Chapter Forty-Eight
Hayes
It’s surreal being here and being a part of the group. I don’t feel like an outsider anymore. Liv joked that Thea was the sun, that everyone revolved around her, but if she’s the sun, Liv is the atmosphere.
She pulls you in like gravity to earth, keeping you close and making you belong.
I know I belong with her.
“This is my song! Let’s go!” Callie grabs Jo’s hand and pulls her onto the dance floor as Natalie and Liv suck down the last of their drinks before joining them.
“You coming, Thea?” Liv asks as she scoots closer to the dance floor.
“No, you go! I need to conserve my energy to last all night.” She waves Liv away, but her face falls quickly.
“Are you okay?” Jesse asks her.
“I’m fine, the sickness is starting to come and go.” She smiles weakly. “I’ll be fine. I just get to hang out with you guys.” She sits down on the stool between Jesse and me, leaning against the table.
“Yeah, we’re thrilling,” I tease. “Lochlan is having the time of his life.”
Lochlan glances at me. “I hate this,” he grumbles
“Jo is having a great time, so you love this.”
He ignores me, drinking his beer, but I see the spark in his eyes watching her have fun.
“I’ll get you a Sprite,” Nathan states without waiting for an answer from Thea, and goes to the bar. He’s a different level of protective when it comes to his baby sister. I don’t know how she or Callie get anything done.
My eyes stay on the dance floor where Liv and Natalie grind all over each other, practically losing their balance because their legs are so entangled. I smile as Liv throws her head back and laughs.
“Do you ever get used to it?” I ask Jackson, and he turns his head to acknowledge me. “Loving a woman who might cut your dick off if you piss her off.”
“No.” He takes a drink of his water, but then he smirks. “It’s quite a thrill, though. I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
For a moment, we’re lost in the entertainment of watching the women in our lives lose themselves to the music, and peace settles over me. Maybe all the years of suffering were leading me here, and now the second half of my life begins. Uninhibited happiness with Liv.
A delicate hand grips my forearm with force, and I glance down at it.
Why is Thea touching me?
Thea has never touched me…
My gaze goes from her nails digging into my skin to her other hand on Jesse’s thigh, and when I look up, Jesse is looking at me with just as much confusion.
We both look at her at the same time, but she’s intensely focused on something across the room.
“Him,” she utters, hauntingly.
“What?” Jesse says, scanning the crowd, trying to find what she is seeing.
Her head snaps to the side, looking at me with wild eyes. “Get Liv!” She yells, and chaos erupts.
Every man at the table is on their feet, dispersing into the crowded bar. I’m barely dodging people and spilling drinks as I sprint to the dance floor.
I’m within feet of the squared-off section when Liv’s eyes find mine. She stops dancing and grabs all the girls, seeing the trouble on my face.
My arms are around her and her friends within seconds as I whip my head around, still looking for the person that Thea saw. If only it were as easy as having a red beacon arrow over their head, but no one stands out.
Lochlan is at my side, clearing a path to get the girls back to the back corner as curious bar patrons stare at our odd behavior.
We get them to the table where Jesse is holding Thea behind his back and effectively put a wall around all of them.
“Where’s Jackson?” Natalie asks, looking over my shoulder.
“He went to try to find the guy I saw,” Thea says against Jesse’s back.
“Who was it?” Liv asks Thea, looking at her as if she’s trying to read her mind.
“I don’t know. It was a boy I remember from college. He was looking right at you. And then he turned and looked at me. He was angry.”
“What was his name?” Liv asks more urgently.
“I don’t know,” she cries. “Parts of undergrad are a blur now. He used to show up at our dorm room asking for you, but you were depressed and bedridden. I ignored all the Freshmen hallway socializing those first few weeks to give you time to adjust. I always turned him away, and eventually he stopped showing up. I totally forgot he existed until I just saw his face.”
“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.” She hugs her friend, and I fight the urge to throw her over my shoulder to get her out of this bar. But there is safety in numbers, and I have to let myself take advantage of that now that I have it.
“There’s Nathan,” Callie says, looking on worriedly.
He pulls her into his arms when he reaches the table, and we all watch as Jackson stalks back towards our group.
“The manager won’t give me access to the cameras, and I don’t have the jurisdiction to force him,” Malec admits.
“What’s his fucking problem?” I fire out before I can control myself.
“He claims that the other bar patrons’ privacy is important to him, and technically, a crime hasn’t been committed here.”
“Liv’s stalker is on those fucking tapes, and we’re supposed to just sit here and let him get away?”
“I know, Hayes. I know,” Malec argues. “If I obtain evidence unlawfully, then Liv is screwed when it comes time to prosecute this jack ass,” he thunders. “If I don’t do this right, he’ll walk free.”
“He’s walking free now!”
“Stop, Hayes. He’s right,” Liv agrees, letting her head fall to my chest. I hold her tightly, letting my anger boil inside of me.
“I’ll scour social media. I can try to find all of the alumni from our university. Someone has to be mutual friends with him,” Thea suggests, but Liv only nods against my chest.
The conversation flows around me as they all discuss ways to solve our problem, but I can’t focus on it. I’m struggling not to lose control of the temper that I’ve worked so hard to keep at bay.
The temper that will take me away from Liv when I’ve finally got her back.
In my peripheral vision, I watch Nathan kiss Callie’s head and slink away from the group, unhurriedly making his way through the crowd of people that still linger in the bar.
When my curious gaze catches her attention, she shakes her head subtly, telling me not to draw attention to his absence.
I don’t look at him directly, but I glimpse his back as it disappears down the back hallway…
Only a few moments later, he reemerges, continuing his casual pace as he threads through the people and back to our corner.
“He changed his mind,” Nathan says, holding a flash drive.
Malec sighs, glancing up at the ceiling in exasperation. “Don’t tell me what you did… Just tell me we don’t need to call a medic.”
“Nothing a janitor can’t clean up.” He smacks Jackson on the shoulder and glances at his wife, who is hiding her amusement behind her hand.
“I can’t look at this, legally,” Malec says, looking at Liv and me. “If we do this, there is no case.”
“I know,” Liv says, staring at the flash drive in Nathan’s hand.
I look at him, but he’s already watching me closely. He didn’t get the drive for Jackson or Liv. He got it for me because he knows prosecution is the least of my priorities.
“Thank you,” I tell him earnestly, grabbing it from him.
Liv whips her head to look at me, but I assume it’s disapproval so I ignore it.
“I can’t let this guy win, dove,” I whisper, so only she hears.
“I want to see it, too,” she responds, and I look at her in surprise. She wants to do it my way.
“Come back to our house. Dec’s at Charlie’s house. I’ll make food, and you guys can look at the footage,” Natalie suggests.
“We’re all coming,” Thea adds.
“Okay.” Malec nods, already on board. He finds Natalie’s hand. “Good thing we bought all those chairs,” he mumbles to her, making her smile.
* * *
Somehow, Malec’s kitchen is louder than the bar we were just in, as the girls hover around the kitchen island while Natalie makes a late-night snack. With all of us here, we’re taking up every last chair in the kitchen and dining room.
Jackson is glaring at his laptop screen while Jesse looks over one shoulder, and Nathan stares intensely over his other shoulder.
I don’t look. If I recognize anyone on the video, I’m liable to sneak out the back door and handle it without witnesses.
I can’t lose Liv again.
Which is why Lochlan is watching me from across the table as if he’s waiting for me to snap.
“I’m fine,” I assure him, just to get his intense stare off of me.
“You don’t look fine.”
I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms. “Don’t ask me to pretend, Loch. If Jo was being stalked, you’d be losing your mind, too.”
He stiffens slightly but leans in to rest his forearms on the table. “That’s exactly why I am here. We’re going to keep her safe, but I am not going to let you do anything stupid.”
“Easier said than done,” I utter. When I glance to the side, feeling eyes on me, I’m surprised to find Nathan watching me.
There’s an understanding in his eyes, and even though we’re different people who come from different worlds, somehow I know we’re more alike than we’d ever admit.
“Thanks for getting the footage,” I tell him.
He nods. “If I didn’t, you would have, but there would have been a lot more cops involved.”
I huff a laugh. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Technically, we are cops,” Jesse says to him, while Malec just ignores all of us.
“Civilian shit doesn’t really concern me,” he shrugs.
Jesse rolls his eyes as his friend walks into the kitchen to get another beer. “Keeping him in line is like keeping a rabid dog in a cage,” he sighs, squeezing the bridge of his nose.
“I think I found the time stamp I need,” Malec says suddenly, walking over towards the TV to plug his laptop in.
Everyone gathers round, but I grab Jesse to hold him back. “Whatever happened to the old Sheriff and Jeremiah’s uncles?”
I heard the story from Nathan on the stand, but I never got the ending.
“One day, after a lot of beer, I’m sure he’ll tell you.” He raises his eyebrows as he takes a swig from his bottle and joins Thea on the couch.
“Okay, Thea, this is two minutes before Nathan gets up to get you a Sprite from the bar,” Malec says, queuing the video on the big screen.