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“It didn’t before, but lately it’s started to,” he says quietly and I can feel my face heating.
The check comes and Hayes pays it, waving off my offer to split it with him. It isn’t until we were in his truck and headed back to my place that I realize he never once asked me a question about my parents or any of the celebrities that I’ve met.
I can’t remember the last time that that’s happened. Usually everyone is clamoring to get some gossip or to be my friend in the hopes that my family’s connections can help them out in their own career.
It’s been nice to not have to worry about that with Hayes.
“Can I walk you up?” he asks almost shyly and I nod.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
He hops out of the truck and jogs around to my side, offering me his hand as he helps me out. Neither one of us lets go as he closes the door and we start to walk toward my building.
“I had a lot of fun tonight,” I tell him as he hits the button for the elevator and he smiles.
“Me too. We should do it again sometime,” he says and I can see him looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, we should,” I say as the elevator doors open and he looks so happy to hear me say yes to another date with him that my heart starts to beat in double time in my chest.
As soon as the elevator doors open, I know that something is wrong. There’s too much noise for my tiny little apartment building and as we step off, my body goes stiff.
I can feel Hayes tense beside me, his hand tightening around mine as we watch the police officers milling around my hallway.
“What happened?” I ask one of my neighbors.
She’s an elderly lady that I’ve seen around but haven’t gotten the chance to introduce myself to yet.
“Break in. They got away with a bunch of stuff, I hear. Mr. Andrews came home and surprised them, and now he’s being taken to the hospital.”
My stomach knots and I feel like I might throw up my dinner.
“Pack your stuff,” Hayes tells me as he takes in the scene and I frown up at him.
“What?” I ask him and he looks down, meeting my eyes.
“You need to pack your stuff. You can’t stay here.”
I suppose he has a point. I don’t know that I could sleep when I know that someone had broken in right next door earlier that day.
“Right,” I say and he leads me over to my apartment, waiting while I get my keys out of my purse and unlock the door.
“Just get the essentials tonight. We can come back for everything else tomorrow.”
I frown at his choice of words but don’t argue with him. My head is still on the robbery and poor Mr. Andrews.
I don’t have a lot of stuff unpacked yet so that makes grabbing a suitcase easier. Hayes is looking over all of the boxes that are stacked up against my living room wall but he turns when he hears me come in, his eyes scanning my face in concern.
“I’m alright. It just caught me off guard.”
He nods, taking the suitcase from me and grabbing my hand with his free one. He lets me go long enough for me to lock the door behind me and then we’re headed back out to his truck.
We don’t talk as we drive back to his cabin. I’m too busy wondering if I should call my parents and let them know or not. I’m sure that they’ll find out about it at some point, but I don’t want to deal with that headache right now.
I sigh as Hayes pulls into his driveway and he helps me out of the truck before he grabs my suitcase and leads me inside.
“I’ll take the couch,” he says right away and I smile.
“I don’t want to put you out, Hayes. I’m sure that the bed is big enough.”
