Chapter 23 #2
Her face warmed, and the phone almost slipped from her damp fingers. “It wasn’t so bad back then.”
“Oh, Hazel…”
“What? It barely affected him back then. He says he was a wreck, but…Cian, he was okay!”
“He’ll never be allowed to use that word again, will he?”
“Well, it left a lasting impression.”
“Come on, Hazel.” He lowered his voice. “Obviously, he pretended it was okay!”
“Why? Why couldn’t he just say he loved me and hated the idea of breaking up?”
Incredulous, Cian laughed. “Because he’s Gareth!
You know him better than I do, Hazel. You of all people should know that displaying big emotions isn’t his thing.
It was your choice…and he wasn’t going to influence it by begging you to give him another chance.
He doesn’t persuade people to like him. He doesn’t convince them. They either do or they don’t.”
Her heart sank in her chest.
I don’t want to persuade you, Hazel. I meant what I said: I’m tired of fighting for someone’s love and having to prove who I am and what I feel. You either want me or you don’t.
She closed her eyes.
She wasn’t the only one who was scared. She’d made the same mistake most people did.
Gareth always seemed so confident, so she'd automatically assumed he wasn’t insecure in any area.
But that wasn’t true. He didn’t want to have to prove his feelings — but maybe he needed someone to prove their feelings to him.
To ease his doubts about if he was good enough.
“Shit,” she whispered. “I think I screwed up, Cian. It’s just…I waited for months back then for him to change his mind. For him to find someone better suited.”
Cian snorted. “I don’t know anyone better suited than you. And if you still doubt his feelings: He’s sitting in a fucking holding cell because of you!”
She shrugged. “I didn’t tell him to hit Kosianos!”
“No, he came up with that himself. Get your ass over here anyway.”
“Because the idiot loves and needs me?”
“Yes! God, you two are driving me crazy.”
She fought it but lost and a smile spread across her face. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I’m coming. Text me the address. I…just need to make a quick stop.”
The Vernon police station was probably not normally visited by many people, but when Hazel arrived an hour and a half later, four people were standing in the entryway.
Penny was talking to the officer, who apparently couldn’t reach a judge who could officially release Gareth from custody on a Saturday.
Mr. Clark was standing stoically behind her, frequently mentioning how outrageous the whole thing was.
Cian was sitting on an orange plastic chair by the door, studying a folder that looked disturbingly familiar to Hazel…
and Billy Kosianos was leaning against the wall and giving Cian spiteful glances.
The glances would have been more impressive if his nose weren’t so bloody and he didn’t have a gash on his chin.
“Man, did you finally get that plastic surgery everyone’s been telling you to get for a decade?” she greeted the lawyer sweetly. “Looks good! You should wear blood more often.”
Kosianos whirled around angrily. Cian glanced up with a smile, and Penny gave a small wave before continuing to grill the officer.
“You two deserve each other!” Kosianos snarled. “The bitch and the asshole, that’s a perfect fit.”
“Okay…” Cian rose with a dark look, but she just waved him off.
“No, no. It’s fine, Cian. One Harvard graduate in custody is enough for today,” she said, smiling. “It’s so good to see you, Kosianos. I heard you’re suing my mother and filing charges against my boyfriend?”
Billy smiled smarmily. “Oh yeah. I know you like to use Clark as your personal shield, but it didn’t work this time.”
“Mm hm. I think your nose tells a different story.”
He bared his teeth. “It was worth it. He’ll pay for this! And your clients will certainly be interested to know that you’re only able to negotiate such good contracts for them because you’re screwing the contractual parties.”
“Oh, it was just the one,” she replied lightly, even though her stomach fluttered.
But she’d better get used to ignoring the taunting of assholes regarding her relationship with Gareth, right?
She’d have to live with them. As long as Fox and Moreau and all the other people who mattered to her knew better…
she didn’t care. What did she care about the opinion of the man who had deliberately scared her mother — and forced her to take a slightly more sleazy route than legal action?
“Well, I have to disappoint you, but I don’t think Gareth will have to pay. ”
Kosianos snorted. “I have the upper hand.”
“And I’m here to chop it off,” she said cheerfully, because the guy who put Gareth in his holding cell didn’t deserve to be treated kindly.
“You know, I was looking at your client list…and one of your biggest clients is Blue Lemonade. You know what else Blue Lemonade is? One of the Hawks’ biggest sponsors!
Funny coincidence, isn’t it? And the CEO has become Penny’s really good friend. Isn’t that so, Penny?”
“I adore Mrs. Malborne!” Penny exclaimed from the reception desk.
Hazel grinned. “See? And Penny is Gareth’s sister. That just happens to be the guy who loves me so much he threw away his sacred control just to take you down. You remember.” She scratched her nose. “I bet he could convince his sister to tell Blue Lemonade what a bad choice your firm is.”
“I’m sure!” Penny replied directly.
“So if you don’t drop the charges against my mother – and the complaint against Gareth – she’ll call her right now!”
“Cian, will you give me back my phone?” Penny asked innocently.
Kosianos turned chalk white. “You wouldn’t. That would be…that would be…”
“Not fair?” she whispered, her interest piqued as she moved closer to him.
“Life isn’t fair, Kosianos. But if you drop the charges and the complaint, at least yours will be a little better.
So, think about it and talk it over with Penny.
I have other plans at the moment.” She waved to him and then hurried into the hallway that, according to the sign, led to the holding cells — only one of which was occupied.
Gareth lay on the concrete bench against the back wall. He had his arms folded behind his head, his eyes closed, and his legs propped up, as if he was taking a nap in the Caribbean, not a smelly police station. Still, he didn’t seem out of place. That may have been due to his bloody knuckles.
Or perhaps he was always in exactly the right place, as long as she could just look at him.
She smiled as she strolled closer. She felt as if she’d been working toward this exact spot for ten years.
“You know,” she said, “I kind of like this. At least you can’t run away while I’m telling you what I want to say.”
Scrambling to his feet so quickly, Gareth almost fell off the bench. He blinked a little too much, as if he was unsure if he was asleep.
“So, you thought a fistfight with Kosianos was a good idea?”
“It wasn’t a fight,” he stated, hesitantly stepping forward. “He just fell to the ground. You might almost say he fainted.”
She pursed her lips. “Ah, yes. I’m sure the police feel the same way?”
“The police are surprisingly narrow-minded.”
“So the police are the problem?”
“No. Billy is the problem.”
“So, you’re innocent?”
“My conscience is clear.”
She snorted. “You know what I thought when I heard you’d gotten into a fight with Billy again? That we were repeating the past. Only this time we should be smarter and wiser.”
“I was wiser. I didn’t fight the police this time.”
“Gareth!”
Uncomfortable, he scratched the back of his neck. “You’re right, okay? Maybe we’re repeating the past. But then let’s do better this time.”
“I told you then that I could defend myself.”
“I wanted to protect your knuckles.”
It took some effort not to laugh. “Gareth, that’s honorable,” she replied more gently. “But just to be clear: I don’t need you to fight my battles. I just handled Kosianos quite well on my own. He’ll most likely drop the lawsuit and the charges.” He had no choice, after all.
Gareth stared at her, open-mouthed. “How the hell…?”
“Blackmail, naturally,” she said, waving her hand. “I really shouldn’t have insisted on taking a completely legal recourse with that bastard.”
Gareth’s mouth twitched noticeably, and she had to restrain herself from smiling. But that wasn’t the plan — and Gareth loved plans, so she would stick to hers for his sake.
“Nonetheless, I certainly enjoyed seeing Kosianos with a broken nose,” she continued.
“Thanks for that.” Gareth opened his mouth, but she held up a finger.
“I’m not finished yet. Everything you said this afternoon…
” She cleared her throat, but held his gaze.
“It was too soon, Gareth. I wasn’t ready yet. ”
He sighed. “I know…I was impatient.”
She gave him a sardonic look. “This is a whole new side of you that I’m getting to know.”
Gareth didn’t seem amused; instead, his expression was strangely serious, as if it were too important to laugh about. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m just saying: We can't negate a decent relationship just because we’re both too damn stubborn to be honest and say how we feel!”
She slowly inclined her head, the cold of the cell replaced by the warmth of his words. “Okay. That’s fair. You said what you feel. Now, can I say what I feel?”
He gripped two bars so tightly that his knuckles turned white, but he nodded. He looked at her as if she was about to decide in the next few moments if he’d ever be allowed to leave this cell…and she almost gave in, pulled his head toward hers, and kissed him — but that wasn’t the plan!
“Gareth,” she said tonelessly. “You shouldn’t have said okay back then.”
He opened his lips, closed them, and then reopened them. “I wanted the best for you, Hazel. Even if it wasn’t me.”