He almost hoped they called the cops, just so Edwin could explain how those two had ruined his life. People needed to see the truth. Teagan and Hayden were the real problem.
Not him.
Not Ramos.
If anyone was owed a little payback, it was them.
Wonder if the happy couple ever considers who might come home before them.
Some people never learned. Some people needed to have the rules spelled out for them.
Soon, Teagan and Hayden were going to learn that pressing charges came with penalties. Edwin almost felt sorry for them.
Almost.
He sat in the car, plotting. He and Ramos would get their justice. This time, no one would believe a word those two losers had to say about anything.
It was hard to talk when you were buried under the side of a mountain.
Chapter Five
Instead of chasing after Teagan, Hayden stormed toward the house, ready to kill whoever had made his boyfriend flee the cookout. Uncaring that this wasn’t even his home, he yanked the door open and barged in. Hayden came up short when the only person he saw was Liam. But… Teagan had looked so distraught.
Had he been wrong about Liam? Was Teagan right when he’d said Hayden trusted too easily?
“What the fuck did you say or do to him?” Hayden snarled, ready to grab the cast iron from the stove and whack Liam over the head with it. If he’d hurt Teagan in any way—
“I kissed him.” Liam scrubbed his hand over his head, jaw clenched. “Go ahead. If you want to take a swing at me, I won’t stop you.”
Hayden glanced at the back door before taking a step closer. If he needed to kill the guy, he didn’t want any witnesses. “Did you force him?”
“What?” Liam looked as if Hayden slapped him across the face. “I would never force myself on anyone.”
There was an ache in his voice, a pain that lived in the spaces between the syllables. It dawned on Hayden that someone else had accused Liam of the same thing. “Who? Who made that claim?”
“Jackson.” The sheer menace in his voice made the air around Hayden feel heavier. “A guy I dated for a month. I don’t expect you to believe me after the way Teagan ran out of here, but Jackson was a nightmare on steroids injected with growth hormones. When I’d had enough of his theatrics, he accused me of—” Liam’s jaw clenched tight.
“Of forcing yourself on him,” Hayden finished for him.
Liam closed his eyes and nodded. “He eventually admitted to the cops he lied, but you don’t exactly recover from an accusation that heinous.” He blinked slowly, as though every pulse of his eyelids fed the fire of his heartbreak. “I didn’t force Teagan to kiss me, Hayden. I swear.”
“I believe you.” No one could fake that kind of raw pain. “We need to go find him. He’s probably beating himself up for kissing you, thinking he’s betrayed me. He’s been through a lot. I don’t know. Maybe you’re exactly what we need.”
Because, so far, Hayden hadn’t been able to get through to Teagan. If his best friend and lover had kissed Liam this quickly without worrying over it seven hundred different ways, it was possible Liam could somehow help Teagan.
Too bad Hayden didn’t know who Jackson was or he’d use the cast-iron on the asshole.
Liam tilted his head to the side, studying Hayden. “He’ll tell me when he’s ready.”
A smile surfaced. “You’re pretty good at this.”
Truth be told, Hayden thought he would be jealous when Liam admitted to kissing his boyfriend. Now that he knew Liam hadn’t hurt Teagan, the kiss kind of turned him on. If he could help Teagan past his guilt, Hayden wanted to see the two kiss again.
Liam gestured toward the back door. “Been watching my buddies. Not in a creepy way,” Liam clarified, as if he needed to alter his confession. It seemed Teagan wasn’t the only one who needed some work. “Learned a lot of what not to do when it comes to a mate.”
“Mate?”
“We should go find Teagan,” Liam said quicky as he ushered Hayden out the door.
