Chapter 30: Chapter 29

I FILLED the girls in on what happened, and they all just stared at me, each with different reactions.

“Shit. I warned King that he needed to talk to Hayes,” Ruby said, shaking her head.

“Wait. You knew?” Demi, Peyton, and I all said at the same time.

“I suspected, and I talked in code to him. But I thought I made it clear that he needed to have that talk with your brother.”

“He was going to talk to him tomorrow. Hayes was supposed to come home yesterday, but he was delayed and showed up in the middle of the bachelor party. King didn’t want to have this conversation in front of everyone. But Hayes found my necklace on King’s nightstand and figured it out, and you know the rest.” I chewed my thumbnail, feeling overwhelmed with the hurt I’d caused my brother, and also nervous about what this meant for me and King. He sounded devastated on the phone, and I wondered if he’d blame me for this whole mess.

I’m the one who insisted we keep it a secret.

He’d respected my wishes, and now his best friend wouldn’t speak to him.

“I was suspicious, too, if I’m being honest, but I never imagined it coming out like this. But at the end of the day, you’re in love. Hayes will get over it because all he really wants is for you both to be happy.” Demi wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“Wait. I wasn’t suspicious at all. So you’re telling me that all this time, you’ve been riding King Pierce like a wild stallion?” Peyton said, and Demi and Ruby burst out in hysterical laughter.

I chuckled, but I wasn’t much in the mood to laugh at the moment. I’d managed to make a tough situation even tougher.

“Not really. That part is a recent turn of events. We’ve just been spending so much time together and exploring—things.” I shrugged. “There was no sex until just a few days ago.”

“Damn. Did he live up to the expectations?” Peyton whistled. “Because, my God, they were high.”

“He did,” I said, as a tear ran down my cheek.

Ruby leaned forward and gripped my shoulders. “Don’t you dare cry. This is all going to be fine. You fell in love. You followed your heart. You just need to make Hayes understand that this is what you want. What both of you want.”

“I’m sorry. This is supposed to be your bachelorette party, and I’ve just brought a big dark cloud with me.” I wiped my cheeks.

“This is what slumber parties are all about,” Peyton said. “Eating too much and swapping sex stories. And if it ends with a few tears—it’s a win.”

Demi laughed. “I agree with her on this one. This night couldn’t have been any better. And I’m also glad that we’re here for you right now. We love you, Saylor. This is what friends do.”

“She’s right. And I was dirty-cowboy’d out for the night. I was ready for some real-life events. After that freakishly oily stripper tried to give me a lap dance that I did not ask for, I was ready to go.” Ruby smirked.

“I think when you pulled out your pepper spray and gave him a warning, that did the trick,” Peyton said.

“Well, he sure as hell didn’t try again, did he?” Ruby raised a brow.

“Please. That guy was one oily, well-hung stud muffin. Having him shake his ass and his unusually large, er, banana, as Demi’s mother put it—well, it was a nice escape for an evening.”

“You know you’re ridiculous, right?” Demi said over her laughter as she hugged me tighter.

We all jumped when someone knocked on the door.

“Do you think it’s Guapo?”

“Who the hell is Guapo?”

“The oily stripper.”

“If that guy knows where we live, he is definitely getting pepper sprayed.” Ruby moved to her feet. “Let me see who it is.”

“It could be a murderer. It’s one o’clock in the morning,” Demi whisper-shouted as she ran to the kitchen. “I’m getting a knife.”

We were all on our feet and huddled together as we looked down to see a butter knife in Demi’s hand.

“Are you going to stab him or offer him some toast?” Ruby said over her laughter and peeked through the little hole in the door. “It’s freaking Romeo and Hayes.”

My stomach dropped at the mention of my brother.

“Awww… I’m so happy I don’t have to murder anyone.” Demi pulled the door open and lunged in Romeo’s arms.

“Is it bad that I’m kind of disappointed? I was ready to go all girl-gang crazy on the guy. And death by butter knife seems very empathetic.” Peyton shrugged.

My gaze locked with Hayes, and I could tell he was still intoxicated.

“So, this guy is refusing to go to sleep. I’m guessing you know why he’s here?” Romeo asked, as they stepped inside.

“Yes. I know why he’s here.” I hugged my brother before pulling away. “Come on. Let’s get some coffee in you, and we can talk.”

“How about you come home with me now, baby?” Romeo said.

“Yeah. I think that’s a good idea,” Demi said.

They said their goodbyes, and she thanked us multiple times for the best night ever.

“Come on, Peyt. You can sleep with me. Let’s give them some space to talk.” Ruby led Peyton down the hall, and they closed the door.

I put on a pot of coffee, grabbed the pain reliever, and gave Hayes a glass of water to drink while he waited for his coffee.

“Take these,” I said, and he took the two little pills from my hand. He hadn’t spoken yet.

I poured us each a glass of coffee because, obviously, there wasn’t going to be a lot of sleep going on tonight. I took the seat across from him at the kitchen table.

“I heard you had quite a night,” I said, surprised to see that he had a little cut on his lip. So they’d clearly both thrown punches.

“Did you hear that from your boyfriend?” he said, sarcasm oozing from his body as he reached for the coffee.

“I did, actually. He’s pretty devastated by the whole thing.”

“Well, I think he’s got good reason to be devastated.”

“You realize how ridiculous this whole thing is, right?” I asked.

“Anyone else, Say. Any-fucking-one-else. He’s my best friend. These four guys, they’re my family, you know?”

“I know. They’re pretty amazing guys. And I just happened to be in love with one of them.”

He closed his eyes and groaned. “Love? You fucking love him? He’s not that guy, Saylor.”

“Look at me,” I hissed, waiting for him to open his eyes. “We’re in love, Hayes. We have been for a while.”

He narrowed his gaze. “He told you that he loves you?”

“Many times.”

“Walk me through this. Make me understand why I had to find out this way. Why you’ve both lied to me for God knows how long.”

“I’d be happy to,” I said, refilling both of our coffees.

I took Hayes back to the months that I lived with the Pierce family. How he slept with me every single night, held my hand, listened to me talk about my day—and never touched me. Not once.

I told him about our connection. About the dandelions. I explained how it all started and paused because I knew this next part wouldn’t be the most pleasant for him.

“He fought it hard, Hayes. He brought you up every day. Worried endlessly about crossing the line.” I reached for my mug, remembering how hard he’d tried to stay away from me. “He stopped going out months ago, if you hadn’t noticed. He was—suffering with discomfort.”

He let out a long breath. “I do remember that. He thought he was dying from a bad case of blue balls. But I don’t need the details on how you fixed that situation.”

“The first time he kissed me, he was riddled with guilt, Hayes. He tried to walk away several times.”

“But yet he never came to me. My best fucking friend. My brother,” he said, shaking his head.

“You’re not going to like this next part.” I cleared my throat, and I looked him right in the eyes. “I am the one who didn’t want to tell you. He insisted he go to you. It was my line in the sand, Hayes. I didn’t want you or anyone else involved. I was adamant about it.”

“What? Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m a grown woman, Hayes. And I know you see me as a child, and I can’t even be mad at you for it. But I wanted to see where it went without you threatening him and putting pressure on the situation.”

“He’s never been in a serious relationship, Saylor.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but he’s sort of been in one for the last few months. Even before anything happened—he and I were always together. It was a friendship at first, and then we couldn’t fight it. I’ve never felt anything like this. And he tried hard not to feel it. He even put that dandelion tattoo beside the Ride or Die tattoo all those years ago as a reminder of a line he couldn’t cross.”

“Fuck. Why didn’t he just come talk to me?” He scrubbed a hand down his face. His voice was not slurring anymore, but he sounded exhausted.

“Hmmm…” I said, not making any attempt to hide the sarcasm in my voice. “Maybe because you’ve threatened him about this for years.”

“I didn’t know it was this deep.” His eyes locked with mine, and I saw the understanding there as his hand scrubbed over his peppered jaw.

“It caught us both by surprise. And he’s really, really good to me.” My hand found my chest, covering my heart, as a tear ran down my cheek. “He wanted to talk to you so badly, but I begged him not to, and he put my needs first. And next to you, no one has ever done that before.”

“King’s one of the best people I know, I’m not arguing that. I just didn’t want him fucking around with you. Obviously, this is different.”

“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes. “If you’d just have trusted me and him, it might not have gone to blows.”

“It’s hard for me sometimes to let go where you’re concerned,” he said, and his voice was strained. “When Dad left, I remember hearing you cry in your room for hours. You wouldn’t eat much, and you just laid in your bed, and I worried you’d wither away. Mom had checked out, and she wasn’t taking care of either of us. And I made this pact that I’d be there for you, and you’d know you were taken care of. And I tried, Saylor. I tried to give you the life that you deserved.”

The tears were falling so fast that it was hard to see through my blurry vision. “That wasn’t your job, Hayes, but you stepped up for me, and I’m so grateful.” I tried to speak over my sobs. “I wrestle with it, you know?”

“With what?” He leaned forward and patted me on the arm, in a total Hayes sort of way. Not overly emotional, but he wanted me to know he was there.

“With being grateful for you being the best brother a girl could ask for, but also being brave enough to make decisions for myself without feeling guilty. I think I’ve probably loved King longer than I even realized. But keeping this a secret to see where it went was not something I did to hurt you. It was something that I did for myself. And for him. I knew he doubted himself, and if he went to you and you lost your shit on him, he’d run. Running is easier, Hayes. And don’t forget that King lost his parents at a young age, and he has his own baggage and hang-ups about loving someone enough to be vulnerable.”

“And you’re certain he’s all in?”

“One hundred percent. He was planning to talk to you yesterday, and then you didn’t come home. So, he had a plan to meet you in the morning and tell you man to man. But then you lost your shit, right?” I raised a brow.

The corners of his lips turned up, and he pointed at his mouth. “He got a damn good shot in, too.”

“I didn’t think he’d fight back. I thought he’d take whatever you gave him.”

“Well, he didn’t get to explain much before I hit him the first time. But then I ran my mouth the way you’d expect me to.” He winced. “And he shouted something about not talking about his woman that way.”

I chuckled, and so did he. “He’s a good man, Hayes. You know he is.”

“It was never about that. It was about making sure he didn’t hurt you. And I’m not going to lie, the not telling me what was going on—it stings. These guys are my family, Say. And we’ve never kept secrets. So my mind went to the worst place, that he was taking advantage of you and all that shit, and that’s why he’d kept it a secret.”

“He would never do that.”

“I know. But in the heat of the moment, I wasn’t thinking clearly.” He yawned.

“Come on. Let’s move to the couch. I want to fill you in on our new siblings,” I said with a laugh.

“King told me it was the craziest shit he’d ever seen.” Hayes carried both our coffee cups into the living room.

We settled onto the couch, and we talked until the sun came up. About the disappointment regarding our father and the fact that he’d never made an effort to introduce us to his new family. And the hope that maybe our mother might be trying to make things better for herself. We talked about that night that we’d avoided for such a long time. The night that had changed both of our lives in different ways. He’d grown more protective of me, and I’d formed a bond with the love of my life.

And we were both going to be okay, because we always had one another.

And we’d found a family of our own that we may not have been born into, but they were ours just the same.

These friends that were more like family.

We talked until our eyes couldn’t stay open any longer, and we each took an end of the L-shaped couch and finally gave into sleep.