Page 7 of Kept in the Dark

Though he was enjoying the wedded bliss of his friend, he couldn’t help but sneak glances at Hailey. She was still just as beautiful as she had always been. She threw her head back and laughed as an older woman chatted with her, probably about memories from her childhood.

He missed hearing her laugh. He also missed her sense of humor and her playfulness. Hell, he even missed her stubborn-ass attitude.

Sensing his gaze, Hailey met his eyes. But instead of looking away from him, she held his stare. He nodded to her and smiled. It was only then that she quickly looked away.

He cursed at himself for allowing her to still have some sort of hold on his heart. He hadn’t thought about her since the day she left. He didn’t want to start now.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true but he would pretend it was.

He dreaded going back to his quaint little bungalow later, where he knew he would spend the entire night wondering how to get rid of the image of the beautiful face that still haunted him.

Being back in Auburndale had unwanted memories flooding Hailey. Gosh, she hated it here and she hated that she had to bring Trinity with her. When Hailey moved away, she planned to never come back at all. And had it been for any reason other than Angie’s wedding, she wouldn’t have.

Of course, running into Trey had been the icing on a very bitter cake even though Hailey had prepared herself for it. What good that did.

She didn’t realize all of her anger and animosity would come rushing to the surface once she saw him. She knew they wouldn’t be friends, but she didn’t want there to be such dread either. Quite honestly, she had hoped to avoid him at all costs but obviously that plan had been thwarted.

Luckily, she’d be leaving town in a few days so stewing over her teenage love interest was pointless. If she hadn’t promised her stepmother they’d come for family dinner, she’d head back to Alabama tonight. But after that, she really wouldn't have any ties left to this awful town.

However, someone she hadn’t been prepared to see at the wedding was Ryan House. She’d nearly vomited at the sight of him, talking herself down from a panic attack as he smiled and waved to her. A chill raced down her spine as she recalled the violence that seeped from him, the evil that lurked behind his gray eyes.

“Momma, are you okay?”

Hailey snapped back to reality, meeting her daughter’s worried gaze. Though Trinity resembled her father more than she did Hailey, she had inherited Hailey’s piercing green eyes, along with her stubbornness, attitude, and piqued curiosity that seemed to bring about trouble just as it had for Hailey.

Her thirteen-year-old daughter was growing up quickly and Hailey found herself missing baby snuggles and toddler giggles. But those days had long disappeared and now stood a teenager, though she would always be Hailey’s little girl, her little ray of sunshine.

Hailey had given Trinity the same nickname Hailey had been given as a child, though Trinity brought new meaning to the name Hailey loathed.

She remembered the day Trinity was born. It had been a rainy day, a great boom of thunder announcing the arrival of the storm and her daughter. She had been in labor for nearly thirty hours when the nurse laid Trinity on her chest. When Hailey held her six-pound, four-ounce baby in her arms, she cried. She was holding a miracle in her arms.

After having just lost her mother, her sister, the love of her life, and the life she once knew, Hailey was no longer alone in this world. She had Trinity, and Trinity was the only thing Hailey would ever need. She had been Hailey’s ray of sunshine after her darkest days.

Not to mention she was a literal miracle.

Trinity shouldn’t even be alive after the attack Hailey had suffered. But here she was.

Hailey smiled and sighed. “I’m fine. There’s a lot of memories here that I don’t want to think about.”

Trinity lifted a brow and Hailey immediately regretted her answer.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Trinity rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s a lie, but whatever.”

Hailey ignored the comment and watched as everyone danced, talked, and laughed. She knew most everyone here, small town living. Many people asked where she had disappeared to and why she hadn’t come back all these years. Others just stared at her, afraid to ask their nosy questions.

Every now and then, she would catch Trey staring at her. She hated that she still got butterflies despite the fact she didn’t want to have anything to do with him. They had planned a life together, claiming their undying love for one another, only for him to leave her.

She looked around the room and spied Ryan House walking toward her. Her stomach dropped and she hoped he would walk past her. For reasons unknown to her, he had hated her and Sara, but more specifically Hailey.

He would go out of his way to pick on her and, oftentimes, even torment her. When she was fifteen, he put a dead frog in her locker, its intestines hanging out. She had nearly vomited from the smell of decay.

The first time he had physically hurt her was at the Strawberry Festival where he had threatened her and attempted to drag her away, everyone turning a blind eye as he did, despite her cries for help. She had been terrified until Trey tackled Ryan and a fight broke out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst of Hailey’s run-ins with him. A few months later, he tried to kill her…and almost succeeded.

To her dismay, he walked up to the table, drink in hand. He always smelled of whiskey and cigarettes. And he was always drunk.

His beard was thicker now and his hair a little longer. He wore a scar near his hairline, compliments of Hailey. She inwardly smiled to herself, satisfied to have left her own mark on him as he’d done to her. He was disheveled with his dress shirt halfway untucked and his gray eyes nearly turned black when he spied her; hatred always present when he looked at her.

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