Chapter 19 Hayes
Hayes
“This is insane, Hayes.” Ryker’s eyes are wide and full of surprise as he sips his expensive as fuck bourbon. We’re in our usual booth in the bar and I just finished telling him all about how my wife is also Demi’s ex. “Did you know Raegan was bisexual?”
“No. Who gives a fuck about that. You’re missing the point.” I shoot him a terse scowl. “How in the hell did I find the one girl to have a random one-night-stand with and she was also magically with my wife. Don’t you get it? We used each other to try to get over the same damn woman.”
“Talk about a small fucking world.”
“You’re telling me.”
“By the way, I’m still pissed at you for not telling me you got married.
We’ve always told each other everything.
” He sighs into his rocks glass, before taking another slow sip.
“And now you’ve gone from the world’s greatest fuckboy, to being married and fucking your wife’s lesbian ex-girlfriend practically overnight.
And here I thought mine and Bella’s love story was fucked up. ”
I shoot him the least respectful side-eye I can muster. “There’s so many things wrong with what you just said. Also, I did tell you. It’s not my fault you didn’t believe me.”
“First of all. Who tells their best friend they got married over text? Second. What exactly did I say that was incorrect?”
“First off, are you ever going to let that go? And second, I was never a fuckboy.” I scoff indignantly. “Who even says that anymore?”
“Not any time soon,” he admits with a cocky grin plastered on his face. “And my wife and I do… when we talk about you. I dare you to prove me wrong.”
What I’d like to do is wipe that smug look off his face. “I think I liked you more when you were a grumpy, sexless asshole. And I’m not fucking anyone anymore. I only fucked Demi the one time and I haven’t since.”
Ryker turns his body to face me, crosses his arms and observes me, smirking like he knows something I don’t.
“You really haven’t fucked anyone since Axel’s wedding night?” His nose wrinkles as he fakes an exaggerated dry heave. “Jesus. That’s a weird sentence and one I never could have imagined I’d ever say.”
“If we’re excluding the other night when I fingered my demo bunny to orgasm after class, since finger fucking isn’t exactly the same, then yes.”
His eyebrows raise and his lips twist into a wry smile. “Wasn’t Demi your demo bunny?” he asks. “And since when do you finger your demo bunnies to orgasm, anyway? I call bullshit. You want her.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying… that there’s something different about this girl. She’s got your attention and you can’t even fucking see it.”
“She’s a lesbian, Ryker,” I retort firmly.
“Yet she still wanted you to fuck her. And then you fingered her to orgasm. Sounds like she enjoyed both. You’ve had two sexual experiences with the girl and she didn’t go running for the hills.
If she’s really gay and just experimenting, then more power to her, but I don’t buy it.
I think she likes you in a non-friendly sense.
” He stops talking but his face tells me he’s not done.
I lean back against the soft leather of the booth as I wave an irritated hand at him. “Keep going. I know you want to.”
“And when was the last time you were with the same girl twice? And had no one in between?”
Fuck. I side eye him and squeeze the tight muscles in the back of my neck that are beginning to make my head throb. “Not since my wife.”
“I rest my case,” he says a little too smugly and confidently.
“I’m starting to regret calling you,” I grumble.
“That’s a fucking lie and you know it.”
It is a lie. Ryker has been my best friend, since… forever. We’ve been friends so long, we’re basically brothers. He knows me better than anyone and I’d be an idiot to ignore his thoughts on this fucked up situation, not matter how much it irritates me.
He’s given me a lot to think about.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you to tell you I got married,” I tell him so I can pull focus from me and Demi. Not that Raegan and I are a much better topic.
I do feel bad I never had a real conversation with him back then about what was going on. I planned on it, but I was too caught up in Raegan to even think about anyone else. And then I had to go ahead and fuck everything up. I really thought I was saving her from… me.
Seeing her fall apart like that damn near broke me.
“It’s fine man.” He claps me on the back. “It just caught me off-guard. I thought I knew all there was to know about you. Finding out you’ve actually had a wife for the last twenty years was… a lot.”
“I get that. I also had no idea we were still married, if it helps.”
“How exactly did that happen, again?”
“I sent her the papers and like a dumbass, I never followed up.”
Ryker sighs. “That wasn’t the smartest move, that’s for sure. But, now that she’s here you can take care of it.”
“Yeah, I had Ben draw up papers. Once they’re signed and I’ve filed them, I should be good to move on the land contract.
” I run my fingers through my hair and suck in a long breath.
“Except she saw me tie up Demi and then finger her, so she ran off. I had to have Axel get the location of her hotel, so I could take the papers to her and then I forgot them.”
He buries his face in his hands, letting out a hard puff of air. “Jesus, Hayes.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” His head lifts and his eyes bore into me.
“This isn’t like you. Between the two of us, you’re the one that always has the clear head.
It’s why you’ve always been so good at running this place.
You don’t miss anything, let alone small details.
How is it that you forgot the fucking divorce papers? ”
I think I’d also like the answer to that one. Although, I’m not sure I’ll find it. I’m not even sure I’m sorry I forgot them.
“Wait… she ran off?” Ryker asks. “I thought she hated you.”
“She does.”
“Hayes, please tell me you’re not actually this naive. A woman doesn’t run off when she sees the man she’s married to with another woman, when she hates him.”
“That was about Demi. Not me,” I assure him with a confidence I don’t really feel.
He lets out a loud scoff. “That certainly makes things more complicated. Does she know about your dad and how he fucked you up for all women?”
“I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. Even after she told me how much it broke her that I left her.”
“Fucking hell, dude. Sounds like she might still have feelings for you both.”
His phone vibrates on the table and he turns to check it, his eyes brightening as he sees whatever just came through.
“Sorry, my friend,” he says while sliding to exit the booth and sucking down the rest of his bourbon. “I’ve got to get back home. Duty calls.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. I’m happy for him, but he could be a little less enthusiastic about running home to fuck his wife.
I wave him off and he pauses. “You need to do a little soul-searching. And then you need to talk to them both. Maybe separately. I have no idea what putting you all in a room together would look like and with all the emotions that seem to be flying around, I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”
He saunters off to talk to Roxie before leaving out the back and leaving me to my thoughts. Then I sit there for too long, nursing my drink, before I shoot off a text and head home.