Breath escaped Hayley. Her cheeks puffed up as she blew it all out.
“The police ended up freezing all of my father’s assets, which left my mom and me with nothing. We moved to a trailer not long after, and she got a job at a diner and went even further off the deep end. I’ve only seen her once since CPS took me, and I’ve never once asked her about that night or the threat.”
I couldn’t move. I was plastered to the wall as each and every word flew out of her mouth. Ollie didn’t move a muscle either.
Piper was the only one who reacted. She scooted up onto my bed and put her arm around Hayley. At first, Hayley didn’t move, but she eventually rested her head on Piper’s shoulder and teetered her lip back and forth.
The words barely made it out of my mouth. They were choppy, like waves crashing against a shoreline. “You think it was them tonight?”
Hayley’s blue eyes peered up at me, so glossy they looked like glass. “Maybe. I don’t think they were necessarily trying to hurt me, but I fought them so much they had to hold me down and make me stop.”
Rage filled my vessels.
“They took a picture of me as the one guy was holding my head down on the ground.” Her forehead furrowed. “The other was waiting for confirmation that I was the right girl. They were going to take me anyway and then dump me if I wasn’t whoever their boss wanted.” She gulped, and her voice teetered on the edge of hysteria. “Maybe it was Gabe. I don’t know. Nothing ever confirmed who wanted me. It could have been Gabe that they were waiting for a text from, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabe was in the game. How would he text them back if he was playing football? Whoever it was probably has a nice gash on their hand from when I bit them. That’s when I ran.” She trembled, and I ran my hands through my hair. She’s had enough for tonight. I stood there, looking at her as Piper rubbed her arm up and down. Hayley was staring off into space, a blank look on her face. Her lip was turning even redder from the constant biting. The hard exterior she’d formed around herself was no longer there. I was seeing the real Hayley. The one who wasn’t hiding behind anger or resentment. The one who wasn’t shying away from the truth or hiding behind lies. She was real. She was real, and she was scared, and she was hurt. Emotionally and physically.
I pushed off from the wall and stopped at the end of the bed. Ollie glanced up at me for a moment as I looked to Hayley and Piper. “What do you want to eat?”
Hayley furrowed her brow. “What?”
“I’m going to get us all something to eat. What do you want?”
A ghost of a smile brushed over her mouth. “I tell you that the men who killed my father and threatened me may have sent someone to kidnap me tonight, and you want to know what I want to eat?”
“Yes.”
Piper sat up a little straighter, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Maybe we should discuss—I don’t know—calling the police?!” She looked at Hayley for backup, but she quickly shook her head.
“No. No police. There’s no point now. They’re gone. I have no clue what they look like, and”—she sighed—“the police don’t really take people like me seriously.”
“But they’ll take us seriously.” Ollie finally stood up. “Our father knows plenty of law enforcement; you know he has tons of people in his pocket, lawyers—the police chief himself, if I’m not mistaken.”
Hayley laughed. “We are in no way getting your father involved.” She threw her head back and looked at the ceiling. “It was a cold case. They never found the men who killed my father.” She leveled us with a stare. “Not that I think they put much effort into it. They wouldn’t tell me much. My mom ran as fast as she could away from my father’s problems. It’s a fucked-up situation, but there’s not much anyone can do.”
Piper looked at Hayley. “We should go to the police.”
She shook her head again. “Piper, there’s nothing they can do, and I really don’t want this on my record.”
Piper's voice grew loud, and she flew up from the bed. “So what? You’re just going to go about your day and hope no one else tries to kidnap or hurt you again—or worse?”
Hayley’s features softened, her pouty mouth smiling sadly. “What are the police going to do, Pipe? Give me my own personal bodyguard? The only thing they’ll do is tell me to keep my eyes open and to stay vigilant. To call them if I suspect someone is following me. They don’t care about some threat that was made five years ago. Especially since no one even knew who made that threat. No one but my father, and that’s not exactly helpful since he’s dead.”
Piper stood with her hands on her hips, huffing out a breath. Ollie worked his jaw back and forth, thinking, analyzing.
“What do you want to eat?”
Hayley’s eyes flicked to mine, and I swore I saw a smidge of gratitude in them. “You don’t have to feed me. I’m fine.” She slowly swung her legs over the bed, trying to hide a wince on her face. “I think we better get going.”
A choppy laugh escaped from deep within my chest. “What do you want to eat?”
She gave me a pointed look, her legs slowly dropping to the carpet. “I appreciate you helping me tonight, but you don’t have to do this. I’m fine.”
I stormed over to her, put my hand underneath her chin, and angled it to my face. Her warmth hit me head-on. “What do you want to eat?”
“Christian.”