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“I just want to thank you boys for everything,” her mom said. “I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been here.”
“No need to thank us,” Ben said.
“If you weren't here – well, I don't know,” she said. “Frank was out back in the shed and he never heard me calling for him.”
Her tears started to fall as well, and Frank held his wife, while reiterating what she'd said.
“Thanks for being here for Hailey, boys,” he said. “I'm indebted to you.”
“Anytime, Mr. Roberts,” I said. “She's a good girl. She didn't deserve any of that.”
“No, she didn't,” he said, his eyes dark as he looked at his daughter.
There was so much sadness and anger in that one look. Whatever had happened to Hailey reverberated through everyone close to her as well.
“We have to run down to the police station to file a report,” he said. “Mind staying with her until we get back?”
“Of course,” I said. “We'll take good care of her, Mr. Roberts.”
&n
bsp; Her parents left, shutting the door behind them and leaving us alone again.
“For a minute there,” Ben said with a rueful laugh, “it felt like high school all over again. Parents walking in and us trying to act all innocent.”
“I've never experienced anything like that before,” Hailey said.
Ben and I both laughed, but it was obvious she was serious.
“I never had boys in my room in high school,” she said, shrugging.
“Well now you do,” Ben said, scooting closer to her. “Two of them, in fact.”
“And none of us are in high school anymore,” I added.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - HAILEY
Before all the excitement with Leo, I'd been enjoying my time with Quinn. He was reading a blog post I wrote, giving me feedback on it. And as we talked, I found myself leaning ever so close to him. I could smell his clean, musky scent and it had smelled so good.
I looked over at him now, his hair falling over his face, hiding him away. I'd long had a theory that Quinn kept his hair long to hide his true self from the world. Coming from a family of football players – and being the best in his family – he'd always been pressured to be the tough guy. The rough and tumble jock. But even back in high school, I got a sense that wasn't who he really was. Not deep down.
His poems had more depth and emotion to them than most of the other kids in class, and he always spoke softly around me. There was never any of that crass talk I'd overheard from time-to-time when he was with his friends or brothers. No, he seemed like a completely different person in that creative writing class all those years ago.
Even now, I could see that he carried that facade. Still, I saw through his tough exterior to something gentler.
As much as I wanted to kiss him, we were no longer alone. Ben was sitting closer to me now, and while I always found him incredibly attractive, I truthfully knew very little about him compared to his brothers. I had classes with both of them, but Ben was older than us. He'd graduated when I was in my sophomore year.
My only real conversations with him happened in his pickup truck when he picked me up off the side of the road after homecoming after my date, Jeremy Nolan, ditched me. Apparently, he didn't want to take me in the first place. I found out later that Jenn had asked him to ask me. When it was clear I wasn't going to put out, he ran off with another girl who would, leaving me to walk home alone.
Ben and Rebekah had left the dance early too. They had been fighting and Rebekah had been a bitch the entire time. Ben tried to make small talk, as his girlfriend bitched at him for everything. She scowled at me, as if she knew I was merely a distraction from whatever they were fighting about, but Ben was friendly to me, nicer than I thought he'd be honestly.
Now, I had both of these men on my bed with me. We were older, wiser and more mature, but it still felt weird to be sitting here with both of them. Two of the most popular jocks in school sitting with the awkward nerd girl.
“So what happened with Leo?” Quinn asked me.
“Didn't you see it?” I laughed, avoiding the real question he was asking.
“No, I meant in the past,” he said. “What happened that led up to all of this.”
