17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Griffin's Beach Hailey
L etting out a deep breath, Hailey walks up to the sliding door and looks into the backyard to see Lex swinging slightly on the swing set wearing her robe and holding a cup of coffee. For the past couple of days, she's wanted to talk to Lex, but one thing or another prevented her from doing so. Including her own cowardice. But she knows without a doubt that every morning, before everyone else wakes up, Lex makes a pot of coffee and sits outside on the swing.
She squares her shoulders and opens the door. The breeze chills her, creating goosebumps along her skin as she walks out and sits beside Lex in her thin pajamas. "Hey."
"Hey. What time is it?" Lex asks.
"Six-thirty."
She chuckles. "You're never out of bed before eight on the weekends. Need to talk to me, huh?"
"You're a difficult woman to find alone."
Turning, Lex's blue eyes crinkle at the edges as she stares at Hailey so intently, she swears the blonde can see into her soul. "You know you can always call or text me. I'll make time for you, Hailey."
As much as Hailey thinks Lex believes that, she knows better. No one in Hailey's life has ever given her the time of day since her mom died. Not without it being forced, which usually comes in the form of getting herself into some type of trouble.
"I know you have a lot going on," she decides to say instead.
"This is about Gavin, isn't it?"
She can't meet Lex's eyes. Her mom died before she was old enough to really start dating. And her stepmom was too self-absorbed to care. The first time Hailey had sex, she desperately wanted someone to talk to, but there was no one. There's no one in the world who seems to really care. Besides Lucas, but she can't talk to him about things like that.
"I just want to be transparent and avoid any issues or whatever."
Lex stops swinging and turns her entire body to face Hailey, the chains twisting as she does so. "Why would there be any issue or whatever?"
"Well, I know Gavin's, like, family or whatever," she says. Stop saying whatever! "And he's normally not even my type, but I like talking to him. Doesn't hurt he's a good kisser."
Laughing, she looks towards the house. "Drifter men usually are. Even if they're not patched in yet. But don't let Colt hear you talking about that."
"Is he going to have an issue if I date Gavin?"
"I think he's going to be fine as long as he doesn't hear any details. He sees you like a daughter, and no father wants to know about their daughter's sex life. My father hears more than enough about mine, but I'm pretty sure Colt does that on purpose."
Eyes wide, her jaw drops. "Colt tells VP about your sex life?"
It's taken a few trivia games with Gavin to learn who the major players in the club are, which turned into a fun time that involved clothing being removed and things being done to please the other. She also knows the main issues Lex has when it comes to her relationship with her father.
"He makes comments. Specifically, about my oral skills."
"That good, huh?"
"If I ever wanted to make a lot of money fast, I could turn to the adult entertainment business," she says and chuckles. "Have you already slept with Gavin?"
Shaking her head, Hailey stares hard at the ground. "We've messed around but not gone all the way."
"But you want to?"
"Well, I mean, yeah."
"It's been a week since I saw him feeling you up on the front porch."
She tilts her head and stares at the blonde. Her eyes are a vibrant blue, but she has large bags beneath her eyes that dull the sparkle. Her skin is pale, and she looks thinner than when they first met. "You didn't seem to have a problem with it."
"I don't, but I know how easy it is to use sex like others use drugs or alcohol. You may escape your problems, but the problems still stick around. They don't just go away."
The nerve of this bitch! Thinking I'm trying to escape my problems. She doesn't know me.
"You think I shouldn't date Gavin, then?"
"I think you should make sure you want to have sex with him for the right reasons. That you care about him and he cares about you. I don't want you to do something because it seems like it'll be good in the moment, but then you regret it later because it didn't have the lasting effect you hoped for."
Balling her hands into fists, Hailey kicks off the ground and swings. "You mean like how you seem to fuck Colt as a coping mechanism to whatever problems you have that keep you from sleeping?"
She braces herself. For a slap. A backhand. A screaming lecture. Instead, Lex just says, "First of all, I'm married. Second, I'm an adult. Colt and I love each other, and it's not something I do to escape my problems. It's a fun, pleasurable interruption to the otherwise constant noise in my head, and it sometimes knocks me out for a couple of hours."
"So you think that if I sleep with Gavin, I'll regret it?"
"I don't know what the two of you have, but I know you haven't had an easy life the past few years, at least. I just want you to be careful, Hailey. The last thing I want is to see you get hurt. I love Gavin, but he's a guy. Guys sometimes struggle to think with more than their dicks."
Relaxing her hands, Hailey plants her feet on the ground to stop the shock. Lex didn't snap at her. She talked back to one of the adult figures in her life, and nothing bad happened. She didn't get a lecture about swearing or disrespecting before getting a beating like Iris or Harold would. It's unfamiliar and out of her comfort zone. It's easier to brace for something terrible than this.
"Gavin says he doesn't sleep with women unless there's a connection. Every woman he's been with has meant something to him."
"I can believe that. Are you on birth control?"
The question wasn't what she expected. "Yeah, I have been on it for a few years for my acne."
"Take it religiously when you decide to get naked with him. And double up. Not taking mine is how we ended up with Noah."
"You didn't plan him?"
Laughing, Lex tells Hailey about Noah's conception. How Colt had been with another woman at the time, but things with the two of them are nothing short of magnetic. It took years afterwards to have Calla, but Lex nearly knocks her off the swing with her next confession.
"Colt and I were separated when Calla was a year old, and I'd even filed for divorce. We had a slip up one night at my new place, and we got pregnant again. I lost the baby, though. I didn't even know I was pregnant until afterwards. We tend to have better luck when we're not together, I guess."
The thought of them almost getting divorced doesn't compute in her head. Out of everyone she's ever met, she's never seen anyone love each other like they do.
"You were separated?" she asks, trying to put the pieces together.
"I'm not going to lie to you. Being with a club member is difficult sometimes. There was a lot of learning and growing we both had to do."
"Both of you?"
She smiles. "I see a little of myself in you, Hailey, which is why I want to make sure you're not using sex as an escape. I'm a runner. When things get hard, I want to take off. Until I got pregnant, I had no reason not to. You seem like you have the same tendencies."
She's not wrong. "Colt had to learn and grow, too?"
"Trust me, you'll understand, dating a club member. It took Colt almost losing his family to see things differently. Now, though, he's the man I've always known he was deep down, and even though it was the toughest route, I'll never regret anything because we got here. But enough about me. I have a few rules for you and Gavin dating."
Of course. "Here we go."
"First, like I said, don't get knocked up. Second, no sex when you're watching the kids. If they catch you and start asking questions, I will make you give them the sex talk. Got it?"
Okay, that's totally fair. "Got it."
"The most important one is that I want you to make sure you feel comfortable talking to Gavin about what you do and don't like. When I was a teenager, I didn't feel like I could or should tell a guy what I liked and didn't. And it was so bad, I never wanted to have sex again."
"I haven't had anything mind blowing when it comes to the actual deed, but the other things haven't been that bad. Mostly with Gavin."
Lex smirks. "I'm also here if you need to talk. I couldn't talk to my mom about sex at your age, but I'm also not your mom. It might be easier."
"I don't know if I would be able to talk to her or not. She was pretty cool, but she also gave birth to me, so I think it might've been weird."
"Speaking of giving birth... Happy birthday."
Her jaw dops. She honestly thought Lex would forget or was only pretending to care around Gavin. "Th-thanks."
The sliding door opens, and Colt steps outside wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a T-shirt. His muscles bulge in the sleeves, and Hailey knows he has a six-pack. No wonder Lex likes getting it on with him. He nods them. "Happy birthday, kid."
Eyes wide, she stares in shock. Lex told Colt? Or did Gavin? "Thanks."
"Did you show her the present yet?"
Lex shakes her head. "Nope. I was waiting for you like we talked about."
"You got me a present?"
"I told you we would. But remember our deal. You didn't want a party, so you have to accept whatever we give you," she says and stands.
Following them inside, Hailey tries to think about what they could have possibly gotten her. It must be something significant, otherwise it wouldn't seem like this big of a deal. Or maybe they're showing her the door and saying she's officially an adult now. She can be on her own and make her own way in life. Iris and Harold would have.
They walk to the front door, and her stomach drops. Colt didn't pack up what little she has and put everything on the porch, did he? "Where... Where are we going?"
Not saying a word, they share a smile and step onto the porch to wait for her. Colt wraps his arm around Lex's shoulder, and she wraps hers around his waist. Where her coffee went, Hailey has no idea, and she hesitates.
She's scared to step outside. Not just because she’s worried they're kicking her out, but because these two people love like no one she's ever met before. As much as she wants to keep her distance from them and everyone else, she can't deny she wants them to want her. If they kick her out, if they tell her she's not worthy of their care and affection, she doesn't know what she'll do. This is exactly why she's never wanted to let people get even remotely close to her other than Lucas.
She steps outside, her heart in her stomach, and she turns to see a car with a giant bow on top. It's not brand new, but it's newer. No rust. "You bought me a car?"
"We're only paying for the first one, so don't total it," Colt says. "Lucas said your favorite color is green, so we picked this one."
They talked to Luke? He knew and didn't say anything?
"Do you like it?" Lex asks, her hand releasing Colt and dangling the key fob from her fingers.
She must've swapped the coffee mug for the key. It's a new enough car to need a fob for a push start. Taking the keys, she feels like crying. "You bought me a car? I can't believe you bought me a car."
"You're eighteen now, and you're going to be heading off to college in the fall. At least, that's what you said you plan to do. You're going to need a way to get around."
Hailey walks down the steps in a daze and opens the car door before sitting inside. It's beautiful. Better than any vehicle her parents ever drove, and she hates the tears stinging her eyes.
Don't cry. Don't you dare cry. Not in front of them.
"Well?" Colt asks, walking up to the open door and leaning on it. "How'd we do?"
"It's amazing," she says, her voice breathless. "It's the most generous thing anyone's ever given me."
"Happy birthday, sweetheart," Lex says. "Now, you said no party, which I can totally respect, but we do birthday breakfasts around here."
"Which means chocolate chip pancakes, even though Lex has a rule against candy for breakfast. And we now have two more birthdays to add to the calendar to eat them every year," Colt says with a wink and taps the top of the car. "Come on inside for breakfast, and then you're free to head out and do whatever kids your age do for fun now."
Swallowing, she nods and climbs out. "Thank you."
Lex just winks at her as they walk inside, and Hailey can't figure out the feeling bubbling in her chest. Whatever it is, it's uncomfortable, and she doesn't much care for it.