Hayden (A Next Generation Carter Brother Novel Book 4)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  “Someone you really shouldn’t have messed with,” I tell him, wiggling my fingers when the other two cops heave him to his feet. “Bye, motherfucker.”

  I stagger back when Rob appears out of nowhere, charging at Fisher. “How could you do this?” he yells, taking a swing at him.

  Dad winces. “That’s got to hurt.”

  “Dad?”

  “Yes, baby.”

  “Did you call Mum?” I ask, my vision blurring a little.

  He tenses, drawing in a sharp breath. “She’s going to fucking kill me.”

  “Why didn’t you come to me?” Rob barks out, storming over to us.

  “Hey,” Landon snaps, shoving him back a little.

  I grimace. “I couldn’t. You know I couldn’t. I never believed it was you. But could I put another life on it? No! Beau didn’t think it was you either.”

  “You should have come to me,” he argues, scanning me from head to toe, guilt flashing in his eyes.

  “You would have done the same,” I whisper.

  “It’s all over. We have them all,” he informs me.

  Reality hits me like a train, and I sway on my feet. “It’s over? It’s really—”

  “Hayden!” is roared in my ears before my world turns black.

  *** *** ***

  I wake up to the brutal sound of my mum shrieking. I open my eyes, watching as she slaps Dad’s chest over and over again, tears streaming down her face.

  “How could you leave without telling me, Max? She’s my daughter.”

  “I’m sorry. So fucking sorry,” he tells her.

  “Hey,” Maverick whispers, pulling my attention away from my mum and dad.

  I glance around, surprised to find only Maverick in here. “Where?” I croak, my throat dry.

  “We’re at the hospital. You passed out. Everything’s fine and you can go home once the two-hour observation is up.”

  “The others?”

  “Everyone is out in the waiting area, but Clayton and your brothers have gone to get a hot drink.”

  “You okay?” I whisper when his face drops.

  “He’s mad at me. He blames me and he has every right to. I kept it from him as revenge for getting my son arrested.”

  “You didn’t know this would happen. It’s not your fault,” I murmur, squeezing his hand.

  He forces a smile, yet the sadness is there, bright and open for everyone to see. “I’ve been through hell and back with my brothers. Our childhood was not like yours until we lived with our granddad. I’ve done all I can to make sure they have everything they need to thrive, to survive, to live. I failed to protect them during a time when they really needed me to, and I’ve worked my hardest to make up for that. But I let him down. He nearly lost Landon, and tonight, he nearly lost you. I failed him. Again. Failed him in a way he will never be able to forgive.”

  “He will. He loves you.”

  Maverick’s eyes mist over. “When you have kids, you’ll understand. He loves you more. And as much as I regret my choice, I’m proud of how you fought tonight. Just… please, don’t do it again. We need you to be okay.”

  I startle at Dad’s booming voice. “Damn straight she won’t be doing it again.”

  I smirk at Maverick. “Yeah, Dad said I can get pregnant.”

  Dad chokes on a breath, wheezing when he glances up at me. “It was a stressful moment. I didn’t mean it.”

  I shrug. “You said it now. You can’t take it back.”

  Maverick gets up, leaning over to kiss my forehead as Mum rushes to the other side of me. “I’ll give these some room and go wait in the waiting area.”

  “I’m sorry, Mav,” Dad chokes out, his eyes glassing over.

  Maverick stops in front of him. “You were right. I should have told you.”

  “No, I, um…” He stares at Mum, gulping. “I overreacted. Kind of. I mean, she’s my daughter. I had a right to get mad.”

  Maverick stops Dad, pulling him in for a hug. “Forgive me.”

  “Dude, I’m a married man,” Dad yells, forcing a laugh when Maverick turns red at all the eyes watching on.

  “Love you too, dickhead.”

  “Honey, you need to stop doing these things. It’s not good for my health,” Mum stresses, kissing the good side of my head.

  “I’m sorry, Mum.”

  “You didn’t say sorry to me,” Dad grumbles.

  “Leave her alone, Max. Can’t you see she’s injured?”

  “See it? The entire fucking hospital can see it,” he booms.

  “Dad,” I groan, wincing at the pounding in my head.

  Mum bursts out crying, and I shake my head. “Mum, I’m fine.”

  “I can’t keep going through this. I’ll never make it without you. Without any of my kids.”

  “What about me?” Dad argues, sitting up.

  “Mum?” I call out, smiling.

  “I can’t. I can’t lose you. Any of you,” she wails, clutching my hand.

  “And me, right?” Dad asks, his voice getting a little louder. He looks utterly dejected.

  “I’m fine, Mum. I promise. And it’s not something I plan on ever going through again. Running through rain, in a forest when it’s pitch black, is not as easy as it looks. Movies fucking lie. I have a whole new view on horror movies now. I understand why those fuckers die or get found,” I rant, my sore legs reminding of the hell I went through. “Running! Running gets them fucking killed.”

  “Oh, baby,” Mum cries.

  “And I’m hungry. Really hungry,” I declare, resting back on my pillow. “I’ve not eaten all night.”

  Mum looks out of the room, searching for someone. “Let me go ask a doctor if you can eat.” She gets up, leaning down to kiss me. “I love you.”

  “Love you too, Mum.”

  Dad rests his elbows on the bed. “She meant me too, right?”

  I chuckle at his downcast expression. “Dad, I love you too.”

  “I know you do. But, girl, hear me when I say this, don’t do this shit again. You’re small, and you’re mighty, but you’re not invincible. Tonight could have gone seriously wrong, and call me selfish, but I’d rather you die old, in bed, and not over something that isn’t your fight.”

  “Dad, you don’t mean that,” I remind him, giving him a pointed look. He always told us to fight for what we believed in, even if it was to save the lives of ants.

  “No. Yes. No.” He shakes his head, groaning. “What you did was brave, yes, but, girl, it was dangerous. You could have come to any one of us for help.”

  “I know,” I whisper, flashes of images running through my head of the knife JJ held.

  “I’m pissed at you for not coming to me, but I understand your need to do this alone. I’m just so fucking glad you’re okay. If anything ever happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad.”

  “Is this a bad time?” Clayton asks, stepping through the curtain.

  “Yes,” Dad answers.

  I smile. “No.”

  He heads over to the space where Mum was just standing, dropping a drink on the cabinet next to the bed.

  Dad leans down, kissing my head. “I’ll go see what’s taking your mum so long.”

  “You’re going to get food, aren’t you?”

  He grins. “I burnt off my daily calories chasing after you through the woods. What did you expect? I’m a growing man.”

  I chuckle. “You don’t count calories.”

  “I don’t need to. I just know,” he tells me, turning to leave.

  “Wait,” I call out. “I stabbed a guy. Will I be arrested?”

  Dad frowns, walking back over to me and grabbing my hand. “No. It was self-defence. And even if it wasn’t, those fuckers have enough on their hands explaining a dirty cop.” Sighing, he gives my hand a squeeze. “And if it were me, I would have stabbed him in the chest. You kind of dropped the ball there.”

  “Really?” Clayton mutters dryly.

 
; “Are the police here?”

  “They are. They need to ask a few questions, but Beau has got them to come back later in the day for a full statement.”

  I nod, coughing. “Thanks for coming to save me.”

  “I promised you I’d always be there, didn’t I?”

  I grin. “You really did.”

  He looks over at Clayton. “If you hurt her—”

  “And I survive what she does to me, you’ll come after me. I know,” Clayton finishes. “I’ve been told that a lot tonight.”

  Dad shakes his head. “Don’t fuck it up then,” he warns him, before glancing down at me. “Are you sure about him?”

  I smile, knowing this is coming from the sensible side of my dad. “I am, Dad. Now go get me some food.”

  “Do all of your family have violent tendencies?” Clayton asks when Dad leaves.

  “Yes. I told you, we’re all crazy.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Sore, but good. As soon as my aunt turns up with my clothes, I’m going home. I want to put on my Captain America pyjamas and go to sleep. In my bed.”

  “Yeah, about that… I’ll be staying with you. Your mum is outside now, ordering your brothers to go make up your old room at hers.”

  I groan, closing my eyes. “She isn’t?”

  He chuckles, lifting the blanket higher up my chest. “She is. And I don’t want to get in her bad books by demanding that I’ll be the one staying with you.”

  “Chicken,” I tease.

  His eyebrows shoot to his hairline. “Nope. Clever. I watched your dad tie a man to a tree today using ivy and rope from the back of Liam’s car. I’m never going to underestimate him again.”

  “I still can’t believe you came for me,” I admit, feeling sleepy.

  “I’ll always come for you,” he replies, pressing his lips to mine. “I have something for you.”

  “Please tell me it’s chocolate cake with sprinkles.”

  Laughing, he shakes his head before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. “I need you to answer.”

  I take the note and pen, laughter spilling from my lips.

  WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND?

  TICK YES

  TICK NO

  “I don’t know,” I mumble, frowning down at the paper. “This seems like a big commitment.”

  “Hayden,” he growls, leaning down a little.

  Laughter spills out of me as I tick the ‘yes’ box. “It’s yes. Always yes.”

  And it would be. If I have learned anything from tonight, it’s that life is too short. I have to grab on to life while I can, and I want to do that with Clayton by my side, for as long as he wants me.

  This chapter of our lives may have ended, but for us as a couple, it’s just the beginning.

  And I can’t wait to find out what our next adventure will bring.

  EPILOGUE

  MADDOX

  Madison strides into the kitchen, helping herself to the food in my cupboards. She pulls out bag of Doritos before leaning back against the counter.

  “You really need to let us do something about your neighbours.”

  I grunt, tying up my trainers. “Do you think I haven’t tried? Nothing phases them. The council aren’t doing anything. I really don’t want to turn to drastic measures, but with the way they’ve been, I’m gonna have to.”

  “Did you turn their water blue yet?”

  Grinning at my kind yet devious sister, I nod. “Yes. I broke in a few months ago and made sure to clog all their drains with crap, hoping the smell would drive them out.”

  She picks up a dirty sock off the side, throwing it to the floor. “You really need to hire someone to come and clean this place at least once a week.”

  “Lily helped, but now that arsehole monopolizes her time.”

  “He’s her husband,” she explains, grinning.

  “And I’m her best friend.”

  The music next door gets louder, and I groan, my head pounding. It has been like this all night and most of the morning.

  “Why don’t we cut their electric?”

  “I will tonight if they haven’t passed out blind drunk. Though I’m worried the electrical company have someone watching the place.”

  Laughing, she steps away from the counter, grabbing her jacket. “How many times have you done it?”

  I grin. “Too many. But it’s fun to watch them lose it.”

  “What about just going around with Dad and having a word?”

  “Because I went around with Landon and that word turned into a brawl in the street. We were lucky one of the neighbours witnessed it, as they tried to place the blame on us.”

  “Wait, wasn’t that when you suspected one of them of stealing your tools?”

  “I know it was one of them.”

  “You’ve been putting up with this for nearly year. You look shattered, Maddox.”

  “Well, their time is up because I’m done waiting for the council to find a place they haven’t already been removed from.”

  We walk down the hallway and I stop near the door, grabbing my keys off the hook Mum bought me when I finished doing the house up.

  “Uncle Max needs an outlet. You should set him on them,” she tells me as she waits for me to lock up.

  Laughter spills out of me. “Is he still calling Hayden every five minutes to make sure she took her birth control?”

  “Yes,” she admits, laughing. “She’s dreading today.”

  Today we’re going to a party Clayton is throwing in celebration of Hayden’s new job and success. It has been two weeks since she was kidnapped, and in that time, her life has changed. People had read her story, and she’s now all people can talk about.

  Next door’s son, who not long ago turned eighteen, skids his car up the curb, over my drive and onto his. He parks carelessly over their driveaway, which is filled with upturned cobble and dirt.

  “Is he even old enough to drive?”

  “Yes, but I don’t think the little bastard has a licence, and I’m pretty sure the car is stolen. Not one of them work.”

  “Yo, you got a problem, mate?” the guy yells, glaring over the hood of his car.

  “I’m staring at it,” I tell him, grinning.

  He looks behind him like the dickhead he is before turning back to us, his gaze running over Madison.

  “Want to come party?”

  “With you?” she squeaks.

  He flashes his yellow, crooked teeth when he smiles at her. “I can show you a good time.”

  “With you?” she repeats.

  “Yo, you dumb?”

  “If I were to go with you, yes. Yes, I would be,” she explains, wiggling her fingers at him as she laughs. “Toddle along.”

  “Kayne, where’s my beer?” a woman yells from the front door, a beer can in hand. She’s in her forties and wearing a short black tank top with a pair of leggings that flash off her podgy belly.

  Us forgotten, Kayne grabs a bag from the backseat before running up to his mum.

  Madison whistles through her teeth. “Lovely family.”

  “Come on, we don’t want to miss the fun when Clayton and Hayden share the news that they’ve moved in together.”

  “They’re going to announce that?” she asks, confused when we reach my car.

  “No, I am. But it’s for their own good.”

  I don’t hear her reply as I stop short next to the passenger side of my truck. A car pulls into the drive across the road, a house my uncle had bought but has stayed empty until now. I had finished the repairs a month ago, and I was surprised when he didn’t sell it on.

  Sheer black hair is the first thing I notice, before a woman with a banging body steps out, her back to us as she stares up at the house.

  She’s wearing navy blue trousers and a blue nurse’s top, the trousers fitting snug across her round arse.

  “Fuck me!”

  Madison nudges me. “You don’t have a chance.” />
  I glare down at her. “Of course I fucking do. I’m a fucking catch. There isn’t anyone I can’t get into bed.”

  “You won’t.”

  “Watch me. I’ll go over there, beg her to look at my wounds, and she’ll be naked within minutes.”

  A snort of disgust and amusement comes from her. “You worry me sometimes. You don’t even have an injury.”

  I wink, smirking. “I won’t need one once I turn the charm on.”

  “You’re shit out of luck. Your charm won’t work on her.”

  I rear back, my pride wounded. “Why do you need to be so negative? Of course she’ll want me.”

  “She’s pregnant,” Madison reveals, grinning.

  My head swivels back to the woman. She’s standing near the boot of her car, her hand rubbing the bottom of her back. I lower my gaze to her perfectly round stomach, my shoulders sagging in defeat.

  “Fucking hell.”

  Slapping me on the shoulder, Madison laughs. “It sucks to be you.”

  She’s beautiful, stunning, and if she hadn’t turned around, I would never have guessed she was pregnant.

  Yet she is, and I have two rules. You don’t mess with pregnant or taken women. I don’t mind kids, but they scare me. Sunday scares me and I’m her favourite uncle.

  It isn’t just that though. I have heard so many women bringing men in and out of their child’s life. Their children grow attached, and then boom! They break up and that child is left confused, wondering why the person they had come to love and look up to has gone. I’d never do that to a child. I never want to be that man.

  I’ve felt this way ever since a young girl, maybe nine or ten, showed up at the lot, asking for a member of staff who worked for me. Her broken plea for him to see her was hard to witness. He wasn’t nasty about it, but he wasn’t nice either when he said she needed to go home, that he and her mum were no longer an item after five years of being with each other.

  So yeah, that’s why I stay away from pregnant or single mums.

  I shudder when her forest green eyes snap my way. Her smile drops for a second, before she composes herself, raising her arm to wave.

  “Yep, you don’t have a chance. Even if she was single.”

  I give the woman a chin lift before pushing Madison into the truck. “You know me, I don’t do anything other than one-night stands anyway.”