He climbed the three steps to the back door. The house was dark as a tomb, and there wasn’t a street light or moon to illuminate his way. He banged his guitar case into the screen door trying to open it. The fingers of his free hand fished around in his front pocket for the key. The keychain got caught around a loose thread of his jeans, and he swore.
He couldn’t catch a break. Weariness pulled on his bones. The only other time he remembered being this exhausted was during the last days of his grandfather’s life. Clyde had been a stubborn mule and fought like a bear, but in the end, the cancer was stronger than his or Beau’s will to keep the old man alive.
A ragged edge of agony ripped at him. The events of the night only exaggerated the enormity of his loss. His grandfather had been the first person he wanted to call when the shit hit the fan earlier.
Another yank on the keychain and it pulled loose from his pocket. He smacked his elbow on the door jamb. Prickles of pain shot up his arm. It hurt like hell. Once the feeling came back to his fingers, he slid the key into the hole and turned. Nothing happened. “Are you kidding me right now?” His neck wouldn’t hold his head up anymore, and he rested his forehead against the door. He didn’t want to have to sleep in the car, but that was what would happen if he couldn’t get into the house.
Wait. What had Hailey said? He straightened and jiggled the key. The lock slid open. Thank God. All he wanted was to pass out and forget this night.
Hailey stared into the blackness of her room. With Lottie gone she’d unplugged every nightlight and turned off every lamp. She was hiding, but she didn’t care. That was why she’d driven around for hours, then hidden her car in the garage. The last thing she wanted was to see anyone.
Mostly she was worried about a run-in with her dad or Derek. She’d believed Roger when he said he wouldn’t come after her.
Roger. His Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine at the wedding only proved how little she really knew him. He wasn’t a bad guy, but hours of driving around and some honest introspection had made it clear that he wasn’t her guy and never really had been. During this mobile come to Jesus meeting she’d admitted that he’d been convenient and easy, which was monumentally unfair to him.
To make matters worse, she’d done all of this with a kid. The sickness swimming in her belly made a run for her throat. She choked it down. Lottie was already having a hard time dealing with Derek’s new family. Now she had to deal with the gossip from this debacle.
Thankfully, she’d been able to speak with her girl before Hank and Charlie took her home with them. A smile broke through her self-loathing. Lottie’s biggest concern when they’d spoken was that she wasn’t going to be able to spend the night with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Once she’d been assured that her plans wouldn’t be changed she’d appeared fine. But Hailey knew Lottie was probably confused and upset, something she’d have to deal with in the morning.
She punched her pillow and flopped to her side. As hard as she tried, sleep evaded her. Every mistake she’d made over the last ten years clicked through her brain like an outtake reel after a terrible movie. Starting with letting a silver-tongued golden boy have every part of her at sixteen. But no matter the heartbreak Derek had dealt her over the years, she could never regret Lottie. She was the very best part of the last ten years.
The movie continued with that terrified sixteen-year-old telling her eighteen-year-old boyfriend she was pregnant the night before the biggest football game of his career. He’d played like hell, resulting in the Zachsville Raiders losing the State Championship.
Most of the town held her responsible and never forgave her.
Neither had her father, but for about a million different reasons.
Her mom had been the only one not to judge Hailey. The no-nonsense woman had hugged her, told her it was time to grow up, then given her a job at the bar. Something she could be good at, a place to hide. No. Not hide…thrive.
A noise from outside caught her attention. What was that? It sounded like a car door. She lay perfectly still and waited for it to happen again. When the silence remained, she chalked it up to her paranoia.
Her dry, scratchy eyes burned from exhaustion. She was so damn tired…of everything. Her twenty-five-year-old body ached like she was seventy years old. Actually, she was pretty sure that Scarlett Bain’s aunt, Honey Jenkins had more energy and fun than her.
Bam!
She shot bolt upright in bed. Okay, she hadn’t imagined that. The blanket fell to her waist, exposing her bare breasts. She reached for her phone to call the sheriff’s department.
“Zachsville Sheriff’s Department.”
“This is Hailey Odom. I think someone’s trying to break into my house.” Her whispered words sounded ear-piercing in the silence.
“Hailey?”
“Yes, Janelle, it’s me.”
“Oh, gosh. Give me your address, and I’ll get someone over there.”
“Thanks.” Thank God it was one of the few people in town who didn’t care about hometown football, or she might never get any help. She whispered her address.
“Stay on the line with me until they get there.”
“Okay.” Her answer barely made it past her dry tongue.
“I was sure sorry to hear about you and Roger, Hailey.”
Was Janelle kidding right now? She was nice, but she had shit timing. “Um… Thank you.”
“I always liked Roger.”
She wasn’t at all surprised that the word was out about the wedding, but she wasn’t going to have this conversation. “Janelle—” A muttered curse from the outside sent a slice of fear and anger through her chest. She couldn’t just hide out here while someone broke into her home. “I gotta go.”
“Hailey—”
A poke of her finger and the call was disconnected. What to do until the authorities got here? Right now she was a big, fat sitting duck. A weapon. She needed a weapon. Nothing immediately came to mind. A light would be useful right about now, but she didn’t dare risk it. She slipped from bed wishing she’d heeded her mother’s warning not to sleep naked. Well, partially naked. She had on panties. In her defense, her mother had warned against a potential fire, not an intruder.
Who the hell cares, Hailey. Focus!
As quietly as she could, she slipped from the bed and immediately stifled a scream as her foot came down on something spiky. Barbie. The doll’s pointed toes were as sharp as a knife. She froze, then reached down and picked up the lethal toy. A bubble of madness gurgled up her throat. If this worked, then she’d just created a new marketing ploy. Move over Malibu Barbie, Weaponized Barbie’s in the house.
Slowly, quietly, she made her way to the kitchen. She marked off the steps by counting the pounding beats of her heart, until they became too fast to calculate. It was like a machine gun lodged in her chest.
She needed better weapons. A doll and a cell phone weren’t going to do her much good.
Sliding along the wall and blind as a bat, she inched forward. She remembered that Lottie had been playing with her magic set the day before. She quietly set her phone down and patted along the counter until her fingers wrapped around the rough wooden surface of the flimsy wand.
She channeled her inner badass and took up a position by the back door. Only as the handle jiggled, did she realize she was still naked. Crap. In her current state, there was sure to be more jiggling to come.
What was she doing? She should hide and wait for the police. Before she could run and do just that, the handle turned.
The door opened.
Ohgodohgodohgod.
The shadowy figure of a man slipped into the kitchen.
She pounced with a warrior cry that would’ve made a colony of Amazons proud and launched herself at the intruder.
The guy gave an unmasculine yelp, which gave her the confidence to come at him with everything she had. She poked, stabbed, kicked, and…jiggled. Unfortunately, while his cry lacked testosterone, his muscles didn’t, and he fended of
f her attack with ease.
“Get off me!”
That voice. She knew it. Oh, dear Lord. “Beau?”
“Hailey?” He kept both of her hands clasped in one of his big fists and slapped the wall until the overhead light flared to life. “You’re naked.”
If she hadn’t been so relieved that she wasn’t about to be murdered, she would have laughed at the bug-eyed look on his face. “Why are you here?”
His brows crashed over his green eyes. “Why are you here?”
“I live here,” they said in unison.
Chapter Four
Beau tried to make sense of the situation he’d just stumbled into, but all that kept going round his head was… Hailey’s naked. Hailey’s naked. Hailey’s naked.
Then her words lined up in his brain. “What? No. You don’t live here. I do.”
“Let go of my hands.” As soon as he released her, she snatched a dish towel from the refrigerator door handle and held it up to her chest. Too late. The sight of her bare-naked breasts was seared into his retinas and took up cozy residence in his memory.
Now that she’d covered her spectacular chest he could concentrate on the scrap of lace between her legs. Good Lord.
“Hey, Callen.” The snap, snap, snap of her fingers got his attention. “Eyes up here. Nothing to see down there.”
He couldn’t help the smirk that kicked up one side of his lips. “I beg to differ, darlin’.”
Her eyes rolled so far back in her head that he was afraid she’d go blind. The fact that his shit had zero effect on her made her so comfortable to be around.
She punched a couple of buttons on her phone that lay on the counter, grabbed another towel to cover her panties, and shot him a look.
“911, what’s your emergency?” came through the speaker on the phone and rang through the kitchen.
“Janelle. It’s Hailey Odom again. You can call off the dogs. It wasn’t a prowler, just a really annoying friend.”
“Are you sure, Hailey?” There was a pause. “How do I know this is really you? You could have poor Hailey tied up in the closet for all I know.”
“Janelle, it’s me.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
“Who?”
“Seriously, Janelle.” Her head fell back, and she let out an exasperated breath. “Ask me something only I would know.”
“Okaaay.” The sound of a pen clicking came through the phone. “Hmmmm.” Click, click, click.
“Janelle.”
“I’m thinking. Oh, I know. What color dress did I wear to the homecoming dance our sophomore year?” Each word was precisely spoken, like Hailey was on a game show playing for a million dollars.
Hailey popped her hip and leaned against the fridge. “Come on Janelle, at least make me work for it.”
“Just answer the question, ma’am.”
“Stop calling me ma’am, we’ve known each other since kindergarten. And you didn’t wear a dress to the homecoming dance that year because you didn’t go. You contracted mono from Rhett Barber, and there was a big scandal because Rhett also gave mono to his girlfriend Missy, who later keyed your car, for which she had to do twenty hours of community service.”
“Wow. How do you remember all of that?”
“Mind like a steel trap, Janelle. Now call off the cops.”
“Ten-four.”
Beau chuckled and nodded toward the phone once the call was disconnected. “Gotta love a small town.”
She snorted. “You have no idea. I’ll be right back. Sit.” She pointed to the kitchen table.
“Where’s Lottie?” He didn’t want to scare the kid.
“With Charlie and Hank.”
He plowed his fingers through his hair. The wrestling match with her seemed to have drained every ounce of energy he had from his body. “Listen, I’m exhausted, and I’ve had the worst night of my life, and all I want to do is climb into bed.”
The no bullshit look she wore hardened her face. “Sit.”
He yanked a kitchen chair out. “Fine. But hurry up.” He didn’t even have the energy to watch her amazing backside as she made her way out of the kitchen. His clammy forehead dropped to his crossed arms that rested on the table. Crap, he hoped he wasn’t getting sick on top of everything else.
“Do you want something to drink?”
He must’ve dozed off because he jumped at the sound of her voice. “Um…” He wiped his bleary eyes, too tired to form an answer or mourn the fact that she’d put on a robe.
She grabbed two glasses and filled them with water from the fridge, then set one in front of him. “Drink.”
He drank. The cold liquid went a long way to revive him. “Thanks.”
She took the seat opposite him. “Tell me why you’re back looking like somethin’ the cat dragged in.”
He didn’t want to get into this with her, but he could tell by the set of her jaw she wasn’t going to let him off the hook without an explanation. “My band broke up.”
Her black bun bobbed when she shook her head like he’d just hit her. “Come again?”
He toyed with the braided leather bracelet on his wrist. “My band broke up. My bass player got arrested. My drummer broke his arm. And it was all my backup singer’s fault.”
“What role did you play?”
With his elbows on the table, he raised and lowered his hands. “Innocent bystander.”
“Really?”
“I was!” The disbelieving expression on her face never changed. “I found out yesterday before we left town that A Long Time Without You hit number one on the charts. So after the show, we all celebrated. Dawn was her usual flirty self and—”
“And so were you.”
It wasn’t a question, and it pissed him off. “Hey, I’m a nice guy. If a woman is nice to me, then I’m not going to be rude to her just because she has a boyfriend. I didn’t lead her on, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
“Fine. You were only being nice.” She made a move-it-along motion with her hand. “What happened next?”
He scrubbed his face. “A lot, but the short version is Dawn got into my room when I was in the shower and crawled into my bed naked. Rick broke in and tried to beat the shit out of me, and broke Buddy’s arm when the poor guy tried to break up the whole thing.”
“Beau.” The shock in her voice was the same still reverberating through him.
He rubbed at the ache between his eyes then rested his head in his palm. “I know.”
She pushed her half-finished glass of water aside. “Where was your road manager?”
A humorless huff came from his throat. “Asleep two doors down. He never heard a thing.”
“Once the cops sorted everything out, and Jack had been called, they’d arrested Rick and taken him away, with Dawn squalling and bawling behind them. The two of them and my road manager were fired, and Buddy was carted off to the hospital where he has to have surgery.” He sat back in the chair and let his hands rest on his thighs. “Jack told me to rent a car and drive home. I’ve been given strict instructions not to leave the house.”
“But why did you come here?”
The genuinely perplexed expression on her face pissed him off. “This is my house. I signed a lease. I have keys.”
She pushed back in her seat and crossed her arms. “Not anymore.”
“What the hell, Hailey?” It occurred to him that they were alone. “Where’s your husband?”
Suddenly, her nails were very interesting.
“Hailey?”
“We didn’t get married. I left.”
“You left? I don’t know much about weddings, but even I know that’s not supposed to happen.”
“Funny.”
He took another sip of water. Damn, but he must be dehydrated because the cold liquid made him feel a lot better. “Now you. What happened?”
A slight shrug and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “A difference of opinion.”
It was his turn to le
t incredulity show on his face. “A difference of opinion?”
She looked like a sullen schoolgirl getting lectured in the principal’s office. “If you must know, he’s been harboring strong feelings that I’m an idiot for trying to save the bar. He thinks that my efforts to keep my promise to my mother are the acts of a crazy person.” Another small shrug. “We’re not getting married. I’m not moving. Sorry.”
She wasn’t fooling him with the nonchalant attitude.
“Well, that’s not going to work for me.”
“Listen.” Her hands went to the table top, and her white teeth flashed when she gave him a beaming expression. “I know this is inconvenient. I’ll help you find another place to live, promise.”
He wagged his finger at her. “You can just put that smile back where you got it. It won’t work on me. You know as well as I do that there isn’t another place that will let me have Walter. I mean, there’s very little rental property in this town as it is, and everyone has a firm no pets policy. Everyone but you.”
She glanced out the window and nibbled her lip. “That is a problem, but I’m sure I can figure this out.”
He pushed to his feet. “Have fun. I’m going to bed. I’m dead on my feet.”
“No.”
“Hailey, please don’t give me any shit. It’s five in the damn morning, and I’m going to bed, even if I have to sleep on Lottie’s princess bed.”
Her lips curled in a not-so-nice grin, and a black brow slid up her forehead.
“Well, shit.”
Chapter Five
Hailey stared out the window above the sink. She tried hard to concentrate on the shush and gurgle of the coffee pot and not the thoughts screaming in her head.
So many voices—her dad’s, Derek’s, the people of Zachsville, and her own.
Her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. “Dang it.” She didn’t want to deal with her father, but she knew she’d have to sooner or later. A deep breath and she swiped the screen before she could think too hard about it. “Dad.”
Running After a Heartbreaker (Brides on the Run #4) Page 3