God, he’s so bossy; and hot, and he writes lists…and I am most definitely in trouble.
Chapter 2
Nate
Watching Hayleigh leave the pool area earlier, I couldn’t figure out why she was running. I played over the conversation in my mind, trying and failing to figure out what it was that I could’ve said wrong, and then I overheard Emmy tell Cas that Hayleigh still isn’t right, and she’s worried about leaving, and it hit me. Hayleigh was upset that Emmy was leaving, her best friend and the reason she smiles the majority of the time.
She thinks I don’t see her, thinks I don’t see the sadness behind her eyes, but I see it all, and I want to help her, Ijust don’t know how yet. Emmy breaks my daydream when she bounces over to me and plops on what was Hayleigh’s sun lounger.
“Whatcha doing, Natey?” Her smile is wide, and her eyebrows waggle.
Rolling mine, I say. “Nothing much, I’m trying to figure out a way to keep Hayleigh smiling when you’re gone.”
Her smile immediately vanishes, and she looks back towards the complex, chewing her lower lip. She sighs. “Yeah. I don’t know if we should go now. I don’t want to leave her.”
I sit up. “Come on, Emmy, you know as well as I do, if you put that on her, then she’s going to feel worse. I’ll look after her, Scouts honour.” I cross my heart and wave my hand about in the air.
She laughs, but then quickly sobers. “You best not mean sex, Nate Peterson, because that’s the last thing she needs right now. She needs someone to help her come out of her shell.” She points at me, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this serious before. Kinda scary, not gonna lie.
I hold my hands up. “My penis will stay in my pants at all times.”
“Gross. No one wants to know where you keep your micro, Nate.” Ethan’s voice grumbles behind his newspaper, and I flip him off. “Saw that.” What the fuck? Is he a wizard?
Emmy giggles and slaps my leg. “Hey, I mean it. Please don’t mess things up with her. She needs something good in her life after Pete.” Great, why does everyone assume I’m the one who’s going to fuck things up? I mean, have I always been a little bit of a shit? Yes, but that’s not the point.
I remember back to the night of Hayleigh’s engagement party, the night Pete fucked everything up by kidnapping Emmy and leaving Hayleigh in a mess. I remember how sad she was when Ifound her hiding out in the backroom of the club, sobbing over the fact that her fiancé had stood her up.
“Hayleigh, is that you?” Her sobs sound through the pitch black of the room. I don’t know where the light switch is, so I click the torch on my camera and pan it across the room. Sure enough, there she is, huddling on the couch in the corner.
I walk over to her slowly, not wanting to scare her off or upset her more, but she doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, doesn’t push me away when I sit down next to her. Then, before I can think of anything else, she burrows herself into my side. It’s an odd feeling. Before tonight, we had back-and-forth banter, almost a love-hate relationship, but this feels…different.
I keep my voice as quiet as possible. “Wanna talk about it?” She shakes her head. “Are you okay?” Again, she shakes her head.
We sit for what feels like hours in complete silence, and eventually her sobs turn to sniffles, then stop. She sits up and faces me.
“Thank you, Nate. Can you stay with me a little bit longer? I don’t want to go back out there and not find him.” She looks down at her lap, wringing her hands.
I put my hand underneath her chin and encourage her to look up, but then she does something I don’t expect and kisses me before immediately pulling back, her fingers on her lips as if she can’t believe she’s just done that.
She buries her face in her hands. “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I’m the worst person in the world.”
I do the only thing I can think of and pull her into my side and gently stroke her hair. “Shh, it’s okay, Hayleigh. It was only a moment, that’s all. Forget about it. It’s okay.”
But it isn’t okay because that kiss meant more to me than she will ever know, and it fucking kills me because she will never be mine.
“Earth to Nate.” My eyes refocus on Emmy, waving her hand in front of me. “Honestly, what is it with you and Hayleigh? You both zone out so much.” She shakes her head, laughing at me. “I’m going to get ready, I’ll see you later on.” She gives me a pointed look before rushing off after Cas, both walking hand in hand inside the complex.
I turn my attention away from the love birds and look over to the pool where Archie entertains himself, balancing on the pink flamingo floaty and lazily spinning in circles. I envy him sometimes; he always finds the good in everything, always smiling, even on the days when some would give up. He catches me watching him and lifts his hand to wave, but it must disturb the balance, and before I know it, he’s falling into the pool, and I’m laughing until my stomach hurts.
He gets out of the pool spluttering and coughing as he makes his way over to me. “That’s not funny, Nate, I could have died!” He stands, indignantly, with his hands on his hips, glaring at me.
I can’t help myself, I laugh again. “I’m sorry. That must have been really scary, that near-death experience you just had.” He flips me off, but I see the small smile that threatens to break through.
He’s dripping wet, and it gives me an idea. I look at him and put a finger to my lips, then tilt my head to the right, towards where Ethan sprawls on his sun lounger, head hidden behind his newspaper.
If there’s one thing that unites Archie and me, it’s winding our brothers up. After Archie moved in with us, we wreaked havoc on the rest of our brothers. He immediately syncs to what I’m thinking and puts his thumbs up like a giant goofball before dropping into a crouch, then making his way slowly over to an oblivious Ethan.
Rafe looks over at us from where he’s sat perched on the edge of the pool, two beautiful women on either side of him andshakes his head as he watches Archie. I sit, shoulders shaking at the ridiculous scene before me, grab my phone, set it to record, and lean it against a glass on the small table next to me, because there isnoway I am not documenting this prank.
