by Haley Travis
“Dude, where the hell have you been?” he said by way of greeting.
“Good morning, and how are you?” I said with a dramatic eye roll that made him grin.
“You’re not allowed to be the bratty little brother. We already have one of those.”
“Hey – middle children are allowed to be brats once in a while,” I pouted.
“Fine. Whatever. Just tell me you’ve started to pack already.”
I could hear drawers and bowls being moved around in the kitchen, and didn’t want to leave Hayden there on her own for too long. Turning down Julian’s offer was going to be a lengthy conversation, so I decided not to have it yet.
“We can discuss it later this week,” I said. “Is there some sort of emergency?”
“Not an emergency, no,” he said slowly, tapping his pen on his enormous walnut desk.
He always had his offices set up like some old-fashioned villain lair, and I had to admit, it always looked incredible. “I was just wondering why you had engaged Toby’s services last week?”
Dammit .
“It was a small side project for a friend,” I said, attempting to look nonchalant.
“You know he doesn’t come cheap.”
“I’ll pay for it out of my own pocket.”
Julian waved his hand. “That’s not the point and you know it. I just want to make sure everything’s all right.”
Maybe if he realized how personal this was, he wouldn’t worry about the resources being used. “A friend was having issues with a stalker, and I needed to have him properly checked out so I knew what I was up against,” I said quickly. “It’s mostly resolved now.”
My brother’s face turned sour. “I see. Well, you know how I feel about stalkers. If you want to really put the boots to the bastard, use everything we’ve got.”
“I’m finding some creative, subtle ways to make the necessary points. But thank you. I appreciate it.”
“You know you’re the absolute best at getting in and out of systems undetected,” Julian laughed. “Hell, you could probably just drop a criminal level of speeding tickets on him.”
“Although that’s certainly an amusing thought, you know I don’t break the law,” I said.
“Of course you don’t break it,” he said, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head. “You just bend it and bend it until it’s weak, then someone else steps in to snap it.”
“Knock it off.”
Julian chuckled. “Just as long as my best security tech ends up here in Nevada on the seventeenth.”
“I told you. I’ll give you my decision next week.”
“You’re moving here, and that’s the end of it,” he said flatly.
I stared into the eyes that were annoyingly similar to my own. “This isn’t peewee soccer. You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”
“You’re working for my company, and I need my head of semi-underground security tech here.”
“This is my division of the company, and I told you we will discuss it later.”
“I get it,” Julian said, nodding. “If you just need another week or something to finish up that stalker situation, or tie up a few loose details, I understand. Just get back to me as soon as you can.”
He ended the call, and before I could even snap my laptop shot, there was a tiny sound in the hallway.
“Hayden?”
She stepped into view, holding a coffee mug with shaking hands.
I darted over to take it from her and set it on the shelf. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Her bottom lip was trembling. “You’re moving away?”
“No. I was undecided, but now—”
She was already gone, the door of the guest room shut behind her. I could hear her throwing things into her bag.
“Hayden, it wasn’t finalized,” I said as gently as possible while projecting my voice through the door. “That was an idea my brother and I were tossing around before I met you. But now there’s no way I’m leaving. How could—”
She flung open the door, dressed, with her bag in hand. “Stalker situation? Security company? Semi-underground something? Is that how you’re planning to take care of Craig?”
“You told me not to confront him. But I had to check into his background and make sure he wasn’t even more dangerous.” I couldn’t stand the venom in her eyes. “Please, Hayden, can we talk about this?”
“You’re blocking the door.”
As much as I needed to reach for her, I couldn’t let her feel trapped for even one second. Jumping back against the wall, she stomped down the stairs, then pulled out her phone. “What’s the address here so that I can call a cab?”
“At least let me drive you. Please.”
Hayden’s bottom lip wobbled, and she began to blink too quickly.
Dammit. I’d made the love of my life cry. It was shocking how much that hurt. I’d been joking before about how it caused me pain when she was upset. Now that it was actually happening, it wasn’t in my side. It was in the center of my chest.
“What if I promise not to speak?” I asked quickly. “That way we don’t have to talk about it right now, but I’ll know that you’ve gotten home safely.”
She stared down at her feet for a moment. “Okay.”
We slipped on our shoes in silence, and I grabbed my keys.
Even though the drive was awkward, I was happy that she let me escort her.
At first Hayden sat stiffly with her duffel bag on her lap, but eventually she dropped it to the floor, turning to stare out the window. I turned the music on very softly to a classical station, hoping that would help her chill out.
When we paused for a red light, I glanced at my phone, pretending that I was checking my texts. Keeping the screen carefully angled away from her, I saw that the red blip of Craig’s car was parked right in front of her building.
When we pulled up in front, it broke my heart to see her shudder at the sight of the old black car.
“May I walk you to the door, and give you a hug so that he doesn’t get any ideas?” I asked.
Her mouth tightened as she stared down at her hands for a second. “Okay.”
I ran around to open her door and carry her bag. As we got to the lobby, Hayden gave me a quick hug, whispering, “You got those skateboarders to put a tracker on his car, didn’t you?”
Maybe I should have kept that a secret, but I didn’t want to lie. “Yes. Do you want me to put the app on your phone so you know where he is?”
Her head jerked back, a horrified expression on her face. “ No! ”
She took her bag from me, as I reached out to tuck her hair back, giving her a tiny kiss on the forehead. “When you’re ready, baby, let’s talk.”
“You didn’t just want to play my fake boyfriend to make Craig go away. You were fake about everything.”
“Hayden – you know that’s not true.”
She shook her head. “It sounds like you’re supposed to go to Nevada. Well, I’m not going to be the one to mess up your plans.”
“Are you nuts?” I said too loudly, making her jump. “Sorry, but Hayden…you are my plans now. There’s no way I’m moving to another city.”
She shuffled uncomfortably. “For the record, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just thought it would be nice to bring you a coffee. But it sounded like he’s your boss.”
“I appreciated the coffee. But he’s also my brother, and he can suck it up.”
Those lovely wide eyes blinked hard, then she shook her head. “I can’t do this right now.” She went into the building and I waited until she was walking up the stairs to turn away.
Since it didn’t seem like she could possibly get any angrier with me, I walked over to the driver side door of Craig’s car. The terror in his eyes when he looked up at me was almost comical. Glaring daggers, I simply snapped my fingers and pointed for him to get lost.
He started the car and drove away, as I stood waiting until he was out of sight.
I got into my car, using the tracker to make sure that I drove off in a different direction. Pulling into a parking lot, I waited.
Sure enough, he was back in front of her building in five minutes.
I drove back, pulled up beside him again, and this time he took off like a shot the second he saw my face.
Waiting in the same parking lot, this time it was twenty minutes before he circled back. But the second I returned again and pulled up behind him, he took off.
After playing cat and mouse like this for about an hour, he actually drove away and stayed away. Following him at a reasonable distance, I watched as he pulled into a subdivision, then parked in front of a townhouse where an older woman was gardening out front.
It was the home address I had on record for him, but it was good to confirm it.
And wow. He actually lived with his mother. Probably in the basement.
If there’s one thing that I’d learned in security, some people will crumble like an eggshell if you threaten to tell their mommy on them.
By the time I got home, my stomach was churning. It didn’t help that in the kitchen I saw that Hayden had begun to make us breakfast smoothies, and chopped up vegetables for something.
I didn’t know how I was going to fix this. It was unnerving to see her so angry.
It added another layer of awkwardness, knowing that in order to prove myself to her and get rid of the Craig issue once and for all, I was going to have to break my promise of not confronting him.
It was going to be extremely tricky to convince her that we belonged together while breaking my word, and cornering her long enough to have a proper conversation about this.
Chapter 15
_____
Hayden
The second I was safely in my apartment with the door locked, I threw myself across the bed and sobbed. I cried so hard and for so long that I made myself dizzy and nearly forgot what I was crying about.
Then I grabbed some tissues and tried to breathe. How could Leif not have told me that he was moving? Or at least, was supposed to? That was a pretty big deal.
There was no way he should decide to stay here on my account. And certainly not with a deadline to make his decision of just a few weeks. It was ludicrous.
I’d never felt so absolutely wounded before. Yet I refused to waste the entire day crying about a man.
Even a gorgeous, sweet, sexy man who had made me feel more in one very long weekend than I had ever felt in my entire life.
Forcing myself to dry my eyes, I got up and made a sandwich, then sat on the couch with my laptop.
One of my dreams was to become a writer for the magazine someday, but that began with finishing my last classes. Well, time to get cracking.
By the time I went to bed, I’d finished the first draft of my paper, and completed the last two modules of my course.
I’d have to double check my work tomorrow. I didn’t trust myself in this mental state to have done a good job. Crawling into bed, I knew I wasn’t going to sleep well, even though I’d hoped to exhaust myself so that I would.
It was ridiculous that I already missed sleeping with Leif. How sad that last night was the best sleep of my life, and I might not ever see him again.
Tossing and turning, with the sheets tangled around me, there was no way to tell if I was overreacting. But from what little I knew about relationships, lying was pretty massive.
A tiny voice in the back of my mind kept whispering, “It wasn’t lying, it was just neglecting to tell you something right away. Maybe he was just waiting.”
That sounded l ike an excuse to me, but of course I wanted to make excuses for him. He was incredible in every possible way. That could be why I was so fearful. How could a girl like me possibly hope to keep a guy like him for the long run?
Sleep finally found me, and I woke up to a beeping alarm.
Knowing what I was going to have to face today, I put on one of my nicest outfits, and took some extra time doing my hair and make up. Not only was it going to be very busy at work since we had had Friday off, but also I was going to have to deal with Craig at some point. I just didn’t know what I was going to do about it.
I used Leif’s trick of going out to the back door, but peaked around the edge of the building. Sure enough, Craig’s car was out front.
And by the time I got to work, he was already there.
I was used to seeing his car parked a few buildings away every day as I walked into the office. Today he was parked right out front, and was actually standing outside, leaning against the brick wall of my building.
Even though I didn’t really want to admit it, maybe Leif was right. Maybe confronting him would get a better result than simple avoidance. Especially since that hadn’t been working for the past month. And recently he was getting braver and coming closer.
I walked up to him, standing on his other side, away from the door. I certainly didn’t want my coworkers to hear any of this.
As always, Craig was wearing black suit pants and a dark blue button down shirt. It was like his uniform. On our one coffee chat, he said that a man needed to dress so that he’d be ready for anything. At the time I wondered if he was being clever, but now I knew he was simply a loser who always stuck with the same thing because he was uncreative.
Now that I took a closer look, I realized how desperate he was. Always trying to impress people. Like his so-called classic car, which, more likely, was the only one he could afford. I would never judge a man for wearing cheap shoes, but it didn’t sit well when he was trying to put on airs.
“Hey, pretty lady,” he drawled. “Are you finally ready to talk to me?”
“No. I need you to listen.” His eyes widened at my unmistakably annoyed tone of voice. “If I ever catch you hovering around me again, I’m calling the police.”
His smug smile made me want to slap him. But then he came closer, placing his hands on the wall on either side of my ears, completely caging me in.
He leaned in, his breath seeming to steal my air. “Really? What kind of mark will you get in your French class if you’ve sent the department head’s son to jail?”
My heart raced like a rabbit as my vision began to swim.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. If I screamed, would my coworkers hear me? Probably not, through two sets of glass doors.
Craig’s hand lowered to my shoulder, as his thumb brushed along my throat. “We’re going to be so good together, Hayden.”
My eyes shut as I wished I could cringe even farther away. My pounding pulse was choking me. His breath on my face was nauseating, and I needed oxygen. Everything was too hot as my stomach clenched.
There was a slight whoosh of air, then his hand was gone.
Snapping my eyes open, I saw Leif’s huge frame. He had Craig’s arm pinned behind his back, his face pressed against the brick.
“You will never threaten her again,” Leif said quietly, his deep voice surprisingly calm. “You will never speak to her again.”
Craig responded with a slight grunt, as Leif tightened his grip on his arm.
Then Leif’s eyes met mine. “He’s completely bluffing. He hasn’t spoken to his father in years. He lives with his mother. She was the one who pulled a bunch of strings to get him into university. However, there’s one requirement.”
I glanced to see Craig’s eyes widen in absolute shock.
“He already has flags on his transcript for harassing women. With one phone call, you can make sure that he is banned from every notable school in the country.”
“No, wait.” Craig whined. “I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”
Leif brought his mouth closer to Craig’s ear, practically growling. “I’m one of the department heads of a security company, Craig Landers who lives at 427 Roseheath Ave. I could be the one to make the call. I could make an official report, and submit it to both the university and your mother. Both would likely kick you out. Shall I go on?”
Since Craig wasn�
��t able to shake his head, he simply whispered, “No.”
“If you ever happen to see Hayden again, you drive in the opposite direction immediately. If you’re in a movie theatre and she enters, you get up and leave. You don’t speak to her. You don’t look directly at her. She should never be aware of your presence again. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he whined pitifully.
“I’ll be watching your every move,” Leif snarled. I didn’t even feel bad as Leif ground Craig’s face against the rough brick just a bit before releasing him. “Now run.”
