Page 130 of Hale Yes
“Is that all?” I ask, feeling the need to flee, and I don’t know why. Maybe I can sense something more coming, and it scares me. I want to hold onto my anger for a while longer, and I’m already feeling a tad softer towardthe guy.
“I’d like to explain, if you’ll let me. I don’t want you to think I’m making excuses because I’m not. I just want to let you in.” He stares down into his glass and swirls the red liquid a few times. “I feel closer to you than I have with anyone except for Phoenix. I shared a womb with him but I feel like I share a soul with you. I’ve never had that before.”
His eyes pin me in place, his tender gaze beseeching.
“Okay,” I breathe, taking another drink of my wine for fortification purposes.
The guygnaws on his bottom lip for a second before beginning. “Five years ago, I was in the best shape of my life. I was headed to the Olympic trials for swimming and was predicted to make the U.S. Team.”
My lips part in shock. I know he’s said he was a competitive swimmer, but I didn’t expect this level. “But you didn’t?”
He shakes his head, still looking at his wine. “I had a girlfriend, Kayla, back then. We had been together for about a year and a half.”
A year and a half? That sounds serious, and thinking about him with another woman gives me an ache beneath my breastbone. Downing the rest of my wine, I refill my glass about halfway. Fuck it. I’ll sleep like a baby when I get back to my room.
“Kayla started getting clingy with me, and it got really old, really fast. To be honest, I was planning to break up with her, but there was a death in her family, so I let it go on for a few more months.” His face wrinkles into a grimace. “I was finally ready to break things off around the time of Phoenix’s wedding. You remember I told you what happened that day?”
His eyes catch mine, and I nod, taking a small drink of my wine. “I remember. Poor Phoenix.”
The guytakes a generous gulp of his own wine and nods. “After all that went down, I thought it might be a good excuse to let her down easy. I told her I had to end things because I needed to be there for my family, and it wasn’t fair to string her along when I wouldn’t have time to spend with her.”
I nod along. “That sounds reasonable.”
“I truly thought so. Kayla was one of those fragile types, and I really was trying to let her down easy, like the wholeit’s not you, it’s mething so she wouldn’t feel bad about herself.” He drags ahand down his face. “I thought it would be the kindest thing to do instead of telling her she was getting on my last nerve.”
I can feel the tension thickening like a dense fog in the room as he tops off his glass.
“Kayla didn’t take it well. She started clinging harder. I moved in with Phoenix for a bit, just to be there for my brother since he was having such a hard time, and she would randomly show up at his house with food or little gifts for both of us.”
“Ahh, a stage-five clinger,” I surmise, and he shakes his head.
“I’m not even sure there’s a number high enough. I told her over and over to stop it, that things were over between us, but she insisted she could help.”The guyblows out a deep exhale, and I can smell the sweetness of the wine on his breath. “It got to the point where my family was becoming concerned. Notes on my car every morning. Flowers showing up at the lab. Some notes that were kind of disturbing. She just wasn’t taking the hint.”
My heart thuds inside my chest. This Kayla chick sounds unhinged.
“What kinds of notes?” I ask.
“Nothing overtly threatening. It was mostly stuff likeI’ll never let you goandYou know your heart belongs to me.” He shakes his head. “Phoenix was especially worried. He told me I should get a restraining order against her. At that point, he was my entire focus… well him and Reecie. So, to put his mind at ease, I went down to the police station.”
I can hear the strain in his voice, so I break my no-touching rule and place my hand on his knee. He immediately covers my hand with his and gives me a grateful look before continuing.
“I told the officer what was going on, about the notes and gifts, how Kayla wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“Did you get the restraining order?”
His lips turn white with pressure, and he shakes his head. “When I got done, he made me feel stupid. Laughed and asked me what kind of man couldn’t handle a little attention from a woman.” Staring at the wall, he says quietly, “I felt like less of a man.”
I roll my hand over and link my fingers with his. He seems like he needs an extra level of comfort, and no matter how mad I am at him, I do care about him.
“What happened?” I ask, pretty sure this story is about to take a turn.
“I decided not to get the restraining order and went home. I hadn’t been home in about a week. I had only gone to the swimming training facility for practices and then back to Phoenix’s. That’s it, other than going with my brother to shop for baby stuff a couple of times. I was focused on Phoenix and my intense training schedule. That’s it. But I needed to get a couple things from my closet.”
His eyes gaze unseeingly at the large television mounted on the wall, where “Welcome, Dr. Hale” is bouncing slowly around the screen.
“I was living in an apartment then, and when I entered my living room, something seemed off, but I didn’t think much about it. I just chalked it up to that empty feeling homes get when they’ve sat unoccupied for a while.”
He drains his glass, and I do too, sensing things weren’t going to end well with this story. He adds more to our wine glasses, emptying the bottle before resuming his stare at the television, which is now listing the hotel’s amenities.
