Running After a Heartbreaker (Brides on the Run #4)

by Jami Albright

  “Fine.” She released his hand and held her arms wide. “Welcome to your small room above my garage.”

  Chapter Nine

  The knots in Hailey’s stomach yanked tighter and tighter the closer she got to Roger’s house.

  She should’ve called him last night or this morning, but just hadn’t been able to bring herself to do it. Interestingly enough he hadn’t called her either. But then again, he’d said he wouldn’t.

  Roger’s lovely ranch-style house was on the outskirts of Zachsville in a new housing development. It had a white limestone façade and a huge yard for Lottie to play in.

  A dull ache behind her breastbone throbbed as she thought of her daughter and how she longed for stability. The blade of Lottie’s angry words was still lodged in her heart.

  You ruin everything.

  She shook off her concern about Lottie and her pain. It was time to deal with Roger. She knew now that marrying him would have been a mistake, and she’d been looking for an excuse to run.

  The click, click, click of her shoes on the concrete walkway rang through the quiet Sunday afternoon. It was peaceful out here. A small part of her regretted that she and Lottie wouldn’t be living here in this peaceful place with this peaceful man.

  Several boxes sat on the porch with a note addressed to her. Surely he hadn’t just packed up her stuff and stuck it outside. She flipped the note open and read, then reread, the words.

  Hailey

  Here are your things and Lottie’s things. If there is anything I missed, then text me, and I will get them to you.

  I have chosen to leave town for a while. As you know I have a project that would’ve required travel. I have decided to move to St. Louis temporarily in order to concentrate on my job, and to let this fiasco blow over.

  The hurt you’ve caused me and my family cannot be understated. I have deep affection for you and Lottie and believed we could make a life together. However, I have to believe that you do not feel the same about me, or you would not have been able to just walk out of our wedding over something as inconsequential as my opinions about your business. I am, after all, entitled to my opinions.

  The embarrassment of this whole affair is unforgiveable. As you know, I despise drama, which is why I blame myself for this as much as you. I knew of your reputation for creating a spectacle, and I chose to ignore it, believing that you had overcome those tendencies. Sadly, I was mistaken.

  I do not wish to see you or hear from you so I will not be answering your phone calls or texts unless they have to do with things involved in separating our lives.

  Roger

  His words shot off the page like artillery fire, the bullets to her pride coming too fast and furious to avoid. He thought she created drama? Never, not once, had he ever said anything that would’ve made her think he felt that way. Hell, he barely said anything.

  If he had a problem with her, then she had a problem with him too. They’d been dating nearly a year and she’d never seen the side of him he showed at the wedding. It just proved that she had terrible taste in men in general, and the worst in husbands and potential husbands.

  Once the boxes were loaded into her trunk, she sat in her car for several minutes gazing at the pretty limestone house.

  He hadn’t said he loved her. He had deep affection, but that wasn’t the same as love. But she’d known that, and it was the reason why she could consider marrying him. She couldn’t have married someone she didn’t love, who loved her back. That would be wrong. What she and Roger had was comfortable and convenient, but not something you should build a marriage on.

  Beau pulled into Hailey’s driveway and saw her unloading boxes from her car. He wondered if they were boxes of things from Roger’s house. He knew she’d moved a lot of her stuff before the wedding that wasn’t.

  He was a little too happy that Hailey Odom hadn’t gotten married. Her unmarried status put him in a bad spot, literally. Renting a room with very little privacy wasn’t ideal. Unlike her ex-husband, any woman he’d bring home would have to walk up the driveway to get to his apartment. He didn’t like anyone knowing his business—especially not his landlady.

  The woman in question currently had half her body in the trunk of the car, her butt in the air as she yanked on a box. Not a bad view at all.

  Stop right there, Callen.

  Hailey was his friend…period. Hailey was beautiful and sexy, but she wasn’t for him for many reasons, not the least of which was her kid.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t like kids—he did. But a woman with a child was a different animal altogether. They may as well have a DO NOT TOUCH sign painted across their chest. There was nothing casual about a relationship with a single mom, and casual was all he was interested in at the moment. A family was a far-off thing for him.

  Besides, he wasn’t even sure he was capable of the kind of the feelings necessary to have a family of his own. He loved Clyde and his kinfolks in West Virginia, but it wasn’t the deep, romantic, selfless adoration he’d seen Jack, Gavin, and Hank display toward their wives and children.

  He had goals and dreams that required single-minded focus. He couldn’t accomplish them and have a family. He’d learned that lesson from his grandfather. Clyde had never outright said that Beau ruined his music career, but he knew he had. The man had to stop touring to raise him. Beau could do the math. Two plus two equals it’s not possible to start a music career with a family.

  Against his better judgment he snuck one last peek at Hailey’s spandex-clad butt, then exited the truck. “Whatcha got there?”

  She jumped and cracked her head into the upper lip of the trunk. “Ouch!” She stood up rubbing the back of her head.

  “Oh, shit.” He moved to her. “Sorry about that. Let me have a look.”

  He gently rubbed his hand over the spot that she hit, then parted her hair to examine her scalp. “No blood, but you do have a bump.”

  She stepped back to extricate herself from his hold and rubbed her head. “Thank you, Dr. Heartbreaker. I could tell that myself.”

  He laughed. One more reason why he and Hailey could never have anything together—she had no interest in him. “That’ll be three hundred dollars. I don’t usually make house calls.”

  “Funny.”

  He pointed to the box. “Do you need some help?”

  “Do you mind? It’s stuck, but I can’t see where.”

  He slapped his hands together then rubbed them back and forth. “Step aside, and let the master work.” He gave her his best wink for good measure.

  She stepped out of the way to give him access to the car’s trunk. “Oh, brother.” She crossed her arms. “You really are the most shameless flirt I’ve ever known.”

  “We all have to be good at something.” He examined the box and quickly found that one of the tri-folded sides was stuck under the lip of the trunk. He wiggled the box and pulled it free. “I got it.”

  “Oh, thank goodness. I want to have all this stuff put away before Lottie gets back.” She reached her arms out. “You can give it to me now.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll carry it in.” The stubborn look on her face indicated that she was going to fight him. “You grab the other box. I don’t want to have to keep traipsing out here to unload your car.”

  Her shoulders relaxed and so did her expression. He’d known they would. Within just a short time of being around her, he’d learned that she was independent and took a lot of pride in taking care of herself and Lottie.

  “Fine. Lord, you’re such a diva.” Her teasing tone told him he’d done the right thing.

  He rested his box on his raised knee to get a better hold.

  She grabbed the other carton and noticed him adjusting his grip. “Ready?”

  “Born ready.” He added his lady-killer smirk just to piss her off.

  A snorted laugh puffed from her lips. “You’re an idiot.” She shook her head and headed for the porch. “Born ready. Really?” She propped the door open wit
h her butt and waited for him to walk through. “Hey, the seventies called and they want their catchphrase back.”

  He laughed and entered the house. “You cut me, Hailey Odom.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  He definitely wasn’t her kryptonite, and for some reason that made her irresistible. He was an idiot. “Where’s Lottie?”

  “With Derek’s mom. I dropped her there on my way to Roger’s house.” She jutted her chin in the direction of Lottie’s bedroom. “Can you set those things in there? I’m going to drop these in my room then unload that box.”

  “Sure.” He noticed she’d stripped the sheets from Lottie’s bed. “Hey, why didn’t I get clean sheets last night?”

  She leaned against Lottie’s door frame with her arms crossed. “Because she didn’t come in at four thirty in the morning.” Her long fingers flipped on the switch for the overhead fan. “Also, I was instructed by my daughter to get the boy cooties off her sheets.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “She doesn’t like me much.”

  Hailey knelt by the box and pulled the flaps open. “It’s not you. She’s having trouble with all men right now, except Hank.” She shrugged. “Daddy issues.”

  “Ahhhh, Derek’s not a very good one?”

  One by one Hailey pulled toys and kids’ paraphernalia from the box. “Nope. He never—” She seemed to catch herself and stopped.

  Now, all he wanted to know was what she’d been about to say. “He never what?”

  She fiddled with an outfit on one of the dolls she’d just unloaded. Her white top teeth were gnawing on her plump bottom lip. “I had Lottie when I was sixteen.”

  Something he already knew. All you had to do was look at Hailey to know she couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, and Lottie was nine. “And?”

  “And, he always blamed me for ruining his life, and that grievance took the form of disinterest in Lottie. Here’s a pro tip. Don’t have a baby with an asshole.”

  The grin that stretched his lips was unavoidable. Even speaking of a bad time in her life, she was still feisty. “Words to live by.”

  “It would solve ninety percent of the world’s problems. Anyway, since he and Ariel got married, it’s been trickier. Ariel’s daughter Piper is the same age as Lottie and they used to be best friends. Now Derek spends most of his time with Piper and her brother Colt, which Piper reminds Lottie of every chance she gets.”

  Beau blinked. Fire erupted in his belly. Years of being called “Orphan Boy” made bullying a very sore subject with him. “What’s Derek done to put a stop to Piper’s behavior?”

  “Not a thing, except tell Lottie to not be so sensitive.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” The more he learned about Derek Odom, the more he hated the guy.

  Hailey continued unloading the box of toys and clothes. “I wish I was. He’s not a nice person, Beau, never has been.”

  He didn’t like the fact that she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Did he hurt you, Hailey?”

  She shrugged. “In the beginning, he shoved me a few times, but after Hank beat the crap out of him, he never did that again. Now Derek’s meanness comes out in passive-aggressive jabs in public or outright insults. And heaven forbid if he thought I got more attention than him. He’d lose his mind.”

  “Attention is addictive.” Boy did he know it. He craved the validation that came with being on stage and being the person everyone watched. On stage he wasn’t Orphan Boy, or the kid who wore mismatched clothes because he didn’t have a mom to teach him how to coordinate his clothing. And he sure as hell wasn’t the kid who got made fun of because his old grandfather brought him to school events. He was Beau Fuckin’ Callen and those little sons-a-bitches back in Slocomb, West Virginia could kiss his ass.

  “Ha, if attention’s addictive, then he’s a junkie. I think it comes from being so popular in high school and the hometown football star. He’s always looking to be that guy again. But that isn’t real life.” She glanced up and grinned. “Except for you, Heartbreaker.”

  Wow, that hit a little too close to home. He cleared his throat and pretended like he wasn’t highly uncomfortable. He took his collar in both hands and adjusted it. “That’s true. We can’t all be me.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “You’re awful.”

  Why did spirals of pleasure shoot through him at making her laugh? “I am.”

  “I know Derek’s issues are his own, but it took me a long time to realize that.” She stood and began placing clothing in Lottie’s drawers. “I was just so crazy in love with him for so long that it blinded me to who and what he was.” Her coffee-colored eyes turned cold as stone. “But never again. Believe me when I say, never again.”

  He picked up a board game and slid it onto a shelf with similar items. “I believe you.”

  She pulled her hair out of her face. “Sheesh, I don’t know why I just unloaded all of that on you. Sorry.”

  He shrugged. “Don’t be sorry. We’re friends, and friends tell each other stuff.” His bangs fell into his eyes, and he pushed them out of the way. “Besides, I like to know things about the women I’m shacking up with.”

  She laughed a deep belly laugh. “You wish, buddy.” There was a knock at the door. “I better get that.”

  The sound of her laughter lingered in his head. Great, something else he was now addicted to—the sound of Hailey Odom’s laugh.

  Chapter Ten

  The smile plastered on Hailey’s face melted into a frown as soon as she opened the front door. “Derek, what are you doing here?” He tried to shove past her into the house, but she stood her ground. The days of him walking all over her were long gone. “I asked you a question.”

  “I’ll tell you why I’m here.” He slammed his hands onto his hips. “Why the hell didn’t you marry Roger Weston?”

  Now she understood. “Because I don’t want to give up the spousal support that you have to pay me every month.”

  “Damn it, Hailey.” He turned and began pacing the porch. “I knew it. I told Ariel that you did this just to spite me.”

  She laughed. It was hard not to when the man was such an idiot.

  He stopped mid-stride. “What’s so fuckin’ funny?”

  “You are. Are you really such a narcissist that you believe I called off my wedding just to screw you? Figuratively speaking of course.”

  He plowed his fingers through his hair, making him look like a pissed-off troll. “Isn’t that why you did it? We were going to use that money to take the kids on a cruise.”

  “Lottie would love a cruise.” She knew before his face confirmed it that her daughter hadn’t been included in his plans. “You’re a son of a bitch, Derek. You know that.”

  “Whatever, Hailey. Lottie was supposed to have a new family too. Until you screwed that up.”

  “Are you listening to yourself right now? She’s your daughter. That will never change.”

  He just eyed her.

  “Really, this again?” She placed one hand on the door frame and the other on her hip. “You honestly believe she’s not yours. She’d probably be better off if she wasn’t, but sadly, she is. So there you go.”

  He took a step closer to her and got right in her face. “What if I asked for a paternity test? What would you say to that?”

  He was so close she could see the sparks of gold mixed with the blue of his eyes. “First, I’d say step the hell back.” She held her cell up. “Unless you want me to call the sheriff.”

  “Fine.” He took one step out of her personal space.

  “Then I’d say bring on the paternity test.” The phone went into her back pocket. “I’d also say you’re delusional and need psychiatric help.”

  “Shut up. You’ve been out to ruin me since day one, and that’s why you walked out of that wedding. To stick it to me.”

  His words rubbed against that spot deep down in her heart that knew the truth. A truth she’d never admit to anyone. “I’m not—”

&nbs
p; “Babe.” Warm hands circled her stomach and a hard, male chest pressed against her back. “Come back to the bedroom.”

  A slight turn of her head confirmed that Beau wasn’t wearing a shirt. The warmth of his skin against her turned her muscles to mush. “Um…in a minute.” She couldn’t help the lilt at the end of the sentence making it sound like a question.

  Derek took a couple of stumbling steps backward. “Who the hell is this?”

  “I’m her new roommate, asshole.” Beau’s lazy country drawl lobbed the word asshole at Derek like a grenade.

  Hailey should’ve stopped him, but two things made that impossible. The priceless look on her ex-husband’s face, and Beau’s callused finger rubbing little circles on the skin of her belly. At some point, he’d slid his hand under her shirt, and it appeared her ability to speak was connected to the spot he was torturing. All she could manage were some incoherent sounds.

  “Who are you calling an asshole? Asshole.” Derek puffed out his chest and stretched to his full height, and even then, Beau had three inches on him.

  Beau removed one of his hands from her belly and cupped her chin. He gently turned her head to look at him. “You’re right. He’s not very bright.” Mischief flashed in his green eyes, and she saw the kiss coming before it ever happened but was helpless to stop it. His lips slowly caressed hers in an innocent, chaste, closed-lipped touch, then he licked at the seam of her lips. His tongue tempted and enticed like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

  Eat the fruit.

  It’s good fruit.

  You know you want the fruit.

  She took the fruit.

  And Lord have mercy, it was the best fruit she’d ever had. He didn’t plunder or invade her mouth but teased and retreated, then teased some more until everything but the game his tongue played with hers faded into the background.

  “Excuse me,” Derek yelled.

  They didn’t jerk away from each other but lingered for just a beat longer before she turned to her ex. Her kiss-drunk brain worked hard to focus. “Yes, Derek?”