Chapter 47 - Hayden
HAYDEN
My stomach rumbled as I lifted my jacket from the coat rack. Breakfast with Sawyer had been great, but over six straight appointments, I’d skipped lunch. I was looking forward to dinner. To going home.
To surprising Carter.
That too. The others hadn’t told him I’d come back — we figured we’d leave that news to me. All day long my stomach had been a knot of excitement. I couldn’t wait to see him, to hold him, to kiss him again. In fact, I was in a spectacular mood.
“Your five-thirty appointment is here,” said Raj, as he breezed past me. “Room two.”
Damn, the man moved fast. He was ten steps away already by the time I reacted.
“Five-thirty?” I balked. “Wait, I don’t have a five-thirty!”
“You do now,” he said, pointing with a pencil. “Someone new.”
“What?”
Raj sighed dramatically and turned around. “It’ll be quick,” he said, clearly annoyed he had to stop moving. “Consultation only. Fifteen minutes, tops.” My frown prompted him to roll his eyes. “Don’t worry, she’s nice.”
She.
I was relieved by that part, at least. All day long I’d been calculating the chance of Cole showing up, at the tail end of a long, angry drive. He could at any moment, obviously. Especially since my phone had been uncharacteristically silent.
I could’ve said something else, but Raj was already around the corner. Instead, I put my coat back on the hook, straightened my posture, and pushed into room two.
The big head of thick red curls stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Oh no,” I seethed, my mouth going tight. “This is NOT happening.”
Amy looked up at me, her green eyes hopeful. She had her chin down and her hands in her lap, fingers interlaced.
“Hayden, please,” she said quietly. “I just want to tell you—”
“NO.”
I popped my head back into the hallway, looking for Raj, or Heather, or anyone. But the hallway was empty.
“You won’t take my calls,” Amy pleaded. “You won’t read my texts…”
“Should I?” I laughed in her face. “Can you track my location if I reply to them? Tell Cole where I am?”
“No, no, I can’t—”
“Or maybe it was you who put the GPS tracker on car,” I growled angrily. “Was that you, Amy? Did you do that?”
“No, I swear it wasn’t me!” she gasped miserably. “I didn’t even know there was a tracker. And if I did, I would’ve told you.”
I shook my head, disgusted. “You told Cole I was in Maine.”
“Yes, I did that,” she admitted, her voice cracking. “And I’m so, so sorry that I did. But I did it for a reason, if you’ll hear me out. Please, Hayden—”
“Don’t even,” I shut her down. “Save it for the next person you pretend to be friends with.”
Amy took my words stoically, mouth closed, her lip twitching. To her credit though, she still hadn’t cried yet.
“Now, get the hell out of my clinic,” I swore, throwing the door open. “The only therapy you need isn’t physical at all. But you could use someone to teach you about loyalty, and friendship, and—”
“I did it for the money!” Amy blurted loudly.
I could feel my jaw clench so tightly I thought my teeth would shatter! The hand I used to close the door again trembled with rage.
“I—I needed it, to help my mother.”
I stopped to look over my now ex-friend. Amy was beyond miserable; her face was swollen and her eyes were puffy. It looked as if she hadn’t slept in a week.
“I know this isn’t an excuse, and you can still hate me for it, but I never meant to betray you as a friend,” Amy began.
“Cole came to me months ago, while you were still my patient. He explained he was an ex-boyfriend, and he wanted to rekindle with you. He asked for some info — simple stuff, seemingly innocent. Of course, I wouldn’t give him any.
” She sniffed, and drew a shuddering breath.
“But then he offered me money, Hayden. Money and help. Somehow, he knew about my mother. He knew I was trying to get her the best treatment, and that treatment was expensive. He said he’d be happy to help out, if… if I could just give him…”
“Give him what?” I prodded.
She looked up at me with her sad green eyes. “If I could just give him an edge, when it came to how to approach you again.”
And there it was. I shook my head.
“He’s been at it for that long?”
“Yes,” Amy confirmed. “He’s crazy for you, I see that now.
But at the time, he made it seem romantic.
And what he wanted, for helping me out with mom…
I have to admit, it all seemed innocent at first. He wanted some information on you, and a little help.
I gave him some hints, some tips. The best way to approach you, and your work schedule. ”
“So that’s how he ‘just happened’ to show up at the clinic that day,” I mused. “It wasn’t by chance at all.”
“No, it wasn’t. That was me.”
I sighed wearily. “Amy, that’s so fucked up!”
“I know it is! I… I fucked up.”
“And then you went and pretended to hit it off with me,” I muttered, disbelievingly. “And we became friends! Just so Cole could—”
“No!” she cut me off. “No, that’s not true at all!”
“Was it all bullshit?” I demanded. “Our whole friendship, just part of Cole’s master plan to get me back?”
“Hayden, NO!” she cried vehemently. “Our friendship was real. Our friendship is real! I love what we have together. You’re like a sister to me.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I fumed. “Friends don’t betray each other; the way you did. And they sure as hell don’t dish on another friend’s secrets, just to make a buck.”
Amy winced, as if my words caused her physical pain. Maybe they did. She was shaking all over now, even if she still hadn’t shed a tear.
“I should never have taken a dime…” she murmured softly. “But using the money, I was able to get my mother into the better program. She showed improvement. For a little while, she was actually happy.”
Something released, deep in my chest. I knew in my heart that Amy had it rough. The past few years had been hard ones.
“How… how is she?” I asked.
“She’s okay,” Amy smiled. Her eyes were glassy now. “She has good days and bad ones. But… but it wasn’t worth it. Betraying you. Putting you in danger…”
Dropping her head in her hands, she shook it slowly.
“When Cole asked if I knew where you were the other week, I told him no,” Amy muttered.
“I knew you were in Maine by then, but he was insistent. He kept badgering me, and when that didn’t work, he promised to go to the head of my practice.
He threatened to tell them everything. To get my license taken away. ”
“Fuck,” I swore angrily. “I could totally see him doing that.”
“I know,” she lamented. “And it’s going to happen, I’m sure. I’ve cut him off completely; and stopped taking his calls. It’s only a matter of time.”
Amy gathered herself together. She stood up abruptly.
“This whole thing is on me, Hayden. I just came here to tell you that. I don’t expect understanding, or forgiveness, or anything else. I just needed you to know what happened, and that I’m sorry.”
She crossed the room and reached for the doorknob. Something made me stop her.
“Wait.”
Fuck! He always did this! As much as a big chunk of this was Amy’s fault, Cole already had me in his sights. And I was the idiot who’d taken him back again, who’d given him hope. I was the one who thought things could somehow be different.
She did it for her mom, too.
Shit. Amy might’ve opened the door, but I was the one who coaxed the scorpion out. All hoping it wouldn’t sting me this time around.
“Y—You really think of me as a sister?” I choked.
Tears flowed down her cheeks now, accompanied by loud, wracking sobs. My face mimicked hers as she opened her arms. “YES!”
Crying, I flung myself into them.