As I plodded back to my car with sore feet feeling defeated, I didn’t think my night could get any worse. But then it did.
Chapter 03
“Daniella?”
I stared at my phone incredulously as though it had just sprouted tentacles and started levitating. I’d deleted his number but it didn’t matter than the screen said “Unknown Caller” on it. I recognized the barely-there hint of an accent at once. It was Hayden.
I was shocked he’d be calling now after all this time and even more shocked by the emotions stirred up by hearing his voice. For a moment I froze, unable to move or respond. All I could do was gape at the phone in horror.
“Daniella, are you there?”
A million thoughts swirled around in my head. I’d certainly thought about the things I’d like to say to Hayden if given the chance – hurtful, angry things that would let him know exactly what I thought of him. But now that the opportunity had presented itself I was drawing a blank. So I did the only thing I could think to do. I hung up.
He called back immediately. I gawked at my phone in dismay, watching it vibrate on the dashboard of my car. When I didn’t pick up, he called back a second time…and a third. I was so stunned that it was a wonder I made it home in one piece. It was a good thing there wasn’t much traffic on the road.
When I got home and worked up the courage to pick up my phone, I found that Hayden had left me a voicemail. Reluctantly, I listened to it.
“Look, Daniella,” he said, his voice loud and clear on the message, “I’m sure you hate me. I hate myself for what I did to you. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am for what I had to do but please just trust me, I had my reasons. If I’d had any other choice…any other choice at all, I would have taken it, believe me. I’m rambling. Sorry. Daniella, I need to talk to you. It’s urgent. Just hear me out.”
Scoffing, I listened to the voicemail a second time…and then a third. The words he’d chosen were strange and infuriating. He said he’d “had to” treat me like dirt because he had no other choice. What utter nonsense. Angrily, I deleted the message.
Moments later, my phone rang again. Once again, it said “Unknown Caller” on the screen.
This time I answered. “Stop calling me!” I snapped, prepared to hang up immediately.
“Don’t hang up,” Hayden ordered in that strict, authoritative voice that usually made me tingle from head to toe…and in certain places in between. This time it had no such effect. I just felt numb, and a little annoyed. “You need to listen to me Daniella,” he said. “I need to meet with you. I’m outside.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m outside. I came back to talk to you so please just hear me out.”
My breath caught in my throat as I crept over to the front door and peered out the window. I didn’t see any limo outside, but I’d known Hayden to rent a car on occasion so that didn’t mean much. For all I knew he could be parked at the side of the house rather than the front. Oh God, he was really out there.
Knowing how close Hayden was made a shiver run up my spine. We’d ripped each other’s clothes off right there just inside the front door to my house. We’d made love on the living room floor. And then in the morning he’d torn me to shreds before walking out without explanation.
My hand was squeezing the phone so tightly I was sure my knuckles must be turning white. “I don’t want to see you now or ever again,” I informed him icily, double checking to make sure the door was locked. I wasn’t about to let the heartless bastard degrade me any further. “Goodbye, Hayden.”
“Wait.”
It was just one word, but the way he said it made me pause. There was desperation in his tone that I couldn’t remember ever hearing before. My finger hovering over the “off” button on my phone, I waited expectantly.
“Daniella, you’re in danger,” he blurted out.
My temper flared. “Where the hell do you get off?” I demanded indignantly. “You made it very clear I meant nothing to you and then you randomly show up outside my house? When I refuse to see you, you tell me I’m in danger? Seriously Hayden, you have the nerve to threaten me? What are you, a psychopath or something?”
“No.” His voice cracked as he spoke, like he was getting emotional. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound like a threat. I’d never hurt you, Daniella,” he assured me.
I snorted, letting him know exactly what I thought of that assertion.
“You’re in danger because of me, though,” he continued. “I’m so, so sorry, Daniella. If I’d known…I never meant to drag you into this mess. Please, come outside and talk to me. Five minutes…just give me five minutes.”
I hesitated and then opened the entryway closet, reaching for whatever jacket, coat or sweater happened to be there. It got chilly once the sun went down. I pulled out a red shawl and stared at it. I’d worn it wrapped around my shoulders the night of Henrik Slate’s party. Flashbacks of that night ran through my brain no matter how hard I tried to shove them aside.
I’d felt so happy that night, Hayden rarely leaving my side as we walked from room to room of the luxurious mansion whispering in one another’s ear. He’d acted like he was so proud to be there with me, just to have me on his arm. Even in a room full of rich businessmen and important socialites who’d traveled from far away, he’d acted like I was the most important person in the room. He’d acted like I was the only person in the room.
That night he’d made me feel so special. In fact, every single time I was with him he’d made me feel special.
My face flushed as I remembered how the rest of the night at the mansion had played out. He’d taken me out to the garden and pushed me up against the gazebo, his hands underneath my dress. I’d gasped as his fingers slid inside me. He’d taken me right to the edge before backing off and then, with my panties in his pocket, had teased me mercilessly for the remainder of the night until I was dripping wet.
In a way, that entire party had been twisted, beautiful foreplay. By the time we’d left I’d been beside myself with desire and one look at Hayden told me he felt the exact same way. The anticipation that had built only served to heighten the experience. Our lust consumed us…my lust consumed me. I wanted – no, I needed Hayden just like I needed oxygen.
We’d fucked in the limo on the way back to town. It had been raw and passionate and deeply satisfying on so many levels. Neither one of us had wanted the night to end. Neither one of us had wanted to say goodbye…
I shook my head as though I was trying to shake the memories away. Then I wrapped the shawl around my shoulders and, with my phone still pressed to my ear, opened the door. “Where are you?” I asked him, peering into the darkness.
“There’s a black car with tinted windows three houses down,” he replied.
That was…weird. Why would he park all the way down there?
With a shrug, I walked down the street. When I was almost to the black car, I suddenly felt a hand clamp over my mouth. I was forcefully dragged into an unlit alleyway between two dark houses. I tried to cry out but I couldn’t…so I bit the hand that was stifling my screams.
“Fuck!” Hayden hissed as he jerked his hand away, wincing. Then, before I could run, he grabbed me. There was nothing violent about it. It seemed like he was just subduing me so I couldn’t leave, pinning my arms to my sides in a firm, inescapable bear hug. Though I couldn’t explain why, my intuition told me Hayden hadn’t been lying when he said he wouldn’t hurt me.
But then it had been wrong before. It had also told me Hayden was a good man. Maybe my intuition couldn’t be trusted.
As much as I tried not to notice, Hayden looked as handsome as ever. But he looked different, too. Instead of an expensive designer suit, he wore jeans, sneakers and a black sweatshirt. He even had a ball cap on. Seeing him look so…ordinary was strange. But God, he looked good. He smelled good, too, familiar and – wait, what the hell was I thinking? He’d dragged me into an alley!
I
wasn’t afraid of him – not really. Mostly I was just irate that he’d had the nerve to put his hands on me like that. I glared at him in the darkness and fantasized about biting his hand again if given the opportunity. Instead of screaming, I angrily demanded, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let me go!”
“Only if you promise not to run,” he whispered. “Keep your voice down, please. It may not be safe here.”
Indignant, I refused to promise him anything. Instead, I fought him…yet for some inexplicable reason, I didn’t scream. Maybe deep down a part of me believed his claims. But rage kept me from examining that peculiarity too closely. Even though I was pinned against his muscular chest, I struggled against him until he finally let go of me.
“You sound like a crazy person,” I informed him angrily, my nostrils flaring with rage at the way he’d manhandled me as though he owned me. “And if you ever lay a finger on me again I’ll kick you right in the nuts!”
It was supposed to be a threat, but Hayden just chuckled. “I don’t doubt that,” he said, inspecting his hand in the sliver of light cast by the moon. “I think you drew blood. But,” he said, growing serious, “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been worried sick about you. I need you to come with me. I’ve made arrangements for you to stay someplace safe until the threat passes.”
“What?”
“My father is a self-serving bastard,” he told me. “I haven’t made any secret of that fact. But what you don’t know is he’s dragged me into his mess. I thought the situation was finally under control. I thought I could finally live my life. But I was wrong. Now that you’ve been associated with me, your life could be in danger.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” I retorted, raising an eyebrow. “What’s this mess of your father’s you’re talking about?”
He ducked his head. “I can’t tell you. The less you know the better.”
“Oh please,” I muttered, turning around to head back to my house. “Stop wasting my time.”
“Daniella, wait!” he said, reaching for me. He missed, instead pulling my shawl off. I let it fall to the pavement, not bothering to stop to retrieve it. “I understand you’re mad at me but you can’t just walk away.”
“I can and I am,” I informed him. “If you come after me, I’ll scream. And then I’ll kick you in the nuts. Go away, Hayden. I don’t want to see you or hear from you and I’m not interested in you stringing me along with ridiculous stories about being in danger. You’ve wasted enough of my time already.”
With that, I marched back into my house, slamming the door behind me. Hayden didn’t follow.
It had been quite the night for giving idiot men a piece of my mind. When I’d told Mark off, it had felt kind of good. But when I’d told Hayden off, it had felt like a piece of me was being ripped out. As I locked the door and pulled the blinds, I noticed my hands were shaking.
I hated that Hayden Slate had such a profound effect on me.
Chapter 04
Life went on.
After that unnerving encounter with Hayden, I tried to push all thoughts of him out of my mind, though I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder more often. Sometimes I felt like I was being followed, but that was probably my imagination. I hadn’t thought it possible, but I was even angrier with him now. How dare he reinsert himself into my life and try to scare me?
Trying to make sense of Hayden’s crazy talk would only be an exercise in futility and I had a career to protect. I couldn’t control what Hayden said or did, but I still had a horse in the race as far as my spiteful ex was concerned. So I threw myself into my work and my budding plan to discredit Mark any way I could.
Maybe it would have been easiest to fight fire with fire. Mark had lied to the department about me, unfairly portraying me as incompetent. I supposed I could make up a lie or two about him…even if I was passed over for the promotion, I could at least see to it that he wouldn’t get it, either. On some level, that would be satisfying.
But I wasn’t going to lie. That didn’t feel right and I didn’t want to sink down to Mark’s level. I hadn’t worked my butt off all through college and made countless sacrifices for my career just so I could throw it all away. Professional integrity was important to me and the only way I wanted to discredit Mark was with the truth.
I’d already compromised my ethics a bit. I’d snuck into Mark’s office to retrieve his emails. I felt slightly guilty about it, but I was nonetheless glad I’d done it. It had served me well. In the days and weeks afterward, I’d poured over his recent correspondence with a fine tooth comb, hoping I’d find something incriminating in there. And I did.
There were numerous messages in there to and from Clancy Thomas, the head of the Sociology department. Most of them were innocuous enough, arranging times and dates for weekend poker games or nights out. But one of them caught my attention and made me wonder what the two of them could possibly be hiding. It read:
Mark,
I told him we don’t have the money. I’ve made arrangements to tide him over for the time being, but we need to come up with the cash ASAP. How are things coming on your end? I’ll email you what you need tonight.
Clancy
A second email from Clancy that I came across was even stranger than the first. It was dated the same day, but the time stamp showed it had been sent a few hours later. Copy and pasted into the body of the email was a lengthy publication and chart. It appeared to be data from the college’s accounting department and was marked with the word “CONFIDENTIAL” in big bold letters at the top.
It was clear I was looking at sensitive financial information about the department’s budget…information I shouldn’t be seeing. I knew for a fact that sessional lecturers like Mark and me had no business seeing those sorts of documents. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t even certain Clancy was privy to that sort of information. What was going on?
What I found wasn’t enough to help me discredit Mark, but it was enough to arouse my suspicion. Something didn’t seem right. I just wished I knew what was going on. Time was running out.
That Tuesday evening, I got word that the dean of the university was making an important announcement. My colleagues and I filed down to the large basketball court where it was being held and sat on the bleachers, waiting expectantly. I drummed my fingers against my thigh nervously, knowing that when an impromptu meeting was called, the news was rarely good.
The expression on the dean’s face when he walked out to the podium was grim. He scanned the faces in the crowd, his posture stooped. He looked older than his years and very, very tired.
“We’ve just finished crunching the numbers for our budget going forward,” he announced, getting straight to the point. At least he wasn’t the sort of guy who made us sit through a bunch of nonsense. He was the straightforward type who didn’t waste your time. I admired that about him…but what he said next didn’t sit so well with me.
“Our accountants have detected a severe deficit in the college’s expense claims,” he informed us. “It’s unfathomable that this has happened. We’re redoing the numbers now to ensure that nothing was missed, but the outlook right now is bleak.”
A murmur went up amongst my colleagues. I swallowed hard, feeling dazed.
The dean regarded us sadly. “It’s looking as though we’re going to have to make some massive, unanticipated budget cuts going forward. It appears there has been some mismanagement and overspending. I can assure you an investigation is forthcoming, but that’s not what I’m here to speak to you about today. Unfortunately, I’m here to discuss job cuts.”
Gasps and whispers filled the room. I saw a young guy from the student newspaper scribbling on his notepad madly. A number of professors and sessional instructors had expressions of utter dismay on their faces as they looked at one another in disbelief.
The dean cleared his throat before continuing. “I’ll have more information about this soon but I wanted to let everyone know immediately what the situation is
. As usual, seniority will take priority when it comes to deciding who stays and who will be let go. Those of you with contract positions may wish to start looking elsewhere as most contracts will not be renewed due to a lack of funds. I’m sorry I don’t have better news.”
So, that meant my job was probably done for. I felt sick.
Later that night, I got a phone call from an old college friend. Mina Sinclair had sat in the desk beside mine back in first year Sociology. We’d become study partners over the years and she’d even gone to graduate school with Mark and me.
When Mina had gotten pregnant, she’d dropped out of the program to do the single mom thing. Mark had scoffed about it disdainfully and whispered to me that she should have married the father or had an abortion, but I disagreed. I’d always thought it was brave of Mina to make the choice she had.
“Hey you!” she chirped. “I thought of you today and decided it’s been way too long since we’ve had a catch-up session. I’d ask you to go for coffee but lately I can’t even get out the front door without the kiddo having a screaming fit or spitting up on me, ugh. So phone call it is!”
“Mina! It’s so good to hear your voice! How are things? How’s the baby?” I asked.
“Fantastic!” she replied a little too cheerfully. “Crawling already…will probably be walking before long. It’s exhausting!”
“Wow, crawling? Has it really been that long since we’ve talked?”
“I guess so…crazy, huh? Time goes by so fast…and yet other times it just seems to drag! How are you? How’s your love life? How’s work? Please, let me live vicariously through you!” she laughed as she bombarded me with questions.
I guessed spending all day changing diapers, reciting nursery rhymes and following an active baby around the house wasn’t all that glamorous. In an effort to make Mina feel better, I replied, “Workplace hierarchies suck and don’t even ask about my love life – it’s a mess!”
His for Now (His #2) Page 3
