Chapter 1

Prologue

Sometimes life has a way of wearing you down. You realize no-one is coming to rescue you and you’re tired of being strong.

-Nicole Young.

Hayley

I keep dialing his number like a mad woman. It goes straight to voicemail. Despite the overwhelming evidence, my heart cannot comprehend what my mind is telling me to be true. That I’ve been played. That the last year of my life has been a lie. That the person that I thought loved me….doesn’t.

An hour earlier….

“Hayley, I don’t know how to tell you this but if it where me I would want to know.” Says Callie, my work colleague.

“The guys have been talking about Keith, they say he's engaged to someone else”.

“What?” I say uncomprehending.

Keith is my boyfriend of twelve months, we work for the same company in different departments. Work is where we met. We see each other almost everyday. Speak on the phone constantly when we’re apart. How could what she’s saying be true?

“Some of the guys have met her" she continues, “Look, I feel bad for you. We love you and you don’t deserve to be treated like this. No women does and I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but I just had to. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

My heart has stopped. As if it's on pause. Like it needs a timeout.

“No, I'm glad you came to me…please tell me everything you know.” I say with a calmness I am far from feeling.

“Well…apparently they live together and ….and she's pregnant.”

You can’t be serious.

Knowing this conversation cannot wait, I ask Callie to cover for me while I try to find a quiet place to phone Keith. I end up in the store room and wedge myself between two rows of stacked boxes before I dial his number. “Hey babe" he answers.

“Hi" I reply

“What are you doing?”

“Actually, there's something I need to talk to you about. Do you think you can stop by today? It's important”.

He must hear something in my voice because he answers apprehensively “I can’t today babe. Can’t you just tell me over the phone?”

“I would rather speak to you in person"

“Well I just said I can’t make it Hayley so tell me what the matter is now?”

I’m feeling so emotional. I know I should wait until I see him but instead I burst out “Are you seeing someone else?”

The line goes silent for a minute. A minute too long.

“No. What are you talking about?”

“The guys at work say you’re engaged to someone else, that you’re living with her and she’s pregnant”  I say as the first tears make their trail down my face. “Why would they say that Keith?”

“I don’t know, maybe they want to get into your pants” he says arrogantly. “Are you crying? Stop it. You’re crying for no reason, I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.  I'm hanging up now. I’ll talk to you when you’re calmer. Bye.

Before I can utter a response, the line goes dead.

CHAPTER ONE

Two years later…

Hayley

Sweltering heat comes of the tarmac in waves as I pace alongside my car trying to get a signal to call a pick-up truck.  My 2007 hatchback blows black smoke from its engine as motorists drive by without giving me a backwards glance. Everyone rushing with somewhere else to be.

Its times like this I wish I had a boyfriend. Someone I could call to take over while I play the part of damsel in distress. It's a part I don’t get to play… who would come to my rescue?

I finally get signal for long enough to call to my mechanic and a tow truck, before I bend at the knees and sit my ass on the sidewalk, yelping as I make contact with the heated cement. My mind is elsewhere. This is yet another expense I haven’t budgeted for. How will I pay for this.

As I sit and wait, its hard not to be sad. In this moment I feel so alone. In times like this I wish I could call my ex, but that door closed when I found out he was engaged and living with another women while “dating" me. It sucks to find out the guy you introduced to your family and thought you would build a life with, thought of you as nothing but a side chick. It’s been years, and it still hurts. He still tries to call and message on birthdays or randomly to convince me that he cares, but he wouldn’t be married to someone else right now if he did, would he? I know I had a lucky escape from that “relationship” but it doesn’t always feel like it. Most of the time I feel alone, unable to let my guard down. Unable to move on.

“Ok Hayley, enough doom and gloom. Happy thoughts now everything’s going to work out. Don’t stress it always does”, I try  to give myself a pep talk, just as a yellow tow truck with black logo approaches, it’s lights flashing.

Xander

I grin to myself as I look at my latest acquisition, the Brabus rocket 900. Another beauty to add to my collection. It's one of only ten cars made in the world and can go from zero to 330km/hr in just 23.9 seconds.

This is my life. Fast cars. Fast women. More money than I know what to do with and on most days not a care in the world.  I’ve worked hard to be where I am. When I made it big, I took my best friends along for the ride. They are now each CEO's of their own companies but you wouldn’t say looking at them gushing at a car they could each afford on their own. I guess it’s true what they say about boys and their toys.

Tyler, is already fiddling with the buttons inside the car and Kyle is testing the sound. “Fuck Xander, now this was so worth the wait, if you want I can drive the Brabus back and you take the range" grins Henry besides me.

 “Nice try my friend", I laugh as I turn to the sales guy, “ready to finish the paperwork?”

“I’ll meet you guys at home. Get some burgers on the way, I'm starving” I say as I throw my keys to Kyle.

“Want me to stick around with you?” says Tyler as he presses a button that opens the sunroof.

“Nah I'm cool, got to stop by the office to pick up some paperwork that needs signing. I will see you guys at home".

Home is party central, the guys are there almost twenty-four seven. Playing PlayStation, fiddling with the cars, gyming…my life is pretty sweet but I've earned it.