Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
HAYDEN
There were millions of thoughts running through my head. One of them was having me see red. The nerve of that fucking guy. The whole world thought he was a hero because he did a lot of good deeds. Well, I knew the truth. He was a phony.
A big fat, hot-as-hell phony.
Yeah, I might have a problem here.
I wanted to march over to Marsha’s office and refuse to do this story. To tell her that he’s nothing but a fake and I wouldn’t want to put someone like that out into the world under my name.
She would ask why, then I would have to explain that he was everything to me once upon a time. But now? Now I couldn’t wait to shove him aside for another however many years it took to get him back out of my mind.
If only he ever left it to begin with.
On the outside, he was the textbook definition of a good guy. He was always like that. It was what made me fall in love with him to begin with. Colt was always helping others, and putting himself before anybody else. However, after reconnecting and interacting with him for a few minutes, I could see that he was nothing like he portrayed to the world anymore.
He should have let me tell my side of the story instead of just relying on speculation. No, instead, he believed the rumor that I would sleep with someone he hated. Then he threw our friendship and almost-relationship away like it was nothing.
Well, screw him.
Instead of dwelling on what could or could not be, or to overanalyze my feelings or not-feelings for Colt Beckett, I decided instead, to reach out to someone I hadn’t seen in a very long time. She should know the answers to my problems. Or at least, I had hoped so.
When she answered the video call, a big grin took over my face. It was nice to see somebody familiar.
“Hey, Hayden! How are you?”
My old college friend, Jayde, seemed happy to see me. “I’m good, Jayde, how are you?”
She shrugged and looked around the room. “Busy as always. I’m sure you know how it is.”
I met Jayde in college when we were studying journalism together. We were both nervous freshmen and we clicked right away. Sadly, she lived down in South Carolina near Charleston and I was just outside of Asheville, North Carolina, so we didn’t see each other as much anymore.
“Of course. The news never stops, right?”
She nodded, and pushed her chocolate brown hair behind her ear. “Absolutely. So, what’s up?”
“Well, I have this issue that I thought maybe you could help me with.”
“Shoot.”
“I have to write a story about this guy who is kind of a local celebrity. He’s done a lot of good in the community, and everyone loves him. My editor picked me to write this bit and if I do well, she may just make me assistant editor. It’s something I’ve wanted for years.”
Jayde listened intently as I spoke, nodding along the way. “So, what’s the problem?”
“Well, he and I have a…history. And it wasn’t very good. He said he didn’t trust me to write the story because of said history.”
Jayde tilted her head to the side, a confused expression on her face. “What? Why? What kind of history are we talking about?”
This was something I had never really spoken about to anyone other than my mom. Since I had spent the past several years throwing myself into my work, I had very little time to make any friends outside of Dennis. “Long story short, I was in love with him. He was someone I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Then, well, then he kind of threw that away when he accused me of sleeping with his enemy. Then everything went to hell really fast.”
Jayde nodded then her head snapped up when somebody started talking to her. She smiled, and I swore I saw her cheeks turn a shade of pink, then she returned her gaze down to the phone.
“Maybe you should talk to him and see what’s going on. Maybe you should see if the misunderstanding can be cleared up.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Suddenly, the phone was taken out of her hand and the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life filled the small screen. He had a few tattoos covering the side of his neck, and a head full of dark hair that looked like he ran his fingers through it one too many times. I blushed so fiercely, and prayed he didn’t catch on. I didn’t want Jayde thinking I was lusting after her man.
“What Jayde said. The guy sounds like a dick for thinking what he thought without the proof to back it up.”
“You would know, Zac, since you’re the poster child for being a dick sometimes,” Jayde shouted in the background.
Zac smirked then turned away from the phone and looked over at her with a piercing gaze. “You’ll pay for that remark, baby girl. Just wait until we’re back home later.”
I heard her gasp. “I said sometimes!”
Okay, this was turning down a different path. I sighed and said, “Maybe you’re right. I’ll talk to him.”
Zac handed Jayde back the phone and she nodded. “Sounds good. Let me know how it goes.”
“Will do. See you later.”
Jayde said something about needing to come see me before we said our goodbyes and disconnected the call. From the look on her face, it looked like she was very much looking forward to her “punishment.” I knew that look from anywhere. That was the look of someone in love or serious lust.
My mom walked into the living room where I was sitting and settled in next to me, her scrubs making a crackling sound as she did. “You’re home early.”
“The next nurse showed up for their shift a little earlier than expected, so I finished up with my final patient and left.”
“Dad wasn’t late for once? Shocker.”
We both laughed. My parents were both nurses and worked very hard for their jobs. Mom was studying to become a Nurse Practitioner and Dad wanted to become a Medical Doctor. Both of them with high-paying careers were an inspiration for my own life. As for me, I hoped to start my own newspaper or magazine someday.
“Yeah, he even brought us dinner so I wouldn’t have to stop on my way home.” I looked into the kitchen and saw the giant takeout bag from our favorite restaurant sitting there.
Squealing in excitement, I hopped off the couch and ran into the kitchen. “After the day I had, I need some greasy food.”
“What happened? Wait, hold that thought. Let me go change out of these scrubs then you can tell me.” Mom disappeared up the stairs, and then a few minutes later, came back down dressed in leggings and a tee-shirt with her hair up in a messy bun. She sat down at the kitchen table as we pulled out Chinese food containers.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Marsha really liked my hurricane preparedness article, but when I turned it into her, she gave me another assignment.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Normally, yes. But not this time. I have to interview a local celebrity, someone who is very well liked around our town, and hell, this half of the state. But there’s a huge problem.”
“What’s the problem? Who is it?”
“Colt Beckett.”
Mom’s whole body froze at the mention of his name. After what he pulled at prom, Mom was not leading the Colt Beckett fan club anytime soon.
“Colt Beckett? The same guy who called you those horrible names and left you high and dry at prom? Yeah, he can kick rocks.”
Laughing at Mom’s remark, I grabbed a bite of food and chewed slowly, thinking about this.
Mom took a bite of her beef and broccoli and swallowed it quickly. “You know I’m always on your side, no matter what. Your dad, too. I’m not saying to do the story, but I am saying to consider it. If you do a good job on it, Marsha might give you that assistant editor position you’ve been wanting. So, talk to him, and see if he’ll come around. If anything, to give you a leg up in impressing Marsha.”
Hmm, the idea sounded good. It would be a good story to impress her with. I picked up my phone and scrolled through social media until I came across his profile. The video that had gone viral was pinned to the top of the page. I smiled when I opened it and saw Colt helping out at the local food bank after the hurricane. Then another video of him helping people out of the flood waters. Of course I had followed him, like every other girl in the world had, but looking down at his profile picture, the memories of our past were coming back up.
I knew I had to write this story, and I needed to do it by the end of the week.
Quickly opening the messenger app before I changed my mind, I typed out a message hoping he would take me up on the offer.
Me: Listen, I know you said you didn’t want me to write the story, and that’s fine. But I really think we should do it, because despite our sordid past, I think what you’re doing is amazing. And people really need to see it.
Here is my number. I really think the story will still be a good idea. Call me and we can set something up, if you want to.
Thank you
Hitting send, I tried to put him aside and enjoy the rest of my dinner with my mom. I wondered what angle I was going to write this story. Could I go day in the life? Nah, that was too cliché.
The possibilities were endless. Then I could find out why women fawned over him. Luckily, I wouldn’t be one of those women because I had standards now.
That was what I kept telling myself, at least.