Chapter Thirty-Two
Liv
“You’re being quiet again,” I say after we’re nearly back to my house. He hasn’t spoken since we left the rehab center.
He scrubs a hand over his chin and sighs. “I wish it had been me. Hearing all the pain he is in… I don’t know. Just feeling a lot of regret right now.”
“You can’t protect everyone, Hayes. You can’t be everywhere at all times.”
“Still, if I could take his place, I would.”
My head jostles lightly against the headrest as I watch him stare stonily out the windshield as he drives. His left hand rests atop the wheel, but his right elbow leans against the center console as he fidgets with his fingers.
He looks cool on the outside, but his warring emotions are on the edge of bursting out of him. He’s always had such a big heart, even though he refused to let people see it.
“The man you are today blows me away, too, Jensen,” I admit softly.
His fingers still, turning to look at me as if he imagined the words he heard. My palm covers his hand, and I squeeze.
He merely blinks before turning his attention back to the road in front of him, but his thumb dances in circles on the inside of my wrist, sending tingles up my arm.
Things are different between us now. We always had friendship as the foundation of our relationship, but after years of living different lives, we’re relearning each other… And the depth of what’s building doesn’t feel like friendship at all.
It’s raw and simmering to the surface every time he looks at me. Especially when he touches me, giving me a glimpse of what’s underneath.
As a girl, I desperately needed a friend, and Jensen filled that role. But as a woman, I have enough friends. What I want from him is beyond that.
I want to know how it feels to be at his mercy.
I want to feel everything he has to give.
My thighs rub together as I uncross my legs and recross them, and my pencil skirt rides higher, but when I move to fix it, his gaze falls to my legs…
I shouldn’t play games with him, not when I don’t know where things between us will lead… Or if it’s even a good idea.
But when he looks at me like that, desire burns inside of me, and I can’t think of anything else.
I shift in my seat again, settling his hand inches above my knee, and watch raptly as his calloused fingers grip my exposed thigh. They tighten and relax as he drags his palm back and forth, massaging every inch of bare skin from my knee to the edge of my skirt.
I’m a spectator to his teasing, melting into my seat as he touches me until my insides are burning.
A crazy woman would hike her skirt up and beg him to keep going, daring him to push it farther.
But I remember begging him to kiss me when we were kids. If he rejects me again, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it, because what I want from him now is much bigger than a kiss.
I want him to make me forget everything.
“How many questions would you have if I didn’t take you home right now?”
“What?” All I want is for him to take me home right now. I’ve been so focused on him that I hadn’t realized he pulled into my driveway and stopped short.
But there is also another car in my driveway.
“Oh my God,” I mumble. Elliot.
“I’ll tell him to leave.”
“No, I should talk to him and get it over with.”
He sighs, gripping my thigh as he pulls the rest of the way down the driveway, and I’m not sure if he plans to let go.
“Thanks for bringing me home,” I utter quietly, staring out the window at my front door. Elliot still has a key. He’s probably waiting in the kitchen with a glass of scotch, waiting to lecture me.
“I’m not letting you go in there alone,” Hayes says gruffly.
“It’s just Elliot.”
“As a lawyer, you should know this isn’t an argument you’re going to win.”
I fling my door open, ripping my leg from his grasp, pretending that I don’t immediately miss the warmth.
“Don’t-” I point at him before we get to the porch, “start a fight.”
“Yes, boss.”
I roll my eyes and take a deep breath before entering my home. The space that keeps being violated over and over again by unwanted men.
“What the hell are you doing?” I screech as my point is proven once again.
Every drawer is opened, every cabinet. My bedroom door is wide open, and clothes are dumped on the bed.
“Where’s the ring?” He yells, storming into the living room and coming to a halt when he sees Hayes behind me. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“The ring is none of your business. It was a gift, and I don’t have any obligation to return it.” I ignore his latter question, feeling the fumes rolling off of Hayes already because of the mess.
All Elliot has to do is light a match to ignite the explosion that’s about to happen.
“That ring is worth more than this damn shack.”
“Then it will do wonders for a charity of my choosing,” I respond calmly. If I don’t act bothered, maybe Hayes will behave.
“You bitch.” As soon as I hear that word, my eyes slam shut. That’s all it will take.
I expect the atomic bomb, but what I get is the soft click of the deadbolt on the door being locked.
I spin to face him, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at Elliot, and his eyes are wild with rage.
“Jensen, don’t. He’ll press charges and sue you if you leave a mark on him. Please, don’t,” I plead, grabbing his shirt.
He puts his hand over mine, squeezing briefly. “You’re right.”
I’m… right?
I was expecting more theatric–
My hair catches the wind as a high-performance machine darts past me, locking Elliot in a headlock.
“No!” I yell, but it doesn’t matter. Hayes has him on his knees in an instant.
“Apologize.”
Elliot grunts, unable to use his throat.
“Come on, you were so loud before. Apologize to her,” he demands, and his bicep grows as he deepens his hold.
“Hayes, stop.”
He looks at me, but his eyes are cold, now. Detached. “He called you a bitch, Olive.” His voice is so low and menacing. I hardly recognize it.
“You promised.” I look at him with pleading eyes. He can’t go to jail again.
A seconds-long standoff takes place as he stares into my distress-filled eyes, begging him not to do this.
Finally, his arm loosens, and Elliot falls to a pile at his feet. Relief fills me when I don’t have even the slightest urge to check on the man who ended up being the biggest slime-ball on the planet.
“That shouldn’t leave a mark,” Hayes says easily, standing over his body as if he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. But his chest heaves with his need to cause pain, and the veins in his forearms are prominent and angry, straining as he clenches his fists.
As a non-advocate for violence… He’s a man who makes it look too damn appealing.
“Now what?” My palms slap my sides. Elliot is passed out on my floor, and there’s no protocol in law school for how to handle this.
“Do you want to tie him up and go feed him to the bears?” I ask, and Hayes shrugs. “No.” I look at him pointedly and rub my hand across my face in exasperation.
When I open my eyes, Elliot’s body is gone, and Hayes is dragging him halfway out the back door. “What are you doing?” I squeal, running after him.
Is he going to toss him into the woods?
Bury him in my backyard?
I skid to a stop on my patio as he picks up Elliot’s limp body and dumps him into the ice bath. He goes under for only a second before he pops back up, gasping for air.
Hayes is there, yanking his head back by the roots. “Apologize,” he grits through his teeth, inches from his face.
“III- I’m sss-ssorry, Livvy.” Hayes dunks his head under the ice water again.
“Don’t fucking call her that. Don’t say her name ever again. Don’t come back. Ever. Again,” he threatens.
Elliot nods, and Hayes yanks him out of the tub, letting him drop onto the concrete stones. “Get the fuck out of here, prick.”
“Can I at least have a towel?” He begs pathetically.
“You could have given me an STD… But you want a towel?” I ask him with narrowed eyes. “Go ask the wedding planner for a towel.”
He climbs to his feet, shivering like a fool. “You’re going to regret this,” he mumbles, and Hayes steps towards him until I hold up my hand.
“I guarantee that I won’t. I want my key back.” I hold out my hand, waiting for him to comply, and he does, grumbling as he fishes it out of his soaked suit pocket.
He throws it on the ground next to Hayes. “I’m sure your dog will need it.”
Hayes smiles menacingly, and Elliot starts backpedaling off the patio in a flurry.
When he steps to go after him, I stop him with a hand to his chest. “Down, boy.”
He looks at me in surprised amusement. “Funny.”
Suddenly, my feet are swept out from under me as I’m tossed over his shoulder.
I have to blow my hair out of my face as it dangles around my head, and I see Elliot staring at us in open-mouthed shock.
“Say bye to your ex, you’ll never see him again,” Hayes states seriously with a hearty slap to my ass, making me squeak. He doesn’t give me an actual chance to respond before he’s gliding effortlessly back into the cottage.
The entire backyard disappears from view, along with my ex-fiance, as I’m taken into the kitchen.