“Look, Charlie, I know this is difficult, but it won’t be too much longer, I swear.” He paused as the person on the other end of the call spoke. “I know, sweetheart, and I’m sorry. You already know, if I had my way, this whole thing would be over. I’m tryin’ my best. I just need you to bear with me for a little while longer, darlin’. Okay?”
My stomach bottomed out as I took slow, measured steps backward. When I knew he wouldn’t hear the click of my heels, I spun around and hightailed it out of there.
I made it back to our table on shaky legs and sucked down the rest of my wine, nearly choking on the lump that had formed in my throat. I sat there, working to keep my breathing calm and measured so I wouldn’t burst into tears, and as I waited for Micah to get off his call with another woman, I heard the distant bang of that other shoe dropping.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Micah
Between the phone call from Charlie, threatening everything from killing Dalton in his sleep to taking matters with Cormack into her own hands, and having Hayden change into a completely different person, I felt like my head was going to explode.
I knew something had been off even before she started in with all the questions, but by the time I managed to talk Charlie down and get back to the table it had gotten so much worse. She tried playing it off, claiming she’d come down with a bad headache and wasn’t feeling like herself, but I knew that wasn’t it.
The tense, stilted conversation we had at dinner had turned to complete silence on the drive back, and my muscles were locked so tight from the anxiety gripping my chest, it was a wonder I didn’t splinter apart.
I turned the truck into my driveway and killed the engine, trying to think of what to say.
She refused to make eye contact as she rounded the hood and started toward her house, her voice small as she said, “I think it’s probably best if you stay at your place tonight. I’m really not feeling well. I need to sleep.”
She didn’t need sleep, she needed to avoid me, and I’d be damned if I let that happen.
“Hayden.” I reached out and grabbed her arm as she attempted to pass by, turning her to face me and pulling her close. I gently pressed my fingers beneath her chin, tilting her head back so I could meet those gorgeous blue eyes. “I know something’s off. Talk to me. We can figure this out.”
She looked so sad, and seeing that felt like someone filled my chest with gasoline and threw in a lit match. “That’s funny,” she started on a whisper. “Now you want me to talk to you when I’ve been trying for weeks to get you to talk to me.”
“Baby.”
Then she asked a question that turned my blood to ice. “Who’s Charlie?”
Hayden
His fingers clenched, grasping my arm tighter. It almost felt like he was worried I was about to slip away, and he couldn’t let that happen.
“What?”
“Who’s Charlie?” I repeated louder.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“I got tired of sitting at that table all by myself, and after about ten minutes, I started to get pissed. I went to find you and heard you talking on the phone.”
His expression turned to stone at my answer. “You were eavesdropping on my phone call?”
I shook my head, feeling my lungs grow tighter as I got more agitated. “No. I went to confront my boyfriend about abandoning me and just so happened to hear him telling another woman if he had his way, this whole thing would be over and that he’s trying his best and to please just bear with him for a little while longer.”
The hardness melted from his features almost as fast as it had appeared, twisting into something that looked an awful lot like panic. “Hayden, what you heard . . . it’s not what you think, I swear. I know it sounded bad, but I’d never do that to you. You have to believe that.”
God, I wanted to. So damn bad I ached. “Then tell me who Charlie is. Is she the reason you came into my bed the other night smelling like perfume?”
He clenched his teeth so hard the muscle in his jaw began to tick. “It wasn’t like that. I just gave her a hug, that’s all. I promise, Red.”
“If you want me to believe you, tell me who she is, because right now, things are looking all kinds of bad.”
“I can’t tell you who she is. All I can tell you right now is that there’s nothing romantic between us. You have my word. She’s like a sister to me.”
That wasn’t good enough. I believed he wasn’t cheating. I felt the truth of that down to my bones, but the secrets were still weighing on me like cement blocks, making it hard to take a full breath. “Does she have something to do with this case you’re working on that you won’t tell me about?”
Please tell me. Please tell me.
Releasing me from his grip, he took a step away, his arms hanging down at his sides, his fists clenching so tight his knuckles bleached of color.
Please tell me. Please tell me.
“Hayden, I can’t talk to you about that. Please trust that I know what’s best when it comes to this.” he croaked, his voice sounding as agonized as I felt. “I’m just trying to protect you, baby.”
“Micah, I don’t need you to protect me,” I insisted, my tone pleading as I moved closer to him and placed my hands on his chest. “I need you to tell me what’s happening. I need you to not keep secrets from me. I need you to let me all the way in because this half in, half out you’re holding me at sucks. I’m so sick of being kept in the dark. Please just give me something.”
“I can’t,” he rasped. “I’ll tell you everything once I know it’s safe, I swear, Hayden. I just can’t tell you now.”
“Why?” I asked in a pained whisper. “Why can’t you tell me anything? I know Dani knows something at least. Why can she know but I can’t?”
“I’m just trying to protect you.”
“That’s not an answer!” I cried in frustration. “That’s an avoidance tactic. Stop dancing around my question and answer me. Why can Dani know what’s going on, but I can’t?”
“Because she’s engaged to Leo!” he barked, throwing his hands up and raking his fingers through his hair. “They’re getting married and we’re just—”
He stopped himself from finishing that sentence, his eyes going wide like he only just realized how bad what he’d said sounded. But it was too late. I didn’t need him to finish his sentence in order to feel gutted by it.
“And we’re just fucking,” I finished for him, my words coming out hollow.
“That came out wrong,” he grated. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I’m not really sure how many other ways there are to take that,” I said snidely. “I mean, it’s pretty clear. Leo and Dani are getting married, so he trusts her with the big, important things like that. She’s in the inner circle and I’m merely the woman you’re currently banging.”
“That’s not the fuckin’ case, and you know it,” he growled.