Page 24

O pening the door, I let myself into my house. My nose crinkles from the slightly musty smell permeating the air.

I guess that’s what I get for abandoning my place for weeks on end.

Sighing, I toss my keys down on the end table and walk through the house. There’s a stillness, a quietness that I’m not used to anymore thanks to spending all my time at the clubhouse. There’s always someone around, doing something.

In a way, it doesn’t even feel like home anymore. I used to love these four walls and the peace they gave me, but a crazy man took that all away from me in the blink of an eye.

Clitus Waters.

God, I haven’t thought of that guy in years, outside of the random time I would see him around town. Yet for some reason, he was hooked on me.

Stalking me.

It just doesn’t make sense.

Grabbing a disinfectant wipe from under the kitchen sink, I start to wipe down the counters. As I clean, my mind tries to make sense of everything. Hayes found out that Clitus and Phillip knew each other and talked. His personal opinion is that Phillip inadvertently told Clitus things about me over time. What I was doing. Where I worked. If I was seeing anyone. Just simple everyday things that wouldn’t have tipped Phillip off about his level of crazy, but for some reason, I think Hayes is wrong. Laura isn’t the type to openly talk about someone to another person. Least of all me to her brother.

Phillip avoided me at all costs because of Hayes. Why would he know anything about my life? I’m sure if he didn’t want to see me, he likely didn’t want to hear about me either.

It just doesn’t make sense.

Grabbing another wipe and more cleaning supplies, I head down the hall to my bathroom and get to work. I cringe when I see the hard water stain in the toilet bowl from the water sitting there too long.

Motherfucker that’s going to be a bitch to get off. I dump some cleaner into the toilet before shutting the lid. After wiping off the counters, my mind is still stuck on Phillip and Clitus.

I have to be missing something.

Phillip’s body was never found. Could Clitus have been the one to have gotten rid of him? Were we wrong about it being related to his blackmailing scheme?

Ditching the cleaning, I go into my bedroom and head for my closet. I grab the three-step step stool and grab a box off the top shelf before making my way down. I walk over to the bed and sit down, removing the lid. Something about my room feels off, making me frown. I look around and see nothing out of place.

You’re paranoid, Bailey.

Sighing, I shake my head and look back in the box. Right on top is our old high school yearbook.

Perfect.

I know I should open the yearbook and start looking, but I set it to the side. My heart catches when I see a stack of old photos of Hayes and me starting in kindergarten and working our way up.

I can’t help but laugh when I see a photo of the both of us taken in probably the second grade. We are both missing all four front teeth. I can remember that time vividly. It was a pain in the ass to take a bite out of anything until our teeth started to grow in.

Over the years, the gap between our bodies in the photos got smaller and smaller until we were pressed up tight against each other.

Man, we looked so happy. Looking at a picture from prom our junior year, I shake my head. That girl had no idea that he would leave her high and dry almost a year later. That the boy who had turned into a man and had always been there when she needed him would disappear for years.

She wouldn’t be prepared for the heartbreak of losing him. It would nearly destroy her.

She also wouldn’t know how he came back into her life many years later repairing all the damage he’d done. He’s being her Hayes again.

As much as thinking back about the years Hayes was gone hurts, I know we needed that time to come into who we are as individuals. Because if we hadn’t, who knows if we would have made it to where we are now.

And I fucking love being with him now.

I love being his old lady and having his name on my cut.

I drop the photos back into the box and pick up the discarded yearbook.

It’s time to get back to work.

With the book in my left hand, I open the back cover and see the notes from old schoolmates, wishing me a happy future, but I only have one note in mind. When I see his chicken scratch, I smile and run my hand over his writing.

God, I hope it’s gotten better over time, even though I seriously doubt it has.

Bails,

You’ll always be my girl. You and me forever. Let’s ditch this popsicle stand and never look back.

Hayes

I chuckle. Seriously, couldn’t he have come up with something a little more heartfelt? Hell, creative even?

Sighing, I flip to the front of the book and search for the freshman class. I find it easily, and sure enough, Phillip and Clitus were in the same class. Then I start looking through the club and sports photos.

Nothing.

Not a single photo of them together or even in the same frame.

No signs that they were friends.

The longer I’m in my room, the more off it feels. It feels almost as if someone is here or someone is watching me, which doesn’t make any sense.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I drop the book onto my bed and walk toward my window and look outside. No one is here. The street is quiet as always. Pushing my discomfort out of the way, I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head.

I just don’t see it.

Am I overthinking it?

The Clitus I remember and the Phillip I know have nothing in common and wouldn’t be friends.

I’m missing something. I’m sure of it.

A door opening has my body going on full alert.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I left my phone in the kitchen, and someone’s here.

Rushing over to my bed, I drop to the floor and pull out a baseball bat with a sock on the thick end.

I can do this.

Standing, I cock the bat back and quietly make my way through the house.

A shadow crosses the floor in the living room. Someone’s walking my way from the kitchen. I adjust my stance, so my feet are shoulder-width apart, and I prepare to swing at whoever has the audacity to break in on me.

One.

Two.

Three.

“Eat shit and die!” I yell as I swing.

“What the fuck, Bailey!” I yell as I catch the bat in my hand before it can connect with my ribs.

“Hayes?” she asks, as she peeks her head around the corner of the wall.

“Who the fuck else would it be?” I ask as I take the bat from her hand.

“I don’t know.”

“Why the hell does your baseball bat have a sock on it?”

“Because, smartass, if someone tries to grab it, I can just pull it away and still have a way to protect myself.”

I scoff, shaking my head. “Maybe that’s good in theory, but it sure as shit didn’t work.”

“It would have worked if I didn’t give it to you.”

Right…

“If you need to protect yourself, I think you need something more than a goddamn bat.”

The woman just had a fucking stalker for crying out loud. A bat wouldn’t have done shit if he really wanted her.

“I have a gun. I just couldn’t get to it.”

I cross my arms over my chest and stare at the woman like she has two heads. “You have a gun?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how to use it?”

Bailey growls as she tosses up her hands. “Of course I know how to use it. I had to use one to pass my PI exam.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. The idea of her with a gun is terrifying. How she hasn’t killed anyone is beyond me.

“Where is this gun, Bails?”

“Over here.” She walks over to her table by her front door and opens the doors on the front. She removes a gun box from the shelf and places her finger over the scanner. When it clicks open, she reaches out and pulls out a Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum Revolver.

“Jesus fuck!” I yell as I reach for it. “Hand it over, baby.”

Bailey frowns. “Why are you so jumpy?”

“I don’t know, maybe because the love of my life has a gun that’s about as big as she is and was just waving it through the air without checking to see if it’s loaded or anything first.”

“Why would I look when I already know it’s loaded?”

Groaning, I open the cylinder and drop the bullets into my palm before placing it back in the small of my back. “You can have this back when I know for a fact that you can shoot it.”

“You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“Can you even shoot that thing and hit a target?”

Bailey reaches back into the box and pulls out a folded-up piece of paper. She unfolds it and shows me it’s a silhouette target, with the crotch completely shot out.

“What, like it’s hard?” she says, batting her eyelashes.

“I swear to God, you are going to kill me one of these days.”

“Then I’ll trade you in for a newer, younger model. Now what are you doing here?” she asks as she picks up a sucker from the candy dish and unwraps it.

I watch as she pops it between her lips.

I have something else she can put between those two pillows…

“Hayes, get your mind out of the gutter.” She snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Now tell me, what are you doing here?”

“I thought that maybe my old lady would like to go on a date with me.”

She perks up. “You wanna go on a date? With me?”

“Well, who the hell else would I go on a date with? Loyal? Fang?”

She rolls her eyes. “No need to get sassy. What did you have in mind?”

“I was going to leave it up to you.”

A devious smile crosses her face.

Shit. I said the wrong thing.

It’s confirmed when twenty minutes later, I’m pulling my bike in front of the nail salon.

“Do I have to?” I ask her.

She pulls me inside, ignoring my pleas for mercy. She talks to the person at the front for a moment before we are led to two chairs. She pushes me into one before taking the one next to it. The lady from the front starts the water, pointing at it.

“Feet in.”

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” I mutter as I put my feet into the water.

“Oh, stop your whining. In about two minutes, you’re going to be hooked and begging me to do this with you all the time,” she says as she gets into the chair next to mine.

“Getting pedicures was not what I had in mind for a date.”

“If you stop complaining, we can stop somewhere and get a steak on the way home,” she says as she presses a few buttons on the arm of her chair. Her chair begins to vibrate, making her groan.

“New rule, no sex noises in public,” I say quietly.

“Don’t tell me how to live my life,” she quips.

I look down and press a few buttons. Instantly the chair turns on, massaging my back.

Holy shit.

“Feels good, right?” she says a little too smugly.

Before I can tell her to knock it off or I’ll turn her over my knee, someone brings us each a glass of champagne to sip on while we wait.

With a way too bubbly drink that tastes like shit in hand, I close my eyes and relax. I never understood why women like coming to nail salons, but now I get it.

I feel someone touch my leg, and I open my eyes. It’s a little old woman who looks like she needs help sitting on the stool in front of me.

I frown. “Can I help you?”

Wordlessly, she grabs my foot and starts muttering.

I open my mouth to say something, but Bailey cuts me off. “Just let it happen.”

“But should she be doing this?” I ask quietly.

Bailey rolls her eyes. “Just wait.”

“Wait for what? Her to die of natural causes right in front of me?”

The woman presses her thumbs into the arch of my foot, making me squeal in equal parts pain and pleasure.

Bailey tosses her head back and laughs.

Laughs.

“Good to know that you don’t react to me being tortured,” I mutter.

“Stop being a baby and enjoy.” She sighs when the person working on her foot starts to massage it.

How she ended up with the sweet-looking younger worker while I ended up with the grandma who probably throws shoes at people when she’s pissed off, I’ll never know. But I’ll sit my ass in this chair and submit to the torture if it makes the woman next to me happy.

Especially when I have a steak promised to me at the end.

The pedicure goes by with Bailey teasing me the entire time. I let her get away with it, though. She’s so happy that I would do just about anything to keep that smile on her face.

As we walk out of the nail salon hand in hand, I pull her into my side. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into these things.”

She beams up at me. “You love me.”

“Fuck yeah, I do.”

“Good, because I’ll let you in on a secret. I love you too.”

I’m so glad that she does because I wouldn’t be who I am without her.

Bailey Watts makes me a better man.