7. Hayden
7
HAYDEN
“A lright, let’s get to work. I’m tired of running from this jerk.”
The melodic tones of a woman’s voice called from the stairs. I turned, and the adult version of the girl I’d last seen a decade prior appeared. Katie Carter had been a budding knockout at fourteen to my seventeen-year-old eyes, but the woman who walked into the living room was jaw-droppingly stunning. Long dark hair, chocolate colored eyes, a round ass, and thick thighs—all things that would’ve usually made my dick stand up and take notice.
But there were two issues.
Declan, who held the spot as the only person to make my dick do anything since I met him, and the pretty little thing standing in the corner who’d slid into the space next to him as if she belonged there.
Fuck! Strike that. Make it three issues.
Katie stopped next to a man who gazed at her like the sun and moon shone out her ass—a man I recognized.
Or somewhat recognized. Maybe. I couldn’t get a good enough look.
Was it Jackson or Declan?
Either way, he was a motherfucking Holt. Life couldn’t get much worse. I was either being brought face-to-face with the kid that Mara fucked over all those years ago or my estranged husband was making an appearance to upend my life yet again.
If it was Jackson then life was a bitch and could take a long walk off a short pier.
If it was Declan, then the cunt bag that was life could go tan her ass on the sun for all I cared.
I had no desire to be around either of them.
“You know Hayden Marin.”
Conrad’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“Last time you were here, you followed him everywhere. You drove the poor boy nuts,” Conrad said to Katie.
I struggled to contain a sigh at the chief’s stupidity and to cover the eye roll as he clapped me on the shoulder. For a cop, especially the top brass, he should be able to read the damn room, but he’d been trying to push Katie and me together since she was little more than a skinny girl with pigtails.
Hoping to figure out which Holt I was dealing with, I winked at Katie, raising her hand to my lips.
“You sure did grow up to be a beautiful woman, Kit Kat. Now I wish I hadn’t run away from you all those years ago. I could always make it up to you now, though.”
“The fuck you will!” exploded out of the guy standing next to her, and I had my answer. It was Jackson. Declan’s voice, whether we were fighting or fucking, never failed to make me hard.
The realization barely registered before the kid flew at me, landing a crunching blow to my jaw. Screams and shouts of shock rang through the room as Jackson pummeled me. We crashed through the coffee table, smashing it. Pieces of the table careened into the corner between the door and the fireplace, along with us.
Jackson crouched over me, his fist wrapped in my t-shirt, pulling my head and shoulders off the floor. My head was heavy and lolled back on my shoulders. My eyes were still swimming, but Jackson’s face—both of them—filled my vision.
His nose pressed to mine as he threatened. “You’ll fucking keep your hands to yourself is what you’ll do. Do you get me, motherfucker? Katie is not your plaything, and I’m not the same kid I used to be.”
A moment later, Jackson’s weight disappeared, and I fell back to the floor with a groan. The kid packed a wallop, that was for damn sure, but I’d make myself feel better and blame it on crashing through the wall.
Conrad’s voice pierced the air, but I couldn’t focus. My head throbbed so badly I felt sick and close to puking. A kick to my booted foot forced my eyes to open, and Katie stood over me, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at me like I was a naughty kid.
“I don’t know what that was about, Hayden Marin, but you better believe I’m going to find out because right now, I’ve got enough to deal with without you and Jackson fighting.”
She stood up, planting the other hand on her hips and said, “I’m going out to speak with Jackson, and while I’m doing so, you’re going to clean up this mess because there’s no doubt in my mind that you’ve done something to cause this. It may have been a while, but I remember what you were like, no matter how amazing my dad seems to think you were then and are now.”
She walked away, and I dropped my head back to the floor only to jerk it back up when Katie yelled, “Oh, and get out your wallet and give Marion half of whatever she says the table cost. Then you and Jackson can fix the wall. Together !”