Page 27 of Paradise

I suck down some air, wrapping my arm around her.

“What?” he says, shaking off her hand. “I thought we were partying. You guys haven’t even been drinking with me!”

“Hayden,” I say, watching as he downs the two bottles at the same time,again. He laughs once he’s done, the alcohol going to his head. Throwing them onto the floor a little harder this time, I cringe. “Just fucking talk to us, man.”

Standing up, he walks to the railing for the balcony again, but this time he turns and leans up against it to face us. He laughs humorlessly. “Why?”

I sigh, looking at Levi, but my gaze is pulled back when Logan stands up.

Walking over to him, she speaks to him softly, like a wounded child that needs comforting, and my heart swells. She’s better with him than we have ever been. She knows the right moment to swoop in and save him, whereas Levi and I have always just let him go wild.

“What happened in New York?” she asks, putting her hand on his arm when she reaches him.

Hayden takes a hit from his cigarette, looking away from her like it’s painful to speak with her gaze on him. “I ran into him.”

“Who?” Logan presses, and I watch her as she strokes her fingers along his arm in comfort.

“My dad.” Hayden’s voice cracks and his fist clenches at his side. Taking another hit off his cigarette, he turns his head, making eye contact with me. I can see the pain in his eyes from across the little space of the balcony, and I want to stand up and go to him, but I don’t know if I should crowd him. Maybe it’s best to just let Logan comfort him—someone he’s grown to trust and love more than anyone else.

“Okay,” Logan says, leaning against the railing and looking at him. “What happened?”

Hayden clears his throat, looking at her. I see him crack then, his walls breaking open for her a tiny bit because he feels safe.

“Travis, Olivia, and I went out to get dinner at some fancy restaurant—I wanted to treat them because they’re saving for a new place—and he was there, with my uncle and some young girls.”

“Younggirls?” Logan snips.

“Maybe eighteen or nineteen, our fucking age, the age of his fucking kid. Travis lost it, wouldn’t stay, left Olivia at the door, and went back to the car, but I couldn’t move…” Hayden’s voice cracks again, so he clears his throat to mask it.

“I couldn’t fucking stop staring at them. They didn’t even see us standing there, but I watched him flashing that disgusting smile at this girl who is young enough to be his daughter, when he hasn’t seen his son in nine months, the son he left in North Carolina to care for himself, and… I lost it.” He grits his jaw, his fist clenching as he puts his cigarette to his lips again so he can take a drag.

Levi and I look at each other, both thinking the same thing:fuck.

My stomach hurts, clenching so hard from anxiety and pure hatred for Hayden’s father.

When I look back at Hayden and Logan, she has both hands on his arm now, and he has a few streams of moisture running down his cheeks.

“I went up to them.” He continues, laughing bitterly under his breath. “And I said,‘Hey, remember me?’”

Levi snorts, making Hayden laugh more.

“They looked at me like I was fucking insane.” Hayden shakes his head, hitting his cigarette. “My dad said‘son, you’re in New York.’”

Hayden laughs again, and I do too, because that’s typical James Monroe. Instead of being excited to see his kid, he just says some stupid bullshit.

“So I said,‘yeah, I’m in fucking New York, asswipe. Where have you been?’And his jaw went all tight, his face red like a goddamn tomato. His eyes shot to the little girl sitting with him, and I could tell he was embarrassed. So he stood up, trying to get me to go outside with him, but I just sat down in his vacant chair and introduced myself to the table.” Hayden laughs again, his mouth pulling into a huge smile even as tears are still running from his eyes.

“I said to my uncle,‘hey, deadbeat – talked to Travis lately?’And he stood up too, gripping me on the shoulder to try and drag me out of the restaurant or something.” Hayden looks at me. “You know, the Monroe’s don’t like a scene.”

He rolls his eyes. “So I stood up, downed the rest of my father’s cocktail, and threw the glass across the room.”

Logan gasps a little under her breath. “You didn’t.”

He shrugs. “My dad flipped—punched me straight across the jaw, and the restaurant manager called the cops. I guess they said I started it, so they threw me in jail.”

“What?!” I basically yell, sitting up straighter. “What the fuck?”

Hayden laughs humorlessly, tossing the butt from his cigarette over the balcony’s edge. “Don’t worry, daddy dearest waved his magic wand and made it all disappear. All the reports were destroyed like it never fucking happened.”

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