Missing Pieces - Chapter 20
Tyler
Monday
"Are you sure this is okay?" Hailey asked. She looked up at me with her big brown eyes.
It didn't really feel okay. But we were kind of out of options. The car wouldn't be ready for us to pick up until tomorrow morning. We were both still soaked. We were in desperate need of a hot shower. And I didn't want her to feel bad about what had happened.
"Yeah, we were close in college. We lost touch, but I'm sure he'll be happy to see me.
" Fat chance. I grabbed her duffel bag out of her hand and walked toward the front door.
I knew that Josh was doing well, but I hadn't been expecting this.
His place looked like a Spanish villa. He had started an e-commerce business after graduation and it had exploded in a matter of months.
He was probably the richest person from our class.
"Well, did you at least tell him we were coming?" she said as she followed me up the sidewalk.
"No. I think it's probably better this way." I pressed the doorbell and took a step back.
"Why would it be better like this?"
Luckily I didn't need to answer her question, because just at that moment, Josh opened the door. "Tyler Stevens." A smile spread across his face.
I was a little surprised. I was expecting more of a punch in the face, not a smile. "Great to see you too, Josh," I said. I stuck out my hand for him.
Instead of shaking my hand, he folded his arms across his chest. "Rumor has it that you're fucking my ex."
And there it is. I laughed awkwardly. "It's not what you think, we both..."
He laughed. "I'm just messing with you. You should have seen your face. I don't really care, man. We broke up forever ago." His smile was back again. "I'm just glad to see that you're finally over Penny." He stepped forward and slapped me on the back. "Who's your friend?"
"Hailey," she said and stuck out her hand before I could say anything.
"Nice to meet you, Hailey." He shook her hand and held on to it for way longer than he should have. She looked a little uncomfortable from the exchange.
"So, we were just passing through and got in a little accident during the storm," I said. "Apparently there's some music festival and all the hotels are full. I was hoping..."
"Say no more. Come on in." Josh put his hand on the inside of Hailey's wrist and guided her inside.
I clenched my fist by my side. I knew what Josh was doing. I had been his wingman enough in college to know his moves. Despite what he said, he was clearly pissed that I had been dating his ex. Now he was trying to screw me over. Fuck this.
"Your place is seriously amazing," Hailey said as she looked around the foyer.
And she was right. Everything was modern and sleek and spotless.
"Thanks," Josh said with a smile. "I have one guest room. Are you fine with staying on the couch, Tyler?"
I slipped my hand behind Hailey's back, trying to take control of the situation. "Hails and I can share a room, it's fine."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, man. How long are you guys gonna be staying?"
"Just the night."
"Then we are definitely going out," said Josh.
"I don't know if..." I started.
"That sounds great," Hailey said.
Josh smiled. "There's a bathroom connected to the guest room. How about you two go get out of those wet clothes. Maybe we can leave in thirty? Dinner and drinks on me."
"Thanks. That's really generous," Hailey said.
But it wasn't really generous. He just wanted to show off how well he was doing.
He had always seen women as a conquest. And I knew that's how he was looking at Hailey.
I was surprised by how much it bothered me.
Hails and I weren't a couple. We were friends who had just slept together.
We hadn't talked about what that meant. But she was also the sexiest girl I had ever laid my hands on.
She was strong willed and stubborn and so fucking gorgeous.
"I'm actually going to take you up on that hot shower, I'm freezing," she said with a smile.
"Let me show you to your room, then," Josh said. The two of them walked ahead of me. They laughed about something that I couldn't hear as they made their way up the stairs.
I tried to stay calm as I followed them.
The balcony upstairs looked out over his enormous family room. It was just as modern looking as the rest of the house. Josh opened up one of the doors in the long hallway and stepped aside.
"Thank you," Hailey said. "It's so nice of you to let us stay the night."
"Of course. Anything for Tyler," Josh said and clapped me on the back. He smiled at me. "I'll leave you guys to it. There's clean towels in the bathroom closet. Just let me know if you need anything else."
"This place is seriously amazing," Hailey said as I closed the door. "You didn't mention that your friend was rich." She ran her fingers across the pristine white comforter on the bed.
"I didn't think it mattered."
She gave me a weird look. "It doesn't. I was just making an observation."
I wasn't sure what I was so pissed off about.
Josh flirted with everyone. I'm sure he didn't actually mean anything by it.
And Hailey wasn't exactly flirting back.
I sighed. Honestly, I did know why I was upset.
It was because no matter how much I knew it wasn't true, there was always something nagging me in the back of my head.
That suspicion that Penny hadn't chosen me because I wasn't rich like her husband.
And I knew it was ridiculous. Penny wasn't a gold digger.
I knew it was about more than that. But the issue of money was something that I could focus on instead of the fact that she just didn't like me for me.
And it wasn't like I didn't have any money.
I was doing fine for myself. I had money in the bank.
But I certainly wasn't rich. And I'd never be as rich as Penny's husband.
"Hey," Hailey said and put her hand on the center of my chest. "How about you come take a shower with me?" She raised both her eyebrows in the cutest way possible.
I wasn't even sure why I was thinking about Penny. I should have been focused on what was right in front of me. Why couldn't I let this go? Hailey deserved more than that. "I'm actually just going to change into dry clothes."
"Yeah, of course." She moved her hand off of me and laughed awkwardly. "No big. Just thought it would be good to save some water, that's all. Forget I even mentioned it." She grabbed her duffel bag out of my hand.
The last thing I wanted to do was upset her. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to me. "It's just a rain check, Hails."
She smiled. She looked even more beautiful when she smiled.
I placed a soft kiss against her lips.
"I'm going to hold you to that, Tyler Stevens."
I watched her walk into the bathroom and close the door behind her.
I quickly changed and walked back into the hall.
I wanted to clear the air between Josh and me.
He had been one of my best friends in school and I felt guilty about losing touch with him.
It felt like I was busy all the time when I was in New York.
But what the hell was I actually doing? I should have at least invited him to come visit.
Even more than that, I felt guilty about dating his ex.
It shouldn't have really mattered, but it did. I was the ass here, not him.
I looked out over the balcony. Josh was sitting on the couch in the living room. I made my way down the stairs and walked over to the couch. "It's really good to see you, man," I said to him.
He nodded. "Tonight's going to be awesome. It'll be like we're back in school again."
I laughed as I sat down beside him on the couch. "The good old days?"
"Something like that. So what are you doing here, Tyler?".
"My car ran off..."
"No. I mean, what are you doing here? I haven't heard from you in over a year. Why didn't you tell me you were coming to Texas?"
"I didn't really know until a few days ago."
"Does this have anything to do with Penny tying the knot?"
"I figured you had heard about it."
"Yeah, I don't exactly live under a rock." He gestured to his enormous living room.
"Your business must be booming."
"It is." He stared at me for a second. "Dude, I don't get it. What the hell were you thinking shacking up with Melissa? I mean, Penny's best friend of all people? You had to have known that it wouldn't end well. Especially since you were still clearly hung up on Penny."
"I don't know. Melissa and I have been friends for just as long. It just turned into something more. Neither of us meant for it to happen. I hope there's no hard feelings."
"Besides for the fact that you broke bro-code by banging my ex and cut me out of your life when I moved here? No, no hard feelings." He smiled.
I laughed. "It wasn't intentional."
"Well that's good to know. We're supposed to be brothers, man. It would be nice if you'd give me a call when you start fucking my ex. That's all I'm asking."
"Next time I'll be sure to do that," I said with a laugh.
"It's not really that funny. How is she, by the way?"
"She's waiting to hear back from a bunch of law schools."
"I'm sure she'll get in. That girl knows how to win an argument." Josh laughed. "Ugh. Do you sometimes miss it?"
"Miss what?"
"College? When everything was simple. And we all lived close together instead of spread out all over the country."
College had been simple for me. Until I met Penny.
She had slammed into my life full force senior year and disappeared just as quickly as she had come.
Honestly, she had probably brought me more pain than joy.
But some of those moments with her had been the highlight of my college experience.
That was the problem. I kind of stopped living after I met her.
"I don't miss the tests. But I do miss hanging out with you all the time. "
"I have an idea."
"And what's that?"
"Come work with me. Hell, you could actually do it anywhere, you wouldn't actually have to move here. It's all online. But we'd get to hang out again."
"As appealing as that sounds, I can't."
"Oh, right. How's your job going? Business analyst, right?"
I shook my head. "I quit."
Josh laughed. "Not great then. So why can't you come work with me? Really, I'll beat whatever salary you had."
"No, it's not that." I hadn't said this out loud to anyone but my mom. And she hadn't taken it well. "I joined the Marine Corps."
Josh laughed.
"No, I'm serious. I'm driving to basic training."
He just stared at me. "Why the fuck would you do that?"
"I want to make a difference. I want to do something I can be proud of. And I couldn't stay in New York. Not after what happened. Penny was the only reason why I was there."
"Damn." He shook his head. "So you only have a few days of freedom left?"
"That's one way to put it."
"I'm sorry, man."
"I'm not. I don't regret it."
"Still. What does that mean for you and Hailey? Does she know?"
"No, she doesn't know." She doesn't need to know.
"She just needed a ride to Pasadena and I was heading out to California anyway.
We're just...friends." It wasn't really true.
To me we were way more than that. But our time was limited.
It wasn't like I was going to ask her to put her life on hold for three years when I had only known her a few days. It was what it was.
"Oh. Sharing a bed type of friends?" He smiled.
I laughed. "Can you blame me?"
"No, she's fucking hot."
"Yeah. She is." I felt bad agreeing to that. Because it was so much more than just her looks that attracted me to her. But it wasn't like I was going to say, "No, Josh, I love her personality." He had already given me enough shit in college for being hung up on Penny.
"So how is she in the sack? Better than that torch you're holding?"
I laughed. Josh was right. I had been holding a torch for Penny ever since we had slept together. But I wasn't sure I needed to anymore. "Hails is definitely a ten in bed."