The thought of him facing King alone elevated him in my mind although my respect for him plummeted when I saw him wearing signs he’s a Fallen. And then seeing him again, with Raney tucked under his arm in King’s fucking house, looking smug as fuck and ready to fight, I’m seriously wondering if I ever did respect him, or what he did.
“How did we not know that Colt was here?”
“Puck, he goes by Puck, Talon. I’d change my name after what those assholes did to him. And her,” Hayes says.
I look to him, and he’s busy tying his hair up off his face. The simple movement makes my chest pull with pride as I watch him. While Puck evidently rebuilt himself, Hayes did too. He stayed passionate about his art, and fuck me, he has this power to muddle me with his poetic, romantic, loved up way of life. But that’s him. Instead of growing into his alpha and wearing the mantle a lot of more traditional alpha males do—straight up posturing—Hayes moulded his designation and made it fit him. He’s gentle. Don’t get me wrong, he can stand up for himself, and he is right up there with Raney in terms of strength.
He doesn’t talk much about what Sharlene did to him; her lies and manipulations fucked him up for a long time. He still gets nightmares and it’s only when he’s super drunk does he share more of those days he vanished. I know in time I will get the full story; I mean the bits and pieces he has shared is enough for us to work with.
He has worked actively on himself with psychologists, counsellors all focused on healing the wound from believing he abused a woman. In his self-healing, he found a way to provide for himself too, moving into tattooing gave him an outlet for his creative side which in turn fed his happiness. Hayes has always been an artist and these days I still lose him for days if a school project consumes him. Despite everything, he’s a caregiver and a peacemaker through and through. And fuck, I love him for it.
The second he finishes getting himself ready, he returns his hand to mine. I nab it and kiss his hand. The sweetness of his spicy warm scent is one of the most stabilising things in my life.
“Let’s go save Raney, babe,” he says, getting all serious on me. “Whatever happens, happens. But this time no one is chasing us away, and I want us to do everything we can to be who she needs.”
“Hayes, she slammed the door on us a few hours ago,” I smart back at him, weaving through the traffic and taking the turn into the stadium.
He laughs softly, “Shit. I forgot about that.”
“You know, I’m not disputing what she said about Sharlene. The sentencing handed down for home detention was appalling.”
“At least she was brave enough to press charges,” he answers quietly.
“And you still can.”
“I don’t want to talk about me. Why did you bring up Sharlene, anyway?”
“Raney had a bloody go at me. Did you miss her insinuating that I don’t think Sharlene’s a criminal? Raney gets that what her dad does makes him a criminal, right? And Siderno is aligned to criminal activities on nearly every continent!”
Hayes doesn’t answer for a while, and I know he’s working through what I said before he turns to me. “Okay, so this is my interpretation based on my own work…”
I dip my head, trying to hide my smirk.
“Oi! I’m the one that figured out we were eternal flames, so shut up and listen.”
“Okay, okay,” I say back.
“What if that is your life lesson, Tal? What if you need to see that being a good person is not based on ‘society’s’ definition. What if you need to see that even ‘bad’ people can, and do, have good intentions.”
“You’re justifying the actions of an international arms dealer, right now? He makes money off violence. For all we know he might be blackmailing her to be with him. It makes no sense that Raney would be with such a dangerous man, Hayes.”
I look over to him, and he shrugs. It’s one of those non-judgemental shrugs too. “I don’t know the answers but maybe you need to see things differently. King’s a good example, the Fallen are not evil men. Shit, he raised the girl we’ve been in love with forever, Tal. Then you look at Sharlene who comes from silly wealth. She’s the wife of a public official, from a long-standing family, with a shitload of money. The woman is a disgusting piece of shit who got off relatively scot free for nearly killing someone. Intentionally too. And then that same woman intentionally removed any reference to their youngest child… that’s pure fucking evil.”
The rest of our discussion on the meaning of life is put on hold when I pull-up at the stadium.
Hayes swings in his seat, “Hey, babe, will you let me do this? All we need to do is get Puck, isn’t it? I mean Siderno didn’t say you had to do it literally. He meant figuratively, right? It’s just that I think…”
“Yeah, yeah, Hayes. Puck will respond to you better than me. Everyone responds better to you. You’re our sexy peacemaker.”
“You love me for it,” he grins, leaning in for a kiss. He goes to move away, but I grab him, holding him closer to kiss him properly.
And when I finish, I murmur over his lips. “Hayes, you were never a replacement. If there’s one thing I want you to know, it’s that.”
ChapterTwenty-One
RANEY
The need to feel safe and secure has me asking Andrea to take me back to The Fallen’s compound. A tizzy fit is one thing but I’m also cognisant of the fact that being anywhere else at the moment is being petty. Koz and the girls would chew me out for not being somewhere safe when my heat hits.
