Chapter Four
Hayes
God, she’s beautiful. And, magnetic. Even if I didn’t know who she was, it would be hard for me to look anywhere else.
She throws her head back and laughs as she bounces around to the beat, and I feel the muscles twitching in my cheeks. I could watch her every minute of every day, and it would never be enough.
I don’t know how I survived this many years without seeing her.
I saw her every day in my thoughts, but it doesn’t come close to reality.
Since seeing her for the first time, I haven’t been able to stop looking for her. A few innocent questions to the locals gave me all the information I needed. The building she worked in, and where she lived.
I tried not to show my frustration with how easy it was to obtain those details. Especially after I watched her discard a flower from her windshield wiper as if it were a snake earlier. I could see her eyes were as big as saucers from where I sat on the other side of the parking lot.
Having a secret admirer is one thing, but if the attention is frightening her, I won’t allow it.
If anyone gets to stalk her, it’s me.
“Is there a reason you’re watching my wife?” A man’s voice comes from beside me suddenly. It’s low and controlled, not someone excited and looking for a drunken brawl.
“Who is your wife?” I ask after finishing the last of my drink, slowly turning toward the man. I recognize him.
I’ve seen him at the sanctuary.
He doesn’t respond, looking at me with the same level of recognition.
“I’m not looking at the blonde, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I don’t like you looking at either of them. What do you want?” He asks, just as seriously as before. He doesn’t know me well enough to know my intentions.
I like this guy. I can appreciate him looking out for the woman I care about, even if she hates my guts.
“Liv is an old friend. That’s all.”
“If she were a friend, you’d go over there and say hello.”
I smirk at his accurate assessment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Jesse, we’re leaving,” the woman with long blonde hair says from behind him, cutting a glare my way.
He wraps his arm around her shoulders and kisses her head. “Alright. Where’s–”
He doesn’t finish his thought before she cuts him off. “She went outside for some air.” I stand up from my seat, and she glares at me again. Clearly, she’s already formed an opinion of me.
“Hayes,” I introduce myself, reaching my hand out to shake hers, but her body flinches away. Apparently, she’s heard really terrible things.
Jesse pulls her in tighter, reaching his hand out instead.
“I’m taking them home. We don’t need an escort.” His hand squeezes mine briefly, and I see the warning. He won’t let me near Liv unless she allows it. And that’s not going to happen.
“Drive safe,” I offer, taking my seat again.
As soon as they leave the bar, I make my exit. I watch from the shadows as they all leave in one car, avoiding Liv’s tense looks over her shoulder.
I don’t bother following them. I know where they’re going, and where she’ll end up.
It takes about an hour and a half until she’s parking in front of her little yellow cottage in the woods. It’s like something out of a storybook with absolutely no safety measures, no flood lights, and hardly visible from the road.
She’s a sitting duck out here, and she doesn’t see me leaning against my bike at the darkest edge of her driveway.
“So, you told your friend about me?” I ask suddenly, and she drops her keys from her purse. They hit the ground with a clatter, but she doesn’t turn around.
“Leave me alone.”
“Why should I do that?”
“Because I don’t want to be near you.”
I ignore the sting of those words and saunter towards her slowly. “Seems like I should be the least of your concerns.”
“Why is that?” She spits, spinning to face me finally.
Her fierceness leaves me spellbound for a moment. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and I’m so damn proud of her.
“You have a stalker, Liv.”
“I know. He’s standing in my driveway.”
I laugh, and she blinks at me in quick succession as if she forgot the sound. “You know it isn’t me.”
“I don’t know that.”
“Yes, you do.”
She averts her gaze because she doesn’t want to admit that I’m right. No matter what has happened between us, she knows I’d never act maliciously towards her. I’d never want her to be afraid.
“It doesn’t matter. You need to leave me alone.”
“Why? If some freak is harassing you, it needs to stop.”
“It’s not about that.” She keeps her hands tucked under her arms as if keeping her left hand out of sight will change the facts.
“Ah, because you’re engaged.”
She jolts like she was electrocuted. “How do you know that I’m engaged?”
“Even a blind man could see that rock.”
She rolls her eyes. “My fiancé is a generous man.”
“I’m sure he is.” I don’t hide the sarcasm from my voice, and she notices.
“What does that mean?”
“Just doesn’t seem like your style.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
I used to. “Does he love you?”
“Of course, he does.”
“Then why isn’t he here?” I don’t mean to raise my voice, but this situation is ridiculous.
The second there was a hint of danger, the man she is supposed to marry should have dropped everything to be here to keep her safe.
Like I would.
Like I am.
“It’s not–” She tries to flee, snatching her keys up to go inside.
“Why, Liv?” I don’t back off, following her to her door.
“Stop!”
“Why?” I push, holding the door shut above her head so she can’t open it, twisting my head away to ignore how damn alluring she smells.
“He doesn’t know!” She shouts.
“What?” I breathe, accidentally inhaling the intoxicating scent on her skin, enriched from dancing so hard. Her natural musk is better than any perfume, and it makes my blood pump painfully through my veins.
God, she smells good.
“I haven’t told him,” she whispers, twisting that damn boulder around her finger. The brilliance of it has been seared into my brain since the day I saw her at the sanctuary.
“Why?”
“Because it isn’t anything. It’s not a big deal.” She shrugs, trying to convince herself, because she definitely isn’t convincing me.
“But you’re afraid,” I object softly, breathing against her hair.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. I can see it on your face. I know you.”
“No!” She barks, spinning to face me. Her anger shoves me back until the span of the porch is between us. “You don’t know me. Not anymore.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” She laughs. “Too late for sorry, Jensen. Get the fuck off my porch and leave me alone.”