by Nicole Fox
Then, just as fast as they appeared, the Hell Princes get on their bikes and rumble away.
As soon as they are gone, J.C. turns to Noah and shakes his head, his face split in a wide smile. “Did you have that gun on you this whole time? Because, like, holy shit. Were you planning to shoot us?”
Noah shrugs and puts the gun back in the hidden holster I didn’t know he had. “Only if you really annoyed me.”
“Why did you even bring it?”
“We’re camping.” Noah gestures around for emphasis. “Who goes camping without a gun?”
J.C. raises his hand and looks around for backup.
But I shake my head. “My gun is in my truck.”
“I guess Haley and I are the only normal people, then,” J.C. says. Though, he frowns as soon as he says it, seeming to think better of it. “Actually, Haley should maybe carry a gun all the time. Seems like she is on the bad side of a group of people who don’t have a good side.”
At that, we all turn to her.
She is standing further back in the trees than where I left her, and even in the darkness, I can see how pale she is.
Her face is a glowing orb against her dark hair and the darkness around her. Her eyes are on the ground, and she is gripping her elbow with her hand, pulling tight as though she wants to disappear inside herself.
I remember her apology as soon as she heard the bikes. What did she have to apologize for? Did she tell Bumper we’d be here?
I don’t see what she’d gain from that, but I also don’t see what other explanation there is.
Suddenly, all of the anger I was feeling towards Bumper that has nowhere to go finds a new direction.
It turns towards Haley.
And I’m furious.
Without another word to my friends, I charge across the grass, heading straight for Haley.
She looks up when I’m within arm’s reach, her brown eyes wide and scared, but she doesn’t resist when I seize her arm and begin dragging her into the trees just as I’d planned before we were interrupted.
“What the fuck is going on?” J.C. calls after us. “Where are you two going? What are you doing?”
I haul Haley behind me, crashing through the brush and overgrowth, and don’t bother replying. Because honestly, right now, I don’t know what I plan to do.
26
Caleb
We walk through dense foliage, stumbling over roots and uneven ground in the dark until we finally reach a small clearing.
The trees have spread apart far enough to let a bit of moonlight through, and my eyes have adjusted enough that when I let go of Haley’s arm and spin around, I can see her clearly.
Her chest is rising and falling rapidly from how quickly we were walking, but also with another emotion.
Fear.
Whether it’s fear of Bumper or me, I don’t know.
And right now, I don’t really care.
“What in the fuck was that about?”
She digs the toe of her boot into the dirt, creating a divot. Her eyes are on the ground. I don’t know if her quiet, vulnerable-girl act is for real or not, but I’m over it. I’m tired of vague explanations and her dodging my questions.
It is time for answers.
I take several large steps towards her and grab her chin in my hand, forcing her eyes to mine. “What was that, Haley Bear?”
The look in her eyes hardens. “Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?” I ask sarcastically. “I thought you liked it.”
“John doesn’t know the first fucking thing about what I like.” She curls her lips in, pressing them together. Then, she jerks her face out of my hand. “He never did.”
I hate that she calls him John. It makes him seem more human than he really is.
“Regardless, Bumper seems to think you have something of his. Do you?”
She turns away from me again, looking down at the ground. This time, when I reach for her chin, she swipes her arm through the air and blocks my reach.
I’m so impressed by the move that I don’t mind.
“I don’t have anything of his,” she says, clearly edging around the question. “But I may have … destroyed something of his.”
I circle my hand through the air, gesturing for her to hurry up. “Please just get the fuck on with it. I want to know what is so important that the truce between the Golden Boys and the Hell Princes might have just ended.”
Her blue eyes go wide, the color silvery in the white moonlight. “You think the truce could be over?”
“It depends what you did to Bumper. He thinks we are connected now, so if you really screwed him over, finding peace again could be tricky.” Frustration bubbles up in me again, and I fist my hands at my sides. “You didn’t tell me you needed training because you were running from a motorcycle gang. Once again, I’m in the middle of your relationship drama, and I’m sure you remember how that worked out for me last time.”
Haley chews on the corner of her mouth nervously and looks anywhere but at my face.
I don’t have time for this. I grab her shoulders and stare deep into her eyes.
We are only a few inches apart, so I can feel the warmth of her breath when she gasps.
“What did you do?” I demand. “Tell me.”
She sighs, her shoulders sagging under the weight of the secret. “I flushed his drugs away.”
“His drugs? Like, his personal drugs?” I ask. “Like an ounce of pot or something?”
She chews on her lip again. “Let’s go with, ‘Or something.’”
The furrow between her brows tells me all I need to know. “Shit.”
“My parents told me we were moving, and I was going to be at a new school, and I just … I realized I was actually going to get away.” Haley’s voice breaks on the words, her blue eyes going glassy with emotion. “I didn’t think it would ever happen.”
“So why didn’t you just leave?” I run a hand through my hair to push it back from my forehead.
Haley thinks about it for a long time and then shrugs. “I should have, but I couldn’t. Not after everything he put me through. I knew I would regret just walking away and acting like it was a normal breakup. It wasn’t. I wanted him to understand on some level what he had taken from me. So, I took something from him.”
“What did he take from you?”
The question comes out as little more than a whisper. I realize as soon as I speak it that I don’t really want to know the answer.
This time when Haley looks away, I don’t force her eyes back to mine. Her lashes blink quickly, brushing against her cheeks, and I can see moisture gathered on them.
“You saw more of it than most people ever did. John was smart. He only hurt me when no one was around. In places where people wouldn’t see the bruises. That night you saw us was one of his few mistakes.”
“I tried to help.”
I still remember turning the corner and seeing John with his hand around her throat, Haley gasping for air.
For a second, I thought it was some kind of joke or a weird kink. Then, he let her go, and she crumpled to the ground like a doll.
Lucky for him, he disappeared inside before I could rip his limbs from his body.
“I know you did.” Haley lifts her eyes to mine. They are red-rimmed and sorrowful. “Even when I tried to tell you it was nothing, you wouldn’t believe me. You were going to go find him and beat him up, and I was scared.”
I stand still. Say nothing.
“No one had ever helped me before, and the only thing I could imagine is what John would do to me if he found out that you knew. Somehow, it would be my fault. He’d think I told you or tried to get him in trouble. I would pay the price for that. So, before you could find him, I told him you attacked me.”
To her credit, Haley looks ashamed.
But for the first time since the incident occurred, I don’t want her to feel bad about it.
I’ve been holding the unfair beatdown I got from the
Hell Princes over Haley’s head for weeks—longer, actually—and now I can’t muster up anything but sympathy.
“It was such a shitty thing to do.” Haley swipes angrily at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “You tried to help me, and I got you jumped by four guys.”
“Five, actually.”
A self-loathing sob shakes her shoulders. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Caleb.”
“It’s fine. It was a long time ago.”
“It’s not fine because I blackmailed you and brought you back into this and you don’t deserve any of it and—”
Her words are lost in a torrent of tears and sobs.
I can’t help but reach out and pull her into my arms. I smooth a hand down her back.
“It’s fine, Haley. You’ll pay Bumper back, and once he has what he wants, he’ll leave you alone.”
Haley goes stiff in my arms, and I worry I’ve given her another flashback or something. I pull back and look down at her, and she isn’t panicked. Though, she does look afraid. “What is it?”
“I can’t pay him back.”
“I know what the top people at Barber Engineering make. Your dad is making enough money to—”
“It’s too much money to just ask him for,” she says. “Yes, we have money now, but my parents are still careful with it. I get a fifty dollar per month allowance. If I asked for more than that, they’d want to know what I needed it for, and what am I supposed to tell them? That I stole drugs from my ex-boyfriend? They’d call the police on me themselves.”
“Shit. How much did you flush?”
Haley takes a steadying breath and pulls away. “A lot. Thousands. More than I can afford to pay for. John won’t give me enough time to save up, and my parents won’t let me have a job while I’m still in school. Do you think the bank gives out loans for this type of thing? Because that’s what I need. I’m good for the money, just not right now.”
I weigh the options for a second…
Before the pieces begin to click into place.
Haley must notice the change in my expression because she frowns. “What’s wrong?”
“Is that what you want me for?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you doing all of this in hopes I’ll give you money?” The question comes out biting as the certainty that I’m right begins to sink in.
She’s using me.
Not just for the lessons.
She is exactly what Bumper called her: a fucking gold digger.
Haley’s eyes go wide. “No, Caleb. No. That isn’t it. I mean, I briefly considered blackmailing you for money instead of your training expertise, but it felt too icky, so—”
“So, you decided to try and seduce me into giving you the money instead?” I lace my fingers behind my head and pace away from her. “You thought that you’d spend time with me and then fuck the money out of me?”
This whole thing was fucked from the start.
And now, it’s a hundred times worse.
This bitch. This lying, manipulative bitch.
I’ve been too nice to her.
Haley gasps, and I spin around to face her. Her cheeks are red and blotchy with embarrassment. “Excuse me, but you are the one who kissed me. I didn’t try to seduce you at all. You did that. Besides, I have more respect than that. I’m no one’s prostitute, you asshole.”
“Oh, I’m the asshole?” I clench my fist. “You’re the one who played the innocent victim while having a secret plot this entire time. God, I can’t believe I thought you were so naïve.”
“What gave you the impression I was innocent?”
My blood is boiling under my skin, and my head is too clouded with anger and embarrassment to think straight.
“I also had the impression you were smart, but I guess I was wrong about that, too,” I snap. “Because you picked the wrong Golden Boy to fuck. If you wanted money, you should have gone to J.C. He’s the easiest lay, anyway.”
Her brows pinch together, forming a tense line across her forehead. “What are you talking about?”
I shouldn’t tell her. I know that. The vengeful, reptilian part of my brain wants to rub Haley’s failure in her face.
She wants money?
Tough shit! Join the fucking club.
“I’m broke,” I say, throwing my arms wide like I’m a wrestler looking to get the crowd riled up. “Dirt poor. You asked why I fight, and I said it’s for fun, but it’s because I need the money.”
Haley’s face falls flat, her lips parting as she absorbs what I’m saying. “That’s why you didn’t want your friends to know about the fights?”
I cross my arms over my chest, feeling cocky despite my humbling confession. “Sorry to ruin your little plan.”
Haley groans. “Would you shut up about that? My plan was never to take your money, asshole.”
“You already used that insult.”
“Because it’s remarkably accurate!” Her blue eyes are electric. It doesn’t seem like it should be possible, but they seem brighter than they were just a moment ago. “Like I said, I thought about asking you for the money, but I didn’t want to blackmail you for it. I genuinely only approached you so I could learn to fight. And even then, I didn’t plan it. I only thought of doing it once I realized you wanted it kept secret. It wasn’t some intricate plot.”
She sounds earnest, and the anger inside of me begins to ebb away, making way for the flow of regret and shame.
“But I didn’t realize you were keeping your fighting secret because of money issues,” she continues. “I figured you were afraid of being arrested since underground fighting is illegal, but this is—”
“Embarrassing?” I suggest. “Pitiful?”
Haley twists her lips to the side and tucks a loose curl from her ponytail behind her ear. “I was going to say ‘humanizing.’ It makes you seem like a real person.”
“You didn’t think I was a real person before?”
She raises a dark brow. “Can you blame me? You look like that and can fight and are rich. You’re basically a real-life vigilante superhero. You are Batman.”
Even with my confession hanging in the air between us, I can’t help but curl the edge of my mouth into a small smirk at the compliment.
“But now, you’re poor, so some of that unapproachability is gone.”
The smirk disappears. “My parents divorced, and my dad took most of the money with him. He pays for my school and my truck, but everything else falls to my mom.”
Haley kicks the toe of her boot into the ground again. “Okay, well that is a little pitiful.”
I bark out a laugh. “Thanks for your sympathy.”
Quickly, she is in front of me, no more than a few inches away so the fruit musk of her overpowers the damp earth smell. She reaches out and grabs one of my hands between both of hers.
“I do sympathize, Caleb. A lot of people would. Do you know how many kids’ parents get divorced? This isn’t a secret you need to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not ashamed. I’m just—”
I stop to really think about it. I want to explain it in the right way. It feels important to make sure Haley understands.
“I’m not ashamed, but it isn’t anyone’s business. I don’t want this one thing that I had no control over to have any sway over what people think when they look at me.”
“That’s just it,” she says. “You had no control over this. No one will judge you for something you had no control over.”
“Yeah, right,” I snort. “People get judged for things they can’t control all the time. I spent most of middle school making fun of my lab partner for his dick-shaped birthmark. He couldn’t control it, but I still made fun of him every time his lab coat sleeve pushed up a bit too far.”
Haley frowns. “Well, nice people wouldn’t judge you for something like that.”
“Unfortunately for me, I’m not friends with nice people,” I say. “So, secret double life for me it is.”
“Caleb, I t
hink—”
I reach up and press a finger to her lip before she can finish. “I’ve made up my mind. No one can know.”
Her breath is warm against my finger, her lips silky soft and dewy. Her eyes are pinned on mine, and I watch as her lashes flutter with a sudden onset of nerves.
We’ve been this close together before—we’ve been a lot closer than this, in fact—but something about so recently offering our confessions makes this feel different.
Haley takes in a raspy inhale and whispers, “But I know.”
I can’t remember the last time I’ve experienced so many different emotions within a ten-minute span, but all of those emotions are gone now and have been replaced by one.
Desire.
“So, does that make me no one?”
My finger is still on her mouth, so her lips move against my finger as she speaks. It’s so hot, I’m not sure I have the ability to know who anyone is anymore, myself included.
Still, I manage to shake my head and then clear my throat. “I don’t know who you are to me.”
Haley’s cut-off denim shorts and hiking boots have been killing me all day, and now I want nothing more than to peel her out of those clothes and lay her back on the forest floor.
Whether she is my enemy, my blackmailer, or my confidante, I don’t know anymore.
All I know is, I can’t go another second without kissing her.
In one quick move, I pull my finger from her mouth, wrap my hand around her neck, and pull Haley’s lips to mine.
She stumbles over the uneven ground for a moment but catches herself against my chest. Her hands tangle in my shirt, and I slip my tongue into her mouth.
Who is this girl to me?
It feels like a question worth answering, but not right now.
Not when this place of uncertainty feels so damn good.
The kiss is a slow melding of mouths that grows more heated with every flustered exhale and brush of warm fingers over sticky skin.
I’m only eighteen, but I’ve fucked enough girls for a lifetime. I’ve had hurried exchanges against walls and in the back seats of cars. I’ve ripped buttons, scrambled for a condom, and pounded away until my eyes crossed.
