Chapter 17
Bryan
I
wanted to surprise Hailey at her apartment tonight. I went by dur
ing lunch to try and bring her something to eat, but the door was locked, and the lights were out. There wasn’t a sign on the door stating whether she was coming back or not, so I decided not to bother her. But I worried about her for the rest of the day, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I’d seen her with my own two eyes.
I pulled up to her apartment complex and parked my truck. I felt my hands shaking for some reason as I walked up to her door. I rose my fist to knock and listened to the shuffling behind the door, and already a smile was rising on my cheeks. I hadn’t seen her since the dinner she had with her parents, and I was anxious to know how it went. I knew she’d been nervous and didn’t want to go, but the moment she told me Anna had organized it, I’d encouraged her to give it a try. She’d called me that night and told me it went as good as it could go, and I didn’t press the matter anymore.
But I wanted to know everything about it.
I tried to convince her to let me join them, but she was against it. She told me that she didn’t want to make things worse by springing a guy on them, and while I could understand, it hurt that she didn’t want me there for support. I wanted to hold her hand through the entire thing and make sure she was all right. I wanted to provide a buffer like she had for me with my parents in case things got out of hand. So, I simply made Anna promise me she would be the buffer I wanted to be and left it at that.
However, the moment Hailey opened the door and saw me standing there, all the questions I had for her fled from my mind. My eyes fluttered up to her head. Her smooth, bald head. I could feel her eyes on me, studying my reaction to her as she slowly stepped away from the door. I walked in as she shut the door behind me, turning around to keep my eyes on her hair. Or rather, her lack of hair. “Is it bad that I already miss it?” I asked, snickering. “Nah, not really. I had this random vision today in the shop and thought I’d try it out. I couldn't decide on a color this morning, so the only obvious direction was to shave it all off.” “Obvious?” I asked, giggling. “Does it look that bad?” “No, no, no. Not bad. Just different.” “I don’t really know if it’s for me, honestly. The vision looked much better than the outcome. I’ll give it a few weeks, and if it doesn’t grow on me, I’ll just get a wig,” she said. I watched her saunter over to her fridge as she grabbed a couple of drinks for us to have. This strange and wonderful woman I was in love with just did whatever she wanted at the drop of a hat, and it was almost inspiring. She simply envisioned herself doing something and then did it. She saw herself with a gallery, so she did it. She saw herself selling her artwork, so she did it. She saw herself painting instead of being a doctor, so she dropped out of school and did it. She saw herself with no hair, so she did it. I’d never known her to be quite so mercurial before, but she was an artist. She changed the color of her hair at the drop of a hat, so it was only a matter of time before she changed the style of it. Granted, her hair was getting long, and I was enjoying running my fingers through it, but as I studied the back of her head I realized she had a wonderful shape to it. There were very few divots and the top of her head was the same color as the rest of her skin, and there was a beauty to its bare nature that called to me. Then she turned around and smiled, and all I wanted to do was cup the back of that beautiful head and pull her in for a kiss. “Here you go,” she said. “Thanks.” I tipped the beer up to my lips while we sat down on her couch. She looked better than she had the last few times I’d seen her, and I wondered if that was from the thrill of shaving her head. She grinned at me while we sipped our drinks in silence, her hand dancing over to mine while I threaded our fingers together. And that’s when I noticed something odd. “When did you start shaving your arms?” I asked. “Huh?” “Your arms. They’re smooth, too. When did you start shaving them?” Her eyes fluttered down to her skin, and I could see a blush creeping across the top of her head. It quickly trickled down into her cheeks before rushing down her neck, but the playful glint in her eye I expected to see wasn’t there. Instead, it was like she was trying to hold back a type of dread. “I shaved them this morning in the shower,” she said. “Did it look weird to have hairy arms with a bald head?” I asked playfully. “Weirder than you would’ve thought. The bald head offset everything. I’m surprised I still have my eyebrows.” That playful glint was back, and something told me I’d actually given her an out instead of an avenue to let me in. “I can see you still staring at it,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m used to seeing you with hair.” “Do you hate it?”
“Not at all,” I said as I brought her fingertips to my lips. “I don’t love you because of your hair.” “You love me because of my curves,” she said, winking. “Oh, do I ever love those.” Ileaned over to plant a kiss on her neck, and she giggled. I set my empty beer bottle down before I took her water from between her fingers. I allowed it to fall to the floor while her hands snaked around me, my lips pressing kiss after kiss into her skin. She smelled of paint and berries and something metallic, a new scent I’d come to associate with her while my tongue danced along her skin. She undulated into me while her skin stood on end, but it was her hands pressing against my chest that caused me to stop. “You okay?” I asked. “You didn’t tell me about you meeting with Ellen yet,” she said. “Ah, yes. Ellen,” I said as I sat up. “She’s an ... interesting woman.” “Interesting how?” she asked. “Well, the job sounds wonderful. Actually, having that conversation with her solidified the fact that I eventually want to do something exactly like what she’s offering me.” “Bryan, that’s fantastic. So, what’s holding you back?” “Well, I get this feeling that we might not completely mesh,” I said. “What do you mean?” “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.” “Bryan, you know you can talk to me,” she said. “What happened?” I felt her hand wrap around mine and, for a second, I wanted to throw her words back into her face. She wanted me to open up, but she wasn’t willing to open up herself. I drew a deep breath through my nose and sighed, quelling that part of me as I closed my eyes. I was not looking forward to having this conversation with her. “Ellen came onto me.” “She what?”
“Several times during the course of the dinner,” I said.
I opened my eyes and sought out Hailey’s stare, but the annoyance I expected to see wasn’t there. Instead, there was a bit of amusement in her eyes, and the grin that crossed her face took me completely by surprise. “She did, did she?” Hailey asked. “What exactly did this wild woman do to you?” I furrowed my brow as Hailey sat back, readying herself for what she assumed would be an amusing conversation. “She kept making these innuendos. She asked me at one point if I was enjoying everything, but it was the way she sat back and flaunted her chest that tipped me off on that one. Then she tried scooting her foot toward mine underneath the table.” “She tried playing footsies with you?” she asked. “Oh, yeah,” I said. “Then I told her I was in a relationship, and it didn’t seem to faze her at all. She even wrapped her hand around mine on the table before I stood to leave.” “But you didn’t.” “Not until she verbally acknowledged the fact that I was in a relationship and how, even though she was attracted to me, she would respect my boundaries. Went on this whole diatribe of how she was used to flirting with men to get them to do what she wanted.” “Oh, I bet,” Hailey said, grinning. “It’s really not that shocking. You’re an attractive man. Women are going to hit on you, believe it or not. Did she hit on you after she said that?” “No. I sat back down, and we enjoyed dinner and talked some more,” I said. “Did you tell her about your idea to fuse your company with her foundation?” “Yep. We even talked about some ways I would garner connections with people and businesses across the cities we helped in order to implement other programs I threw at her,” I said.
“Sounds like a very productive evening. I think you should take the job.” “Seriously?” I asked. “Even after knowing she hit on me like that?” “Did she make sleeping with her a requirement for the position?” she asked. “Hell, no. Nothing like that.” “Then take the job. Bryan, you should see the way your eyes light up talking about this. This has you written all over it. Take the damn job,” she said, giggling. I was absolutely stunned at the fact that she was okay with me taking this position. I just knew she would tell me it wasn’t a good idea, and I was wholly prepared to call Ellen tonight and tell her I couldn’t accept. Honestly, a part of me was hoping Hailey would’ve said no. That meant I wouldn’t have to think about this anymore at night, which meant I could finally get some fucking sleep. “Bryan, I love you, and I trust you. I don’t want you passing up opportunities you truly want in life because you’re worried about my feelings. That’s not how this works.” “How what works?” I asked. “This. Between us. I want to be here to support you, not hold you back. If I really thought she made you uncomfortable, then I would advise against it. I think she rattled you, but you held your own and you stood your ground. I know you would never cheat on me, and I know you wouldn’t still consider working with someone if you thought they were going to continue with that kind of behavior. Take the job.” “Hailey, are you sure?” “Take the damn job and stop asking,” she said, giggling. But even though she was giggling, her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Hailey, are you okay?” The question cut her giggle off automatically, and I knew I had her attention.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean, are you all right? You’ve just seemed off lately. I know we had a harsh conversation the last time we went out, but I can’t help but feel that there’s something really wrong.”
“And for the last time, Bryan, I’m just stressed. This gallery has taken off way faster than I’d imagined. Painting is taking up my life in the best ways possible, and I’m still learning how to juggle all this in the air. I figured I’d have the first year to figure all this out, and I had to do it within the first three months. It’s a bit much,” she said.
“I could help, if you’d like, with the gallery in my spare time. Or I could help you interview people to come help you. Anything you need, you know I’m here for you, right?”
Had I not known any better, I could’ve sworn a flash of guilt rushed over her face.
“I’m sorry, Bryan,” she said.
“For what?”
“For how my stress and lack of sleep’s affecting you.”
“I feel like you’re doing so much for me and always thinking of me, encouraging me to take this job and coming out with me when I ask. I know you’ve been saying yes even when you want to say no to avoid a fight, and while I appreciate your company and your willingness to sacrifice, I don’t want my presence to be a sacrifice to you. I want it to be good for you and helpful to you. I want to do something for you if only to repay you for all the support you’ve been giving me lately,” I said.
I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips, but the moment my eyes connected with hers, I saw a devilish look cross her face.
“Well,” she said as she slipped her hand from mine. “I do have one particular thing you could help me with if you really want to talk repayment.”
She slowly shuffled off the couch and swayed her hips as she walked past me. I stood to my feet, my cock already coming to life as she looked back at me. The salacious darkness that had encompassed her eyes called to me, beckoning for me to follow her like a siren luring me
into the depths of hell itself. But the moment she opened her small coat closet and pulled out a
tarp, my mind started whirling a million miles a second.