Independence: #4 Hayley

by Karen Nichols

  “I was out there this morning,” Natalie exhaled slowly. “Whoever it was, is damn good with a 30-06…standard deer hunting rifle. Long range and damn near impossible to trace in the hills around the mountains. They also had to be either not concerned with being spotted or off on one of the hills. There’s nowhere around the area she was shot for someone to just perch and wait.”

  “It wasn’t a random accident,” Dane said flatly.

  “I don’t see it that way, no. We’re still running tests on the fragments we found. My ballistics expert tells me they’re hollow points. Hollow points expand on impact causing severe trauma to flesh. Somebody intended her harm. I’ll be in touch. If Hayley thinks of anyone who might…hell…if she thinks of anything, have her call me.”

  “Will do, Lieutenant. Thanks for your help. Have a nice day,” Dane broke the connection and quickly finished off the food on his plate. “We need information on the guy from Neptune’s Dungeon.”

  “What kind of information?” Hayley stood in the doorway, her hair pulled into a high ponytail at the back of her head. She had her fingertips in the pockets of her jeans, the t-shirt a bright pink and white stripe with Merry Christmas across her chest. “You think it might be him.”

  “Give us another someone who would be hunting you, Hayley,” Jack told her bluntly. “It wasn’t a fucking accident. You were driving and if I remember right from what I’ve seen on a map, you were driving straight into the full moon. Which would have lit up the inside of the truck like a beacon. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was cold and crisp last night. You had the heater going and windows up. Probably the music, as well, which means you wouldn’t have heard anything around you. The clouds left earlier yesterday, so everything was still soaked. You told us the roads were gravel and dirt, which also means you were probably going slowly over it. Slow enough for some bastard to get a bead on you and…”

  “All right! I get it!” Hayley shouted at him. “I get it.” Her voice dropped, her head shaking slowly.

  “Where is your friend, Hayley?” Dane asked calmly. He stood and began clearing the table. Scrapes into the compost bucket, dishes into the dishwasher, but his attention was completely on her.

  “I put Tessa on a plane to her parents. She hasn’t returned to work, and I haven’t heard from her,” Hayley explained.

  “Can you call her?” Jack asked, rising from the table and helping Dane with the cleanup.

  Hayley sighed. “I can call her and check on her,” she said, turning and leaving them in the kitchen.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “A little hard on her,” Dane commented.

  “If keeping her alive, means I’m hard on her to find answers, then so be it,” Jack answered roughly. “I’ll be as fucking hard as I need to be and so will you.”

  “I need to make arrangements for my truck,” Hayley commented as she returned, her head bent and fingers moving over the small screen of her phone.

  “It’s been handled,” Dane said easily.

  “I…handled?”

  “The Lieutenant emailed me the police report and I printed a copy and sent you the file,” he met the gaze on her face that said she just looked at it. “I had the truck towed to a very good mechanic and body guy just a bit north of here in Fife. He’ll be in touch when he gets his estimate finished.”

  “Wow…”

  “He’s slightly anal,” Jack commented with a shrug. “Call your friend, Hayley.”

  She stared blankly at them both. “You’re each anal in your own unique ways.”

  Jack opened his mouth and then closed it, brown eyes returning her gaze.

  Hayley exhaled and tapped a number before raising the phone to her ear. She listened and frowned.

  “That’s weird. Tessa always has her phone on…she is worried one of her patients will need her when she’s off doing something…”

  “You said she’d changed when she met this guy,” Dane recalled quietly.

  “Yes…yes, she did…” Hayley lowered the phone, her thumb tapping across the screen. “But I have her mom’s number…Hello, Mrs. Canton…it’s Hayley. Is Tessa there? I tried her cell but…I…oh…she’s not…” her voice had dropped to a hushed whisper. “She said she felt well enough to return…thank you…yes, I’ll try the other number, thank you. Goodbye.”

  “She isn’t where you put her,” Dane said softly, watching the suddenly pale features. The scrapes and scratches from the night before all that more prevalent.

  “She left the day before yesterday. They hoped she’d stay for the holidays…” Hayley tapped over the screen, listening and beginning to pace the floor. “She’s not answering at her office, either.”

  “Her home address?” Jack suggested, tossing the hand towel he’d been wiping things down with onto the counter. “I’ll get my jacket and wallet.”

  “Be right back,” Dane told her, stopping at her side and placing a hand on her arm. “We’ll go check her place with you, Hayley.”

  “I…I need to go home…”

  “We can take you there, too.”

  “I thought I’d invite you to dinner…I put a nice pork roast out to cook,” she looked down the hall at the blue eyes that paused and smiled at her. “If you both wanted to…and I could show you some of the ranch.”

  “I think we’d like that,” Dane accepted for them both before continuing to collect his jacket.

  Hayley continued to pace. She tapped the edge of her phone against her thigh, her head shaking. She couldn’t have gone back to him. She wouldn’t.

  She squeezed her eyes tightly closed. She’d known too many abused women in her time to know she was lying to herself. Military women, police, sweet, lovable women who fell for a guy who believed hurt was a part of love.

  Her body swayed, her mind turning over the images from the last week of her life. Her hand went out to the edge of the counter, steadying herself and listening to the argument about the differences in their life choices.

  “Hayley?”

  “He’s abusive,” she said very softly. “He’s selfish and abusive. He doesn’t really care about Tessa.”

  “I don’t know what brought this about…” Jack said cautiously, the thick crème colored sheepskin jacket open as he crossed the room and framed her face with both hands. “I don’t know him. What you’ve told me…he’s not a Dom. He is abusive and uses BDSM to pretend it’s acceptable. He sounds like he has a lot of anger inside and takes it out on women in the form of violence. Tessa didn’t sound like she agreed to the behaviors, but was coerced into the acts.”

  “She changed. She used to…to sing and dance around with me at the office…we’d laugh and…then that first Monday, she came in after spending a weekend with him at the coast. She was bruised and…and quiet. Silent and…and when someone would approach, she’d flinch as if…”

  “As if she was waiting for the hit to fall,” Jack finished the sentence for her. “That’s abuse, Hayley. That isn’t the basis of a sincere Dom/sub relationship. Even for sadists and masochists, it’s all about need and consent. On both sides. I can’t say I understand the needs of some, but it’s not my right to stop something a couple needs in their lives.”

  “But she keeps returning to him…” Hayley shifted her gaze from his, lower. She could see the hunt of darkness beneath his skin even though he’d saved. “I wasn’t the first women she tried taking to him. He made demands and she’d approach girls at the club. She told me…told me he’d arrange them and…and have sex with one while the other one…he made her beat someone…and she told me she doesn’t like being with a woman, but he made her…and she did it all…”

  “She’s not strong enough to break away,” Dane said from the side, his hand up and stroking along the side of her head. “I don’t know how to help someone who doesn’t want the change, Hayley. It’s like trying to force a drug addict or alcoholic into treatment. Unless they want it, it won’t be effective.”

  “I can’t save her,” Hayley inter
preted with a little nod. She swallowed hard. “Home, please.”

  “You have Tessa’s address? We’ll stop on the way and you can check on her,” Jack suggested, releasing her and going to check the back door. “I’ll be out in a minute and set the alarms,” he told Dane with a nod.

  “You can tap the address into the GPS while the truck is warming up,” Dane told Hayley, his hand taking hers and guiding her through the house to the main entrance. “Should we pack an overnight bag?” He laughed at the color in her cheeks. “Or do you want to come back here after dinner?”

  “I don’t know…” she was staring down at her phone. “I have her address. I’ve never been there…it’s just a little south of here, before we get to the ranch. I don’t have a bed like…like yours.”

  “We’ve never brought a sub to the house, Hayley. To be honest, we’ve never slept in the same bed with a woman before. We’ve played with women…sometimes together, sometimes not. Not all the women we’ve met were interested in two men. Most of them say it’s difficult enough dealing with one of us,” Dane lifted her into the truck.

  “What do your parents think?” Hayley heard the words from her lips before she realized she’d said them aloud. Loud enough that Jack heard them as he came from the house and Dane was walking to the driver’s side of the truck. She pulled her gaze from both their stares, busying herself with the seat belt for the middle seat. “I’m sorry. I…I don’t know where that came from.”

  “How many kids do you know talk about their sex lives with their folks?” Dane asked as he started the truck and set the heater before buckling himself in.

  “Granted, we’ve never taken a woman with us to family stuff,” Jack admitted with a thoughtful frown. “I’m not sure how they’d take it. Some of mine already have speculations about my sexual orientation because we’ve spent so much time together.”

  “Same here,” Dane said with a nod, guiding the truck down the drive to the main road. “They don’t get the drive it took to get the business going, though. No, that’s not true. I think some of them do…our dads are supportive. Mom wasn’t too keen on me leaving the east coast, but I’m sure it’ll be an excuse for a visit in the future.”

  “I think it’s different for the girl,” Hayley said thoughtfully.

  “Your relatives can’t believe you’d be dating two guys at the same time?” Dane looked at the crossed eyed expression on her face and laughed. “I guess that’s a no.”

  “They might buy that I’m dating two guys at the same time, but not that the guys were friends and they were okay with the whole thing.”

  “Getting across to people that there isn’t jealousy or…competition…between us has been a hard thing most of our lives,” Jack said thoughtfully, thinking back through their lives. “And don’t think we don’t compete on some stuff. We game…we’ve played on opposite sides of sports teams. But this is different for us…and I’m not sure how to explain the feelings.”

  “And that’s not to say we haven’t met our share of women who want to play us against one another,” Dane remarked, his tone more than a little sour.

  “To what end?” Hayley looked from one to the other. “If they managed to only interest one of you to the extent that it was serious, I think it would hurt your friendship over time. Especially if she was…”

  “Manipulative. Playing me while making eyes at Dane,” Jack recalled.

  “Claudia was grasping and a climber. She was after tuxes and diamonds and…” Dane shook his head. “She was also the daughter of one of our clients at the time. Never a good mix.”

  “Did she…was she…” Hayley inhaled slowly. “Did she play?”

  Jack raised a hand and tugged on the long ponytail. “Claudia was a spoiled rich kid. She was into the edgier things than we were…decorative cutting and needles…she was pretty close to a hardcore masochist.”

  “That when we discovered that the side of BDSM didn’t work for us on a sexual level,” Dane added, following the instructions from the GPS.

  “I don’t know what to tell them,” she said, almost to herself.

  “We’re friends, Hayley. That’s what they need to know,” Jack said flatly. “What they want to guess at is their problem to deal with. If it was only me or Dane, they’d make their guesses at our private life and probably still give us grief until they decided we were good enough for you.”

  “It doesn’t seem honest…or fair…” she shook her head. “We’re almost there. It’s that house in the corner…the pale blue one. And her car’s here…it was at her office. I drove her to the airport.” Impulsively, she hugged Dane and then Jack. “Thank you. For talking…and for listening.”

  “That part comes easy to us,” Dane said with a grin. “We argue and talk and talk some more. Maybe that’s why we fit so well together, Hayley. We all like communicating.”

  She thought about that as he parked, barely giving Jack time to get out before she was scrambling from the truck. She almost ran up the narrow walkway and stabbed at the doorbell.

  “They would, you know…” she glanced to her side at them. The curious looks on their faces making her laugh. “My brother…maybe my cousins…they’d grill you and make it hard on you.”

  “Hayley?”

  She snapped around as the door was pulled wide. A woman with short, straight dark brown hair stood staring at her. Surprise was evident on the woman’s face. Jack found himself watching her closely. It wasn’t the surprise that caught his attention, but the slightest glimmer of shock he saw in her eyes as they shifted from Hayley to the pair of men with her.

  “Tessa?” Jack asked casually, his hand extended. “Jack Bennett.”

  “Dane Landon,” Dane said, stepping in with the same gesture. They each shook hands while Hayley stared.

  “Tessa, why didn’t you call me? Tell me you were coming back? Are you all right?” Hayley grabbed her, hugging her close. “I was so worried about you! I called your cell and you didn’t answer…”

  “I turned it off. I didn’t want to be bothered,” she said coldly, pushing out of Hayley’s hug. “Why are you here?”

  “Why…? Tessa, what’s wrong? We’re friends…”

  “You made him hate me. He won’t talk to me,” she said coldly, taking a step back angrily. “I didn’t want your call.” Her hand had been gripping the edge of the door seconds before she took another step back and slammed it shut.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Tessa?” Hayley raised a hand to touch the door.

  Dane stepped forward, blocking her from the door. He pressed gently until she took a step back. Her head was shaking and her eyes filled with tears.

  “No…no…”

  “Hayley, let’s take you home. Tessa is evidently okay,” Jack wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her down the broken concrete walkway.

  “She’s so angry,” Hayley whispered, one hand up and covering her lips. “She was…they had to stitch her hip and forehead he’d beat her so hard. They took photos…they were going to go after him and charge him but she refused to press charges.”

  “Do you know his last name?”

  “Tessa never told me…I asked…the first time she…she came to see me all battered and…and her lip was split…she had hand prints around her throat,” Hayley barely noticed the seat she was lifted onto. Jack nudged her into the middle. “She tried covering it with a scarf…Tessa never wore scarves. She liked comfortable, loose fitting tops like I wear. She likes these sparkly necklaces…”

  “Give her some time. This isn’t your fault, Hayley,” Dane said firmly, staring at the house, his lips pursed in thought. “We need to find out his last name. If he’s locked her out of his life, he might have decided to refocus on another woman.”

  “I have to go back and talk to her. I have to make her listen to me,” Hayley turned in the seat, staring out the wide back window.

  “Another day. Maybe she’ll get her sense back with some time, Hayley. Now, she’s just angry,” Ja
ck took her hand and held on. “What we need to do is find out Derrick’s last name.”

  “I can call her office in the morning,” Hayley wrapped two hands around the back of her neck and rubbed. “Maybe…maybe I can get her assistant to check for me.”

  “I have some friends I can check with,” Dane said with a long sigh. “Gabe might know someone. If he’s been in the scene in Olympia, someone in the scene here will have heard of him. Some of the edgier people who play at Independence might have information.”

  “I’m sorry…you shouldn’t be involved in this mess,” Hayley straightened her shoulders and reached for the GPS. She tapped in the address of the ranch and leaned back, her eyes closed. “I cannot help someone who doesn’t want my help. I know that.” She fought it but sniffled. “I thought she was my friend. We’ve been friends since we met in school…through separations and…”

  “Shh…It’ll be okay…” Jack promised vaguely, his arm going around her shoulders and pulling her to lean against his chest.

  Hayley sniffled again and accepted the tissues from Jack.

  “You can’t make that promise.”

  “I’ve never been…” Dane ran one hand over his head and onto his neck. “I don’t know if I’ve been lucky or not, but I’ve never known someone in an abusive relationship. Or they were, and hid it from the world, and me.”

  “I’ve known a few guys I’ve suspected,” Jack said quietly. “You have, too. But we never knew the women in their lives. I don’t know if Tessa will come around or not, Hayley. But I know you’re strong enough to know you did the best you could. And that – makes it okay.”

  She offered him a slightly crooked grin. “That is a very sweet thing to say.”

  “What’s wrong with making promises?” Dane asked as he drove.

  “It hurts when you break them. Daddy made promises all the time…so did Dell.” She shrugged and pushed against Jack’s chest until she was sitting upright. “Then life intruded…but when you’re a little kid, you don’t think of that. And sometimes, even as a big kid…it still hurts. So don’t make me promises you can’t keep.”