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"I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if…I still have that in me," He said. Nicole's eyes widened like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"What do you mean? You literally have proved that you are a resilient and confident badass in anything you set your mind to," she said, and he shook his head.
"That’s like comparing being good at riding a horse to understanding engines and mathematics," He said.
"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you have the qualities that it will take for you to do it. I know you can," she said.
Austin felt his hands start trembling and he looked at her, then nodded. His eyes hurt a little, and he prayed to everything possible that a tear would not come out; then he inhaled deeply.
"There is something I have to finish first," He said. He saw the way she looked at him, the way she narrowed her eyes and then decided to leave the subject alone. She was truly beautiful, and he hoped that the thing in him that chased the ones he liked away wouldn't chase her as well. A text came in. It was from an unknown number, and he looked at it.
"What have you done?"It said. He dropped his phone and started eating.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
HAYDEN’S POV
I stand by my phone, staring at it and willing him to call back. I want to hear him tell me that he has done this thing. I want to hear him say it. I remember the talks we had back in the wilderness and how he must have been looking at me as if I were a fool. He says nothing to me. He doesn’t reply to me, and I am left gritting my teeth at the phone with such rage in my heart that it feels like it will explode.
“Hayden?” Lenanee calls from the door. I turn to look at her, seeing the concerned expression on her face.
“I’m fine,” I say, and she shakes her head.
“We both know that you aren’t fine. Please, come sit and talk to me.”
“I can’t do that right now, baby. I have to reach Austin. I have already called the family lawyer. Everything will be fine, but I still have a few more calls to make.
“Why did you want to call Austin? What does he have to do with this?”
“He is the one that…you know what? Just go inside, and we will talk later, okay? There are things that we should talk about, and I promise you that we will talk about them. Just not now” He said, hoping that she would listen to him. He turned around to look at her face and see the deep concern in it, but she shrugged and nodded, saying nothing else as she walked in. Hayden breathed through his mouth, wondering what he would have told her had she pursued this line of questioning but then again, Lenanee wasn’t the kind to push this sort of thing. Just then, he got a text.
“Your trousers must be all in a knot now. How about we meet and discuss this? Water Park tomorrow?”
The flippant and playful tone within almost made Hayden’s heart hurt as he imagined that Austin must have written what he did with a smile. He would see him, and he would confront him about this betrayal. He gritted his teeth and hoped that Austin wasn’t planning on taking this as far as he imagined he wanted to.
†
Nicole watched the man flip out a book that seemed old and dusty then he reclined back in his seat and started to read it. She didn’t have to follow him around anymore, and she didn’t even have the time, but there were times when she just wanted to stay with him. It was simple here, and she felt utterly safe.
“What is that you’re reading?” she asked, and he looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.
“A handbook on Norse mythology. I find many things fascinating here,” He said. Nicole looked at the book then back at him.
“I didn’t think this would be the sort of thing that you’d be reading,” she said. Austin chuckled.
“What sort of things do you think I would be interested in, then? The cowboy manifesto?” He asked.
“I didn’t think it would be exactly that but something close,” she said.
“That is a very disturbing take. Besides, nothing can beat reason something as the realms of ice and fire and how the fire melted the ice to form a giant named Ymir. I mean, there is some truth in that. My father was a calm man, very calm. You could say that he was the ice, and my mother was the raging inferno. They made a giant,” He said, adjusting his hat with one hand. She looked down at the book then at him and laughed a little.
“You do and say odd things,” she said to him, and he looked around with a slightly confused expression on his face.
“What have I done or said to make you think that I am odd?” He asked.
“You come out to a park with no prompting whatsoever, and the thing you start reading is a handbook on Norse mythology, and it isn’t even what you are here to do,” she said.
“See, that’s the thing, Nicole. Knowing is overrated. Just sit down in this park with me and enjoy the view. Do you enjoy any mythology?” He asked, and she shook her head.
