Hayes wasn’t sure of that feeling at all. He’d loved Ivy, but there had been no sexual attraction between them. None. It was as if they’d been long-lost siblings, close ones, joined at both the heart and hip. Ivy had known him all the way to the marrow of his bones. Or rather all the way to his old baggage. And she’d loved him anyway. But he was glad that Tony felt that way about Em because after everything Sunshine had put her through, his grandmother deserved somebody special. If Tony wasn’t it, or if the man wasn’t good to her, Hayes would gladly make him pay. However, he didn’t think he’d have to do that.
Tony patted him on the shoulder and sent the bells clattering. “I’m sure whatever’s bothering you will work itself out. Don’t overthink it. The heart makes better choices than the brain.”
Hayes was reasonably sure that was the kind of bad advice that led to teenage pregnancies and head-splitting hangovers, but he mumbled a thanks and stood when he heard the vehicle pull up in front of the house.
“I’ll get Em,” Tony volunteered, and he headed out of the kitchen and toward the sewing room.
Topping off his coffee again, Hayes went to the front window and spotted Leyton and Hadley. Since Hadley had already told Hayes that Leyton had to work this morning, that meant Leyton was dropping her off. However, he didn’t just let her out and drive away. Leyton stepped from his truck, went to Hadley and pulled her into his arms for a kiss. It certainly wasn’t a “see you later” kind of lip-lock. This was the real deal. A full body-to-body embrace, complete with Leyton’s hand on Hadley’s left ass cheek. There was no doubt some tongue involved.
And it was so intimate, so all-consuming, that Hayes had to look away.
His own body reminded him of the hard-on he’d had the night before. The one that hadn’t seen nearly as much action as Leyton and his sister were getting in their grandmother’s front yard.
Hayes looked up again when he heard another vehicle. Sunny and Shaw this time. They both got out, and seeing Hadley and Leyton must have spurred them to their own kiss. It was just as lusty, the kind of mouth to mouth of a couple in love. Hayes figured none of the four was thinking with their brains right now. Hearts, yes. But other parts, too.
Smiling, giggling and generally looking like the lovebirds they were, Hadley, Sunny and Shaw finally started toward the house just as Austin and McCall pulled up. Driving away, Leyton gave them a wave.
“You had sex right before you came here, didn’t you?” Hayes grumbled when Hadley came in first.
“Yes, I did,” Hadley answered with all the glee of a well-satisfied woman. “Great sex with several peak moments.” The wink she gave him was also plenty gleeful.
Sunny was looking satisfied, too, and Hayes thought that might have to do with sex, as well. Or the fact that she’d finally gotten the all clear from her doctor to go back to doing what she normally did. Which no doubt included sex.
As they made their way to the kitchen, Hayes could feel the giddiness and glee start to melt away, so by the time they joined Em and Tony, the reminder of the reason for this meeting was sinking in. It was D-Day, and Hayes wished he had a better solution for dealing with Sunshine. Correction—he wished he had a solution, period, because the one possibility he did have was well beyond a long shot.
Still jingling with every move, Tony set a basket of blueberry muffins on the table. Hayes grabbed the coffeepot. Em had already put out the cups, and Hayes waited until everyone was seated and had served themselves before he said anything.
“Are we all in agreement that Sunshine and her crew won’t be filming the weddings?” Hayes asked.
“Absolutely.” Hadley was the first to answer, but the others all quickly followed suit.
However, McCall’s agreement was a little thin, and there was worry in her eyes. Worry that Hayes figured was mostly for him. “Are you going to be able to deal with the fallout over Ivy?” she asked.
Hayes would deal. Maybe not well. But he wouldn’t let this be about him. There’d have to be dealings, too, if his sisters’ weddings became a tasty meal for Sunshine to serve up. If Sunshine got her way, she’d ruin the day for all of them.
“I’ll be okay,” Hayes told her, and he glanced at the others to try to give them the same reassurance. “It’s time to talk to Sunshine.”
Shaw nodded, took out a small recorder from his pocket. “Leyton and Cait said we should record this.”
Hayes had already planned to do that, but he doubted Sunshine would allow her temper to get the best of her and blurt out something that could land her sorry butt in jail. Still, he might be able to rile her up enough. Especially since he had Hadley and Em, who could contribute to the riling pool. Em was a pro at pushing her daughter’s hot buttons.
Hayes watched as Austin slipped his arm around McCall. Shaw took Sunny’s hand, and Tony did the same with Em. Hadley and Hayes exchanged a long glance, and she finally punched him on the arm. All in all, it wasn’t a bad show of support.
He took out his phone, scrolled through the contacts to Sunshine, but his finger hovered over the call button while he waited for any other input, any objections. There was none. Good. Because as far as Hayes was concerned, it was best to finish this. He made the call, put it on speaker and set his phone on the table.
There were four rings before a groggy-sounding Sunshine finally answered. “Do you know what time it is?” she grumbled.
It might have been petty, but Hayes was glad he’d woken her up, and he hoped she had a serious hangover so there was pain involved. “Time for us to tell you a big hell no on filming the wedding,” he informed her. “You’ll have to find another way to use your bloodsucking leeches to make more money off us.”
There was some groaning and grunting, the sounds of someone trying to wake up, but it didn’t take her long. It was only a couple of seconds before Sunshine snapped, “Did you forget about me releasing Ivy’s emails?”
Hayes would have had an easier time forgetting that his mother was a cold, heartless bitch. “No. And FYI, I’m recording this.”
There were the sounds of some fumbling around. “Well, so am I. There’s no law against me releasing emails that I came across. I mean, it’s not as if they’re classified. Either my camera crew is at the weddings, or the world will know you didn’t do diddly-squat to stop your friend’s death.”
The arrow hit the mark and it hit hard and fast, just as Sunshine had known it would. But Hayes took out his own weapon.
“Release them,” Hayes said as casually as he could manage. “I’ve already told Ivy’s parents to steel themselves up for the onslaught.” He paused only a heartbeat. “You should steel yourself up, too.”
Sunshine’s pause was significantly longer than a heartbeat. “This will put her parents through an emotional nightmare.”
“Yeah, it will.” Hadley spoke up. “But you’re good at creating emotional nightmares, aren’t you, Mother? Along with being a big smelly sack of shit, you’re the queen of shoveling said shit.”
“Hadley,” Sunshine snarled. “Are your sisters and grandmother there with you?”
“We are,” everyone in the kitchen answered in unison.
“So are Austin, Shaw and my fiancé, Tony,” Em clarified. “We actually have people who love us. Of course, you don’t know what that feels like, do you, Sunshine?”
Sunshine muttered some profanity, probably because she hadn’t thought they’d be a united front on this. She’d likely counted on the triplets trying to protect Hayes and vice versa.
“It’s just film of your weddings,” Sunshine finally said. “It can be just one cameraman, and he’ll be discreet.”
So she was bargaining now. Or rather trying to do that. Hayes had gone through things like this often enough that he recognized the change in her tone.
“No,” Hadley snapped, and the others joined in the “no” chorus. Hadley contributed a “Fuck you.�
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There was more silence, but Hayes figured every square inch of Sunshine’s face was shooting off sparks of rage. “Hayes,” she said a couple of moments later. She was still bargaining despite her temper kicking in. “If you explain to your sisters how much this’ll hurt you, then they’ll go along with the filming. And it’s not as if the cameraman or I would actually be part of the wedding. We could be discreet.”
Sunshine was a lot of things. Discreet wasn’t one of them.
“No,” Hadley snapped again, and the others joined in once more. This time, Hadley contributed, “Screw you, bitch.”
Sunshine didn’t have a silent reaction now. The growl—yes, a growl—was a whip of her rising temper. She had to be seething now. Which was why it surprised Hayes that she kept on trying to bargain.
“Hayes,” she said, obviously realizing that it wouldn’t do squat to try to appeal to the triplets or Em. “Rethink this. Rethink the reaction Ivy’s parents will have at reading what’s in those emails. It’ll break their hearts. And you’ll be responsible for that. You have the power to put an end to their pain and suffering.”
Hadley added a second “Screw you, bitch,” along with some other choice curse words, before Hayes even had a chance to curse Sunshine himself.
“You’re responsible, Sunshine,” he told her. “You and you alone. You’re the one who can put an end to their suffering and pain by just doing nothing.”
He heard another growl, more rustling around. “You’re an idiot,” Sunshine snapped. Hayes actually felt some relief that they’d finally gotten past the bargaining stage. “So are your sisters and your grandmother. All idiots,” she repeated. “All you have to do is one thing to save face and you won’t.”
Hadley went with “Screw you, bitch,” again. The others settled for repeated murmurs of “No.” Em apparently was going to have her say.
“It must be hard to sleep with that stick up your ass,” Em tossed out there. “Probably isn’t pleasant for the stick, either.”
And that produced another growl. “Then Ivy’s emails will be released this morning,” Sunshine snarled. Her voice was seething with temper.
In contrast, Hayes kept his own tone ice-cold. “And when the emails are released, I’ll give the press a sex tape of you giving a blow job to a cameraman. That’ll pretty much overshadow any tabloid news about Ivy and the emails.”
Hayes sat back and waited for his bombshell to sink in. It didn’t take long. Sunshine made a sound. Not a growl this time. It was more a sort of garbled gasp, followed by less garbled cursing. “You don’t have a sex tape of me,” she insisted.
“Oh, but I do.” Hayes gave her the exact date and time, down to the very minute. “I set up a camera to see who’d been sneaking into my bedroom when I was at school. I caught someone sneaking, all right. You. And you went down on the guy right there by my nightstand where I had the camera set up. By the way, the recording doesn’t put you in a good light.”
“It makes you look fat and old,” Sunny piped in, even though she hadn’t seen the actual recording. None of them had.
That was a good swipe, one that Hayes wished he had come up with. Hadley kept up the swiping.
“The camera had a wide enough angle to film most of your ass,” Hadley added, tacking on a snicker. “Most.”
“And you hadn’t touched up your roots,” McCall commented. “There’s a skunk stripe on the top of your head. But there are some good shots of your face, so your fans will know with absolute certainty that it’s you.”
“They’ll also know if you spit or swallow,” Em contributed, causing all of them to turn to her. There was a moment of stunned silence before laughter broke out.
No laughter from Sunshine, though. She’d gone back to growling. “If you have such a tape and actually release it, I’ll sue you for every penny you have.”
Hayes figured that threat was aimed specifically at him since he had deeper pockets than his sisters or Em. “Go ahead. I’ve got a lot of money to pay for a lot of lawyers. In the meantime, you and your ass will be a laughingstock. I’ll make sure of it. Hell, I’ll even give some interviews about it.”
“You won’t get away with this—” Sunshine started, but Hayes decided he’d had enough. Besides, he’d already made his point, and that point was that he would play as dirty as she did.
So he hung up on her.
Of course, Sunshine tried to call him right back, and he had to smile at the thought of her growling and seething in the anger that she often caused for so many others. He declined the call, silenced his phone and stood.
“If the emails hit the press, so does the sex tape,” he said, and Hayes checked everyone’s expressions to make sure they understood.
They did.
There’d be some god-awful publicity, and while most of it would be aimed at Sunshine, Ivy and him, it would also spill onto his sisters. Little Cowgirls might be a thing of the past, but the tabloids would squeeze it for every drop of juice they could get.
“The publicity will die down by the time of the weddings,” Sunny remarked, sounding both guarded and hopeful.
Maybe it would. The weddings were still a week and a half away, so it was possible the stories would fizzle out by then.
“And Sunshine might decide not to do anything,” Shaw said. “A stalemate of sorts.”
“I wish we could send Slackers to crap all over Sunshine,” Em muttered.
The image of that made Hayes smile.
“Not Slackers,” Hadley joined in. “But a dozen stables of horses with serious intestinal issues.”
“Good one.” Austin gave Hadley’s arm a friendly jab with his elbow.
Their smiles stayed in place for a couple more seconds before he saw the reality set in. Hayes hated to put a damper on this, but he needed to voice that reality.
“It’s not over,” Hayes reminded them. “Sunshine will regroup and think of another way to come at us. She can make a million or more off the wedding video, so she won’t just give up.”
He waited, letting that sink in as well, and he knew where this was going before Tony even spoke up. “I’ve got some money. Not a million dollars, but it might be enough to pay her off.”
Hayes could tell that wasn’t just lip service. The man would indeed pony up. And it would be like throwing good money at something many steps past just being bad. Apparently, his siblings, their partners and Em realized that, too, because not a one of them brightened with the thought that might be the way to go.
“Thanks,” Hayes told the man, “but Sunshine would gladly take your money and come after more. This is blackmail, and she thinks she’s got the ammunition with those emails to carry out her threat. But the thing is, she’ll just hang on to those emails and try to use them some other time.”
Tony sighed, nodded. “Maybe then Sunshine will grow a conscience.”
“Been waiting for that for decades,” Em grumbled. “Sometimes, sorry-assed folks just keep on getting sorrier and sorrier.”
True words. And with that accurate assessment, Hayes wanted to get out of there. “I need some fresh air. Can I use your truck?” he asked Em.
“Of course.” She went to him, though, took his face in both her wrinkled hands and pulled him down for a kiss on the cheek. “Sometimes, good just keeps on getting better, too. You’re a good man, Hayes.”
He had some serious doubts about that, but he brushed a kiss on the top of her head, muttered a goodbye to the others and headed out. He would have liked to believe he didn’t know exactly where he was going. But he did. He needed to go to the one person who might help his mood.
Cait.
And he didn’t even want to analyze why seeing her would make him feel better. Right now, he’d take a dose of her snark, but he also just needed to be with her.
Hayes got in Em’s truck, heading to the police station sin
ce he knew she had the morning shift. A shift that wasn’t over for another two hours. That’s the reason he stopped first at the diner and picked up a box of doughnuts and assorted pastries. It might be a cliché to bring such things to a cop, but this way it would look as if he had an actual purpose for visiting her.
Opposed to just needing to see her.
Main Street was crowded today. Well, crowded for Lone Star Ridge. There were at least a dozen people milling around outside or in the doorways of the various shops. Hayes was positive each and every one of them noticed him and the bright pink box he was carrying. This would notch up the gossip that he was seeing Cait. Or rather “courting” her.
Unlike the folks on Main Street, Hayes didn’t seem to get much notice when he stepped into the police station. That’s because the dispatcher’s desk was empty, and the sign perched in front of the nameplate said, “Take a seat. Be back in a few.”
Hayes didn’t take a seat. He glanced around and quickly spotted Leyton and Cait. They were in Leyton’s office with their backs to him, and they were hovering over two teenage boys who were occupying the seats on the side of Leyton’s desk. Judging from the boys’ sour expressions, they weren’t there voluntarily.
“You want to explain to me what you were going to do with seventy-three packs of chewing gum?” Leyton asked, pointing to the Juicy Fruit, Trident, Bazooka, Dubble Bubble and Big Red that were in a tumbling heap on the center of his desk.
Hayes really wanted to hear the answer, but he cleared his throat so that Cait and Leyton would know he was there. They looked over their shoulders at him. Hayes couldn’t tell if Cait’s quick smile was because she was glad to see him or glad to see the bakery box he was holding.
“Uh, it was like a challenge,” one of the boys said. His black hair was gelled up in spikes, and he had a defiant look in his eyes. Hayes figured the kid was thirteen or fourteen. “Noah and me wanted to see how many packs of gum we could get in our pockets.”
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