Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
HAVEN
I park my Jeep in front of The Nest and grab my bag from the back.
It’s getting late, nearing the edge of dark, and I’m starving.
Harley and Gigi had to stay late for pitcher and catcher practice, so I ended up driving home alone, and they said they’d get a ride with Coach since we all rode together.
Pushing my door open, I quickly close it, wanting to get inside. With Tabor living on the same street, I’ve been finding myself more uneasy than ever.
But I don’t even make it past the front of my car before his voice stops me.
“Why did you send Rivers to confront me?” he says, but thankfully, he stands on the sidewalk, a solid fifteen feet away, and doesn’t move.
Part of me wants to run inside, but the other part wonders if I do that, would that prompt him to chase after me. The longer this goes on, the sicker I feel that I’m keeping it from my dad. So instead of running, I keep my phone held tightly in my hand and my feet planted where they are.
“I didn’t,” I say, trying to stop from shaking, but it’s hard.
“I thought you were falling in love with me, Haven,” he says, and the tone of his voice is one I’ve never heard him speak in. Almost kid-like, in a way. “And then you threw me away like trash.”
Still, I stand here frozen. Wishing someone—anyone—would pull in. Right now, we’re on a street where a lot of people live. This is safe. If I run inside, and no one is home, that’s going to be worse than if I stay outside where I have possible witnesses.
“If there’s still a shot with us, I can’t give up.” He takes one step forward but then stops.
I stare at him, unsure of how we even got here. Two people who agreed to have fun, no-strings-attached sex. And now he’s here—again.
I think I know what I need to do, but I’m scared it’ll backfire.
“I’m sorry, Tabor.” I swallow. “There’s no shot.”
One fist balls at his side, and he tips his chin up slightly.
“So there’s someone else?” he mutters bitterly. “You’ve found someone else.”
I don’t say anything back because the last thing I want to do right now is further escalate this situation. But I don’t have to, because he speaks again.
“If you’ve moved on, I’ll have no choice but to let you go.” He pushes his shoulders back. “I hope that isn’t the case. I hope you didn’t move on that fast from me. But if you did, I wish you’d tell me now.”
“I have,” I blurt out because if me being with someone else is a dealbreaker, then that’s what I need to tell him is going on. Maybe it’s not true. Sure, I’ve been spending time with Dallas, but not exactly in a romantic way. But if that’s all Tabor needs to hear to finally give it up …
“Say it,” he demands.
Swallowing thickly, I inhale the courage to say what I guess needs to be said.
“I have moved on, Tabor,” I say boldly. “You should too.”
And then, I turn and walk away from him, keeping my phone in my hand with Dallas’s contact ready to call in case Tabor follows me. Lucky, he doesn’t.
As I walk into the house and close the door, locking it behind me, I sigh in relief, leaning against it. Because maybe I’m finally free of Tabor Timmons.
I may not have said Dallas’s name, but I’m sure that’s exactly who Tabor was thinking I meant. But I’m not going to tell Dallas any of this because he thinks he’s already taken care of it. And now, I really think it’s all done.
DALLAS
By the time I get to The Nest after practice, it’s dark outside.
I’ve texted Haven a few times with no response, and of course, that made me fucking nervous.
So, I got ahold of Isla, and she said she was passed out cold on the couch, so at least I know she’s not, like, tied up in Tabor’s closet or some shit like my mind has convinced me all day.
Walking inside, I don’t knock now because at this point, the girls don’t even pay attention when I come and go.
I mean, I put my damn toothbrush in the bathroom the other day.
Though right now, everyone must be in their rooms because aside from Haven asleep on the couch with some chick flick playing on the TV, I see no one.
The whole way home, I debated what to do tonight. I can’t sleep on that blow-up mattress the night before a game. But I still don’t feel right leaving Haven alone either. Maybe Tabor really didn’t sneak into her room. Either way, I don’t trust him.
Crouching down, I slide my arms underneath her and lift her up. She may be feeling better, but she’s still not one hundred percent, even if she thinks she is.
Walking into her room, I don’t set her down right away because, as fucked up as it is, having her this close, with her heart beating close to mine, settles me after I’ve been a wreck all day over everything going on. So, for a few minutes, I hold her close, breathing in her scent.
Here I was, thinking Tabor was a creep for sniffing her and I’m doing the same fucking thing.
When she squirms a bit, I know it’s time to put her in bed before I look like a creeper. And as I set her down, she cracks her eyes open and looks up at me.
“Hi,” she whispers.
“Hey,” I reply gently.
“I feel like all you do lately is carry me around places,” she says, smiling. “It’s kind of embarrassing for me. Also, I’m not light.”
“You’re perfect,” I say, and right away, the back of my neck grows hot because I didn’t mean to blurt that out.
She’s always joked that she’s got thick thighs, but even though I won’t repeat it, I meant what I said. She is perfect.
As if she can read my discomfort, she snuggles in slightly, ignoring what I just said.
“You have a game tomorrow, so you need to not be on watch patrol all night and get a good night’s rest,” she says softly. “I’ll be fine. And I won’t take no for an answer.”
“I’m staying, Short,” I murmur, knowing she’s right. I should be in my bed, at my own place. But there’s something keeping me here. And yeah, I know it’s to keep her safe. But also, I’ve gotten used to going to bed near her—even if it’s only in the same room. I’m not ready to leave her.
Keeping her safe is the greatest privilege I’ve ever been given. I’m not about to fuck it up now.
“Fine then.” She lifts a brow before she sleepily sits up in bed. “If you’re going to stay, and you don’t want to sleep in the same bed, I’ll sleep on the air mattress.”
“Haven, no,” I say, but it’s too late. She’s out of bed and walking over to the shitty air mattress that takes up too much damn room in here.
Plopping down, she starts to snuggle in before she frowns. “This wasn’t like … in the bed of your truck or something.” She cringes. “Like … where you’d take girls to bang them.”
Amused that she really thinks I’d go through that much work to put an air mattress in the back of my truck just to fuck some girl, I cock my head to the side. “Would it bother you if it was?”
“No,” she blurts out, and I know she’s lying.
For a few seconds, I just toy with her, not giving the answer she wants to hear because she won’t admit the truth—that it would bug the shit out of her.
This is coming from a guy who, when I was fifteen, activated the fire alarms at her house because while her parents were out to dinner, she was in her room with a boy she snuck in, and I couldn’t play football on the lawn with Noah, too busy imagining what they were doing.
To this day, no one knows I did that.
“I bought the mattress the day I brought it here,” I finally say. “So no, Short. I haven’t banged anyone on it.”
She yawns, a satisfied little grin on her lips before she snuggles her cheek to the pillow. “I didn’t care either way, QB,” she lies. “Good night.”
“Good night, Haven.” I plop myself down onto the bed, knowing that just like the other nights, there’s no way I’ll be able to go right to sleep with her being in the same room, wearing those tiny shorts and oversized T-shirt. No way in hell.
When I can’t sleep after nearly two hours of listening to Haven snore—because despite what she thinks, she does snore—I creep out of bed and go to the kitchen to get some water.
The house is silent and mostly dark, although I swear half the girls who live here don’t know how to turn a light off—Haven included.
Not only is the bathroom light on, but so are the ones in the living room and kitchen.
But with the eeriness of how quiet it is, what I don’t expect is to see Lilly sitting at the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of ice cream.
When she hears the sound of my footsteps, she quickly cranes her neck to look who’s coming. Once she sees it’s me, she glances at her ice cream again before eyeing me over.
“Can’t sleep?” she says, bashfully bringing a spoonful to her lips.
“Nah, not really.” I sigh, walking to the refrigerator and taking out a bottle of water. Once I close the fridge, I lean on the other side of the counter, facing her. “You?”
“I can never sleep,” she admits. “Ice cream helps. Sometimes.” She looks me over, her eyes roaming my face. “You’ve been staying here ever since those flowers showed up, huh?”
I take a swig of my water before setting it on the counter, peeling the wrapper off slowly and mindlessly.
“Yeah, well … Haven says I don’t need to, that I can go home.
” I pause. “But she doesn’t understand how fucked up people can be.
” When I feel Lilly’s gaze on me, I cringe.
“And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. It’s not her fault she doesn’t know—I’m glad that she doesn’t understand it.
It’s just—” I stop, knowing I’m blurting out way too much to a girl I just recently met.
And I shouldn’t be talking about Haven to her roommate either.
I’m about to turn and go back to bed, but her voice stops me.
“I get what you mean,” she says, her voice soft and unsure.
“I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I kind of …
looked you up.” When I frown, her cheeks redden.
“Not like … that. Not in a creepy way. But I like Haven. I’m new here, but she’s been kind to me.
After hearing about how Tabor grabbed her the way he did, I just—I don’t know, I wanted to make sure that with you, she would be safe. ”
Even at a mention of Tabor grabbing Haven, I tense up. I feel like the biggest waste of space, not doing shit about it yet. But fuck, I don’t know how to go about any of this.
“And what did you find?” I utter, not sure I even want to know.
She’s quiet, and the silence between us is damn near deafening for a moment.
“I think that I understand what you mean because … well, we grew up similarly to each other.” She pauses, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear nervously.
“You were adopted by a retired NFL player? I was adopted by a since-retired NHL player.” Her eyes look down, and she pushes the bowl away from her.
“I didn’t dig too deep into your files, Dallas.
I only looked deep enough to know that you’re okay. And that Haven is safe.”
She just said so much information in only so many sentences, and I find myself trying to figure out what to ask her first.
“So you get it?” I mutter, shamefully. “You understand why I’m scared to leave her alone after those few things he did?”
“Duh.” She nods. “The world is dark.” She looks down, sighing. “Some of us have just had a little more experience with it than others.”
Out of nowhere, it hits me. This is Lilly Hunt. I never really put two and two together that she’s Hendrix’s little sister.
Hendrix came from a home with a lot of similarities to my own. Which means so did she. But something else dawns on me too. She said she didn’t dig too deep into my files, but that means … she accessed files to begin with.
She’s either a computer nerd or a hacker of some sort. And she cares enough for Haven to feel the need to make sure she could trust me to be around her.
She may be the one who can help me find out if Tabor is really bluffing or not when it comes to the pictures he claims to have.
Inhaling sharply, I look up at the ceiling before letting a deep breath out. I can’t believe I’m about to ask her this when I barely know her, but here I go.
“How hard would it be for you to get into someone’s pictures?” I swallow nervously. “And delete something that should have never been there to begin with?”
She narrows her eyes, searching for whatever she wants to ask before actually saying it. But instead of questioning me, she sits back in the seat.
“It wouldn’t be that hard,” she utters, lifting a brow. “Do these pictures have anything to do with the person you’re staying up all night to protect and the monster you’re protecting her from?”
“Maybe,” I mumble, and that’s the only answer she needs.
Getting up, she walks away from me and toward the hallway.
“I’ll get my laptop,” she says, never looking back.
Maybe this is a mistake. This is probably wrong to go behind Haven’s back and ask her friend to do this. But knowing that this creep took naked pictures of Haven will destroy her. And I’m not going to let that happen right now.
So first, we’ll take care of the pictures. And after that, I’m not sure yet, but because it’s for Haven … I’m sure as fuck going to figure it out.