by Angel Lawson
“You like it when I look bad—makes you the handsome one for once.”
We bumped fists and Sabine and Bryant watched him go out the door.
Bryant’s non-committal gaze shifted in my direction the instant we were alone. “So that was the infamous Allendale crew.”
“That’s them.”
“I knew from my research they were an impressive group, but in person they’re pretty intimidating. I can see why you guys had quite the reputation in high school and college.”
I shook my head. “We were just a group of friends—nothing more. You know how petty high schoolers are with cliques and popularity.”
“And then there’s Heaven.”
Sabine looked away, a deep scowl tugging at the corners of her mouth. It wasn’t a good look on her.
“What about her?”
“She sure ran out here as fast as possible,” Sabine remarked.
She had, and it’d surprised me, but it also stirred something in me that I’d long pushed aside. Sabine, no doubt, picked up on it. I ran my hand over my head. “She and the guys were watching the game when I got hurt. She panicked and came out here. She knows my family isn’t in the States. If anything, it was just out of habit.”
There was no part of me that thought Heaven came back here to reconcile. And the little post-visit meeting with Bryant and Sabine was to remind me there was no chance it could ever happen anyway.
“Hayden,” Bryant said, in a voice that made my head throb even more than before, “when I first brought you on as my client I did thorough research on your past. I had to. You know it wasn’t to invade your privacy. It’s to make sure that when we sign contracts and establish business relationships with sponsors and endorsements that nothing is going to come back and bite us. Your history was a little tricky. No drugs, no arrests, no sorority girls claiming you’d assaulted them in the back of the frat house. But one thing kept coming up. It was this little scandal concerning your friend, Heaven Reeves. And the more I dug, the more I found out that Heaven wasn’t just your girlfriend, but sort of this little pet kept by your group of friends. And then the more I dug past that, I found the gossip and the rumors and enough photographic evidence to cause me some worry.”
“Don’t,” I said, with as much force as I could muster, “call her a pet. That’s fucking demeaning.”
He had no idea what Heaven meant to us—to me.
“I apologize,” he said with perfect contrition. “But remember, I told you at the time you had to do two things for me to take you on as a client. One was stay away from Allendale, and two was getting a new girlfriend, so that if anyone found out about Heaven they’d realize you’ve moved on.”
“And I’ve done both of those, haven’t I?”
He nodded. “Until today, yes.”
“So what’s this about? Me going back to Allendale? You said it yourself, I’m a partner in the gym. It makes sense for me to be there.”
“It does, but if the press follows you out there they may start digging around, and normally I’d say going back to your hometown would be no big deal, but Allendale has so much movie business now that the paparazzi has a reason to be there. We’ve talked about this before. Part of the reason we came up with this plan is not just to protect you but protect her.”
And that was why I’d agreed to it. If Heaven thought high school mean girls and bullies were a problem, she had no idea what it was like to be associated with a celebrity. And that was what I was now. A celebrity. The media wanted a piece of me and they’d take a piece of her if they could. They’d pull up her medical records, her father’s past, her depression—all of it.
I wouldn’t allow it. Not a chance.
“I’ll keep a low profile. I’m there to recover, Bryant. Nothing else. Trust me, I don’t want the press digging around any more than you do.”
“And Heaven?” Sabine asked. “What are you going to do about her if she pushes it?”
“I doubt there’s much I’ll have to do. Did you not see her leave? She’s not comfortable with any of this. If I had to guess, she showed up here out of obligation—once the guys have me on a routine, I doubt I’ll see her. She has a job in Allendale. A life. Friends of her own. None of them hang out anymore.”
“Except they were together when you got hurt,” Sabine said. When I gave her a questioning look, she glared back. “I overheard them talking about it.”
I reached for Sabine’s hand, knowing she needed a little reassurance. “I promise you—both of you—that nothing is going on with me and Heaven.”
“And our relationship?” she asked. “How do we plan on keeping that up while you’re gone.”
“We’ll figure something out. A few well-placed excuses should work.”
I nodded but didn’t admit a break from Sabine wasn’t the worst part of this recuperation.
“Fine,” Bryant said. “I’ll get working on the press releases and letting your sponsors know what’s going on. I’ll talk to the team, too.” He gave me a long look. “You have eight weeks to heal and recover. Focus on that, Hayden, and we’ll take care of the rest.”
“Sounds good.” My eyelids were growing heavy, the last dose of medication kicking in.
Sabine gave me a hard look. “Don’t embarrass me while you’re there.”
I frowned. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Good.” Her features softened and she gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. “You look like you’re about to pass out. Take a nap, Hayden. The next eight weeks are going to be hell.”
They left me alone, finally, taking their conniving and manipulations with them. They both meant well, but they were ruthless when it came to my brand and business dealings. A break from them both may be the best part of this disastrous situation.
That, I thought as I slipped into sleep, and going home.
17
Heaven
The line at my neighborhood coffee house was long but the service was quick. I spotted Lea already at a table, steaming cup in front of her, and waved. We had the day off from work and we needed to catch up before I started back the following day.
I gave her a hug before I slid into the green vinyl chair across from her. I swirled my cup, mixing the cream in my iced coffee.
“How did everything go at work while I was gone?”
Lea looked tired, but a light twinkled in her eye. Her dark hair was twisted in a bun on top of her head with little purple strands sticking out of the top. A thin row of silver hoops lined her earlobe and she smiled. “Smoothly. Well, other than the day we ran out of epoxy and I had to send Micah to the craft store to find some.”
Micah was one of the runners on the show. Running out of something like epoxy could hold up production, which was a huge no-no in the business. Time is money and all of that. “Shit, did it turn out okay? Did they get behind?”
“No,” she replied with a look of relief. “But it was a mixture of an action adventure and a buddy comedy as Micah and Rory sped off to get to the store before it closed. Rory tripped on the curb in the parking lot and showed back up covered in blood.”
“Oh no!”
She waved her hand. “Just his lip. It bled way more than it was actually injured. Anyway, we got it all together and done on time.”
“Sounds exciting. I miss all the fun.”
She eyed me. “What? Hanging out with four ex-boyfriends wasn’t fun?”
“Ugh.” I leaned back in my seat. “It wasn’t a vacation, that’s for sure.” I gave her a rundown of Hayden’s injuries and the plan to move him back to Allendale to heal. I briefly explained that I stayed over at Anderson’s that first night and then moved to a hotel for the second. I kept my interactions with the boys limited after that. It was too hard. Too complicated.
“I guess it would have been too easy for things to slip back into place, right?” she asked.
“That’s part of the problem. The lure to slide back into our old roles is pretty alluring. But it’s wrong. We can’t do that. We’re not t
he same people, but at the same time it’s just like this thing is hanging over our heads, you know?”
Lea stirs her tea and I noticed her nose wrinkle.
“What? I asked.
“Nothing.”
“No really, what’s going on?”
Her eyes flicked to mine and I noticed the twinkle again. Finally, she admits, “I had a date last night.”
“You did!? Why the hell are we talking about my tragic, yet incredibly boring life? Tell me!”
Her cheeks reddened and she shyly studied her cup before glancing around. In a hushed voice she said, “It was with RJ.”
My eyes popped open and my jaw most certainly dropped. “RJ? RJ Malone? The RJ Malone?”
“Shhh!” She hushed me and glanced around the room. No one seemed to be paying us much attention. Why would they? They had no idea one of us just went on a date with RJ Malone.
“Tell me everything.”
“Well, when you were out of town, I took over his makeup. And we just started talking more and he said he felt bad about the blind date going wrong and wanted to make it up to me. I thought he meant setting me up with someone else, but in the end, it was him.”
“Like he just showed up?”
She nodded. “At my apartment. With flowers.”
“Did you go somewhere?”
“After a few awkward moments where I tried to handle the reality of the moment, we decided to order in food from that new Greek place—you know, to keep any attention off of ourselves. I didn’t want to be splashed all over Twitter like those other girls, and he agreed.”
“Holy crap, Lea. RJ Malone.” I took a sip of my drink, thinking it over. “He’s young, but I guess so are you.”
“Young but…uh, experienced.” A wicked smile curved her lips.
No doubt about that—not with his face and body and the time he’d spent in the business. “And you had fun?”
“A lot. He was sweet. Romantic.”
“Not a player?” You never knew.
She rolled her eyes. “What do you know about players?”
“Uh, you met Jackson, right? Biggest player out there.” I thought about that lopsided, sexy grin. “It’s one of the reasons I keep my distance. He definitely knows how to wear me down.”
“I bet. He’s a charmer, that’s for sure.”
“But not the others?”
I laughed. “Oh, they definitely have their strong points. Oliver is sweet—like he’s the one that you want with you when shit hits the fan. He’s strong and focused. He doesn’t panic. And well...” I clamped my mouth shut and blushed.
Lea’s eyes lit up. “What?”
I glanced around but still, no one paid us a bit of attention. “He’s fucking huge.”
Lea coughed in reaction, shocked, but I just nodded.
“And the other two?”
“Hayden Pierce is a force to be reckoned with, but a charmer? Not exactly. I mean, he’s sexy, really sexy, in that totally-out-of-reach kind of way. Kind of like a god.”
“He certainly has made a name for himself in professional soccer. I see his name everywhere. The press loves him.”
“And his girlfriend,” I interjected.
“Eh, I’ve been following it some since you told me you dated him. I’m not convinced on that one.”
Lea was a known celebrity gossip follower. “Why not?”
She shrugged. “Just a feeling. It all comes across as a little too forced. It’s like last night with RJ. If he wanted to be seen with me we would have gone to one of the popular restaurants or been seen over at the Market Street bars. There’s a method to it. Hayden Pierce and his trainer are seen at all the trendy spots. They want to be seen.”
I knew they were seen around—I didn’t live in a cave—but I did keep my snooping to a minimum. I certainly didn’t know the ins and outs of celebrity fame-whoring.
“She was at the hospital making sure she staked her claim.”
Lea considered this. “We’ll see how devoted she is once he’s out of the spotlight for a while.” She pushed her empty teacup away and leaned her elbows on the table. “And the final one? The one and only Anderson Thompson?”
“Well if you follow the news on that one, you’ll know he’s basically a recluse.”
She snorted. “That’s the truth. It’s hard to find anything about him at all. A few rumors about him and that other swimmer, but he seems to do his best not to encourage it.”
“Anderson is his own man, that’s for sure. He’d never put a relationship in the spotlight, but I don’t think he’d deny her, either. Even to spare my feelings.” I thought about our late-night talk when I was out there. “He’s struggling. Like the rest of us.”
“It sounds like there are just a lot of unresolved issues.”
“We ended abruptly. Like a Band-aid being torn off before the wound was fully healed. It was what we had to do for the circumstances. You can’t linger with a five-person relationship. We made the decision and separated. So yeah, unresolved is probably accurate.”
“So there was never any real closure.”
I hadn’t really thought it that way before but… “Nope.”
“It’s not that uncommon, but with four guys?” She shook her head. “My last boyfriend and I broke up but it was while he was on a study abroad trip. When he got back, we hooked up one last time—it was like we both needed to do something so we could move on with our lives.”
“Did it work?”
“Yeah, I think so. We shagged, like hard-core, and it was like all those feelings from before weren’t there anymore. It was more physical than emotional. Kind of raw and dirty but once we were done I realized I was done. I guess it helped me realize it was really over.”
“And you never did it again?”
“Nope.” She smiled. “Which means I’m free to date whoever I want—like RJ Malone.”
“You’ve been dying to get back to that the whole time, haven’t you?”
Lea laughed and her face lit up. “I really have. I mean, RJ Malone.”
“It’s pretty exciting.” I was happy for her. Really happy, and that made two of my friends moving on with their lives in productive ways while I continued to tread water. Except Lea had planted a seed in my mind, one that began to take root.
18
Oliver
“You know you don’t have to go,” I said, helping Hayden into a gray sweater. We’d spent five minutes slipping on the clean white T-shirt just before. He wasn’t an invalid, but even three weeks after the accident his ribs were still sore. The first two weeks had been in Atlanta, mostly still in the hospital, and Anderson and Sabine took care of things. During that time, Jackson and I got the house and gym ready. They transported him back to Allendale. The first few days were tense, mostly because of Sabine’s general presence, but thankfully she’d been called back to work the day before.
Much to all of our relief. I couldn’t imagine the fallout if she came to dinner with us all tonight.
“If I have to sit in this house for another night, I’ll lose my mind.”
I straightened his collar. The bruises on his face had begun to heal. No longer purple but a dark yellow. The swelling on his lip was down, although the thin crack was still visible.
“Sorry we’ve locked you in the dungeon, H.”
He rolled his eyes. “Shut up. You know I appreciate everything you’re doing. But dude, this sitting around and healing thing sucks.”
I had no doubt this was the longest he’d gone without exercising in his entire life. Which was part of the problem. He hadn’t allowed those past concussions to heal all the way. Now he was paying for it with extended time in bed before we could start his real physical therapy.
“Amber coming back in town gives us a reason to get you out of your boxer shorts and smelly t-shirts.”
“What do you think this is about?” he asked. “It’s not like Amber to call us all together. I mean, we talk occasionally, and I know you’ve kept in
contact, but ever since…”
Our eyes met. Yeah, ever since we split from Heaven, our relationships with Amber had shifted. No longer a group thing.
I shrugged. “Maybe she has some kind of news. Maybe she just wants to see if you kept your good looks. The tabloids are going crazy trying to get an update.”
He ignored my tabloid comment. “Heaven was vague when I asked her about it. I think she knows.”
“Maybe Amber and Ginger will move back to Allendale, too, and the whole gang will be here again.” I laughed.
“It’s been weird being back,” Hayden said quietly. “A lot of old feelings, I guess.”
That time I didn’t meet his eye. I knew about old feelings and how they screwed with a guy’s head…and heart. Ever since the blind date with Heaven and then Hayden’s injuries, our lives had been tossed back together again. It was nice. And incredibly hard. None of us really knew what to do or how to handle it. So far, it’d been mostly avoiding it and one another, if possible.
“We’re meeting Anderson there?”
“Yeah he’ll ride over from his parents’ house.”
“And Heaven?”
“She’ll probably meet us at the restaurant.”
“I know she’s busy and has job that requires a lot of her time, but she’s only been over once since I got back,” he replied. “I’m getting a weird vibe from her.”
“What?” I asked. “The ‘your ex doesn’t want to see you’ vibe? Welcome to the club, Hayden. And fuck no, she doesn’t want to see you—especially not with Sabine around here.”
He looked away at her name and said quietly, “Things are complicated with Sabine. When the endorsements started rolling in, Bryant felt like I needed more visibility. I wasn’t up to it alone. Sabine…she was a good option.”
I leaned against the dresser. “I’m not judging you for dating someone, Hayden. None of us are.”
“I’m not—”
I held up my hand. “Seriously, it’s better to own it and move on. It’s what we’ve all been trying to do, and honestly it may be the first step toward that for the rest of us. If you can find someone else—be with someone else—then maybe there’s a chance for the rest of us.”