Chapter 13Hailey
CHAPTER 13
HAILEY
It’s pouring rain and has been for days now. At times, it’s come down in buckets. It’s been two weeks since Luke saved the puppy that Liam now calls Tosha. He fell in love with her as she crawled all over him that day, and when she turned out not to be chipped, or have anyone claim her, he bit the bullet and became a dog dad.
He’s in love, and so is everyone else around the station when he brings her in.
What I’m not in love with is this stupid rain.
Of course, it would choose to start coming down like that now, right when I make a mad dash to my car after shift. Stupidly, I didn’t look for my car keys prior to leaving the building, which was dumber than shit, no matter how much I rifle through my bag.
I’ve only been out in this weather for thirty seconds, tops, and I’m already a drowned rat.
Crying in frustration, I give up, running back to the building, where I have to take another ten seconds to put my code into the door before I can get somewhere dry.
The door opens just before I reach it. Luke’s coming through it, but I barrel towards him, my hands at his chest. He stumbles backwards with my forward momentum, not expecting me. Like I knew he would, though, his hands grab onto my waist to keep me from falling, and we crash into the wall just inside the door.
“What the heck are you doing?” he asks, bewildered, eyes a little frantic, hands finding better purchase around me when we stumble further into the hall as the door slams shut.
“Sorry,” I say sheepishly when we finally come to a stop. “You opened the door, and I wasn’t stopping.”
“I thought you left ten minutes ago.”
“I tried,” I answer. “I got distracted.”
Much like the distraction I’m now faced with. Literally.
This is the closest I’ve been to him since the gym and puppy situation. There might be layers of clothes between my hands and his chest, but it still feels really good. Good enough that I lean in closer to him. I haven’t appreciated how he feels the last few times I’ve been in his arms. I couldn’t think about it during Tree Toppers because of the emotions surging through me, and I refused to think about it in the gym. As much as possible, anyway.
But right now, after feeling the effects of the wind and rain outside, pressing into him feels so good.
God, he’s all muscle and strength. Tall and lean, it helped make him a good running back when he played football. Though, back then he hadn’t filled out like he has now. Something I’ve visually seen, but to feel it beneath my hands, against my body, that’s a whole different experience than witnessing it.I’d been too drunk and angry the night of the engagement party, and too terrified at Tree Toppers to fully enjoy it. But now…
“Hailey?” he questions.
“Mmhm?” I murmur, raising an eyebrow, though I don’t take my eyes off his chest, or the way my fingers slide up and down it, digging in here and there just to see how solid it actually is.
He clears his throat. “You’re getting me wet.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” I reply without thought. I realize half a second too late what just came out of my mouth, my eyes widening in mortification as my cheeks erupt in crimson. It prompts me to take a giant step backwards, making Luke’s hands drop to his sides while he smirks at me. “Oh my god, I didn’t mean to say that. I must be channeling Quinn or Liam. I don’t say things like that.”
“When you’re ready, it can be your line,” Luke says casually but I can see a hint of mischief in his eyes.
I frown, not understanding. “What does that mean?”
He just shrugs then gives my soaked hoodie and yoga pants a once over and changes the subject. “What possessed you to go outside in this and come back in?”
I slap my hand to my forehead. Shit. Right. “My keys. They’re not in my bag.”
Now Luke frowns. “You don’t know where they are?”
I shake my head and turn in the direction of the locker rooms. “No.”
“Where did you last have them?” he asks. I can feel him following behind me.
“Well, I know I had them this morning.”
Luke waits for me outside the locker room. When I come out empty handed, his eyebrows knit together, but he nods, and the two of us begin the search. We start in the meeting room, work our way through the kitchen and rec area, and we’re on our way to the engine bay when Luke stops and puts a hand on my shoulder.
“Didn’t you say you got distracted before you left?” he questions.
Gasping, I nod excitedly. “Yes! Oh my god, I can’t believe I didn’t think about that. Nate’s office.”
We head in that direction, getting there just as Nate is closing the door. I call out, “Nate, wait!”
He stops what he’s doing to look up at us. “What’s up?”
“I think my keys might be in there,” I say, nodding to his office.
Without another word, he pushes his door open so I can go in. Sure enough, they’re sitting on the edge of his desk behind a stack of papers. He never would have seen them from where he sits. Now that I’m looking at them, I remember pulling them out, but when I leaned over to look at something on his laptop, I set them down and must have forgotten them there.
“Success!” I say, holding them up as I turn from the desk.
“Great. Now we all get to go home and get some sleep. I’m frickin’ beat,” Luke says, rubbing a tired eye.
It was a rough shift. With all the rain and wind, it was a busy day. More car accidents, flooding in the streets, a few downed power lines, and people just being more irritable because of the weather. There wasn’t much downtime between calls, and it definitely took a toll on all of us.
“Easy for you to say,” I tell him, moving out of Nate’s office. We both wait until he’s locked up so the three of us can walk out together. “I still have a half hour drive up to Bear Creek in this weather, as long as the road isn’t blocked.”
“Going to your mom’s?” he asks casually, but I can tell he’s fishing for more information.
I grin at him knowingly. “No. It’s where I live. You know how much I love it up there. I couldn’t bear leaving the mountains for all this concrete. I did it while I went to school and that was long enough.”
“Glad to see the two of you worked out whatever was going on when Luke first started,” Nate pipes in.
“Yeah, we’re good,” Luke says, glancing over at me with a smile. “I think we’re friends now. Right, Hails?”
The way my heart falls and my stomach twists catch me by surprise, but I somehow manage to bite back a grimace. Friends. Right. Of course, we’re friends.
Luke has the ability to shatter me into a million little pieces, and I truly do not want to try and pick them up again. Which could happen if we were anything other than friends.
So why the hell do I feel disappointed at his claim? I don’t want to be anything other than friends.
Do I?
“Yeah, definitely friends,” I agree, returning his smile even though I know it doesn’t reach my eyes.
Nate opens the side door leading into the parking lot and looks out. The rain is lighter than when I went out the first time, so we make hasty goodbyes, running to our vehicles as quickly as we can. Once I’m there, I peel off my wet sweater, tossing it into my passenger seat for the long drive home. Cranking the heat, I pull out of my spot and head for the road.
It's hard to zen out on the way home when the rain is coming down like it is. Morning traffic is backed up on the other side of the freeway, full of commuters heading in for their workday, and I’m glad I’m headed in the opposite direction. It isn’t long before I’m turning off the freeway onto the highway that leads up the mountain. This road is completely quiet, which makes me relax a fraction, but not fully. Not with the twists, turns, and steep edges that need all my concentration on a good day.
Suddenly, I notice a familiar Jeep coming up behind me. I sit up a little straighter, glancing in my rearview mirror. Sure as shit, there’s Luke, bobbing his head to whatever music he’s listening to.It makes me wonder where he lives, something I haven’t found out since being on speaking terms with him. It’s not something I thought to ask, nor is it something he’s offered, and it hasn’t come up organically.
“Where the hell is he going?” I question out loud before telling my Bluetooth to call him.
It’s the first time I’ve ever used his number, which I’ve had since his first shift. Not that I wanted it back then, but there’s a group chat between all of us, so I didn’t have a choice.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” he greets, his voice filled with happiness. It’s raining too hard for me to see his smile in my mirror, but I can tell it’s there.
Which makes my own break free. There might also be a little butterfly in my stomach that dislodges itself from hiding. “Are you stalking me?”
“Fuck no,” he snarls, anger lacing his words. “I would never do something like that.”
His reaction surprises me. For a second I don’t know what to say, my stomach knotting with uneasiness. There’s an awkward pause in the conversation before I murmur, “I was only joking.”
At the same time he says, “Sorry. I just know someone who was stalked and it’s not something that’s funny to me.”
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry,” I tell him, my voice soft. I was aiming for light and airy with this conversation and it’s turned into anything but that.
“I know. I shouldn’t have snapped like that, I’m sorry. Not much riles me up, but that does.”
There’s a pause where I hear him take a breath and let it out. I give him a moment to collect himself before I ask, “So what are you doing then?”
Just like that, it’s like the last minute of conversation didn’t happen. He’s happy, casual, and I can hear the smile in his voice when he answers, “Maybe I’m just making sure you get home okay.”
“Is that what friends do?” I ask him, an eyebrow raised even though he can’t see me.
The laugh I get back warms me from the inside out. “Maybe it’s what I do for this particular friend.”
That one butterfly that broke free has a bunch of friends who suddenly join it. My stomach erupts with them, and I swear my heart skips a beat. “What are you really doing? You can’t just be making sure I get home okay. I’m fine. I drive this road every day and have for years. You know that.”
“I have complete and utter faith in you. I don’t have faith in this weather, though,” he tells me, and I can hear the seriousness in his voice. “I’m not technically making sure you get home safe, but it’s a byproduct of my drive.”
“A byproduct of your drive?” I repeat questioningly.
“Yeah. Like you, I go this way—” Luke cuts himself off abruptly which makes me glance in the rearview mirror. I haven’t looked back to the road when he yells, “Hailey! Stop!”
Movement in front of me catches my eye and I gasp. Watching like it’s happening in slow motion, a tree comes crashing down on the road in front of me. Instinct takes over causing me to slam on the brakes and spin the wheel to avoid hitting the tree, but the wet pavement has me sliding all over the place. I try to correct the steering, but there’s nothing I can do as my car goes careening towards the side of the mountain.
All I can do is hold on and pray.