“Are you okay?” Ezra asked, his fingers lightly grazing my thigh before jerking away as if he’d forgotten we were in the presence of our friends.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
More lies.
Lies.
Lies.
Lies.
So many little lies, that I didn’t even know what the truth was anymore.
He looked at me like he didn’t believe me, but I stood up and left for the kitchen before he could say anything else.
I started pulling out the cartons of eggs, cheese, and spinach, to make omelets for everyone.
I heard footsteps entering the kitchen and my body tensed. “I said I was okay!” I snapped.
“Whoa! What did I do?”
I jerked. That wasn’t Ezra.
I turned around quickly, nearly rolling my ankle in the process, and found Hayes entering the kitchen.
“I thought you were someone else,” I confessed.
“Obviously,” he muttered, musing his sandy colored hair. He passed me and opened the refrigerator so that he could grab the orange juice. “I’m assuming you thought I was Ezra.” He said the words slowly, like he was dropping a bomb and waiting to see what I would do when it blew up.
His tanned, muscled, back was to me as he poured the juice
I still hadn’t spoken when he turned around and eyed me over the rim of the glass. “You gonna answer me?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“No answer, is an answer.” He smiled gleefully and took a sip of the orange juice. “What did he do?”
I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t want to have this conversation with anybody, but definitely not with Hayes. He’d been so sweet to me and I’d thrown away any possibility with him because I was so hung up on my best friend.
“Ah,” Hayes snapped his fingers together, a dimple appearing in his cheek when he smiled, “it’s what he didn’t do, isn’t it?”
“He’s just being a guy,” I finally replied, “besides, friend’s fight.”
Although, this wasn’t really a fight since I was mad at myself, and my stupid, illogical, feelings.
“Uh-huh,” Hayes nodded, “friends. Sure.”
“I don’t know what you’re implying.” I played stupid as I got back to work making breakfast. Maybe if I ignored him long enough he’d go away.
He didn’t.
Instead, he made himself comfortable by leaning against the counter right in my personal space. If he was trying to intimidate me into spilling the beans it wasn’t going to happen. I grew up with a brother, sister, and two nosy parents whom I all loved dearly, but it taught me to keep my mouth shut on things better left unsaid.
“So, Arden,” he started, and I breathed a sigh of relief over the subject change, “what’s her story?”
“Why do you want to know?” I asked. I wasn’t just going to hand out free information. The boy had to work for it.
He shrugged his lean shoulders and tried to appear nonchalant. “She seems cool.”
“Are you interested?” I continued to pester him. Yeah, I knew I was doing to him exactly what I hadn’t wanted him to do to me, but he brought this subject up so he should’ve known it was coming.
“Maybe.” He set his glass down and propped his elbows on the counter. “Obviously there’s not a guy in the picture…” He trailed off, wanting me to fill in the blanks.
“Her husband left her shortly after she got pregnant.” He opened his mouth to speak, but I silenced him with a glare. “That’s all I know. She’s my friend, but I haven’t wanted to pry. I can tell it’s a sore subject for her. I don’t think he was a very nice guy.”
His lips pursed in contemplation and he grew quiet.
Minutes passed and finally I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him. “She’s a nice girl and she has a kid. Don’t try to pursue something with her if you’re not serious about it.”
Hayes cracked a smile and leaned forward. “Yeah, I know. I wouldn’t fuck her and bail. I’m done with being like that. Empty, meaningless, sex isn’t worth it to me anymore. I want someone to share my life with, not just my bed. And Arden…I really, really like her.”
I couldn’t believe how honest and open Hayes was being with me. I was used to the fun, joking Hayes, not one that carried on such serious conversations. I liked that I was getting to see a different side of him.
“Don’t hurt her,” I warned him. “She’s a good person and she doesn’t deserve to have her heart broken.”
“Hey,” he held up his hands in surrender, “don’t give me the third degree before I even fuck it up. Have some faith, Westbrook.”
I shook my head at him and turned towards the stove.
A tingling sensation came over me and I knew instantly that Ezra had entered the room. Whenever he was near my body tingled. I should’ve known Hayes wasn’t him.
“Hey,” he said softly.
“I’m going down to the beach.” Hayes announced suddenly. “Just yell for me when the grub’s ready.”
He hightailed it out of the kitchen like his ass was on fire. For all I knew maybe he did feel the simmering heat of the flame that burned between Ezra and I.
I didn’t bother to turn around and acknowledge Ezra. I continued on making breakfast, like his presence didn’t affect me at all.
He said nothing as I finished making one of the omelets. I grabbed a stack of plates and slid the omelet out of the skillet onto the top one. I picked up the plate and handed it to him.
“Hungry?” I asked.
I wasn’t mad at him. On the contrary, I was mad at myself for expecting more. I was pathetic.
He grabbed the plate and opened a drawer to grab a fork. He speared a bite and I watched as he raised it to his mouth and chewed, waiting for his reaction.
“Not bad,” he cracked a smile, “in fact, it’s pretty damn good.”
I smiled despite my dour feelings. I set about making the rest and I was sliding the third onto a plate when he spoke again.
“Would you be opposed to going somewhere with me today?”
I arched a brow and set the skillet aside. “Just the two of us?” I wondered.
He nodded, striding over to the sink to wash his plate. “Yeah, just you and me.”
“What do you want to do?” I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest as my suspicions rose.
He shrugged casually and stared at me from across the kitchen island. “I can’t tell you.”
I let out a sigh. Despite not knowing what he had planned, I refused to say no. “When do I need to be ready?”
“After you eat breakfast,” he mused. “And wear something stretchy.”
“Stretchy?” I repeated. What the hell did he have planned? “We better not be biking. That shit makes my vagina hurt, and don’t get me started on guys. Seriously, where does your junk go? It’s one of the many mysteries of the world.”
He snorted. “Sadie, you’re one of a kind. And no, we’re not going biking. Think outside the box a bit more.” He winked and then strode out of the kitchen, leaving me alone to wonder what he was up to.
No matter how much I racked my brain I couldn’t come up with one single idea.
“Ezra,” I whined, looking out the window as he continued to drive farther and farther away, “where are you taking me? If you wanted to kill me and feed my body to the sharks we could’ve done that back at the house.”
He stopped singing along to the radio and chuckled. “Come on, you have to have more faith in me than that.”
“My faith in you sailed away approximately five minutes ago. We’ve been in the car for an hour. I’m going stir crazy.”