“Hey,” the little brunette objected with a hard bump back, “I was sitting here.”
Kyle ignored her as he leaned into threaten Cole. “I told you to leave Hailey alone.”
Straightening up and matching Kyle’s snarl, Cole gave his friend back equal measure. “And since when do I take orders from you?”
“Do the two of you mind?” Hailey snapped. “I’m sitting right here.”
“I haven’t forgotten about you, darlin’.” Cole curled in on her, brushing her ear with a promise only for her ears. “Or that challenge you issued.”
“I didn’t issue—”
“I’m going to be putting my hands all over that sweet body, darlin’, and you’re going to be begging.” That came out loud enough for Kyle to hear. One bait, two fish, and they both snapped.
“Damn it, Cole,” Kyle spat. Not that anybody paid him any mind.
“Maybe you’ll be the one that’s begging?”
Hailey’s sharp retort had Cole grinning down at the defiant jaw lifting up. Hell, he could kiss her right now and then they’d see who was boss. “Is that so, darlin’—ahhh!”
Cole’s head almost hit the side of the table, he bent so far over when Hailey’s hand shot out to latch on to his nipple. The little witch twisted his tender flesh right through his fricken shirt, making shards of piercing pain shoot down his side.
“And don’t call me darlin’.”
Cole growled when her fingers curled even harder, trying to make him beg. Well, two could play that game. Shooting out his own hand, he managed to capture Hailey’s tit. Shrieking, she immediately released him to smack at his hand.
“Damn it, Cole.” The table banged into him as Kyle jerked forward like he was ready to come over it. “I told you not to touch her.”
“Why are you sitting next to my woman?”
“What?” Kyle’s head snapped in the direction of the shadow that growled that out, making Cole’s gaze follow. He smirked at the sight of Killian in full deputy dress. The big man looked pissed. Too bad for Kyle, good for Cole.
“Get out of my way, Kyle. I need to have a word with my woman.”
“Don’t you take that tone with me.” Rachel shot that back at Killian over Kyle’s head. “And don’t you be calling me yours. I’m not a damn dog, Killian.”
Smirking as his friend became trapped between the two squabbling lovers, Cole turned to issue his own soft warning to Hailey. “You twist my nipple again, darlin’, and I ain’t going to be held responsible.”
“What? Can’t take what you dish out, tough guy?”
“I can take it, darlin’. The question is can you?”
“Get out of my way, Cole.”
“I said get away from my woman!” Killian’s roar sliced through the dinner. The sudden shock of the interruption held almost everybody still as the oversized deputy ripped Kyle from the booth. Almost everybody.
“Ah, hell.” With a groan and an eye roll, Cole shoved out of the booth.
“Damn it, Killian!” Kyle shoved himself free of the deputy. “I ain’t interested in Rachel.”
Before Cole could even get in a smart comment to make fun of the scene they’d started, Killian’s little fireball blazed out of the booth with sharp words for her macho man. That drew a lot more attention their way and good deal more embarrassment for Killian, which Cole enjoyed just watching until he noticed Kyle wasn’t doing the same.
Kyle was having his own private, silent conversation with somebody. It was there in the slight eye movements and the little facial twitches. He was talking fast, all right, but not to Cole. With a breaking sense of doom, Cole turned in amazement to Kyle’s partner in crime, and, sure enough, Hailey was bitching at Kyle the same way Rachel mouthed off to Killian.
It couldn’t be. Cole leaned into her shoulder and got a good, hard sniff before she shoved him away. Cinnamon.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Hailey demanded, full vigor. “Were you raised in a barn?”
“You’re Miss Pink Panties?” Cole couldn’t even believe his own words, and they tumbled out in a confused question.
Hailey’s response didn’t make him feel like a fool. Every drop of color faded from her flaming face as she stilled into a stupor, her shock falling from her lips in a squeaky whisper. “What?”
“Oh, my God.” Cole reeled back slightly, trying to figure it all out as amazement wore into horror. “It was you hiding under my bed while GD and I screwed Claudia.”
The fact that Hailey had gone silent, along with the rest of the diner, didn’t register in Cole’s whirling mind. Neither did the fact that he started yelling. All that mattered was the most gut wrenching truth of all.
Looking over at Kyle, he could see it already on his face. “Now, Cole—”
“You fucked Hailey Mathews, and you didn’t even share!”
Chapter 13
“Now, Hailey—”
“Don’t ‘now Hailey’ me!” Hailey roared over Patton’s too calm objection. She had enough. “You’re the one that’s been conning me into thinking Kyle wasn’t up to any good. Don’t worry about Cole, everything will work out, damn romantic, worse thing to have as a best friend.”
“I know you’re upset, but—”
“Upset? Upset?” Storming past the console table with enough force to make the glass lamp shake, Hailey cut a sharp right around the couch to loom over Patton, making sure her friend heard her loud and clear. “I’m not upset. I just want Cole Jackson to be so humiliated that his reputation never rebounds. That’s what I want. I want to be the instrument of his destruction.”
“You don’t think that maybe that’s a little dramatic, Hailey?”
“No.”
Hailey didn’t. She’d almost done gone for Cole then and there in the middle of the Bread Box dinner crowd. Rachel held her back from the brawling men. Rushing Hailey out the door, Rachel stuffed her in her tiny, tin can of a car before Hailey’s scream of outrage ever had a chance of clearing the shock in her throat.
All the practical details of seeing to her car, retrieving her purse, even killing Cole, had been overwhelmed by Rachel’s Genghis Kahn style management. Hailey hadn’t been given any choice but to be rushed home and locked up in her house.
Patton showed up not thirty minutes later, called in by Rachel to help. Patton had helped enough to Hailey’s way of thinking.
“You’re right.”
“What?” That calm admission from Patton caught Hailey off guard. It brought her to a stop at the edge of the couch, where she could loom over Patton as she asked, “What do you mean I’m right?”
“You were right. It was a set-up. Cole and Kyle obviously had this planned.” It must have hurt her to admit it, but Patton didn’t show any strain. She just stared at Hailey with a sincerity that deflated Hailey’s anger.
Collapsing into the couch beside Patton, Hailey groaned. “I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
“It’s not going to be that bad, Hailey.” Patton smirked. “After all, what do you think people are going to be saying? That poor Hailey had to fuck a loser like Kyle Harding? I don’t think so.”
“No, they’ll say Hailey’s just another set of spread legs, didn’t you hear Kyle got between them?” It left a foul taste just saying it, but she knew the truth. Hailey had spent enough years in enough shops surrounded by men to know. “I bet in the next week I get asked out by a bevy of eager pricks looking for a quick dip.”
“Hmm, maybe, but then again maybe not,” Patton shrugged. “I’d expect the first person in that line will be Cole. I don’t think he’ll be taking kindly to a crowded field, so—”
“You think Cole’s going to come after me?” It seemed like a strange conclusion to Hailey.
Apparently not to Patton. “Oh, yeah. I mean you’re the one who thought he’d go ballistic when he found out Kyle slept with you and he did.”
“Yeah, but that’s because I figured the game was to get me into their bed, not to humiliate me.
” Hailey hated having to air her own mistakes, but she couldn’t avoid this one. “I was obviously wrong.”
“Or maybe this is just the way they always planned it,” Patton suggested. “Now they got every right to put you in the middle of a war between the two of them. And just think, two Cattlemen fighting over the same woman, two best friends? That’s the kind of gossip that could run for months.”
Hailey just stared at Patton, realizing just how bad she was at these games. She never considered this move. They had her now, whether or not she participated. They could run all over her life and nobody would lift a finger to stop them, not as long as it didn’t get violent.
After tonight, everybody would think they were involved, and so everything that came next would be a “private” issue. Something to be talked about but not involved in.
“Oh, God.” Hailey’s head dipped. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t see any choice but to go on the offense.” Patton would say that. “This time, though, we got to get serious.”
“We?” Hailey lifted her gaze.
“Well, this is going to be your game, Hailey, but you need help. The first thing I suggest is you to figure out what Cole’s weakness is.”
“He doesn’t have any, Patton,” Hailey groaned. “Don’t you think I’ve already looked? The man doesn’t care about anything beyond cars and fucking.”
“Cars?” Patton arched a brow. “Kind of like that rusted thing Kyle lured you in with?”
“Oh, great. Let’s play copy cat,” Hailey snapped. “I’ll go find a car Cole can’t resist and then what? What good does that do me?”
“Well, I just got off the phone with Adam.” That interruption had both of them turning to watch Rachel come in carrying a proper tray of tea. Over the clink and rattle of the cups, she continued her report. “I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that Killian arrested both Cole and Kyle and is in the process of dragging them down to the station. What?”
Hailey stared right through Rachel, seeing the answer to her own question. “Cole would give his left nut for Bavis’s Fastback.”
“What?” Rachel scowled, glancing from Hailey to Patton. The motion turned Hailey’s chin in Patton’s direction.
“Rachel and Kitty Anne are running an investigative story on a whore house down in Dothan.” Hailey’s grin grew threw those words, curling faster than the slow smile spreading across Patton’s face.
Rachel wasn’t smiling. “Why am I nervous at hearing my named mentioned?”
“I think see a plan.”
* * * *
“Sit down.” Killian shoved Kyle into one of the plastic chairs along the wall of the police station.
“Hey,” Kyle objected as he kicked himself upright in the chair. With his wrist cuffed behind his back, sitting became kind of awkward. “Don’t you think the cuffs are a little overkill, Killian?”
“It’s Deputy Dog to you, scumbag,” Killian shot back, whipping out his baton to slap it threateningly. Always a smart ass and never one to show much compassion to another man, Killian clearly enjoyed the moment. “You know, Killian, I’m going to enjoy when it’s your turn.”
“Never gonna happen.” Killian shook his head. “’Cause you see I already got my lady, and I don’t plan on humiliating her by screaming out the intimate details of our sex life in a public building before engaging in yet a second brawl in about week.”
“Your woman? That little brunette that called you a prehistoric baboon? That one?”
“Yeah, she’s feisty, ain’t she?” Killian smirked. “‘Course it won’t take me long to get her settled down and then she’ll be back to purring. I’m thinking naked, on her knees, and asking me how she can serve her master. You know those kind of fantasies. The kind you won’t be indulging in with Hailey anytime soon.”
Kyle snorted at that. “Well, ain’t your shit just all shiny and sweet smelling.”
“Hey.” Killian tilted Kyle’s chin up with the end of his baton. “Consider this, you jackass. My girl is good friends with the girl you’re trying to get with. You know what kind of position that puts me in?”
One that gave him a hell of a lot more power than a simple pair of handcuffs. Kyle jerked back away from the hard wood under his chin and glared.
“That’s right, buddy. You just remember that and maybe if you sit here nice and quiet, I’ll just be suggesting to the judge a little anger management therapy instead of suggesting to Hailey you got serious issues.”
Kyle stilled at that threat. “You wouldn’t.”
“I’m talking psycho, dude. I’ll have that woman convinced you’re one twitch away from going all postal.” Kyle glowered at that but kept his anger locked in behind clenched teeth. “Now sit there and be a good boy, okay?”
“That goes double for you, dumbass.” Adam gave Cole a similar push that had him crashing into the seat next to Kyle.
Saying nothing while Cole jerked about and righted himself in the chair, Kyle brooded. Everything had gone to hell. No doubt Hailey was out buying a gun to come after his ass after the spectacular scene Cole helped put on. He could just hope the only thing she did was kill him.
“You’re a real bastard. You know that?”
“Me?” Cole gasped as if he hadn’t rightly earned that title a thousand times over in one day. “You’re the one that’s been holding out on me.”
“You just ruined my life,” Kyle spat back, turning on his best friend.
“Oh, God, don’t get all dramatic,” Cole huffed.
“I swear to God, Cole, if it wasn’t for these cuffs…”
“What?” Cole swung around in his seat, pinning Kyle with his cold gaze. “What did I do? You’re the one who’s been lying this whole time.”
That had Kyle bristling. “Only because you made me.”
“Me?” Cole’s brows shot straight up.
“Yes, you. Do you think I wanted things this way?” Kyle shot back with just as much astonishment, turning Cole’s wide-eyed look of shock into a narrowed one of disgust.
“That’s funny coming from you, ’cause all you had to do is tell me the truth. That’s you’d boned my woman.”
“She ain’t your woman, Cole. Hell, Hailey doesn’t even like you.” Kyle delighted in informing his friend of that obvious fact.
“Oh, bullshit.”
That had Kyle choking on his indignant laughter. “Where the hell do you come up with that response? Name one time Hailey’s even been civil to you?”
“It’s not—”
“Because you can’t.” Kyle cut off Cole’s excuse, not interested in hearing it. “Because Hailey doesn’t like you and it’s taken me six weeks to just get in close enough to the girl to even hope that I might be able to get her into my life. I don’t need you coming in now and screwing that up for me.”
“Screwing it up for you? How about just being flat out screwed by your best friend.”
Kyle muscles flexed they ached so bad to pound on Cole. With the cuffs on and Killian’s warning looming over his head, Kyle had nothing left but to growl out his frustration.
“I didn’t screw you, Cole.”
“Yeah, right.” Cole spat that almost apology back at Kyle. “You going say next that you didn’t know I put a mark on Hailey?”
“Over two years ago. Shit or get off the pot, Cole. You can’t hold a mark on a woman for two years.”
“Well, it’s not exactly easy to get close to a damn fireball.”
Kyle couldn’t help but smile and rub it in. “It only took me five weeks. Maybe you’re just not her type.”
“We’re the same damn type, Kyle.”
“I quit the club six weeks ago. Five weeks before I finally brought the trap down on Hailey. I’d be set to selling her on how reformed I am if it hadn’t been for your ass scaring her off at the Bread Box.”
“That’s when this all started?” Cole’s head tipped as if something just hit him. “That night she left her panties, that’s it. That’s the
only time.”
Looking away, Kyle let his silence be his answer. Cole swore in response, snarling and pouting all at once. “I guess I should be thankful it ain’t been the full six weeks that you been quit the club. Why did you quit the club six weeks ago? If you just…you son of a bitch.”
Kyle cringed at that. Cole was putting the pieces together, and it probably had been a stroke of luck that they were already in cuffs at the police station. Otherwise, Cole would have come at him for a second round.
“You set me up. All those distractions at the club and overloading the damn work schedule at the shop. You knew I was going to go after Hailey, and so you cut me out.”
They were going to have this fight sometime, so it might as well be cuffed in a police station. Owning up to it, Kyle met Cole’s gaze head on. “I also got my hands on a nineteen sixty-four Studebaker R4 Daytona five weeks ago and used it to bribe my way into Hailey’s shop. We split the interest on her and been working together every night for the last five weeks.”
Cole surprised him when he didn’t come back at Kyle. He just sat there, jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, and a muscle actually twitching in his cheek, but he didn’t say anything. That’s how mad Cole was and Kyle hadn’t ever seen him that pissed.
In fact, he’d never seen Cole pitch a fit over a woman the way he had today over Hailey. He never cared enough to bother. The thought vibrated down his spine, weakening his muscles as he began to understand.
“You care about Hailey.”
Cole flinched at that. With a wrinkle of his nose and a soft growl, he looked away.
“Holy shit,” Kyle whispered.
“Shut up, Kyle.”
Chapter 14
Cole studied the tips of his boots as he sipped the cold tea. He wouldn’t have bothered if it hadn’t been for the very strong scent of brandy coming off the cup. Hailey liked her tea strong. For all that she might as well drink it straight up, Cole thought as he shifted his feet.
Damn, I need new boots.
He really hated doing things like that, buying boots. Just a waste of time and it really made him think of the positives of keeping a woman around. Despite Kyle’s gloom and doom attitude, Cole could see some good in having a woman.
Hailey's Game Page 13
