Hayley
S o maybe I overreacted a little when Brooks continued to push the Boyce issue.
The issue that seems to be haunting me ever since we returned from Arizona.
Boyce managed to get my number from Cassidy and has continued to push the issue of meeting Camden.
Yeah, first time in ten years and the asshole now wants to take responsibility for his actions.
And while Boyce keeps blowing up my phone, the one person I wish was, has ghosted me.
“It’s been two weeks, Cass, and he won’t even talk to me, yet alone look at me,” I say while spinning mindlessly in my desk chair. “Boyce Cameron isn’t even in my life anymore, and he has somehow managed to continue to fuck everything up for me.”
Maybe I shouldn’t put all the blame on Boyce.
I’ve kept my relationship with Boyce a secret from Brooks after all.
I should have just come right out and told him about Boyce being Camden’s father.
I mean now that Boyce has seen Camden and has continued to blow up my phone about his rights, it’s only a matter of time before everyone knows. He’s not exactly a nobody.
Cassidy pins me with a I told you so look. “Vince said Boyce won’t shut up about Camden. How much he looks like him. Told his fiancée all about it, who practically insisted on Boyce getting a lawyer.”
The thought of going through a court battle alone terrifies me.
Sure, I won’t be entirely alone. I’ll have my parents and Cassidy of course.
But deep down, all I want is Brooks by my side.
Reassuring me that everything is going to be all right.
That my baggage is nothing to worry about.
That we’ll get through it together, no matter the cost.
Yeah, I’m a dumbass for asking him for time.
“You know,” Cassidy says, chewing the end of a Twizzler. “Brooks is possessive of you. I saw it the moment Boyce approached you.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So,” she says, sitting forward, her hands resting on her knees. “We go out and make him jealous. That will surely get him talking to you. And when he does, then you’ll have the opportunity to tell him everything.”
Everything. All the little white lies that I seem to be collecting.
I shake my head as I think about Cassidy’s horrible plan. “This is a horrible plan,” I squawk, standing from my chair to pace the room. “This could all blow up in my face, and I could lose him forever.”
“Or… he could show his alpha self and take what’s always been his.”
Ugh. Why can’t my life just be like a simple retro pop song?
I want you to want me. There, boy tells girl, girl tells boy, and they live happily ever after.
Guess that can’t entirely work for my situation.
Add in a baby daddy, some family drama, and you have a reality TV show where no one ends up happy.
Cassidy stops me in my tracks, resting her hands on my shoulders. “No more thinking about it. You’re doing it, and I have the perfect guy for the task.”
Kyle Reynolds.
Cassidy’s older cousin from Idaho. When she suggests her cousin, I’m dumbfounded.
For starters, he lives in Idaho, a small quant little town called Ketchum.
So, imagine my surprise when she tells me he’s currently in Seattle.
We haven’t seen Kyle since ninth grade summer when we went to stay at Cassidy’s grandparents’ lake house.
He was a mountain man in the making back then.
The blond peach fuzz that covered his chin always made me laugh because he would refuse to shave it.
However, the man standing in front of me tonight is no longer a mountain man in the making.
He a full-on lumberjack now. And jacked he is.
For someone who owns and runs a bar called the Ponderosa for a living, you would think otherwise.
“So, wanna tell me why needed my help tonight, Red?” Kyle says, draping his arm over my shoulder as we walk toward the Nest.
Red.
The nickname that should only be reserved for one person and one person only—Brooks.
Don’t get me wrong, Kyle’s a good-looking man, dressed in his blue-plaid flannel rolled at his elbow, while his dark-wash jeans hug his tight ass so well, not as well as Brooks, but it’s a view I don’t mind staring at.
He runs his hand through his sandy-blond hair that matches his manicured beard perfectly before opening the door for me, and I can’t help but smile at this plan Cassidy has dreamed up.
She has chosen a way too good looking man to make Brooks jealous.
“There’s this guy,” I start as Kyle holds up his hands.
“Woah now, Red. I’m not trying to steal another man’s girl and get my ass handed to me tonight.”
I laugh at Kyle’s reaction because despite his ruggedness, he’s a giant goofball. “No worries, Kyle. I’m completely in love with this guy but fucked everything up. I just need your help to make him jealous, so he’ll talk to me again.”
He stops on the stairs that head to the rooftop bar, narrowing me with a look that says it better not be that dick.
And before he can say anything, I interrupt his thoughts.
“No, it’s not Boyce if that’s what you’re thinking.
God, no. But he is a hockey player, a good one who despises Boyce just as much as anyone who knows what the hell he did to me. ”
“Good,” he says with a head nod.
I clutch his hand in mine. “Cassidy said you were in town because of a girl?”
“You can say that.”
“Wow, the big, bad, unreadable Kyle Reynolds has found a girl who’s worthy of him leaving that bar for more than sleeping,” I say through an amused smirk.
“It’s not like that,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck as we reach the door to the rooftop bar.
“You remember Jess, Chase’s little sister.
” I nod, remembering the petite little blonde who used to tag along with Cassidy and me during our summers because Kyle and his friends were too cool for us.
“She was living here in Seattle while working for some big-time law firm but is now moving back to Ketchum. Chase was a little preoccupied and well, Nico just had his baby, so I volunteered to come help.”
“Very chivalrous of you.”
“Yeah, if only she saw it that way. Anywho… you ready to do this thing?” he says, looking toward the door.
I grip his hand and release a deep breath I was holding as Kyle opens the door for me. Entering the rooftop brings back so many memories of the night Brooks had given me a ride home after discovering Tucker was a grade A prick.
It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest when I spot Brooks sitting at the bar with Channing.
Perfect. Time to put your plan in motion, Hayley.
I gesture with my head toward the bar, pointing out Brooks to Kyle.
The DJ is in full swing. I’m Good by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha fills the rooftop as we make our way to the center of the dance floor, bodies grind up on one another.
“Your man just turned around. Let’s give him one hell of a show, Red,” Kyle whispers in my ear before spinning me around, his firm chest full of warmth pressing against my back. “Relax, Red. Just go with it.”
The tantalizing beat is almost hypnotic as I relax my back into his front, our hips moving in sync to the music as if we’re the only ones in the room.
Kyle’s hands run down my sides in a caressing touch, before gripping my hips firmly.
My head falls back on his shoulder as I imagine it’s Brooks’ touch.
Oh, how I miss his touch. Crave it just as much as I miss and crave him.
I glance toward the bar to see Brooks staring directly at me as if he’s ready to kill Kyle. His fist is clenched tightly around the neck of his beer bottle, white knuckling it as his eyes roam my body, watching all the places Kyle has touched.
Hook. Line. And Sinker.
A satisfied smile spreads across my face. “I think mission is already accomplished,” I say, turning in Kyle’s hold to whisper in his ear. “Let’s go get a table and some drinks.”
He ushers me to the nearest high top before disappearing to the bar.
Okay. Play it cool, Hayley. You casted the bait, he took the bait; now it’s time to see what his next move is.
Internally freaking out, I try to distract myself, gazing out into the city.
However, my distraction only lasts so long when I feel my phone vibrate in my clutch.
Brooks: Does pretty boy know he’s touching something that’s not his?
Pretty boy , I chuckle to myself as I read his message. If only he knew that Kyle is nothing more than a pawn for tonight, he’d be calling him something other than pretty boy, that’s for sure.
Hayley: I belong to no one. It seems you’ve forgotten.
Brooks: I bet he wouldn’t know how to worship that sweet pussy of yours like I can.
My lips part, and my core heats as I imagine his mouth on my aching pussy. I could say he’s wrong that Kyle, AKA my vibrator, can do a damn good job, but I know he’d know the truth. I can’t let him see me sweat.
Okay, Hayley. Get a grip. Play it cool.
Hayley: So full of yourself, Mr. Miller. Maybe you should be focusing less on whom I’m out with and more on your playing. Seems you’ve been distracted lately.
Brooks: Distracted by you. You guessed that right.
I read the message over and over again before Kyle comes out of nowhere with our drinks. “Everything okay?” he asks, sitting next to me before sipping his beer.
I nod before placing my phone face down on the table. “He’s been texting you, hasn’t he? I saw him typing away while I was the bar.”
“He has,” I say through a croak just as another text vibrates on my phone.
Kyle runs his hands up my bare thighs as I lean into him more. “Why don’t you read that message, Red. Pretty sure that means mission accomplished.”
He pulls away, winking at me as he continues to drink his beer. I flip my phone over and have to squeeze my thighs together to contain my building arousal.
Brooks: Does his touch turn you as much as mine used to?