Authors: Marie Rochelle
“Remember, I need you here early in the morning so we can talk to Dad,”
Clinton
remarked.
Sighing,
Hayward
watched True walk down the steps and wait for him in the middle of the driveway. She hadn’t complained, but he knew she was tired and he needed to get her to the hotel room. “Don’t worry I know Dad needs me. I’ll be here, but
True
isn’t coming back with me. I won’t let him take another shot at her,” he replied.
He didn’t miss the look of disappointment that passed across
Clinton
’s face, before hiding his reaction.
Hayward
reached and touched his brother on the shoulder. “I know this is hard, but we’ll get through it. What did mom always tell us? What doesn’t kill us will make us stronger.”
“I’m trying to be strong.”
Clinton
said quietly.
He nodded then dropped his hand. “I’ll be here at
Clinton
and then went down the steps. Walking over to the car,
Hayward
opened the door for True, then got in on the drivers side and drove off.
* * * *
“What did my father say to you in the kitchen?”
Hayward
muttered on the way to the hotel. God, he prayed Lance didn’t interrogate her with question after question. Sometimes his father meant well, but in the end he always made a situation worse instead of better.
Shaking her head True stared at him, “How did you even know I talked to your father?” she questioned softly.
Hayward
grimaced. “I know my father,” he sighed. “He wouldn’t have let you leave without saying something to you.” He swung his eyes off the road and studied
True’s
profile.
Would she really be honest enough to tell him what his father said?
True avoided his eyes. “He told me not to hurt you, because he didn’t want a repeat of your past.”
It seemed like the silence stretched for hours in the cars interior, while he tried to find a way to explain what his father meant. He couldn’t let True find out about Brooke and Tyler from anyone else but him. He should come clean now, but he had too much going on with his mother’s death to get into all of that. He wanted to sit True down and explain everything to her away from other people.
“Um…I need to explain what my father meant by that,” he muttered dragging his eyes back to the road.
“No, you don’t.” True said taking a deep breath. “When you’re ready to tell me you will.”
Running her fingers across the dashboard True changed the subject, “I can’t believe
Clinton
let you drive his Jaguar,” she sighed. “The ride is so smooth and relaxing. It’s almost enough to put me to sleep.”
“Well, he should since he has another like it only in a different color,”
Hayward
laughed. “Anyway, he offered it to me after I got off the phone with the hotel,” he confessed.
“
Clinton
is a very wealthy man isn’t he?”
True asked darting a quick look over at him for the corner of her eye.
A chill shot down his spine. Why would True ask him that was she interested in his brother now instead of him? “Yes, I guess you could say he is. Does a Man’s wealth matter to you?”
The fear of disappointment rising in his body couldn’t be ignored. What if he was wrong and his family was right?
“Of course not,” she replied.
He let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding. Then confusion washed over him, why was True so concerned about his brother and money? Did he miss something back at the house?
“It must be hard for him.”
“Why would you say that?”
Hayward
questioned turning down the street the hotel was on.
“He’ll never know if a woman loves him or his money,” True replied sadly. “Dealing with that all the time must be very hard on him.”
“I guess it might be,” he shrugged. He had never given
Clinton
’s love life a lot of thought.
Pulling into the hotel’s parking
lot,
Hayward
turned off the car and slid his arm across the back of
True’s
seat. He wanted to get her mind off his brother and back on him. “Do you want something to eat? We can stop at the restaurant before going up to our rooms” he suggested. The warm scent of a sexy woman and vanilla drifted toward him.
True shook her head. “No, I only want to take a hot shower and fall into the nearest bed.”
At the mention of a shower, her eyes locked with his and they burst out laughing.
* * * *
“Look, I said I don’t know where she is?” Sylvester growled into the telephone.
“Damn it Cantrell, I pay you a lot of money to keep an eye on her.”
“I can’t watch her twenty-four hours a day. I do have other things to do.”
“You’ve nothing to do but watch her. Damn it! Do you know how long she has been gone?”
“She left late yesterday with the guy from the photos I sent last week. Do you know who he is?”
“Yeah, Hayward Campbell, but I’m not worried about him right now. Keep an eye on her house and call me as soon as she gets back into town.” His boss shouted. “Are you listening to me, Sylvester?”
“Fine, I’ll call you when I know more.” Sylvester mumbled and then slammed down the phone.
* * * *
“Kitten, please open this door,”
Hayward
muttered knocking on the closed door. “We still need to talk. I’m not moving one inch until you come out here.”
Brushing her hair one last time,
True
tossed the brush on the bathroom counter and sighed. How did she let
Hayward
talk her into coming with him? Had she totally lost her mind? She knew they needed to talk about things, but was he ready to hear what she had to say?
Looking at her reflection one last time in the bathroom mirror, she pulled at the hem of her shirt, “Well, here goes nothing.” Leaving the bathroom, she moved across the lavish carpet to the connecting door and opened it.
“Sorry I took so long,” she uttered glancing up at
Hayward
. With him standing so close to her, she couldn’t think straight. “Do you mind moving?”
Hayward
stood back. “What have you been doing in there so long?
Where you planning your escape,” his deep voice teased, sending tiny shock waves across her skin.
“I needed a little time to myself.” She answered trying to move away from him.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed the side of her temple, “Where you in there thinking about our future together?”
“No,” she lied.
Placing a finger under her chin,
Hayward
made her look at him, staring up into his dark blue eyes. She wondered what he really felt for her. Was it lust, an instant attraction or something much deeper that she wasn’t ready for?
“I love you,”
Hayward
said out of nowhere.
Hell to the no. Where did that come from,
True thought frowning,
why would
Hayward
tell her that?
“No, you don’t,” True denied. Her hands shoved at his wide chest, but he wouldn’t loosen his grip. “What you feel is lust?” She insisted, trying to get through to him.
Hayward
didn’t know a thing about her. How in the hell could he be in love with her?
“Yes I do.”
Hayward
muttered. Wrapping his hands around her shoulders, he shook her when she tried to look away from him.
“I’ve been in love with you for a while now.”
Dropping her head, she pressed it against his white shirt holding back tears. She heard the steady rhythm of his heart under her ear. “Why are you saying this now?”
Hayward
ran his hands up and down her back. “After everything that happened with my mother, I don’t want to waste time keeping my feelings hidden. If you aren’t ready to say the words back. I can wait until you are.”
True basked in the warmth of
Hayward
’s words, as heat filled her body. She knew they haven’t been dating that long, but she cared about him. She wanted to be with him more than anything in the world. However, he needed to know about
Dalton
. He was such a huge part of her past and the sole reason she built up so many walls around her heart. After she came clean tonight there would be no more shadows.
Grabbing
Hayward
’s hand she took him over to the couch, “We need to talk.”
She didn’t miss the look of confusion that passed across his face.
Pushing him down, she took a seat beside him. “I have to tell you something about my past.” She held up a hand when he opened his mouth to interrupt. “Please don’t say anything until I’m finished.”
She forced her nerves to settle, so she could tell him.
“About two years ago I worked as an executive secretary for the vice-president of a computer firm called Starr Technology. It specialized in writing new computer programs games for teenagers. When they hired me I was told repeatedly to be careful, because someone was trying to steal information.”
“Well I hadn’t been at the job for a week before Dalton Blake blew into my life. I meet him three days after I got hired and didn’t think anything of it.” Pausing, she steeled herself to take a quick peek at
Hayward
, but from his vacant facial expression she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Now, I had never been approached by a white man before, especially one who looked like
Dalton
. He used his looks and charm to seduce me. God, I was so naive and dumb,” she hissed, brushing a stray tear from the corner of her eye. “We started dating the following week and for six months I spent all my free time outside of work with him.”
Swallowing her anguish, she pushed on, “He knew exactly
what
to
say so that I would fall hard for him. Do you know
,
I was even planning our wedding?” The anxiety in her voice rose. “What I didn’t know was
Dalton
had plans of his own, but not for a wedding.”
True closed her eyes. She hoped it would block out the hurtful memory, but it didn’t. “One night, while I was getting ready for our date,
Dalton
was downstairs making imprints of my keys. I never had a clue.”
Her chest tightened, remembering her own stupidity.
Dalton
used and abused her. “The bastard waited until I went on vacation and broke into Starr Technology. He downloaded the information he needed from my computer.”
She jumped up from the couch and paced in front of
Hayward
. “Starr fired as me soon as I got back. I didn’t believe what I thought were malicious lies about
Dalton
.
I went to see him, because I knew he loved me and couldn’t do anything as heinous as this.”
Wrapping her arms around her body, she stared off into space not really seeing anything. “I had barely stepped into his office before he laughed at me.” Her mind flashed back to his hateful words.
“Why else would I date someone like you?
I sure wasn’t interested in a relationship.”
She shuddered, caught up in the memory. “I still can hear his laughter.”
Dragging her eyes back over to
Hayward
, she whispered, “How can I be sure you aren’t hiding some deep dark secret from me? For all I know you could be worse than
Dalton
.”
Tears poured down her cheeks. She no longer cared.
Hayward
knew all about her past. It evitable that he would blame her just like everyone else had done.
* * * *
Hayward
’s fist clenched at his side.
if
he ever got his hands on Dalton Blake, he would pay for hurting True. What man in his right mind would do this to her? “Baby, I’m in love with you. I would never hurt you like that.” He got up from the couch and gently pulled her into his arms.
“I can’t say the words you want to hear until I’m sure. Can you understand?” She asked faintly, pressing her body closer to his.
“
Shh
...” His heart broke each time one of her tears dampened his shirt. Rage tore through his body. He wanted to kill that bastard for inflicting this pain on the woman he loved.
Lifting True into his arms, he carried her back over to the couch and held her against him until she fell asleep.
With the tip of his finger,
Hayward
reached out and brushed a tear off her cheek.
Restlessly, his hand stroked the side of her face as he glanced down at the soft bundle in his arms.