Chapter 14 Hayley
FOURTEEN
HAYLEY
“Well hello there, handsomes. Come on. Come here. I’ve got dinner for you guys!”
The gorillas were tentative at first. I was new to them, and they hadn’t had the chance to properly explore me or get to know me in any way. They cocked their heads at me, their eyes falling to the massive bucket of food I had sitting in front of me.
“It’s okay. I’ll just leave this here.”
I slowly backed away from the bucket. And the more I backed away, the more they came forward.
I moved in slow motions, trying not to make any sudden movements.
I didn’t want to spook them or make them feel as if they were being harmed in any way.
I backed all the way to the door and watched as they looked in the bucket, finding their dinner waiting for them.
Then, they tipped it over and devoured it.
“Good job, you guys. Way to go,” I said.
I backed my way out of the exhibit and picked up my notepad.
I started furiously scribbling down all I saw the gorillas eat.
Each and every fruit I could pick out, I did.
I wrote them down and tallied up who ate which ones.
And how many. Then, once the fruit was gone, I did the same thing with the bucket of bamboo shoots. And the termite-infested logs.
I stood there charting everything I could before my first idea came to mind.
It would be easier to chart their diets if each of the animals had their own feeding trough.
Why they didn’t at the San Diego zoo was beyond me.
I’d have to ask my boss about that later.
But, if that was something under my control, that would be my first requisition.
More buckets and feeding troughs so every animal’s diet could be controlled more than it was at the moment.
I jotted down the note on the clipboard before I made my way back to my desk.
I climbed into the golf cart and rode back to my office.
It was only my second day at work, but I already felt like I was settling in.
I clocked in a little early and got to have lunch with the staff I’d be spending my days with.
I introduced myself to the other three zoologists on staff and had a snack with them.
It had been a good afternoon, and the evening seemed as if it was going to be quiet.
Which left me alone with my thoughts.
I slid the clipboard with my suggestions in the folder holder on my boss’s door.
Then, I shut myself up in my own office.
I started on some paperwork I needed to get typed up and filled in, and then printed them out at my desk and got them signed.
I scanned them back into the system and emailed them off where they needed to go, and then I turned my chair around and gazed out over the trees.
The whistling of the birds calmed my mind, and I found it drifting back to Stone.
I mean, I knew I was attracted to him. That much was for sure.
Especially this morning, when he had to leave before I had a chance to devour him again.
But that leather cut. That logo. From what my father had taught me about motorcycle gangs, I knew he was someone not to be toyed with.
Not to be wrapped up in. And he sure as hell wouldn’t be happy to know I’d entangled myself with one of them, however temporary.
But I was also a grown-ass woman. I didn’t need my father’s approval of who I was seeing. If I wanted to get together with Stone again, that was my choice.
And speaking of my father…
“Hello?” my father asked as he picked up the phone.
“Hey, Dad. It’s me,” I said.
“Hayley. Princess. Hey,” he said.
“Just calling you on my little break at work. How are things?”
“They’re fine. Just sitting by the fire.”
“The fire? It’s seventy degrees outside.”
“You know how your mother always liked fires. Even when it was hot as balls outside.”
My heart broke for him. Ached for him. He always did that.
On days he missed her the most, he’d do some of the things she always enjoyed.
Like eat at her favorite lunch spot my father couldn’t stand.
Or walk along the beach my father hated.
The two of them were practical opposites, and yet so much of his life had been dedicated to doing shit he hated in order to see her smile.
“Did you have that tuna on rye?” I asked, giggling.
“I still don’t know how your mother choked it down,” he said gruffly.
“Well, she did put up with you all those years.”
“Hey, now. You’re treading a line.”
“Oh, come on, you old grouch.”
I stared out the window as silence fell on the phone call. I drew in a deep breath, hoping my father could hear the whistling of the birds. I propped the phone against my shoulder and closed my eyes. I paid attention to my father’s rhythmic breathing.
Then, his breath grew ragged.
“Dad?” I asked.
“Uh-huh,” he said.
“You okay?”
“Yep.”
“You sure?” I asked.
“Uh-huh.”
I furrowed my brow. “How’s that fire?”
“Sure, sweetheart. Whatever you need,” he said.
“Dad,” I said curtly.
He cleared his throat, and I heard the phone tumble from his hand.
He scrambled around to pick it up, and I whipped back around to look at my computer screen.
I rolled my eyes as he grumbled and cursed.
I loved my father, but there were moments where I thought he was growing angrier by the second.
For no other reason than the fact that he was alone.
“Sorry. Dropped the phone,” he said.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
“You’re working right now, aren’t you?”
He sighed. “I’m working on another case with a motorcycle crew I came into contact with, and I can’t find anything.”
“You mean anything to pin on them?”
“I mean evidence of what I already know they’re sticking their feet in.”
“Uh-huh. And what has this gang done to you?” I asked.
“Other than being comprised of a bunch of men who toe the line between gray and black and constantly skirt the law? Nothing,” he said.
“Daddy, if you can’t find anything on them, then maybe there’s nothing to find.”
He paused. “What did you say?”
“Look, I’m just saying that you should arrest people you know have done something wrong instead of chasing after people you think are doing something wrong.”
“I don’t think anything, Hayley. I know. I just can’t talk to you about what I know because some of the investigations are still pending. Like the one I’m working on.”
His voice was harsh, and I was concerned that if I talked anymore, he’d sniff me out.
“But I am close,” he said with a sigh. “I might have a way to catch them if my intel is correct.”
“And what intel is this?” I asked.
“Can’t talk. I have to go. But we’ll talk soon. Okay, sweetheart?”
“Yep. Talk soon,” I said.
I hung up the phone on my father and groaned.
He always did this. Every time the memory of Mom got too much for him to bear, he threw himself into work.
The last three times he’d done this, he had almost gotten himself killed.
I mean, hell, the last time he did it, he killed a man!
At some storage facility! Not like he told me himself.
I practically had to pin his partner with my stare to get out of him what the hell my father had gotten himself into.
Is he going after Stone’s club?
I closed my eyes and tried to envision the logo on the back of his leather jacket. I saw parts of it. Some letters. “Lost” something. Or maybe “lose.” Or “love?” No, “love” didn’t sound tough enough. Not for the gruff man I had come into contact with.
I found myself hoping he wasn’t going after Stone’s club.
I wasn’t sure why, though. I mean, for all I knew, I’d never hear from the man again. In fact, part of me was prepared for it. Prepared for the one night stand we were. And yet, part of me wanted him to call again. Part of me wanted to see him again.
A big part of me, actually.
“Work,” I said, sighing.
I needed to focus on work.
I dicked around with more paperwork and got ahead on tomorrow’s scheduled necessities.
Then, it was time for my own dinner break.
My boss came knocking on my door and invited me to the sandwich shop she loved so much, and I was down for it.
They had a few things on their menu some of my coworkers told me were worth trying.
Like the vegetarian sub piled high with mushrooms and the reuben on rye with a dipping sauce that was apparently good enough to tip up and drink.
Actually, that sounded like a really good dinner. With a package of chips and a frozen lemonade.
But even dinner with my boss while we discussed my suggestions for the feeding troughs didn’t really rip my mind from Stone. He was still there, lingering. His smell was still there, taunting me. The feel of his hands gripping my hips was still there, haunting me.
Making me beg and pray to all the gods above that he called me. Or showed up at my work. Or did anything to show me he wanted a second round of things. To get drinks again and be with me again. To wake up against my body again and feel me again.
Anything, if it meant being around him again.