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Jace grinned. “Feeling’s mutual, bunny.”
“Ugh!” She scoffed.
“Bunny?” I jerked back. “Since when do you call her that?”
She ignored my question. “If you call me that one more time, I’m going to slap the smirk off your face.”
“I’d love to see you try.”
“Okay…” I interrupted. “Are we done with this afternoon special? I’d like to exit this chat now.”
“Not so fast,” Ledger ordered, walking toward me until he was standing in front of me. “We know we hurt you, Teeny, and for that, we’re extremely sorry. None of us want to continue on this way with you.”
“Then you should have thought about before you barged into my life like you had a right to.”
“Haven—”
“No! You can’t just apologize your way out of this. Hayes isn’t at fault for what happened to our mom. It was just a tragic accident. It could have happened to anyone, and he lost his mother too. You think it’s been easy for him to live with that?”
“How can you still defend him?” Jace questioned. “His old man was murdered by criminals. Those are the kinds of men you want to surround yourself with?”
“That was Billy, not Hayes. I love him, Jace, and that hasn’t stopped because you want it to. All you guys wanted to accomplish was to get him out of my life and you succeeded, I haven’t spoken to him in over two months. You got what you wanted. What more do you want from me?”
Reid sincerely answered, “For you not to hate us.”
“Too late. You’re my brothers. I’m always going to love you, but right now, every time I look at you, I see the hurt you’ve caused. And the fact you feel no remorse for what you did, makes me hate you even more. I don’t know what else to say to you. Other than, I want nothing to do with you.”
Jace nodded at me. “We didn’t tell Dad what happened that night. Can you at least give us that?”
“Great. You want a cookie too?”
“Haven…”
“Don’t use that tone with me. It doesn’t work anymore. How much does dad know?”
“He knows who Hayes is. He just doesn’t know you’re involved with him.
“All right, well, if you want me to respect you and things go back to normal between us than back off! I need time and I don’t know how much. All I know, is I feel like a huge part of me is missing. The same part of me that’s been gone since mom died. Hayes was the first person in my life that filled that void for me, and you took it away like it meant nothing.”
Jace asked, “What can we do to make it up to you?”
“It’s too late.” I backed away. “He’s out of my life, so just leave me alone.”
On my way up the stairs, I stopped when I overheard Cove add, “She’s never going to forgive you if you guys don’t make this right.”
“She’ll get over it,” Jace replied. “That guy is no good for her. She deserves better.”
“And what makes you think he’s not good for her? For your information, asshole, the first time they met, he kicked her out of his bar because she was underage and then fired the bouncer who was going to let her in. Who also just happened to try to take her home. Which again, Hayes put a stop to it and drove her home instead. Why? Because he wanted to make sure she was safe.”
Nobody said a word.
Cove didn’t stop there, she shared, “And don’t get me started on how many times he rejected her and beat up whatever guy he needed to in order to protect her at the bar. Most of the tables she hosted, were women. Again, who do you think was responsible for that?”
Reid questioned, “If he was so concerned why would he hire her?”
“He didn’t. He actually turned her down. Billy was the one who hired her.”
“Why did she want to work at a bar?” Ledger asked.
“I don’t want to betray her trust, but I feel like this is the only way it might repair the damage you’ve caused. If you must know, your mom and her had a pact they would go on a girl’s trip overseas after she graduated. It was something they had planned for years before the car accident. They were actually on their way to open up a savings account the day it happened. Haven was trying to keep that promise and she knew you’d all be against it, so she needed a job where she could make money fast.”
“Wow,” Jace breathed out. “It’s like we don’t even know her.”
“You can say that again. Hayes spent months trying to keep her at arm’s length, but you know your sister, when she wants something, she doesn’t stop until she gets it.” In a snide tone, she snapped, “I wonder who she gets that from. Oh, and let’s not forget about the fact he saved her from those criminals who killed his father.”
