She turned and headed down the hall to her apartment, taking in Silas’s look of bewilderment as she passed him without speaking further to him.
“You got a minute, Silas?” Maddox asked after Hayley’s apartment door closed with a loud thud.
Silas turned his scowl on his men. “I’m going to need more than a minute for you three to tell me what in the hell is wrong with Hayley.”
“She hasn’t had the best day,” Thane volunteered.
“That ain’t all that’s the problem,” Maddox said.
Silas opened his door and motioned the three of them inside. Hedidn’t like the look on Hayley’s face at all. She had only acknowledged him long enough to reprimand him. And what the fuck was with her sad “I’ll miss you” that she’d barely managed to even voice? There was a finality to her tone that he didn’t like one fucking bit. It scared the hell out of him, especially with his men all regarding him with such grave expressions.
“Start talking,” Silas bit out as soon as they were all inside.
Silas’s expression grew blacker and blacker with every second of the account of the shithead who’d gotten up in her face at school.
“I hope to fuck you taught that little pissant a lesson,” Silas growled.
“Oh yeah. He’s scared shitless. But I plan to pay him another visit later tonight,” Maddox said calmly. “Our first priority was getting Hayley out of the rain and home. She was pretty shaken up.”
“So what else were you going to bring up? You said this wasn’t all that was a problem,” Silas said impatiently.
The three men exchanged glances before turning their collective attention back to Silas.
“Do you care for her?” Maddox blurted.
Silas reared his head back in surprise. Then he glowered at the men he called brothers.
“Before you tell us it isn’t any of our fucking business, let me just explain why he asked the question,” Thane said, folding his arms over his chest in a gesture of defiance.
“Get on with it, then,” Silas snapped.
“Hayley seems to be under the impression that she doesn’t mean anything to you or that you care for her very much.”
Silas’s mouth fell open in shock. Of all the things they could have said, that was the last thing he had expected.
“Not care for her?” he rasped. “Doesn’t mean much to me? What the fuck kind of fucked-up shit is that? Who put that crap into her head?”
“You did, brother,” Jax said calmly.
Silas stared at them, utterly baffled by this turn of events. His personal life was not up for group discussion. Ever. Whatever he felt for Hayley was between him and her and not to be shared withanyoneelse.
“Look, it was a rhetorical question if you prefer it to be,” Maddox said with visible irritation. “The point I’m trying to make is that very sweet young woman has it in her head that she doesn’t mean shit to you. Now, if you don’t care about that and don’t care to correct her assumption, which I assume is errant, then fine. You do whatever. Just don’t expect us to stand by and watch you crush her in the process. But if you do care about her and you do care what she thinks and that she’s hurt by your seeming indifference, then I suggest you get off your ass and do something about it before she decides you’re no longer worth the effort.”
“Preach,” Jax said, before turning to open Silas’s door.
“Fucking A, preach,” Thane chimed in as he too walked out.
Maddox remained behind, though, until it was just him and Silas standing inside Silas’s apartment.
“Don’t make the same mistakes that you and I blasted Drake’s dumb ass over,” Maddox warned in a serious tone. “We saw what a good thing Evangeline was, what a good woman she was, and it pissed us off to see the shit Drake pulled with her. He nearly fucking destroyed that woman. Evangeline. And now you’ve got a woman who is every bit as precious, innocent and sweet as the woman you defended so staunchly, only it’s you she wants. Not one of us. No one else. Just you. If you don’t want her, then back the fuck off and stop giving her mixed signals. Let someone else give her the happiness she deserves. God knows she could use some in her life, as fucked up as it’s been so far. But if you do want her, then I’ll tell you one more time. Get off your stupid ass and correct whatever fucked-up shit Hayley has in her head regarding you. And when you figure it out, let me know, so I know whether to make my play.”
Silas’s rage was instantaneous. He lunged at Maddox and curled hisfingers into Maddox’s shirt, yanking him forward until he was in his brother’s face.
“You stay the fuck away from her,” Silas snarled. “You don’t touch her. You don’t even think about her in any way except as a woman in your protection. You get me?”
The corner of Maddox’s mouth twitched and turned up into a smile. “Guess that answers that question, doesn’t it?”
Son of a bitch. He couldn’t believe he fell for that baited trap. He shoved Maddox away in disgust and then lifted his hand to run through his hair.
