Page 30 of Hayes
“Where the hell have you been?” says a hairy man with large biceps and a gash above his forehead, barreling toward Hayes.
Hayes still has a grip on my forearm, and he doesn’t flinch as the man approaches. Instead, an annoyed grin creeps across Hayes’s face.
“Really, Leo? You’re going to pick a fight now? We all need to stick together to figure out who did this,” Hayes says.
Leo doesn’t let Hayes’s words stop him. “We already know who attacked us—it’s fucking you!”
The man throws a punch, and Hayes easily dodges it. Still, Hayes doesn’t let go of me.
“Stop this, Leo. I’m not your enemy. I already proved that when I was reinitiated.”
My eyebrows jump up. He was reinitiated? What task was he given?
I shiver, thinking of my own initiation and having to go through that again. Hayes has completed two initiations—the trauma that must follow him wherever he goes. My heart aches for him for just a second before I remember that he willingly came back. He was free, and he chose to come back. He says he’s on my side, not the Retribution Kings’, but I’m not sure.
“Then where the hell were you?” Leo looks like he wants to pommel Hayes into the ground. But as I scan the room, no one else is jumping to Leo’s aid in attacking Hayes.
Interesting.
They all hate him. They are as suspicious as I am about Hayes’s loyalty. So why aren’t they taking this opportunity to take Hayes out?
“I was ensuring Lilith was safe, while you all took out the enemy. But now it’s clear I shouldn’t have left you to figure that out on your own.”
That gets others clenching their fists and glaring in Hayes’s direction. But still, no one other than Leo approaches us.
“How do we know it wasn’t you?” Leo asks.
Hayes sighs in exhaustion, as if explaining to a kindergartener why the sky is blue.
“I wasn’t in the room when the attack happened. I was playing poker.” Hayes begins loosening the shirt wrapped around the wound on his chest. When the gash is visible, he continues.
“And when I went in to rescue Lilith, I was stabbed. It wasn’t me, and you know it. You just don’t like me, so you want it to be me and think this is a good opportunity to dump on me.”
No one responds to that.
“I’m going to have Colton stitch me up while you all figure out who the attacker was.” Hayes leads me toward a chair pushed against the wall. I assumed he’s going to take a seat, but he gently pushes me down into the chair.
“Where are your clothes?” Hayes asks me. His green eyes demand that I answer.
“The bedroom down the hall,” I reply.
Hayes looks to Colton. “Get Lilith some clothes to cover her up. Then get the medical kit from the kitchen and stitch me up.”
“Of course, boss,” Colton says.
“Boss?” I cock an eyebrow at Hayes. He just shrugs in response.
I’m beginning to think I really don’t know the man at all. He exudes confidence and leadership, even though, to my knowledge, he doesn’t lead anything. And he could have easily just been killed by Leo or any of the men if they chose to take him out. He didn’t break a sweat, though. His heart didn’t even beat faster. And he’s losing a lot of blood still from the wound I caused. He isn’t in his strongest state to fight anyone.
Still, I don’t say any of that out loud.
Colton returns with an oversized shirt and leggings for me and the medical kit for Hayes.
Hayes takes the clothes out of Colton’s hand and then stands in front of me, blocking me from anyone else’s view.
He slips the T-shirt over my head.
“Arms in,” he says.
