reaching his spoon into my yogurt and taking a bite.

“Hey! You’ve got your own, mister!” I jerked away laughingly, shielding my yogurt from his view. “I dunno, Hayden. What kind of date do
you
think this is?”

He ate his yogurt in silence, and I offered up mine to him as he thought about how he was going to answer my question. His hand encircled my waist, pulling me so that we were touching, thigh to thigh. I relaxed my hands in my lap, looking down at the waves our feet were making in the pool.

“I think my ex story might be longer than yours, so maybe you should go first.” He looked over at me, his amber eyes regarding me with caution, as though he didn’t know whether he’d said the right thing or not.

I sighed. I hadn’t expected to talk about Brody with him so soon, but I was a rip the Band-Aid kind of person, so I figured that I might as well get it over with as soon as possible.

“I’m recently out of a long-term relationship,” I mused. “Actually, we really broke up about a month ago, but it was made official last week, the day before I flew out here with my two best friends.” I looked down at my hands. “His name is Brody, and we’ve known each other all our lives. We started dating back in freshman year, and he basically dumped me on the night of junior prom. My best friend and her boyfriend invited me to come here with them so I could get away from him. Honestly, if I hadn’t met you, I’d likely be working every day to go through the motions and crying myself to sleep at night.”

He nodded, taking my hand.

“So, how are you doing now that you
have
met me?”

I sighed, taking a bite of my yogurt. “I dunno. I definitely have less time to think about Brody because now I’m spending time thinking about you.”

“Is that so?” His hand came up to graze the side of my face. I flushed, glaring at my reflection in the water as my cheeks gave away my bashfulness. “I’m really sorry that he hurt you. This might sound terrible, but I’m actually glad that he broke up with you. If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be here, and if you weren’t here, I’d never have met you. I’m really happy that I did.”

I smiled, squeezing his hand.

I appreciated the fact that he was honest with me, and that even though he may have had his own intentions for where this thing between us would go, he even expressed how sorry he was that I’d gotten hurt. He was really sweet, I had to admit.

“So, Hayden Jax, what’s your story?”

He sighed loudly, setting his yogurt beside mine. “Well, mine is a lot longer than yours is.” He reached out for me as he stood up. “Let’s go inside. I really need to be really close to you right now.”

We walked inside the house, and Hayden prepared to settle on the couch, but instead, I led him upstairs to my room. He glanced at me questioningly as we stood outside the door.

“I don’t want to risk Nic and Colin walking in while we’re having this talk. So come in.” I pushed the door open, tugging Hayden’s hand. He sat down on the bed, his back against the head board, his legs crossed in front of him. “You want some company there?”

He grinned, reaching his hand out for me, pulling me onto the bed. I sat beside him, my legs in his lap and his arms wrapped around me.

I laid in Hayden’s arms, closing my eyes as he inhaled deeply. “Tell me. I want to know everything about you.”

I felt him tense up immediately, and I got the feeling that what’d happened with him and his ex-wife went far beyond a marriage that just didn’t work out for whatever reason.

“Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” I moved my legs to climb off the bed, but Hayden grabbed me, holding me in place as he gathered me in his arms and stroked my hair. I rested my head against his chest, noting that it was quite sculpted, and I wondered how I hadn’t noticed before.

“I want to tell you,” he assured me, kissing my hair.

I didn’t know why, but I got the feeling that whatever he told me would nearly break my heart. I felt as though half of his life was wrapped up in whatever happened with his ex-wife while the other half was wrapped in Skylar.

His chest rose and fell steadily as he tried to keep himself composed.

“Samantha Yeager was my first love,” Hayden said, his voice soft. “We’d been an item since middle school, and we were madly in love. Have you ever heard that saying, ‘The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long’? Well, that was me and Sam. We were like, Romeo and Juliet…we burned too hot, too fast, but we loved each other. We got married as soon as we had our diplomas. We were amazingly happy. We had just gotten out of high school and were about to sign a lease on a new apartment in Raleigh when Sam found out she was pregnant. For her, it was like her entire world stopped, and for me…well, for me it was like my entire world had finally come into focus.” He grinned widely at the memory. I loved the way that his entire being lit up when he mentioned his daughter.

“So what happened?” I asked.

I watched as he ran his hands nervously through his hair, his eyes closing as he struggled to keep from getting either mad or emotional—I wasn’t sure which.

“She was adamant on not keeping the baby, and I refused to go along with that.” His voice was sad and distant, like he still couldn’t believe what he was saying. “She was furious and she threatened to divorce me, and I told her she could do whatever she wanted except abort the baby. She left me for three months and virtually dropped off the face of the planet. I couldn’t find her, no matter what I did. All I could think about was my child, and how he or she deserved so much better.” He paused, shaking his head. “I was so furious with her, but I promised myself that if she came back to me, I would give her another chance, because I loved her
that
much. One day, I got home from work to find a very pregnant Samantha sitting on my front porch. We went to a counselor and we worked things out, then one night…one night we had a really rough argument, during which time she told me she was seeing someone else. She told me that she didn’t love me anymore and that she wanted a divorce. As soon as the baby was born, she would move out, and she’d grant me full custody, because she wasn’t ready to be a mom.”

I reached for his face and made a move to pull back, but he took hold of my hand and held it against his cheek, closing his eyes. He leaned into my touch, then continued talking.

“God, Mich, she was
so
happy while she was pregnant.” A sad smile formed on his face. “We went to all the appointments together, we decorated the nursery, planned a baby shower, and she never mentioned the other guy again. She was the girl I loved all over again and fuck me because I fell even harder for her.” Hayden stood up, bracing his hands on the back of the couch as he tried to find his breath. “When she went into labor, I told her how much I loved her. She told me that she loved me, too, but she was still leaving. I tried to beg her, I tried to plead with her and make her see reason, but she wouldn’t give. So I stood there, holding her hand as she gave birth to our daughter. When Skylar Rose was born, I forgot all about Samantha Yeager and what I thought we had. In that moment, holding my newborn daughter, I finally saw what love was for the very first time. I took her home with me and I gave Sam everything that she wanted in terms of the divorce—which was virtually nothing except her freedom from marriage and motherhood. I was granted full custody of Sky, and my only terms were that Sam had to see her at least two days a week, one weekend a month, and we share holidays. She agreed, and we parted ways. She takes Skylar every Wednesday and Thursday and the last weekend of the month unless we’ve already got plans.”

My heart hurt for this wonderful man and all that he’d been through. He loved his daughter more than anyone else, and hearing his story and how it’d gotten that way made me admire him even more than before.

“So how is your relationship with Sam now?” I asked slowly.

I was curious. I couldn’t imagine being able to move past something like that, so I wanted to know how he’d eventually handled everything.