Chapter 6
HAILEY
On Wednesday, I was one of the first to arrive and started my stretching exercises while searching the crowd for Reid.
This run took place every year in the third week of March.
I’d wanted to participate right after my parents passed away, but kids under a certain age weren’t allowed.
I had done my best not to miss the run since my fifteenth birthday.
Since my parents had been victims of a hit and run, we didn’t know for sure that the driver was drunk, but still… raising awareness was important.
The weather today was just splendid: sunny, pleasantly warm.
Reid arrived just as the run was about to start.
My mouth went dry at the sight of him. Holy hell!
I might never see Reid in swim trunks, but I was more than okay with seeing him in running gear too.
Tight, elastic fabric stretched over his arms and chest. Washboard abs, of course.
He was facing me, so I couldn’t get a good look at his ass, but I planned to rectify that as soon as possible.
I was betting it was just as well-trained as the rest of him. All that from swimming, huh?
“Hey! Thought you were going to bail,” I said playfully.
“I’ve got to do something to improve your opinion of me, don’t I?”
“Well, you showed up.” I grinned, continuing with my exercises. “Stretching is mandatory. Unless, of course, you’re still searching for an excuse to get out of this.”
I felt him come up right behind me when I straightened, tilting my head from one side to the other.
“You won’t get rid of me so easily, Hailey.”
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth as a small shiver ran through me. Had inviting him over today been a mistake?
I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone: convince him to agree to my strategy while contributing to raising awareness. But I was beginning to think I wasn’t running this show.
He only had a few minutes to stretch, and then the run started. Reid was in great shape. Damn, the man was too sexy. We ran on a narrow pathway between palm trees. The park’s lake was to our right.
“Thanks for talking to Bianca,” he said after a while.
“My pleasure. She was very open to my suggestions. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Well, my sister’s not like me.”
“Stubborn and infuriating?”
I looked sideways at him to discover he was watching me too. He winked at me. My thighs almost turned to jelly at that intoxicating energy rolling off him. Note to self: avoid eye contact.
Teasing him was like prodding a mountain lion, but I couldn’t help myself.
“You think things will get better for her at school?” he asked.
“I hope so. The psychology of bullies is… similar.” We were running at a slow enough pace that it was comfortable to keep talking.
“How do you know?”
“Things weren’t easy for me at school.”
“Why?”
“My parents passed away when I was eleven. I sort of retreated into myself after that, barely spoke to anyone. Kids… well, they weren’t very understanding.
Picked on me. During those years, it was as if an invisible wall separated me from everyone else.
Teachers were willing to cut me some leeway for a few months, but then they expected me to ‘move on.’ I was labeled a troubled kid, and all that ‘picking on’ turned into bullying.
I reached a breaking point one afternoon when I opened my locker to find out someone had painted ‘freak’ on my clothes.
I didn’t have many clothes back then, and Val—my sister—insisted I wear my good clothes to school so kids wouldn’t pick on me.
If only she’d known…. I’d never told her about the bullying, but that afternoon, I cried all the way home, wanting to confess all to Val, beg her to allow me to be homeschooled. ”
“And did you? Ask her?” he inquired, interrupting my monologue. Holy hell. Why had I told him all that? I almost never spoke about it, and definitely not with clients. And yet, I went on.
“No. When I arrived home, Val was cooking while simultaneously instructing Lori how to knit a sweater. And dinner was not the end of the day for Val. Afterward, she had to go run the pub until after midnight. My siblings had so much on their plate already. I couldn’t possibly ask Val and Landon to take on more. ”
“You’re incredible,” he whispered.
“Because I didn’t want to add to their burden?”
“Because of everything you just told me. You’re strong.”
I blinked, shrugging, even though his words touched me deeply.
“I just grew a thick skin. Took me until high school to do it, when I finally found a goal: go to college. But I think it’s served me well. The thick skin, I mean. Especially in this business.”
“How did you get into it?”
“I’m a problem solver, and this seemed like fun. And it is. Sure, the thick skin puts some people off—”
“I like it.”
Despite myself, I glanced at him. “You didn’t when we were in your office.”
He smirked, as if I was missing some obvious point.
“I liked it,” was all he said.
Well, then. No time like the present to bring up my strategy. Especially since we were approaching the last stretch of the run. We slowed our pace even more.
“So, I told you that I have a strategy in mind.”
“I’m all ears.”
“I want you to do an interview. A Q&A where you talk about yourself and the relationship. No smearing or blaming. You can skirt around the cheating but briefly touch on the points where you weren’t compatible.
Classy but informative. We wouldn’t go to a gossip magazine with it.
Given the personal angle, a business publication isn’t a good fit either, but I have contacts at a few lifestyle magazines. ”
I’d said this very quickly so he wouldn’t get a chance to interrupt, but now I was waiting for his answer with bated breath.
“No.”
“Reid—”
“Forget it.”
That went about as well as I’d expected.
Reid increased his speed when the sign announcing the last mile came up.
Hmmm… he didn’t think I’d just drop it, right?
I let him put some distance between us, because he obviously needed to gather his thoughts.
As a bonus, I had a spectacular view. Holy hell, I’d been spot-on.
His ass was just as well-trained as the rest of him.
I increased my pace too, cheering along with everyone else after crossing the finish line, then slowed to a walking speed, drawing in deep breaths. Reid was waiting for me next to one of the palm trees closest to the lake, guzzling down water. Even from a distance, I got dangerous vibes from him.
Dangerously sexy vibes, a small voice whispered. I chose to ignore it. I walked straight up to him, folding my arms over my chest.
His arms looked even more muscular with the thin sheet of sweat on them. I’d never met anyone more masculine. I had to pull myself together. Ogling him wasn’t going to help me get my point across.
“I’m not doing it,” he said.
“Remember my terms?”
His eyes flashed. He stepped closer. “Your terms… what about them?”
“Following my advice was one of them.”
His lips curled into a smile as he stepped closer still, as if he knew exactly how he affected me and wanted every advantage possible.
“Not a fan of your terms.”
“I told you that if you’re not willing to give in a little, there is no point.”
“I’m not good at giving in, Hailey. But you know at what I excel?”
“What?”
“Making others give in to my terms, bend to my demands.”
His gaze went to my lips. I sucked in a breath. This was getting out of hand. I had no idea what was going on, why I was so out of sorts. This tension between us just kept escalating, and I didn’t know how to make it stop.
I cleared my throat. “Reid, this is not going to be as bad as it sounds.”
“Why don’t you just make a statement on my account? Isn’t that the norm?”
“Yes, but that usually just fuels gossip sites. They break it down and interpret it, and that just keeps you in the headlines.”
“And an interview with me won’t have the same effect?”
“Not to the same extent. I can show you statistics. Headlines fade much faster after longer interviews. I think it’s because reading your words somehow normalizes the situation, makes it seem mundane.”
“Talking to a stranger—”
I held up a finger. “I have a solution for that. I’d do the interview, edit it, and send it to the publication.”
“Magazines usually like to send their own people.”
I gave him a sly smile. “You’re paying me to find solutions you’re comfortable with.”
“Sounds more like a loophole.”
“It is. I like to bend the rules.”
“You do, don’t you? I don’t know why that surprises me.”
He was watching my mouth again. Holy shit, somehow he seemed even closer.
“Well, think about it and let me know. But don’t wait too long, because I want to start pitching publications.”
There, focusing on the next steps was the way to keep this from escalating… again. I didn’t even know what this was, but I had a hunch I was better off not knowing.
“And if I say no?”
I blew out a breath. “Then we can try other options, like suing her for defamation, but that’s just going to prolong this, and frankly, you won’t win. The best-case scenario is that she’ll settle for a sum of money.”
“I see.” He stepped back, took another swig from his bottle. I was grateful for the reprieve. Those sexy vibes were a little too much.
“Will you think about it?”
He nodded. I felt victorious. For all his talk about not giving in, I sure was making progress. This was frankly the least painful approach for him, even though he probably couldn’t see it.
Would it be easy to sell the idea of a prewritten article to publications?
Hell, no. But I’d make it happen. I was so busy thinking about how to approach one of my favorite lifestyle magazines that I wasn’t paying any attention to my feet and stepped into a hole.
Reid tried to catch me but wasn’t fast enough, so I landed on my ass.
My ankle stung, but my wrist took the brunt of the impact.
“Oww.”
Reid crouched right next to me. My wrist was throbbing. I flexed it, wincing.