Page 63 of Knot Happening

“You left me. You didn’t lose me. You just left me behind. Fuck.” I swipe at my angry tears, and try to salvage as much of my makeup as I can. “I-I can’t do this right now. I have to go.”

“I know. My brother’s party.” He lets out a long sigh, his eyes pressed tightly together, but when he looks at me, he doesn’t look mad or defeated. He doesn’t look like a man that's going to leave me alone, either. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”

“Let me just…clean up first.” I push past him, and I clean myself up in the bathroom.

My nose is red, and so are my glassy blue eyes. I fix my foundation, mascara, and eyeliner. Once I’m satisfied, I take a few deep breaths. I can do this.

The walk down to his car and the drive to his brother’s house are silent. I zone out as we pass trees and businesses, the lights of the city. I’m lost in my head, not really seeing any of it.

There’s a heaviness hanging between us, and neither of us knows how to fix it. I don’t know what to say. Where to begin. I don’t even know if I want to.

That's not true, though. I do want him in my life, but I want what we had before the pain and heartbreak. I want the man he was. Not the man he is now. I glance over at him, trying to imagine life with him in it again. Really in it, not just hovering over me like a ghost that's haunting my heart.

His smile. His kindness. His scent. Everything I once loved about him. The future he offered me when we were nothing but kids. Naive and full of hope.

I’m no longer naive, and I don’t remember the last time I truly felt hopeful for myself. For my life.

“I’m warning you so you aren’t shocked…” Hayden finally breaks the silence. “My brothers and I live in a massive house, and we have a lot of security on the property. Especially lately. After the explosion–”

“Explosion?!” I gasp, and Hayden winces.

“At Haze. Uh… Someone blew up Kodiak’s jeep. But he’s fine.”

“When the fuck did that happen!?”

“Before you got hired, I think. It was over a month ago.” Hayden shrugs, but I stare at him with my eyes bugging out. “We upped security. You’ll be safe tonight.”

“Fuck,” I murmur, but get distracted as we arrive at a fucking mansion, not a house. I scoff.

The imposing structure we pull up to looks like something out of a catalog. Manicured lawns with antique lamps line the walkway up to the double front doors. White columns hold upthe gabled roof with a giant lantern hanging on the three-story tall porch.

“Welcome home,” he says gently, and I swallow thickly. Those words… They hold so much meaning, and I just can’t bring myself to face what he’s saying.

He pulls around the side of the building, following the curve of the drive up to a circular parking area in front of a three bay garage. Instead of pulling into one of those, Hayden drives around the back to what turns out to be an underground garage. I feel like I just stepped into a Bond movie or something equally insane. So many cars. I know nothing about cars. Absolutely fuck all. I can identify Mustangs, and that's about it. But… Just how rich are these men? I knew they were well off, obviously. But this is…kind of intense.

Somehow, despite making more money at this job than I ever have in my life, I am still broke as fuck. So, how much money would I need to be making to live here? To have all these fucking cars, and full-time security patrolling my freaking mansion?

“Before we go in there… You know about my mother. That she died when I was born. That my brother’s mother raised me. Well, she’ll be here today for Kodiak. There’s some tension between her and I. Just ignore it. Kodiak wasn’t going to invite her, but she's his mom.” Hayden shrugs like that wasn’t vague. I spent a lot of time at his house growing up. I knew that the woman raising him wasn’t the woman who gave birth to him, but back then, I never asked any questions.

He was happy. She was kind to him. I knew her, but we weren’t close. I spent all my time with Hayden in his room or outside. She worked a lot to support him as a single mom, much like my mother. He never spoke about his dad, or how he ended up being raised by his dead mom’s best friend.

I can feel the pain radiating off of him, as his scent changes to something sharper, and without even thinking about it, I grabhis wrist. When he meets my eyes, I hold his blue gaze for a long moment.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I can’t. It’s tangled up in all the reasons you think I abandoned you, and I can’t reveal one without revealing the other.” Hayden’s words don’t hold any resentment. He’s not lashing out, just stating a fact. I want to know, but now isn’t the time. “It’s fine, Tatum. I’ll be fine, but I’ll probably hide while she’s here. After… I’ll tell you everything. But tonight is about Kodi.” I can tell his chuckle is an attempt to hide from his true feelings on the matter.

I don’t push him, but I remember the woman who raised him. I try to picture her doing something so awful that Hayden wants to hide from her… She treated Hayden like he hung the moon. What the fuck happened that made things so bad that Kodiak wouldn’t want her at his birthday party? Hayden called her Mom, and she gushed over what a sweet boy he was.

I shove down the desire for answers and climb out of the car, and follow Hayden out of the garage into the evening light, walking back toward the front of the mega mansion.

Walking up the front steps, the feeling of unease I expected is absent, instead. I am eager to see what kind of home they made for themselves. The rich wood tone of the double doors gleams in the overhead light when Hayden reaches forward and opens them for me.

It’s fucking insane. The inside is more extravagant than the outside. Again, I knew they were rich. Obviously. But this? This is crazy. We enter in a hallway, and just this one damn hall is nicer than anything I’ve ever lived in.

“Kodiak is never going to stop bragging that you came today.” Hayden looks relaxed. His body is loose, and he’s got this smirk on those damn sexy lips, but there’s a tension in his jaw, and his hands are shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

Of course, he wore a cut off shirt, that shows off his tattoos and arms that he clearly works out. He catches me staring, and I blush like a fire truck, turning my attention back to the house. Sorry. Mega mansion.

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