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.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.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
If there is one thing that I hate more than anything in this world, it is listening to investors drone on and on about their problems as if I care about it. It is not my fault that you don’t know how businesses work and that you refused to read the contract before signing. I cannot help the fact that you signed over fifty percent of your total earning instead of your profit.People only ever get a lawyer after they have fucked up instead of to prevent said fuck up. I am a lawyer not a miracle worker, I cannot help you.I took my glasses off my face and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration as I looked at my father’s new client. To be honest, I don’t even know his name, and I don’t care. I work as one of my father’s lawyers. I am fresh out of law school so I don’t handle any of the major cases yet.“I’m sorry but I can’t help you.” I said cutting him off mid sentence. “It’s your job to help me.”“If you had brought the contract to me to read before signing then maybe I
Jake left the house soon after that with dad and when my father returned late at night, Jake wasn’t with him.My father and I have had a routine ever since I was a kid. He is a very busy man with running his company and dealing with clients. Sometimes he would be late to events at school and sometimes even miss them.But every single day, we eat dinner together at 9 p.m. in front of the massive home theatre while watching a different movie. It was his way of making up for it and he only ever misses it when he travels.Last night was his turn to pick a movie and he picked a bloody slasher movie. I couldn’t tell you the name even if I tried. I spent the entire movie bitching about the characters and ridiculing their actions which led to dad telling me to shut up which then led me to telling him to pick better movies.Then he threw popcorn at me, then I threw some back, and from there, we just ended up talking about a bunch of crazy things before he threatened to shove a sock in my mouth
The hair at the back of my neck stood on end as I took in the stoic look on his face. I nodded, wiped my hands against my shorts and followed him into the living room. He took off his jacket and tie and draped them over the armchair before turning to me.“If this is about Greg; it was not my fault.” “It’s not about Greg,” my dad chuckled, “Although, we do need to talk about him.”“There’s nothing to talk about; he was a dick and I treated him like a dick; story over.” I flashed a wide smile, “What did you want to talk about?”“I’m traveling tomorrow.” At first, I wondered why he made it such a big deal to tell me but then it hit me. “You’re not going to be here for the fourth of July.” He gave me a sheepish smile and nodded.My father and I have celebrated every Fourth of July together since the day I was born. His parents usually come over and we have this huge family barbeque in the backyard. For the last six years, Jake has been joining us as well. The barbeque will
I could hear every ragged breath that left Jake’s lips, could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he stared down at me, could see the swirling darkness in his eyes. His desire was tangible, I could taste it, see it, feel it. We were so close to each other, it was almost like we were breathing the same air, feeling the same breeze, all it took was one wrong- or right- move and we would be pressed impossibly close together.Just when I thought he would make the move, he closed his eyes and took a slow step backwards. His rejection hit me square in the centre of my chest.“I’m not playing this game with you Hayley.”He had never rejected me so plainly before. But then again, I had never made my intentions known so plainly either. Maybe it was all in my head; maybe I made up those glances, read too much into them because I wanted to believe that he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. Maybe I was being delusional and I’m just the annoying little girl who he can’t seem to get rid of.
I watched with baited breath as he slowly took off the jacket. He did it slowly, almost as if he wanted me to savor the moment; he wanted me to anticipate it, to want it- to crave it.The tie went next and he tossed it against my sofa. After, he slowly unbuttoned his shirt. It felt like hours before he was done but he didn’t shrug off the shirt. He made a twirling motion with his hands and I turned around to face him and sat on my knees.“Lie on your back.” He instructed.I did as he asked but a question was plaguing me and I had to let it out, “If you were going to have me on my back then why did you ask me to get on my knees?”“You ask too many questions.” He said after a beat of silence and I shrugged. “It comes with the job. I can’t exactly be a lawyer without asking- oh.”He hooked his hands behind my thighs and dragged me until I was half dangling off the bed. The action took me by surprise hence the little gasp that escaped me.He knelt between my legs and my breath hitc
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