Jinx had called from the pub to say our food was sitting there getting cold and, when I tried to call Hayden, her phone went immediately to voicemail. A dozen panicked thoughts had run through my head, imagining something awful had happened, but this motherfucker showing up was not one of them.
Lane sticks his hands into his pockets. “You make a habit of walking into houses without knocking, Enders? Interrupting conversations that are none of your damn business?”
I crane my neck from side to side until it cracks. “I’ll ask you again—what the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m here for my fiancée,” he grates out, jaw setting. “But it seems I’m not the only one.”
“She’s not your fiancée anymore.” And as far as I’m concerned, she never really was. That ring on her finger never meant a damn thing.
“You know, we could have avoided all of this if you’d have kept your hands to yourself in the first place, right?”
I chuckle, because this asshole is about two seconds away from tasting my fist.
“Then again, I can’t say I blame you. I mean, you wanted her for, what, two years before you made your move? Can’t imagine how disappointing it must have been, sitting back for that long, knowing she was fucking me.”
My hands clench and unclench at my sides. One more word, Kelsie. I fucking dare you.
“And then at the first sign of blood, there you were, like a dog, wanting a lick.” He shakes his head and laughs. “How’d my sloppy seconds taste, Enders, huh? Must’ve been pretty damn good for you to come back for round two.”
My hand is around his neck in a second, his eyes bulging out of his head. “That’s the mother of my son you’re talking about, motherfucker.”
“Jesse!” Hayden screams, jolting forward as Lane jerks his hands from his pockets and tries to shove me off before taking an awkward swing at my head. The attempted blow knocks him off balance and, as he stumbles to the floor, I drop down on top of him. With my hand still locked around his windpipe, I watch as his face turns ten shades of red.
Hayden pushes at my shoulder. And pushes again and again. I feel her and I hear her sobs, but this asshole kept me from my family for almost five fucking years and he thinks he’s going to come back and try and take them away again?
“Goddammit, Jesse, stop!” she cries again. “You’re going to kill him!”
He makes a strangled sound and suddenly Hayden’s face is in front of mine, her hands curling around my jaw as her tear-filled eyes lock on mine.
“Jesse…” she pleads. “Baby, please.”
My grip loosens immediately and Lane gasps for air. I hate the sound. I hate his presence. I hate that after she helps me to my feet, she’s on her knees beside him, making sure he’s okay, too.
But what I really hate—and what hurts more than I’ll ever admit—is that, for four years, she chose him, despite knowing how I felt about her.
I thought I could put all of that aside and just be happy that she was finally here. Finally telling me it was me she wanted.
But who’s to say she won’t change her mind again?
Looking at her now, helping him to his feet, just like she helped me, how the hell can I be sure that she really feels the way she says she does when it’s only been a month since she ended things with him?
I don’t want to forget, she’d said to him as I walked in. A part of me will always love you.
God, I’m an idiot. And I shouldn’t have expected anything less.
Hayden and I went from zero to a hundred in a matter of weeks, just like we did the first time. And like a lovesick fool, I soaked it all up and jumped in headfirst, because her finally coming back to me was all I’d wanted for so damn long.
But it was too much, too fast.
And as much as I want everything she’s offering me, I can’t keep taking it—I can’t keep digging in deeper with her—until I know she’s not going to wake up one morning, desperately trying to claw her way back out.
HAYDEN
“You can tell your baby daddy to expect a visit from the cops,” Lane mutters on the way to his car as it continues to drizzle outside.
“Don’t you dare,” I snap, adrenaline still pumping through my veins. “You come here to stir up crap and you should expect to get your ass kicked. Especially after that bullshit you spewed.”
“Not bullshit, babe. That’s exactly how it went down with you two.” He stops at his door, turns and makes a throaty sound that has to hurt given the red marks around his neck. “You know, come to think of it, you two actually deserve each other. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on you, and you couldn’t wait to let him do it. Fucking pathetic.”
I stand back, hands balled into fists at my sides. “Please don’t come here again. Don’t call or text, either. As far as seeing Jett, I’m not sure that’s a good idea anymore.”
“Don’t punish him for your stupid fucking decisions, Hayden.”
“Believe me—it can’t get any worse than making him live apart from his father for the past four years.”
“Wow.”
“I’m not coming home, Lane.”
He rubs his nose and sniffs. “Yeah, I rescind that offer anyway. You’re not the woman I thought you were if you want to keep company with a fucking Neanderthal like that.”
“I’m glad we’re clear on that.”
He reaches for the door, shaking his head. “How quickly things change, huh?”
“And yet some things never change at all.”
Jesse is sitting on the arm of the couch, staring out the patio door when I go back inside. My tears have dried and a strange, almost static buzzing has replaced the adrenaline rushing through my veins.
I’m glad Jesse showed up and I’m grateful he stood up for me, but I hate that I put him in that position. I might not have invited Lane to come here, but my choices in the past led him to my door tonight.
“He’s gone,” I say quietly, going to Jesse and wrapping my arms around his neck.
But he doesn’t hug me in return. He doesn’t even move.
“You okay?” I pull back, and the ice in his stare, even though it’s still directed outside, sends a shiver down my spine. “What’s going through that head of yours?”
He swallows and shifts that cool gaze my way. “When you first came to town, you said he lied to you. Then a few days later, you said you two grew apart and you realized you still cared about me.”
“I do care about you. I love you. You know that.”
“Yeah.” He nods. “But it seems like maybe you still love him, too.”
“What?” Why would he think that, given what just happened?
“You couldn’t get your story straight about why you two broke it off and tonight…” He pulls in a breath. “Tonight, I saw why.”
“He did lie to me. And we did grow apart. Both are true. I don’t… I don’t know what you saw.” And this conversation is starting to sound familiar. Like the one Lane and I had not long ago, too.
“I saw the look on your face, Hayden. And I heard you tell him you loved him.”