I was not the kind of person who liked having people in my space, especially not when I woke up but I was not complaining when I woke up to Jake’s stubble tickling my cheeks as he pressed soft kisses onto my shoulders and collarbone.Once he realized I was awake, he managed to pull me out of bed long enough to get cleaned while he made breakfast. There was something entire erotic about seeing a man cooking for you and it was a miracle I wasn’t all over him. The only thing that kept me in place was the reminder that I had work and I needed to be home so I could get changed.“If you had clothes here then it wouldn’t be a problem,” he shrugged and I raised a brow.“Is that your way of asking me to move in with you?”“Not yet, before that happens I would still have to talk to your father and we both aren’t ready for that,” I couldn’t help but cringe when I tried to figure out how my dad would react to the news. Whatever it was, I knew it wouldn’t be good. “I’m just saying that it would sa
Jake was quiet. He stared at the photos but his expression gave away nothing. I hated how he managed to look so unfazed while there was a war going on inside of me. Those pictures could potentially ruin me and my father. We were not just innocently standing or holding hands. He was kissing me in the elevator and in front of my car.“I look like a whore,” I announced and his eyes snapped up to me. “He could have at least gotten a better angle where my ass was not on display for the entire fucking world. I would have preferred that, at least then I would know that-”“Stop, please,” he sounded exasperated. “You are not a whore and you need to stop fucking saying that.”“I am only preparing for what I am inevitably going to hear when he takes this to the press,” I pointed to the pictures in case he didn’t see them well the first time. “This is me and this is you and we are doing the fucking horizontal tango or whatever the hell you want to call it. My reputation is on the line here. You w
After the call with my father, I felt extremely exhausted. I felt like all the energy in me had been completely drawn out. Jake must have noticed because the next thing he did was to pick me up and place me in his lap. I curled up into a ball and just enjoyed the warmth of his skin. Neither of us spoke, he turned his attention to his laptop in front of him typing away furiously while I just stayed pressed up against him.Ever so often, he would place a soft kiss against my forehead and whisper words in a foreign language against my skin but that was about as much as he did but it was more than enough for me. I fisted his shirt and although sleep wouldn’t take me because of how worried I was, I felt slightly content.I didn’t mean to but I kept glancing at the clock. It was nearing eight p.m. and I was slightly amazed that my father was yet to call. He sounded worried earlier and I knew it was only a matter of time before my phone started blowing up. I shuffled in Jake’s lap and he loo
Charles followed me without any hesitation. I could feel the smugness in his step, he was happy with what he had done. Some sick and twisted part of him was proud that he had gotten me at such an intimate time. Once we were safely in the maintenance room, I looked around to make sure there was no one near who could overhear us before slamming the door shut.“What the hell was that?” I asked but his smile never eased. “Why the hell were you even following me?”“Is that really what you are going to ask first?” he mused. “I knew you were a whore, Hayley, but I didn’t realize it was this bad. Isn’t it bad enough to live off daddy’s name? You want to fuck an older man to get ahead now. I have to say, you are one shrewd-”A loud crack resounded through the room as I slapped him across the face. “Talk to me like that again, I fucking dare you.”He just stared at me with anger burning in his eyes. I probably shouldn’t have infuriated the man who had incriminating pictures of me but I was past
I hadn’t realized how much I missed spending time with my dad until we went out for dinner. With everything that had been going on with Jake and my grandmother, it was a miracle if we even got five minutes to ourselves on a daily basis. We lived in the same house but we were practically like roommates and I had missed him.“Are you ready to tell me about the guy that you are seeing?” he asked and I snorted. “I promise not to get mad, I just want to know who this guy is and if he is good enough for you.”“He is, you trained me well and I know how to pick good men.”He raised a brow. “Do you not remember that prep boy from college? The one that only spoke about how he wanted a house wife like his mother and how he was going to be president in the next five years?”I laughed so hard at that I snorted out my drink. “In my defense, I didn’t date him, we were just talking.”“That isn’t what he told everyone. I was responding to messages about the both of you for weeks after you let him down
We all slept at the hospital. Dad tried to get me to leave but as long as he was there, I was going to be too. He was so tired that he was out within a few minutes of hitting the cot. Grandpa fell asleep a few hours after as well but not before trying to fight sleep. I was wide awake for some reason, sleep eluded me. There was too much going on in my mind. Sleep was the last thing I could even think of.“Your head seems full,” I heard a whisper and I turned to my grandmother. She had a small smile on her face as she looked at me. “Why don’t you talk to me? I might be old and dying but that doesn’t mean I don’t give good advice.”“You’re old but you’re not dying. We won’t let you die. There are different things you can try.”She waved me off. “I accepted my fate a long time ago, it is about time that you all did too. It will happen whether or not you like it, you might be able to prolong it, but I promise you, it will happen.”“Why don’t we stop talking about death, hm?”“I will if you
I couldn’t speak. I had expected him to find out at some point but I had not expected it to be soon. I should have known that Charles wasn’t going to take an insult like that lying down. He was a proud son o a bitch, of course he was going to do something insane. I just didn’t expect this.“Aren’t you going to say anything?” dad asked but I stayed silent. I didn’t regret my actions, I just hated how they came to light. “What the hell is this, Hayley? For fucks sake, how did this happen? How long has he been doing this to you? Why didn’t you tell me?”“Wait a minute, Jake didn’t do anything,” I cut him off. “He didn’t come to me, I went to him.”“You are a child, Hayley, he should have said no- fuck. I brought him into our lives, I brought him into our house. You were sixteen when you met him. What the fuck was he thinking.”“I know you are upset but I am not a child. I know what I want and I went for it. Jake has never looked at me anyway other than platonically until this year. I was
“Wait a minute,” Alana sat up straight as she downed a shot of her drink. “You seduced Jake and had sex with him in this house.” I nodded and she scoffed. “How did I not notice this? I knew there was a boy but I didn’t think that Jake- he never let on that he paid any attention to you except- I always just thought he was annoyed by you.”“I am not annoying.”“Mija, you follow him around like a puppy. It was clear to anyone with eyes that you had a thing for him but he never paid attention to you. I would have never thought that this would happen. What were you thinking? Your father will have a heart attack.”“If he has a heart attack, it isn’t going to be my fault. What I do with Jake is none of his business.”“Jake is his best friend and you are his daughter, it is his business. This is the scandal of the century. Do you have any idea what will come from it?”“Yes, I am aware that I am a whore, you don’t have to tell me, my dad has made it abundantly clear,” my voice dripped with sar
HAYLEY’S P.O.VGrowing up I always thought about what it would feel like to see my mother.My dad had no pictures of her, it had been a stupid fling and she never reached out to him. He could have found her if he did but he never wanted to. He told me that if I still wanted to find her when I turned eighteen then he would.I went through all the stages of grief. There was anger at the fact that she had abandoned me and never tried to come back. There was the sadness and the feeling of not being enough for my own mother. By the time I turned eighteen, I didn’t care anymore and I told my father not to bother. It had always been me and him and that was how I wanted it.Seeing the woman in front of me brought back all those feelings of anger and betrayal bubbling up to my chest“I don’t have a mother,” I said finally. “You should leave.”“Please,” she grabbed my arm. “I just want to talk. I came all the way here to find you.”“I didn’t ask you to come here,” I spat jerking my hand out of
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI sat next to my grandmother in silence.I had her hand in mine and listened to the rhythmic beeping of the machines that were hooked up to her. The doctor said that it was only a matter of time but he had given her something to help with the pain.In the midst of all this, I couldn’t get a grip on my own emotions. There was so much swirling inside of me, too many things that I couldn’t get a grip on them. I hadn’t felt this conflicted in a very long time, probably not since I was a teenager.There was anger and pain and guilt. Guilt that we had all the money in the world and I couldn’t stop this, guilt that I was so focused on my own issues that I didn’t even see that she was dying right in front of me. She came back so we could spend time with her and I barely spent any, I spent it running around with Jake and worrying about Marie and his potential child that didn’t even end up being his.I felt stupid and incredibly foolish to say the least and I hated feeling stupid
HAYLEY’S P.O.VMy hands were shaking but I fisted them by my side until I got home. I needed a minute to myself to catch my breath, what I was not expecting was to find my father and Jake in the living room. They were discussing something but they immediately stopped as soon as they saw me.I was glad that they were getting along again but for fucks sake, I wished they took their business to Jake’s house because I knew that between the two of them, nothing ever went unnoticed.“We had the meeting with Marie,” Jake began as soon as he saw me. “She was pissed to say the least but-”“You should be going home,” I told Jake and his brows furrowed in confusion.I knew I was being rude but right now, I didn’t have the patience to be nice. He needed to go home because I wasn’t sure if the question from the police was mere curiosity or if it was a threat but if they were going to follow the trail then chances were that they might officially ask me who I was with and that would mean implicating
HAYLEY’S P.O.VThe sound of whispers woke me up.I tried to ignore it at first but it only got more urgent and I felt the covers shift as Jake got out of bed. With a small groan, I peeled my eyes open, the room was still dark, the only source of light was from the moon that spilled in through the drawn curtains.“Are you sure?” I heard Jake ask, the urgency in his voice taking away whatever remnants of sleep were left in me.I dragged myself up into a sitting position and my eyes found Jake. He was standing with his back to me, shirtless save for the boxer briefs he wore to bed and he was pacing. That was never a good sign because Jake never paced, at least not when everything was fine.“What’s wrong?”He turned to me, almost surprised and cursed. “Go back to bed, Hayley. Don’t worry about me.”“You’re pacing like a mad man and you look like shit,” I leaned over to turn on the bedside lamp drowning the room with a soft orange glow. “What’s wrong?”“The results are in.”If I wasn’t ale
JAKE’S P.O.VThe bottle of whiskey almost seemed to mock me as it sat on my dining table.A few years ago, I would have drank the entire bottle until I forgot everything and taken the first plane out of the city- maybe even the country. I had a knack for running away from my problems. It was what I did when Marie left me for the first time. I was living in California at the time and I got on the first place to London.I stayed there for a few weeks and by the time I returned, I packed everything up and moved to Las Vegas. I moved around a few times before finally deciding on New York because I remembered that Michael stayed here.Now, however, there was nowhere for me to run. It wasn’t because I couldn’t, I had too much to leave here. I could always leave the office and go to one of the many branches over the country so it wasn’t about work, but I had Hayley. I wasn’t completely sure if I had her, she seemed ready to run but I couldn’t blame her.I had to leave her in bed this morning
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI woke up with the knowledge that someone was in my room.I didn’t know who it was but there was a feeling at the back of my neck that alerted me to the fact that I was being watched. I couldn’t brush it off no matter how hard I tried so I reached out for the nightlight and turned it on casting the room in a warm orange glow. I found the person staring at me seated right opposite my bed.I glanced over at the clock beside me. It read one thirty a.m. “How long have you been here?”“In your room or in your house?” Jake asked not missing a beat.To his credit, he didn’t seem to be drunk but then again, he never drank that much. Even if he did drink at whatever time he arrived here first, chances were that the alcohol was already out of his system and he was sober.“My house,” I responded to his earlier question.“Eleven.”“My room?”“Twelve.”I raised a brow. I wondered how I didn’t realize he was here earlier. I was the kind o child who woke up the minute someone opened m
HAYLEY’S P.O.VIt was amusing how many people were interested in my love life.I tried to keep my head screwed on straight, tried to focus on making my day run as smoothly as possible but everyone else had other plans. Everyone had an opinion about my relationship, even my clients would allude to it during our meetings. I tried to keep everything as professional as possible but by lunch, I was tired.As usual, Jake sent me lunch and Sienna brought it up for me. I had no idea why she chose to act like my personal assistant but I wasn’t complaining because I truly didn’t want to leave my office and face the crowd. It had little to do with fear and more to do with the fact that if I did and someone said the wrong thing, I was going to snap.“You can sit here if you want,” I told Sienna and her eyes widened in surprise. “Stop staring at me like you just won the lottery.”“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Hayley, but you are not exactly a people person. You don’t invite people into your off
HAYLEY’S P.O.VMy father was in my boyfriend’s living room.It took me longer than it should have it process what I was seeing because for a full minute, I just stood there staring and wondering if what I was seeing was an apparition or a figment of my imagination.Dad was in a tailored suit and he sat at the counter with Jake. They were looking over the files together and I just stood there watching until I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. Kate handed me a mug of steaming hot coffee with a smile.“You look like you’ll need that,” she whispered and I couldn’t help but laugh. I did need it.The sound caught my father’s attention and he turned to me with a smile. He walked over to me and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. I was suddenly so grateful that I decided to put on something before coming down. It would have been incredibly distasteful for my father to see me in nothing but Jake’s shirt.“Did you bring clothes for me?” I asked and his brows furrowed in confusion. “Work clothes,
HAYLEY’S P.O.V“Hayley,” I heard Jake call my name but his voice sounded like a buzzing in my ears.I could hear my father speaking but I couldn’t make out his words. My eyes were completely fixed on the words on my screen. I knew it was Marie, it had to be her. No one else could have leaked the news to the press in record time.I wasn’t sure whether to be pissed or impressed. I had grossly underestimated her and that was my mistake. She was a cunning individual and I wish I had thought about that before I pissed her off and became her number one enemy.A warm hand settled on my shoulder and I nearly jumped. Jake looked pissed but also sad at the same time. He watched me with a fear in his eyes as if he thought I was going to run away and leave him. I could tell he wanted to do more than just touch my shoulder but he was holding back for my benefit.“She’s smart, I’ll give her that,” I said finally and I could see everyone’s faces twist with confusion. I lifted my phone to my ear and