“Betray you,” Ren answers, using the very emotion I felt. Why did Priscilla deserve the right to be pained after what she did?
“Yes.” I shove Priscilla from my mind and recall Hayden and her actions. They were much like the actions of a girlfriend. “I think Hayden was trying to make her jealous, but we all know how that turned out.”
“Unless she becomes your wife,” Ren says, raising an eyebrow. I had let him in on the idea a little after walking into the party. I had to tell someone who I knew would support the idea and possibly persuade Hayden to say yes.
I laugh at the idiocy of it all. “That was unbelievably stupid of me to suggest. She would never. And now there will be this awkward tension between us, which will serve no one well on my staff.”
He clicks his tongue. “The way she played along to try and save your pride back there suggests otherwise, my friend. I think that was her “yes.’”
I turn to face Ren and clasp his shoulder. “Hayden Bennett hates me. That’s all there is to it. If I wasn’t the one paying her salary, she’d be gone.”
Ren doesn’t respond, but he looks as if he’s fighting a grin.
“Help me get out of this house unseen. And fetch Hayden.”
Ren chuckles now. “No wonder you think she hates you. She’s not a dog to be fetched, Darcy-kun. You’ve got to learn how to share your feelings with someone other than me. Maybe then you wouldn’t scare off women or make them think you’re a heartless monster.”
“Why do I need a woman to confide in when I have you?” I coo playfully. Ren stares blankly at me. And in that moment, I fully recognize the need for emotional separation between me and Ren.
“Just get me out of here,” I growl.
Chapter Nine
Hayden
Ihad shook free of Priscilla’s grip once. She’d grabbed at me again, which meant I was in the process of taking the gold hoops out of my ears, but that was as far as I had gotten before Darcy entered the dining room, grabbed my hand, and strode out of the Weatherby Estate with me in tow. I had tried to break free of his hold, but Ren was there to walk closely behind me. After he had placed a firm hand on the small of my back and had shoved me forward, I complied.
Mostly because Ren Sato was touching my back, and I was enjoying every moment of that.
Now, we arrive at the car, and Darcy slides into the driver’s side while Ren walks me around. Before he opens my door (what a gentleman!), he looks me dead in the eyes.
“Hayden, consider Darcy’s offer of marriage. I know he isn’t the most pleasant man to get along with at times, but he has a heart of gold. Once you break through his walls, that man will love you with a ferocity unmatched.”
I swallow the lump in my throat at his words. “He told you?”
“Of course. And seriously, consider it. I think the two of you would be a perfect match.” Ren winks, then says, “I also think you have the capacity to fall in love, but don’t tell him I said that.”
Hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Um, thanks. I–I will think about it.”
Ren nods, then he opens the door for me. I scurry inside the vehicle, anxious to get away from Ren’s talk about loving Darcy.
Gah! It was stupid of me to let my emotions win. I saw Darcy in a painful-looking predicament that tugged on my heart strings. I had marriage and relationships and love on the brain from his “proposal,” if he was even serious about that.
What if he was? Ren seems to think so.
The car jolts into motion, and we are off toward Darcy’s mansion, the beginning of the journey quiet and a tad awkward, if I’m being honest. Ren’s words replay in my head. Could I work well with Darcy? We work well as a manager and candidate. Could husband and wife work well, too? I choke the words down like swallowing a bitter medicine as Darcy breaks the silence, asking if I’m okay.
I nod and then take a few breaths to ground myself. I recall the events of the night and feel anger rise at the thought of what Priscilla did to Darcy. It was clear that she and Marcus were seeing each other behind Darcy’s back. She cheated, and there’s no way to hide that now. To be frank, it ticked me off. No one deserves to be cheated on no matter how prickly they are. And what was with Marcus’s casualness toward Darcy as if he wasn’t a part of the deception?
“I could have taken her, you know,” I mumble aloud, gazing out the window of the passenger seat in Darcy’s Mustang. He had sent Bennie home with Lionel earlier in the night so that he could drive the car home.
Beside me, Darcy scoffs. “Priscilla has trained in MMA since she was seven years old.”
“Yeah? I can fight, too,” I whisper under my breath. With a hefty sigh, I lean my head against the cool window.
“If you smudge the window, you clean it,” he barks.
I wave him off. “Whatever.”
