by Vera Hollins
“Melissa!” Jonathan warned her.
“Yeah, yeah. Fine. Anyway, I’m sorry about your hair,” she muttered, glancing at it, and my cheeks flamed with shame. I was already embarrassed enough that I had to wander around with such short hair, which didn’t suit me at all, and now this.
“I thought that was just a new haircut. What happened?” Jonathan asked.
I flinched and looked between Jonathan and Mateo with unease. Their eyes bore into my hair, and it was too much. I didn’t want to talk about this with them. It was a gruesome incident I had no desire to recount to anyone, least of all them. I glanced at Mel pointedly, signaling to her to drop it.
“Nothing. It’s not worth mentioning. Let’s just say I needed some change in my life, and what’s better than a new haircut?” My words sounded lame even to my own ears, and they didn’t buy it, but they understood I didn’t want to talk about it.
Melissa cleared her throat. “So, we brought you these lame balloons”—she pointed at the goofy face of a cat beneath the “Get well” words—“but at least they will remind you of us.”
I smiled, thankful for the change of topic. “Thank you so much.” I took the balloons from them and put their small weights covered with ribbons on the bedside table. They looked ridiculously cute in this cold room, which was pale and lacked personality, making me overly emotional.
My eyes met Jonathan’s. “Thank you for coming,” I told him, suddenly feeling the need to hug him. My eyes grew teary.
Over time, I grew to love and respect this man like he was my own family—a family I never had—and for that, I felt even more grateful to him. I cherished each moment spent with him.
He moved his wheelchair, and Mel stepped to the side to allow him to come next to me. He took my hand in his and patted it twice, bringing me comfort.
“Don’t cry, girl. It doesn’t suit you,” he said in his usual grumpy tone. He was acting like I was being dramatic, but his sapphire blue eyes were glistening, shaded with concern.
It was surprising because I wasn’t used to seeing him emotional. I wrapped my shaky fingers around his wrinkled, soft hand, deeply touched that he cried for me.
“It also doesn’t suit you,” I joked.
He furrowed his bushy, gray eyebrows. “I’m not crying. The air is dry in here.”
Yeah, right. I giggled, amused with his attempt to look emotionally detached as always.
Mateo finally moved from the foot of my bed, stepping next to Jonathan. He looked wary of me, as if he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act. That made two of us.
“I hope you don’t mind I came,” he said.
My cheeks became two red blotches. “No, not at all. Thank you for being here.” I forced myself to swallow the embarrassment and act with courtesy. ”How are you? How is school?”
“It’s cool.” I hadn’t quite expected him to give me a real answer, so his clipped reply didn’t come as a surprise. I nodded. I didn’t know what else I could ask him.
He shifted on his feet. “I’m sorry you had to go through this.” His voice was stilted, his posture stiff. “Are you really okay? Does anything hurt you?”
I shook my head, feeling tense because of our awkwardness. We’d been friends once, but there was no way we could return to that, especially considering Hayden’s feelings.
Hayden. I hoped he wouldn’t get the wrong picture when he arrived here and saw Mateo.
“I’m okay. Hayden managed to save me before Brad could do anything worse.”
The silence that dragged on after I mentioned Hayden was painfully uncomfortable. Mel looked conflicted, her lips pursed as her eyes darted around the room, while Mateo’s grimace spoke volumes of how much he “loved” the idea of Hayden saving me. Even Jonathan, who didn’t know Hayden, looked disapproving, and my heart dropped.
Jess smiled. “That’s amazing.” Her warm hand found mine. “How did that happen?”
I gave them the short version of the kidnapping. My voice faltered when I came to the part in which Brad held me at gunpoint. My chest throbbed when I recalled the feelings of despair that filled the seconds I’d considered my last.
“Hayden and Blake came with the cops before Brad pulled the trigger,” I concluded.
“Blake was there too?” Jessica cut in, her eyes growing wider. I didn’t failing to notice that her cheeks turned pink.
“Yes. I was also surprised when I saw him. He was different, like he was truly worried about me.”
“What the hell happened to those two? Did they suddenly get a brain transplant or what?” Melissa asked.
I returned her skeptical gaze, wondering if she would ever be able to accept Hayden. “Hayden cares about me, Mel.” I could feel Mateo’s gaze penetrating into me, which invited more blush to my cheeks. “If it hadn’t been for him, my mother and I wouldn’t have been found in time.”
She let a long sigh out. “I know. I’m grateful to him, but then I remember it’s him, and I feel weird because I know what a jerk he is—” My face surely showed my disappointment since she stopped mumbling when she took notice of it. “I’m sorry, Sar. Don’t listen to silly me. So what happened when they found you?”
“Brad got distracted when they showed up, so I hit him with rocks and escaped from gunpoint. Then Hayden attacked him before the police officers could stop him and restrain Brad.”
“For once, he did something right,” Mateo muttered bitterly. “I would’ve done the same.”
Another moment of suffocating silence stretched on, his inappropriate words rendering us all speechless. Mateo’s jaw tightened when he realized what he’d said.
“Sorry. It wasn’t my place to say that—”
“Did my daughter raise you to be a ruffian?” Jonathan interrupted him, his eyes pinning him in place. “Calm those raging teenage hormones down.” He looked at me. “How is your mother?”
“I didn’t see her yet, but I heard she’s stable. They did a knee cap surgery, and she’s under observation now.”
Jonathan intertwined his hands. “What is going on with the world today? Psychopaths are everywhere. To think about what could’ve happened...” He shook his head, displeasure written all over his face. “What is our society turning into?”
“Into Joker’s playground,” Mel replied seriously.
I snorted and shook my head. “Anyway, how is everything at the retirement home?” I asked Jonathan, curious to know how he’d been lately.
“And what do you think? We all have one foot in the grave. That is nothing new.”
Mel cracked up, while I frowned at him. “Jonathan! Don’t say that!”
“That is the truth. Other than that, it’s pretty boring. If Adelaine wasn’t there, I would already have both feet in the grave, bored to death.”
Melissa’s face wrinkled in contagious excitement. “You and A are OTP, Mr. J.”
Mateo chuckled. Jonathan’s eyebrows knitted together. “OTP? Why can’t you speak English? What is that?”
“One true pairing. Two people who are definitely meant for each other. Although, this is used for fictional characters.”
Jonathan tsked. “Stop sputtering nonsense.”
I looked closely at Mel, noticing just now how worn out she looked. The bags under her eyes were the most prominent on her puffy face, and her pallid cheeks missed their usual healthy rose color. It was clear that the divorce of her parents was weighing her down.
“How about you, Mel? How are you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t want to bother you with the details. We can talk about it when you recover, but it seems that mom, Steven, and I are moving to Enfield.”
My eyes rounded. “Really?”
She shrugged again, as if she wasn’t quite happy with the idea. “Yep. We’re moving to our grandparents’ house for now, and I’ll be transferring to your school.”
I met Jessica’s warm gaze, bubbles of excitement spreading through me despite how serious the situation was. “Mel will go to our scho
ol! That’s amazing!”
Jess returned my smile. “Yeah. I can’t wait.”
My grin widened. “I’m sorry that you have to move, but it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t glad to have you here with us.”
“I know. I feel the same. That’s the only thing that’s positive about all this mess.”
Jess was about to say something, but two knocks at the door interrupted her. Hayden stepped in, and his dark eyes rose to meet mine. My heart missed a beat just as he came to a halt, his half-smile dropping when he saw I wasn’t alone. His eyes zeroed in on Mateo.
Oh no.
His glare turned deadly, his body growing taut as they scowled at each other. The tension between them became palpable, on the verge of escalating into something ugly.
No. I mustn’t let Hayden get the wrong impression. “Hayden, come inside.”
I offered him an encouraging smile, wanting him to know I was happy to see him. My heart was pounding in my ears as he stood by the door, not moving an inch.
His eyes cut into me, and my chest constricted in pain. “What is he doing here?”
I curled my fingers on my lap. I never knew what to say or do in this kind of situations, and this was no exception. “Mateo just came to visit me—”
“So you’re still in contact with him?” His eyes went to Mateo’s, growing black with hatred.
“No! I’m not.” I didn’t want to make a scene in front of Jonathan or discuss this with Mateo around, but I needed him to believe me. “I didn’t even know he was going to come. He was just worried about me—”
“He has no right to worry about you.” The absurdity of his statement took me aback, and for a second, I wasn’t even able to breathe. The extent of his hostility was toxic.
“You can’t prevent people from worrying about someone, asshole,” Mateo said, and my insides turned into ice. Hayden took two menacing steps forward, looking like he was going to hurt Mateo any moment.
No. I couldn’t let them fight again. Mateo’s visit was just a normal gesture of someone concerned for me, and there was nothing wrong about that. Mateo and I were history, and this visit didn’t change how I felt, but Hayden saw this situation in a distorted way. He saw this as a threat. No matter how much I appreciated Mateo and was grateful to him for coming here, Hayden was upset that he was here, and I had to solve this.
“Mateo was already leaving. Right, Mateo?”
Mateo whipped his head to look at me. “What?” he mouthed, surprise and hurt veiling his eyes.
Something heavy clutched my chest. I didn’t like hurting him like this, but Hayden mattered much more to me. “I’m sorry, Mateo, but you need to go. I’m completely fine, so you don’t have to worry about me at all.”
Hayden was rooted to his place as he looked between Mateo and me, his whole posture signaling he would rather be anywhere but here. I couldn’t even swallow, the pounding of my heart becoming more erratic. I hated that this could completely destroy all the progress we’d made these last few days. His trust in me was fragile—almost nonexistent—and this could only make us regress.
So I forced myself to look Mateo directly in the eyes and say the next final words. “As much as I appreciate that you came here, I prefer not to see you again. We... We can’t be friends, Mateo. I’m sorry. Thank you for everything.”
Mateo was silent for a few excruciatingly slow moments, and I could see everything on his face. This was wounding him deeply, engraving itself into his heart forever.
He finally nodded, resignation written over his face. “I understand. I won’t bother you anymore.” His animosity was unhidden as he looked at Hayden and clenched his jaw tightly.
“What are you looking at? Get out,” Hayden hissed.
Mateo ignored him, giving me one last look. “I wish you two all the best,” he gritted out and moved, almost colliding with Hayden on his way out.
Hayden’s eyes flared, and I expected him to lash out on him, but he just watched him walk out of the room without saying a word. Everyone kept quiet as Hayden’s eyes landed on me, which drew all the air out of me. I couldn’t read him, terrified of what was possibly happening in his mind.
“I have no idea what is going on between my grandson and you, but I don’t like the way you treat Sarah,” Jonathan said with a stern face, taking me by surprise. I shifted uncomfortably on my bed, ashamed that he’d had to witness their ugly exchange. “This sweet girl has just suffered the most traumatic experience of her life, yet you’re treating her so harshly.”
He moved his wheelchair and stopped directly in front of Hayden. I was apprehensive of Hayden’s reaction, who was completely still, staring at Jonathan like he couldn’t distinguish whether he was his enemy or friend.
“She could’ve died,” he continued. “We could’ve lost her. You better think about this carefully before opening your mouth and speaking to her the way you did now.”
All my emotions crushed me on the inside, and I just watched him motionless, rendered speechless. Jonathan looked at me, his caring eyes reaching deep within me, mending all my pain.
“If you saw the way her eyes warmed whenever she mentioned you or when she described how you saved her, you would know there was no one else in this girl’s heart but you.”
Hayden’s gaze collided with mine, and its intensity sent a spark all the way through me. It was an island of hurt, regret, insecurity, and love, and the bridge that brought us closer was holding on tethers, ever so fragile. He was fighting his inner blackness, his fists clenching and relaxing as he drew in slow breaths, and I just wanted to hug him and chase all our demons away.
Jonathan extended his hand toward him. “And I wanted to thank you, son, for being there for our Sarah. If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t be with us today. So thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
I felt a surge of love toward Jonathan, more than grateful to him. Hayden’s lips pressed into a thin line, a tortured expression coming over his face as he returned Jonathan’s steady gaze.
In what seemed like forever, the storm in his eyes passed, and he accepted Jonathan’s hand. “Don’t mention it, old man. I would do it again if needed.”
“Who are you calling an old man?” Jonathan returned to his usual grumpiness, letting go of Hayden’s hand.
Hayden snorted, cocking his head to the side. “Sorry. You could’ve fooled me.”
Jonathan’s eyebrows shot up. He assessed Hayden like a hawk. “Sarah, he is a handful.”
Hayden’s face lit, and a naughty smirk appeared. “Believe me, I’m more than handful.”
“Hayden!” What was he thinking? I wanted to vanish from sight. I couldn’t even look at Jonathan.
“For Christ’s sake!” Mel rolled her eyes and sneered at him. “My ears are bleeding! We get it, you saved her and all, kudos to you, but tone down your idiocy and that vulgar language!”
“I think we should leave them alone for a bit,” Jess suggested calmly, looking at Mel and Jonathan.
“I agree. I can’t stand being next to him any longer than this. My skin is crawling, and I feel like I need a good shower.” Mel rubbed her arms and shuddered.
“You should wash out your mouth first,” Hayden responded, his cold eyes piercing through her.
Before Melissa could explode, Jonathan said, “Okay, kids. Enough. I didn’t come here to witness your immature bickering.” He reached me and took my hand, giving it a soothing squeeze. “I will be on my way now. Rest a lot and take care.”
His tender smile warmed me, and my heart expanded with happiness because there were people who cared about me.
“I will. Thank you.”
“I’m expecting you to come back to work soon and play chess with me. I always beat Adelaine, and it’s too boring playing against such a weak opponent. So I’ll be waiting for you.”
I wanted to hug him and never let him go. “You can count on me.”
We exchanged goodbyes, and they walked out of the room, an uneasy silence
settling over Hayden and me. He wasn’t looking at me, examining the balloons. I wanted to tell him so many things, but I was afraid to say something that could set him off.
“I’m so happy to see you, Hayden. I missed you.”
He fisted his hands. “Did he bring you this?”
I glanced at the balloons with a frown. “No, Jess and Mel brought them. Why?”
He tightened his jaw. “Because I hate the idea of him giving you gifts. I hate that he was here, close to you.” His eyes locked on me. “You’re mine.”
My stomach churned at how jealous and possessive he was. I twisted my hands together. “He was just being considerate, Hayden. He didn’t have any hidden intentions.”
“It didn’t feel that way.”
“But it’s true.”
His expression was conflicted. He sat on my bed and studied my face carefully. “How do you feel about it?”
My fingers itched to touch him, but I was afraid he would refuse the contact. With a deep breath, I covered his hand lying on his lap. He didn’t respond to my touch, but at least he didn’t move away. My fingers slid over his veins and raw knuckles, and I relished the feel of his skin. I looked at him earnestly.
“Grateful. I’m grateful that he worried enough to come here. Other than that nothing. I don’t feel anything for him, Hayden. There is only one person in my heart, and that’s you. Only you.”
His facial lines relaxed when the truth reached him, and relief spread through my chest. “I hate him. I want to beat him up so badly.”
I clutched his hand. “I don’t care about Mateo, so there is no need for you to feel this way about him. Hayden, he’s history. I don’t want to be with him again. I’d made a mistake for even starting a relationship with him.”
His gaze burned into me. “So what do you think about starting a relationship with me?”
I stopped breathing, disbelief and excitement weaving their way into me. My heart inflated because of the way he looked at me—with need and hope.
“A relationship with you?”