Twenty-Six
Hayes
* * *
We step out of the courtroom, and the door swings shut behind us. My adrenaline is racing as though there are two outs in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on third, and I need to make damn sure a ball doesn’t get passed me.
It felt right in the moment, but now that we’re alone, I’m terrified of how Leighton will react after the high of winning temporary custody dissipates.
She slides her hand out of mine. “You want to walk around the courtyard?”
Okay, she’s calm. That’s a good sign, right?
I’ll let her take the lead here. “Yeah, sure.”
“You have time?” Again, wanting to talk about it rationally. We’re still in the green.
“Yeah. I’m off for the rest of the afternoon.”
We wander toward a few concrete benches—public limbo for people waiting to learn their fate in the courtrooms. She hugs her arms around herself against the cool breeze. I shove my hands into my jacket pockets, so I don’t reach for her again.
Once we’re away from any prying eyes, she whirls around. Shit, this is a blaring red light.
“God, Hayes, why did you do that?”
My back goes up, and automatically, I’m stumbling for words. “I just… I couldn’t sit there and listen to them act like you’re unfit because you’re not married. You don’t need anyone. You don’t need me. You’re doing an excellent job with those kids, and it pissed me off.”
She throws her hands in the air. “It pissed you off? It pissed me off. They were saying those things about me and my life.”
“It was completely unfair. Total bullshit.”
We’re on the same page. I’m not sure why she’s mad at me then. It was a desperate times, desperate measures kind of thing.
“Why are you helping me so much? I don’t understand why, and I just…” Her eyes lock with mine, and I don’t shift my gaze away. In a lot of ways, it feels as if this standoff is way overdue.
My confession is on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t think that pouring out my feelings to her right now is ideal. Today has been a lot for her. Instead, I change tactics.
“Why are you so resistant to letting anyone help you?”
She throws up her hands and walks away. “We’re not doing this. Your sister psychoanalyzes me enough. What is it, a Carlisle family trait?”
“We’re on your side. You’re going through a really shitty time, but we can help ease the load if you’d let us, you’re just so fucking stubborn.”
She whips around, her strawberry-blonde hair flying in a wave, before I see her seething face. “It’s not stubbornness keeping me from wanting your help, Hayes.”
“Then what is it? Me? You don’t want to be near me?” I step forward, our faces inches from one another.
Her anger dissolves for the briefest moment, and I take that as a good sign, but it sparks right back to life. “You don’t wanna know. Just go back to The Barn or whatever they call it, pick up a diamond girl, and leave me the hell alone.”
She whirls around to walk away, but I grab her wrist, tugging her into a nearby alley and pressing her back to the wall. “Diamond girl? So, you think of me just like the rest of them? That all I want is fun and parties and take nothing in my life seriously, most of all my fucking career?” Now I’m the one seething, my jaw so tight my teeth hurt.
Our mingled breaths are heavy, and our eyes have matching fire in them. Neither of us turns away, as if we’re in a stupid stare-off and the first to blink has to lay all their vulnerabilities out for the other to judge.
Her shoulders fall and the fire in her eyes diminishes into a flickering flame. “I don’t think of you that way. I understand why you were that way last year, it’s just…”
“Why won’t you let me help you?” I’m desperate to hear why she fights me at every turn.
Leighton turns her face to look at the sidewalk, but I bring my forefinger up and force her to look at me. Again, our gazes hold, and for a minute, I have to use every ounce of willpower I have not to lean in and kiss her.
