HAYLEY’S P.O.VWith every passing second, my heart seemed to pound harder inside my chest. I still hadn’t heard anything from Charles but I had figured out a way to untie my hands- I just hadn’t done it yet. I didn’t want to until I had a clear cut plan.The lights turned on again and I was quick to throw my hands behind my back again. Charles walked into view but this time, he didn’t have the camera in his hands. The knife was still with him but other than that, he seemed free of any other weapons.“If you try any funny business, I will carve you open,” he warned and I rolled my eyes. If I said I wasn’t terrified, I would have been lying straight through my teeth but I managed to keep a straight face. He cut through the ties on my legs. “I’m warning you, Hayley.”“You don’t need to repeat yourself. I heard you the first time,” I drawled. “Where are we going?”“That is none of your concern. All you have to do is keep your fucking mouth shut and we will not have any problems.”He brand
HAYLEY’S P.O.VDad took me back home. While he drove, he called grandma and grandpa to tell them that I was safe but even he must have realized that I truly couldn’t stand to be around anyone at that moment. He drove in complete silence but every few seconds, he would glance over at me to make sure that I was alright.Alana was waiting for us outside the house. She rushed over to me, holding me by her side like a newborn and fussing over me. A part of me wanted to push her away but another part of me just wanted to bask in the feeling of being held and being doted on. I still couldn’t wrap my head around what happened and in all honesty and sincerity, I didn’t want to.I had killed a man.“We should go to the police,” I whispered as soon as we got into the house. I knew both Alana and dad had heard me but neither of them spoke. Alana took out a first aid kit to inspect my bruise and the bleeding from my head. “If we tell them it is self defense then-”“Don’t, please,” dad cut me off.
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI felt no urge to go to the office today but I knew I had to. I didn’t want to look suspicious if the police did come around. That was the only thing that made me drag myself out of bed. Jake must have dropped me there while I was asleep and left because he wasn’t there and I didn’t see him downstairs when I went down for breakfast.“You hid the band aid well,” Alana mused as she placed the plate of pancakes in front of me. “You don’t have to go to work today-”“I do,” I cut her off. “Just let me do this, please, Alana. I just need a quiet breakfast to get my head screwed on straight.”She pursed her lips but nodded. “If you need anything, then please, don’t be afraid to tell me.”I nodded and watched her walk away. Dad sat opposite me at the table but he said nothing. He wasn’t eating, he never did, he had an untouched mug of coffee in front of him but pretended to read something on his phone. Every few seconds, his eyes would flash over to me. I ignored it for the most
HAYLEY’S P.O.VThe officers left shortly after that. They didn’t linger on me any longer and instead chose to question some of Charles’ other friends. Sienna hadn’t said a thing about me asking her to sit in for the questioning but I honestly doubted that she was going to. Unless I gave her reason to worry, I didn’t think she would.I could barely focus on my remaining clients. Thankfully, it was easy enough to blame it on the hectic nature of the day and the fact that we just had officers crawling around our building. As soon as I was done with my last client, I made my way over to dad’s office.“Did they talk to you?” I asked and he nodded.“I’m the boss, Hayley, of course they’ll talk to me,” he gestured for me to take the seat opposite him. “They also wanted to ask about why you didn’t attend the last team building exercise.”“What did you tell them?”“That you told me didn’t want to,” he said simply.“Did they ask more?”He snorted. “Of course they asked more but I told them that
HAYLEY’S P.O.VJake texted me the moment he arrived. I offered to meet him downstairs but he claimed he wanted to do this right and wanted to speak to my dad first. I thought he was being absolutely absurd. We had already gone way past the stage of talking to my father, that was meant to come before he stuck his dick inside of me but he seemed determined so I let him do whatever he wanted.Their conversation didn’t take so long and when he walked out of the office, he didn’t seem pissed. If anything, his expression was neutral. I leaned against the door of my office watching him as he made his way over to me.“I hate the fact that we have to hide this,” he murmured as soon as he was close enough to me.“You know why we have to.”“I do,” he agreed. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to pin you against the wall and kiss you senseless for everyone to watch.” Just like that, my mouth dried up. He smiled at my expression and took the bag from my hand. “Can you walk or do you need me
HAYLEY’S P.O.VJake didn’t bring up the topic of us again. He just focused on making dinner and we ate in silence with Katherine who was more focused on her phone than on Jake and I. It didn’t feel tense or awkward though, it just felt normal. It was vastly different from dinner with my dad which usually involved a movie but that didn’t make it any less special.I didn’t want dinner to end because I knew it would result in me having to go home. I wanted to spend the night but even I knew that this wasn’t the right time. With everything going on, we were probably going to have lots of eyes on us and the last thing I wanted to do was lead the police right to Jake’s doorstep. They didn’t know about us being together and that was how I wanted to leave it.Jake drove me home and the ride was quiet. As soon as I got into the car, I connected my phone to it and played Taylor Swift softly. The corner of his lips quirked up and I could see him mouthing some of the lyrics out of the corner of m
JAKE’S P.O.VI hadn’t seen Marie in a very long time. The last time I saw her was the year before I met Hayley for the first time which was just another rude reminder of just how large our age gap was. She looked as she always did, stuck up, pissed off and like she had a stick up her fucking ass.She had a designer bag in her hands that I knew she probably couldn’t afford, a large fur jacket that she must have been boiling inside because it was fucking hot and large glasses that covered her entire face. She took them off revealing those poisonous green eyes that I had become accustomed to and her lips curled up into a small smirk.“Did you really think you could keep me out?” she mused, her hands crossed over her chest. “How do I look, Jake? You were never good at giving compliments unless I asked.”“I always gave you compliments, you just didn’t care for them unless there was a deposit slip attached to it,” I deadpanned. “What do you want Marie? It has been years. Get out of my offic
HAYLEY’S P.O.VThe last thing I expected to hear today was dad telling me that he was going to personally take me to Jake’s house. It was out of character and it was weird but the more I asked, the more evasive he became until he finally told me to ask Jake when we arrived.I was even more confused when he had a driver take us. My father had a driver on retainer but he almost never used him unless he was going somewhere important. I didn’t realize he considered Jake’s house important like that but I remained silent the entire car ride.We were ushered into the house like he was trying to watch out for someone and that only left me feeling more annoyed and confused. The moment the door shut behind me, I turned to face Jake who was waiting for us.“One of you better tell me what the fuck is going on here,” I snapped but neither of them said a word. “You just brought me in here like you were trying to hide my existence or something. Why the hell did this happen?”“Hayley-” Jake began but
HAYLEY’S P.O.VJake and I had settled in a comforting routine and I had to admit that it was wonderful getting to wake up next to him every morning.He was the perfect partner even though we both had no idea what we were doing. A few night, I had woken up to find him reading a pregnancy book but I never commented on it. He doted on me, making sure I ate and rested all the time. It was cute and I secretly loved it but there was the elephant in the room.We were yet to do an ultrasound.It wasn’t due to lack of time. If it were up to Jake, we would have done it the minute he found out but I just couldn’t. I knew I was pregnant, I knew nothing would change that and yet, I didn’t want it to be real just yet. For the past week, I shut down every discussion surrounding the doctor’s appointment and avoided it as much as possible.It was Friday and I was already dreading the idea of being forced to interact with people I didn’t like and couldn’t stand. I was tired of the team building exercis
HAYLEY’S P.O.VThe moment I woke up, I knew I wasn’t alone.I was always able to tell when someone was watching me, even from a young age. The hair on my neck stood on edge and I just felt this sensation all over me. Dad always told me it was normal but some people found it weird. They said it was some kind of sixth spider sense or some shit like that.To an extent, I agreed, because not only was I able to tell when I was being watched, I was able to tell who was doing the watching. Each person felt different: with Jake, his gaze was always heated, it felt like someone was trying to brand my skin with their eyes. With my father, it was softer, more loving but that didn’t make it any less intense.“Hey dad,” I whispered as I sat up slowly.I looked around the dark room and found him seated in the couch facing the bed and I had never been so grateful for Jake dressing me before now. It would have been very uncomfortable if I was still naked in bed.Dad didn’t respond, he just stared at
JAKE’S P.O.VI blinked once then twice, staring at Hayley in front of me and wondering if I had misheard.“You what?”I wasn’t proud of my response but I was convinced that I had misheard. Hayley was nowhere near ready to have a child, she had all but said so herself, she wanted to live first, she wanted to grow first.She must have mistook my words for something else because her eyes grew dark and she stepped back from me. “You don’t have to be involved.”“Excuse me?”“If you don’t want this baby then I am more than capable of doing it on my own. I have my grandfather and my-”“Stop.”She either didn’t hear me or didn’t care. “I have the money and this will fulfill my grandmother’s inheritance clause. I have more than enough to take care of my child.”“Our,” I corrected and that was what caught her attention.“What?”“Our child,” I repeated stepping closer to her. “If you had let me finish earlier, you would have known that I want this baby.”“But you-”“I was surprised and I didn’t
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI wanted to take the test as soon as possible but I couldn’t.I had to wait until the morning because I needed accurate results.It felt like torture to just wait. I hid the tests in my bag but it was an ever present worry at the back of my mind. I could barely go a minute without thinking about it to the point that even Jake realized that something was bothering me.“Are you alright?” he asked and I nodded slowly. “You don’t look okay.”I just shrugged and turned away from him. He sighed and made his way over to me. He was still in his outfit from work but he had ditched the tie and the jacket. I was slacking off on my work terribly, I knew that for a fact and it was my day to plan the team building exercise tomorrow. I still had no idea what to do.“Hayley,” he crouched down in front of me, both hands on my thighs as he stroked my knee gently. “Talk to me, baby. Did something happen to Kate?”“No, Kate is fine. She’s having fun in school. She’s good, this isn’t about
HAYLEY’S P.O.VShe looked around in a panic, as if to ensure no one was watching outside before shutting the door behind her.“So,” I implored. “Who is he?”“He’s older, like Jake’s age.”I hummed. “Where did you meet him?”“At a club,” that had my brows rising. The club was not the ideal place to meet a guy. She must have seen the look on my face because she quickly added, “he’s not a typical club goer.”“I’m not judging.”“I know,” she ran her hands through her hair. “I know I should stop seeing her and I want to but,” she sighed deeply. “I know it is pathetic.”“There is nothing pathetic about being in love with someone.”“I’m not in love with him. I don’t think I am. He’s fun and nice but I don’t think he wants anything serious.”“Do you?”She went silent and turned away. “Can I get cleaned for a second then I’ll be back out.”I waved her off. I knew that pushing for an answer wouldn’t yield any positive results so I watched her leave instead. I sat cross legged on her couch waiti
HAYLEY’S P.O.VThe smell of breakfast was what woke me but it was the light streaming through the windows that had me sitting up in a flash- I was late.“Relax,” I felt a hand on my shoulders as Jake gently guided me back into the bed. “You don’t have to rush anywhere.”“But I’m late-”“Your dad gave you the day off, rest, Hayley, you’re not a machine, you are not a robot, you need a break once in a while.”I wanted to protest but he just shot me a look that clearly told me he wasn’t taking no for an answer no matter what so I reluctantly found myself resting against the pillows. It was only once I was back in bed that I took the opportunity to look at Jake.He was shirtless showing off his toned chest, he had a tray of food in his hands that he placed in my lap. It smelled delicious and my stomach rumbled, reminding me that I didn’t have a chance to eat last night.I mumbled a thank you under my breath before shoving a forkful into my mouth while Jake excused himself from the room. I
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI stared at her for a moment.If anything, I was actually proud of the fact that she came all this way to ask that her mother’s charges be dropped. It was a ballsy thing to do, especially for a fourteen year old and that was the only thing that kept me listening to her.“You don’t understand how these things work,” dad began but she shot him a bored look.“I’m fourteen, I know how things work. I heard what she did, I know she assaulted someone but I don’t know who.”“Don’t you want to know?” I asked and she groaned.“Look, I’m not going to defend her because I know what she did was wrong. It’s clear you didn’t want to see her, I saw how you reacted at the funeral. I know my mother and she can be a bit much sometimes but she has issues, okay? I found out she went off her meds-”“What meds?” she fell silent immediately. “Look, Kayla, if you want me to help you then I need to know why.”“I can’t tell you her business. All I will say is that she is a good mother. She has ne
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI registered the slap before I even knew what was happening. I was on my feet in an instant and rushed over to the door.I couldn’t think of anyone that would dare hit Jake and yet, Andrea stood there. She looked furious, her chest rising and falling rapidly as if she had thrown everything she had into that hit. I glanced over at Jake and a gasp left my lips. His cheek was red and angry but he didn’t seem upset, he looked more shocked than anything.“Did you get all your anger out?” he asked and she lifted her hand again but he stopped her with his words. “I would choose my next actions wisely. If you hit me again, you will go to jail for assault and I will make sure you stay there for as long as possible.”She was smart enough to drop her hand but the anger didn’t leave her face. If anything, it got even worse.“You little bastard,” she spat. “You’re the one poisoning my daughter’s mind. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You are closer to my age than to hers. You’re a fu
JAKE’S P.O.VThe last thing I wanted to do was talk to Marie again after everything.As soon as I got the news that the child wasn’t mine, I blocked her number and didn’t bother to seek her out again. I had no intentions of ever talking to her again, she was a part of my past and I intended to leave her there but I should have known that she wouldn’t be willing to step down so easily. Marie had never been the kind of person to accept defeat.With a sigh, I dialed her number. It didn’t take long before she picked up, her nasally voice filling the room.“I was wondering when you would call,” she drawled. I could hear her nails tapping against something and could almost see the smirk on her face. “Have you gotten tired of her yet? Is that why you are coming back to me? I knew that sooner or later, you would tire of her problems.”“Why don’t we cut the bullshit for a second,” I hissed and she clicked her tongue.“That’s no way to treat the woman that you spent most of your life with, Jake