Hard To Love You (The Love Series)

by Smith, Megan

  Hunter nods his head towards his truck. We all get in. I sit in the back and lay down across the seats while Cooper takes shotgun. I royally fucked up, I know it.

  We pull into Hunter’s driveway twenty minutes later. I sit up and look at the front door. Big mistake. MacKenzie is standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, shooting daggers at me.

  Hunter chuckles. “Good luck man, I’m glad I’m not on the receiving end of that.”

  I climb out of the truck and trudge up the walkway, leaping up the two steps to the porch where MacKenzie is standing and meeting her eyes. She thinks by giving me the eyes that she’ll frighten me.

  She shoves me hard, “I can’t believe you, Mason. Lily? Of all the people. Really?”

  I adjust my hat, “Where is she?”

  MacKenzie glances behind her before answering me, “Lily’s at the bar, stupid.”

  I roll my eyes at her failed attempted to make look stupid. “Kenzie, stop messing around, I need to talk to Hailey.”

  “She’s not here,” she shoots back.

  Hailey is there, I can see her reflection in the glass door that MacKenzie reluctantly holds open. “If you don’t move your ass out of the way I’ll move you myself.”

  MacKenzie looks surprised. She looks over my shoulder to Cooper and Hunter, I guess waiting for them to come to her defense. I know they won’t though. They wouldn’t have brought me here if that were the case. She huffs and moves out of the way.

  I step into the house and catch a glimpse of Hailey’s blonde hair turning down the hallway. I look around the family room; Chloe and Jackson are sitting on the couch, eating popcorn with their feet propped up on the coffee table, enjoying the show I’m sure. Jackson gives a head nod and Chloe half smiles at me. When I walk into the kitchen Hailey is slipping her heels on. Once she is finished she picks up a full shot glass that sits on the kitchen table and downs it. She winces. I’m sure it’s from the burn but I can’t help feeling responsible.

  “Boo …” I call, using the nickname that I’ve had for her forever. I wait for her to turn around and look at me but she doesn’t.

  I wait another few seconds before taking one more step towards her, her body stiffens. I stop and wait. “Baby …”

  “Don’t baby me, Mason.” She says with fury in her voice.

  I want to tell her the real reason I was with Lily but I can’t chance anyone else hearing. “It wasn’t what it looked like. Hailey, you have to believe me. Did you see any lipstick on me?”

  “No, but I just don’t understand why you’re lying to me about it. You never lie to me.” Her voice cracks. She’s livid. “You tell me everything.”

  “I’m not lying now.”

  She huffs, “You are. You promised that you would never lie to me, Mason. I trusted you. I trusted you with my heart and you know how God damn hard that is for me to do.”

  The knife digs deeper into my heart. I’m fucking up badly by not telling her, but I can’t. “I swear I’m not.”

  She takes a deep breath, “Then tell me what happened.”

  I take a step towards her, wanting to turn her around so she can look me in the eyes and know I’m not lying. “Don’t come any closer. I mean it. I will cut your balls off and shove them down your throat and I’m not even playing.”

  I try not to laugh because now is really not the time, but that’s my feisty Hailey. “Can you turn around then? Please.”

  She picks up the bottle of vodka, forgetting about the shot glass and guzzles it for as long as she can before setting it back on the table and turning around to face me. Her eyes are bloodshot, her face is all blotchy and her lips are red from crying, but she’s still beautiful. Her hair is a mess, I’m sure she’s been running her hands through it. I reach forward to tuck a stray strand behind her ear but she flinches and turns her head.

  My shoulders sag in defeat, I did this to her. I turn her face so she’s looking at me again. “I didn’t kiss Lily, you know that I didn’t.” I don’t look away and I don’t blink.

  She stares back at me, “Then why did you have her in that corner, Mase?”

  I close my eyes, praying she trusts me. “I can’t tell you that just yet. Just trust me though, please. I’ve never let you down before, Hailey, and I’m not going to start now.”

  She looks intently at me for so long I’m not sure what to think. I don’t look away though. I’m begging her with my eyes to understand.

  After what feels like forever, but what’s probably only been minutes, she says, “And I can’t be with you until you tell me. I can’t go around thinking all these crazy thoughts in my head. You know I’ve got issues. I hate that unwanted, unloved feeling and that is exactly how I feel right now. We’ve kept enough secrets and I’m over it, Mase. I’m fucking done.” A lone tear runs down her cheek, I want to reach out and brush it away but I can’t. I’m dumbfounded by her words. We always fight, that’s us. There is no in-between; we’re either hot or cold.

  I look her in the eyes one last time before I turn to leave and say the words that I will only ever say to her, “I love you, Hailey, only and always you.” I turn on my heel and leave her there.

  I haven’t spoken to Mason in two weeks. I’m avoiding him like the plague. I know I’m not going to be able to keep that up with MacKenzie’s wedding looming over me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy for my best friend and Hunter; they deserve it after all the shit they’ve been through. I just wish Mason wasn’t part of it.

  After we walked out of the bathroom at Kenzie’s bachelorette party and found Mason with Lily, I wanted to junk punch him. Much like what Kenzie did to Lily. I knew Mason had girls chasing after him all day, every day, with being a pitcher in the minor leagues, but I thought I actually meant something to him. Apparently I was wrong. Asshole! Kenzie has been checking in on me every day, I know she’s worried about me; my track record with boys isn’t exactly great.

  A knock startles me from my thoughts; I stand up from my bed and go to see who it is. I figure it’s my mom checking on me before she leaves for work.

  I open the door and I’m greeted with more stargazers; I sigh and grab the vase, placing them on my desk next to the others; they’ve been arriving every other day for the last two weeks. Every time they come they are different but every time they are beautiful. This time they came in a pink, square vase with an iridescent bow. All the flowers are pink except the center one, which stands out as an exquisite red rose. They are gorgeous, but now I kind of regret telling Mason what my favorite flowers are because he’s tainting them.

  Mom sighs heavily. “Give the boy a break and at least talk to him before he goes broke, Hailey.”

  I shake my head, “No. I’m not giving in and I hope he does go broke, serves him right.”

  She chuckles and wraps me in her arms. “Love you, Baby. Hang in there.”

  I squeeze her back, that’s all I can do, I don’t trust my voice.

  After another few moments she gives me one last squeeze, “Well, I’m off to work. I’ll be home later tonight.

  “Alright, see you in the morning.” I walk over to the flowers and pick the card out.

  “Hailey?”

  “Yeah Mom?”

  “Get out of the house for a little while; it’ll do you some good. Go see that cute little Ryder that I know you love.” She smiles at me and then closes my door behind her.

  I sit on my bed and curl my legs up to my chest. I play with the card in my hand for a while before I get the courage to open it and see what he’s come up with this time.

  Hailey ~

  Talk to me.

  You owe it to yourself, to us, to me.

  Always,

  Mason

  The tears start. I lie back against my pillows and grab for the pink bear that Mason won for me years ago. I cry for him every day. I want my Mason back, my hot headed, over the top Mason, or even my cold hearted one. I just want him. I know he loves me. I know deep down inside. But why? Why did he have
Lily pushed up into that nook in the wall? Did he think he would never get caught? Maybe I was just fooling myself. Maybe he only liked me because I was always there. Not knowing what’s going on in his head is eating me alive. I know I’m going to have to talk to him but not until I’m strong enough. Mom is the only one who knows how much this is killing me. I’m not weak like my sister says I am; I’ll stand up for myself once I find myself again.

  Eventually, I cry myself to sleep until my ringing phone wakes me into a sleepy fog.

  I run my finger across the phone, answering it, “Hello?” Once the fog clears, I cringe; praying it isn’t Mason on the other end.

  I hear sniffles, “Hello?” I say again.

  “Hailey, I look like a whale in my dress. Where are you?” Kenzie whines into the phone.

  I take a deep breath; my maid of honor duties are needed. “Kenz, you don’t look like a whale, Sweetie. Why do you have your dress on anyway?”

  She takes a shuddering breath, “I’m at the bridal shop for my last fitting.”

  Shit! I was supposed to go with her and I completely forgot because I’ve been living in my own head and not being the friend that I should be.

  I leap off the bed and take a quick glimpse in the mirror. Crap, I look like hell. Eyes puffy and bloodshot, mascara running down my cheeks and my hair is a hot mess. “Kenz, give me fifteen minutes, I’ll be right there.”

  “No. It’s ok; you’ve got a lot going on.” Her voice breaks.

  “I’m coming. Love ya. See you in a few.”

  Fifteen minutes later I’m pulling into the dress shop parking lot. I quickly grab my purse and make my way inside to talk my best friend off the ledge.

  I walk up to the counter and ask where I can find her. Thankfully it’s a small shop and they know exactly who I’m talking about.

  I approach the dressing room and I hear the sniffles again. I knock on the door, “Kenz?”

  The door slowly opens and Kenzie pokes her head out. I smile and she frowns. She opens the door wider and I push my way in. I set my purse down on the bench but keep my sunglasses on. I didn’t need her pity. This is all about her. I turn and suck in a breath, my hand covers my mouth and the tears start again.

  “See! I look like a whale, Hails. I can’t wear this dress.” She turns her back towards me, “Unzip me, I need out of this dress.”

  I place both my hands on her shoulders, “Look at you MacKenzie, really look at you. You’re gorgeous, Sweetie; you look nothing like a whale. Nothing! I’m envious of you; you’ve got the man of your dreams, the cutest little chunky monkey and a beautiful home. This,” I point to the dress, “is just material. Hunter loves you for this.” I point to her heart. She starts crying again and I’m right there with her. “Hunter said to me the other night that he couldn’t believe he’s actually marrying you. You, MacKenzie, you’re each other’s everything.”

  Kenzie slowly turns around and hugs the hell out of me. “You’re the best friend that every girl should have, Hails.”

  We hold each other for a little while and cry a little longer. After I’ve gotten it all out, I decide we definitely need some laughter in our lives. My hands start slowly moving from her back, down to her sides to rest on her hips. “You know, I would kill for these. I’m sure Hunter loves that he has something to hold on to while you’re getting your freak on.”

  That seems to do the trick because she starts laughing and soon she lets go and holds her stomach because she can’t stop. It’s a contagious laugh.

  After we calm down, she smirks at me. “He does love them.” She says, just above a whisper, and starts blushing. You would think by now that she wouldn’t be this shy talking about sex.

  I put my hands on my hips, “Now Kenz, why the hell are you blushing, girl? You can’t be that shy about sex. Christ, Hunter had you bent over his bike in the Goddamn garage! Did you forget I walked in on that hot shit?”

  Now she turns bright red, God I loved her. I wish my own sister were just like her. Instead my sister is the world’s biggest bitch.

  She covers her face with her hands, “I can’t believe you caught us like that and you didn’t even try to leave quietly.”

  I shrug, “What? It was hot!”

  She walks over, stands in front of me and reaches for my sunglasses. I quickly turn my head. She sighs and grabs my face with both her hands. She takes my glasses off and gasps. I look down at the floor, both hands go for my back pockets and I rock on my feet. I know what is coming next.

  “Hailey.”

  I don’t look up, I can’t.

  She grabs my face again and gives me no choice. Looking into my eyes, she can see everything -the hurt, the pain, all of it. After a few moments she says, “You need to talk to him. Give him hell, Hailey! He deserves it, whether he did it or not. You need to let the feisty Hailey out.”

  I look down to the floor again, begging for the tears to stay at bay. I will not cry over Mason Cahill, I chant to myself.

  She waits, “I know, Kenz, I will. Let’s just get past the wedding and then I’ll figure things out. I don’t want you worrying over us.”

  “Oh Hailey, I love you.” She hugs me. “You are your own worst enemy, you know that right?”

  I nod. I will not cry over Mason Cahill, I chant again. “I know.”

  “Help me out of this dress and let’s go back to my house and grab a drink. I think we can both use one.” She turns around, giving me access to her zipper.

  “You look like a princess, Kenz. Hunter’s a lucky man.”

  She winks at me in the mirror; I help her unzip and then hang the dress up. We leave the shop and make our way to her house. I need something to help steel my heart, at least for tonight anyway.

  This being on the road shit sucks. The away games never used to bother me, but now that everything is screwed up, I hate it. I hate not being home, hate being away from Hailey, hate the drama and I hate myself. Baseball has always been a part of my life, it’s a constant, I’m good at it and I’m able to control it. It’s not just a hobby to me, it’s my career. Since losing Hailey I just can’t put my heart into the game. I know I look like a complete jackass to everyone; they’re all still pissed at me. Hell, I’m pissed at myself for even putting myself in such a screwed up situation. It seems that I always get burned while protecting my family. One damn day I’ll learn my lesson.

  Hailey has to know I wouldn’t touch Lily. God knows Lily’s been around the block more times than I even care to think about. I shudder at the visions coming to mind. I can’t believe Coop, Hunter and I fucked that. What the hell were we thinking? Oh that’s right, we were thinking with the wrong head.

  I’ve been sending Hailey her favorite flowers, stargazers, every other day for the last two weeks; I feel the need to keep sending them so she knows I still think of her all the damn time. I pray that deep down she knows I wouldn’t cheat on her. Hell, there are girls that hang around after the games and at the local bars, trying to sink their claws into one of us. Damn cleat chasers. After Hailey and I finally decided to try this relationship thing out last year, I’ve never even given them a second thought. Yeah I joke around and flirt to get the things that I want, but that is the extent of it. The guys on the team were having a fucking field day with that; they kept asking when I was going to get my balls back. My balls are exactly where I wanted them, back home with Hailey.

  Hailey. Damn, what I wouldn’t do to have her wrapped in my arms right now. I’m living my dream right now; but Hailey should be here with me. I’d give all of this up for her. It was our turn to have our happily ever after, but I’m screwing up because I’m keeping a secret, a secret that shouldn’t even affect us. So she ran. I shouldn’t be surprised, she always does. That’s the reason she was always at my house growing up, she ran away from her dad. Her mom and dad were in the middle of a divorce back then and she hated all the fighting. For the last eight years, Hailey had snuck into my room every night and slept in my bed with me. No one knew, not even MacK
enzie. Sometimes we talked about what that night’s fight was about and other times I just held her while she cried. The divorce screwed her up more than she’ll ever admit and her bitch of a sister blames her for causing it.

  We just wrapped up a game and we’re sitting at some local bar in Boston. Cooper has bailed and said his ankle was bothering him and he was going to call it a night. He thinks I’m stupid, but I know he’s going back to call Jaylinn. We’ve been busy lately and we haven’t had much down time and it’s getting in my way of finding Lily and talking to her again.

  Pat enters the bar and takes the seat to the left of me. Pat is our first baseman for the Bulldogs and he’s an instigator. I’m not in the mood for that shit tonight; I just want to get through the night so we can get our asses back home tomorrow.

  “I see you’ve finally got your balls back, hmm?” He asks while taking a swig of his beer.

  I roll my eyes, “I’ve always had my balls, Asshole.”

  He laughs, “Is that so? Ever since you and that hot piece of ass got together a few years ago you stopped hanging out with us.”

  This guy is your typical player. He has a wife and a kid back home, but every night while we are on the road he’s hooking up with someone else. Most of the guys do. They claim they are lonely and ‘what happens on the road, stays on the road’. No one ever got in anyone else’s business, it was just guy code.

  “Yeah, I just got some stuff going on so I haven’t been in the mood to hang around and bullshit.” I answer. I am not about to spill my guts to this guy. Hell, none of my teammates other than Cooper, who thinks I kissed Lily, knows the reason behind my split with Hailey.

  “I think that chick over there might be interested in helping you forget about your stuff you’ve got going on.” He lifts his chin to the girl sitting across the bar from us. I look up and there is indeed a cute girl sitting there with three of her friends. She doesn’t look like a cleat chaser. She has this innocent look about her and she looks uncomfortable, out of her element.