AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Scared of what?” I asked. “Scared of me?”
“Scared that you were only being nice because you felt bad for me or something.”
“No, that wasn't it at all,” I said, standing up so I could join her on the bed. I sat down on the other side of her, sitting opposite of Ben. “I just didn't want to be the kind of asshole who kept pestering you until you talked to me just to get me to leave you alone.”
I shot a pointed look over at Ben who wouldn't look at me. Hailey stared down at her hands and didn't answer. A knock came at her door. “Yes?” she said, wiping at her eyes and smearing the mascara even more.
“It's me, sweetie,” her mother said. “Can I come in?”
“Uhh sure,” she said, giving us both a look. We scooted further from her, so that I was pressed against the wall and Ben was practically off the bed. “Come in.”
Her mom and dad both came into the room, making me realize just how small the room was with all five of us crammed in there. Her mom looked at me, then Ben, and cocked her head to the side in a questioning manner, but she tried to give her daughter a reassuring smile.
“Are you okay, honey?” she asked.
“I'm fine, Mom,” she said. “Now that he's gone, I'm fine. I'm feeling a lot better now.”
“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.”
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.
