Falling for Hadley: A Novel

  “For being an ass,” Rhyland grits out. “And for making Hadley uncomfortable.”

  “He wasn’t making me uncomfortable. If he was, I would’ve kicked him in the dick.” I stuff the cash Amelia gave me into my back pocket. “I want to know why Amelia made a deal with you,” I tell Blaise. “Because I’m guessing it’s the reason she showed up at Austin’s house and struck a deal with her dad. A deal I’m pretty sure is the reason he let me off the hook. Well, I’m off the hook as long as I find the six bags of drugs, and what I’m guessing is drug money that my dad stole from Axel. Well, five since one bag is in my backyard.” I press both the heels of my hands to my eyes, reality crushing down on me. “Holy shit, how the hell am I supposed to find these bags?”

  I’m veering toward a panic attack. But then Blaise’s fingers gently wrap around my arm and the tiniest ray of calm trickles through me, a reaction I’ll have to kick myself in the ass for later.

  “Come on, sweetheart, lets go inside, sit down, and you can tell us everything so we can figure something out.”

  I don’t even bother focusing on the we or the sweetheart remark.

  I just let him guide me inside, too damn exhausted to argue.

  Hadley

  After the four of us go into the Porterson’s home, Blaise makes Jaxon go upstairs. Surprisingly, Jaxon puts up a fuss, saying at least ten words in a row. But after a small argument, he relents and does what he’s told. Blaise also tries to force Rhyland to leave, but he’s less cooperative.

  “Don’t try to pull that self-sacrificing, I can handle this on my own, bullshit with me. Whatever’s going on, I want to help.” Rhyland plops down on to the leather sofa and pats the cushion beside him. “And because you tried to keep me out of the loop, Hadley gets to sit by me.”

  I cock a brow. “Gets to?”

  He winks at me. “You’re welcome.”

  A laugh bursts from my lips. “Jesus, and you say Rhyland’s a bad flirt.”

  He chuckles, his eyes crinkling around the corners. “Got you to smile, though, didn’t it? And as a reward for making you smile…” He rubs the cushion and gives me a humorous come hither look.

  “Whatever dude.” I sink down onto the sofa beside him. “For the record, though, you’re come hither look comes off more murderous than desirable.”

  “It does not,” he protests through a laugh, his gaze subtly flitting in Blaise’s direction.

  I track his gaze to Blaise. He’s sitting on the arm of the chair across from us with his arms folded, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his gaze is practically slicing into Rhyland.

  “Speaking of murderous looks,” Rhyland puts a balled fist in front of his mouth and lets out a sharp cough. “Yo, Blaise, bro, you might want to lay off the death glare before Hadley thinks you’re plotting to kill her.”

  “I’m not looking at her. I’m looking at you.” Blaise yanks his gaze off Rhyland, his eyes softening as they settle on me. “So what happened?”

  And just like that, the brief lightness I felt goes poof. “I don’t even know where to start.” Plus, I’m not used to sharing my problems with other people. Even my sisters.

  And look where that got me. Alone, in a very sketchy situation, in debt to two very powerful mobsters. That doesn’t mean I want to share all the details with Blaise and Rhyland. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

  But if I want to have a chance at coming out of this at all, I may need some help. So, taking a deep inhale, I prepare to do something I haven’t done in a very long time.

  Tell the truth—well, partially anyway—and ask for help.

  By the time I’m finished giving Blaise and Rhyland a recap of what occurred with Axel, my shoulders feel less weighted. However, giving them the details reminds me of yet another problem I need to deal with.

  Finding out more about this forgotten memory I had with Blaise’s voice in it.

  It was so faint and so brief that I’m not even positive when it happened. My best guess is during those few blank days I have.

  As soon as we’re done discussing this Axel ordeal, I’m bringing it up. And if it turns out Blaise does know me and has known this entire time, I’m going to be pissed off.

  “What the hell,” Blaise breathes out, after I’m done telling him about what happened with Axel. “What the hell did Amelia say to her dad to get him to let you off the hook?”

  “I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume Axel doesn’t normally go easy on people,” I say, even though I pretty much already know the answer. Have heard enough about Axel to form my own conclusions.

  Rhyland nods. “He’s worse than our dad.”

  My brows spring upward. “Really? Because I…” I bite down on my tongue, realizing I was about to say something about their dad that could lead them to figuring out that I’m now working for him.

  “Because you what?” Blaise eyeballs me over.

  I shrug, picking at my fingernails. “I was just going to say that from what I heard, you’re dad seems like he was the worst of the two.” After all, Axel didn’t take a branding iron to my wrist.

  “Axel is worse,” Blaise stresses. “So you need to be careful.” His fingers wrap around the armrests of the sofa, his forehead creasing. “I’m not sure what Amelia said to her father, but I think we should try to find out.”

  “I’ll talk to her.” I flop back in the chair. “This is my problem.”

  “I can do it,” Blaise insists. “Besides, it’ll give me something else to focus on while I’m out with Amelia Saturday night.”

  “What?” Blaise and I say simultaneously.

  “It was part of the deal,” Blaise says with a sigh. “To get her to help Hadley get out of this mess.”

  “Why did you ask for her help at all?” Rhyland asks. When Blaise just shrugs, he shakes his head. “No way. You’ve got to give us a better answer.”

  Sighing, Blaise slants forward and gives both of us a quick recap about how he was at school and how Amelia offered to help me in exchange for him pretending to be her boyfriend for the night.

  “You know there’s probably more to it than that,” Rhyland says after Blaise finishes. “There always is with her.”

  “I know.” He tugs his fingers through his hair, leaving his hand resting on top of his head. “But it was the only way I could think of to get Hadley out of this mess. And it worked, so…” He shrugs, his hand falling to his lap.

  “I don’t want you to owe anyone on my behalf,” I tell him, feeling very uneasy about what he did. Sure, it got me out of the mess with Axel, for now anyway, but I feel like I owe Blaise now. “Maybe I should talk to Amelia and see if there’s something else she wants. Maybe something I can do for her.”

  “No!” Blaise and Rhyland shout, making me nearly jump out of my skin.

  I press my hand to my chest, working to calm my breathing down. “Jesus, will you two calm the hell down? It was just a suggestion.”

  “But a terrible one.” Blaise twists in the seat to face me and brings his knee up onto the cushion. “The last thing you ever want is to owe Amelia.”

  “Blaise does.”

  “But he can handle it.”

  “Yeah, that’s why you’re both freaking out. Because he can handle it.” I stand up and move to leave, deciding that I’ll call Amelia myself.

  But Blaise snags my sleeve as I pass by. “Hadley, I get your frustration and your need to take care of this yourself—I really do—but trust me, it’s better for me to go out with Amelia on Saturday and then we can just move on to finding these bags.”

  I swallow hard, knowing he’s right, at least about the understanding part. Blaise and I are similar. That is something I’m understanding more and more with each moment we spend around each other.

  “I feel guilty and uncomfortable that you’re doing this for me,” I admit, meeting his gaze. “I don’t like owing people.”

  “You don’t owe me anything,” he promises. “I made the decision to make the deal with Amelia.
”

  “On my behalf.”

  “But it was still my decision.”

  I restlessly tap my foot against the floor. “I just feel like I should be doing something to get you out of this mess. It’s my fault you’re in it.”

  “If you want to help me,” he says. “Then let me do this.”

  “That makes no sense at all.”

  “It does if you really think about it.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” I sigh, feeling more defeated than I have in a long time. “But I’ll let this go as long as you swear to the moon and back that if she tries to get anything else out of you, you’ll let me take over the deal.” I want to add, and you won’t kiss her, but that seems like a stupid idea.

  Really stupid.

  He nods. “I swear to the moon and back that I’ll let you take the deal over if she tries to get anything else out of me.”

  “Good. And just so you know, a to the moon and back promise is unbinding. If you break it, you’ll be punished.”

  He sucks his bottom lip between his teeth. “By you? Because that doesn’t sound that bad.”

  Rhyland snickers. “Okay, that one wasn’t too bad. Bravo, bro, you’ve officially had your first not-so-sucky one-liner.”

  “It was actually a two-liner,” I inform Rhyland with a haughty smile. “And in my opinion it was lame.”

  Rhyland spreads his arms across the back of the sofa. “Not lame for Blaise, though.”

  I waver. “Maybe.”

  “Hello, I’m sitting right here,” Blaise gripes. “I can hear everything you’re saying.”

  “Good for you.” I pat his head.

  Rolling his eyes, he seizes hold of my hips, lifts me up and plops me down on his lap so I’m straddling his waist. Then he pins my arms together with his hands.

  “No more petting me like a dog.” Holding my wrists in one hand, he tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear.

  I can barely breathe, my heart fluttering like an idiot again. I’d mentally tell it to shut the hell up except something else has got me distracted. A faint memory pressing against the back of my mind.

  “This is going to sound really weird,” I say to Blaise. “But have we ever met before? Like a long time ago?”

  Blaise ravels a strand of my hair around his finger. “No. Not that I know of. Why?”

  “Because I had this weird memory while I was at Austin’s house, and I swear I heard your voice in it, but it was from a long time ago.”

  “What was the memory of?”

  “I’m not sure. It was really foggy.” When puzzlement takes over his face, I add, “There was this time in my life when I suffered from amnesia. And up until a couple of days ago, I haven’t been able to remember anything. But over the last few hours, bits and pieces have been coming back to me, but they’re mostly just voices and blurry images.”

  “That’s weird,” he mumbles, staring into my eyes.

  “I know.” I sigh. “Maybe I’m just being weird.”

  “No, it’s not weird because of that.” He trades a quick look with Rhyland before looking back at me. “It’s weird because last night Rhyland and I were talking about how you looked familiar.”

  An unsteady exhale flees from my lips. “But you don’t know why?”

  He gradually shakes his head. “What caused your amnesia?”

  I shrug, staring at the window, unable to look at him and risk him really seeing me. “My dad said it was because my mom died, but lately I’ve been wondering if it might be because I was kidnapped and my dad’s just trying to cover up the fact so I won’t remember.”

  “Kidnapped,” he says in shock. “You think your dad would lie to you about that?

  Sighing, I slant back to look at him. “I know it sounds bad, but my dad did beat my ass and then leave me to deal with a bunch of mobsters on his behalf.”

  “Is that what you think they are?” he questions curiously. “Mobsters?”

  I shrug. “They sure seem like it.”

  He drags his tongue piercing along his teeth, deeply considering something. “What time did this happen? I mean, when do you think you were kidnapped?”

  “About eight years ago, in June.” My pulse pounds against his fingertips as he continues to hold onto my wrists. “Do you… Do you think that maybe your dad kidnapped me and while he held me hostage, we talked?” It sounds so crazy saying it aloud, but at this point, I don’t have any other theories.

  “No. There’s no way,” Rhyland denies from behind us, shaking his head and looking at Blaise for help.

  Blaise just helplessly shrugs.

  “I wouldn’t put it past Dad to do something like that,” he says. “And from what I understand, Mel’s debt to Dad has existed for a long time.”

  “So you think he did it?” Panic courses through my veins. “You think your dad kidnapped me?”

  Blaise pales. “I honestly don’t know, Hadley. I can’t remember my dad holding a little girl hostage, but it was also around the same time my mom died and all these people flew in for her funeral. There were a lot of kids around and he could have easily said you were my cousin or something.”

  I smash my lips together until my jaw aches while searching his eyes, trying to find the truth. From what I can tell, his confusion mirrors mine. I want to get up and leave, but at the same time, I don’t want to be alone.

  What is wrong with me? Did today break me?

  “Hey.” Blaise lets go of my wrists and cups my cheek. “I promise we’ll figure this out. I can talk to some of the people who work for my dad and see if they know anything, okay?” He waits for me to nod before continuing, “And I can also ask if they have an idea of where Mel may have hid these bags. I’m sure my father has someone keeping tabs on him.”

  “If that’s true then how did he escape Honeyton undetected?”

  “I wouldn’t necessarily say he escaped.”

  “You think he’s still here?”

  “Maybe.” A drop of relief starts to drip through me, but then he says, “There’s something else I need to tell you. Some bad news about your sisters.””

  My drop of relief evaporates. “Are they okay?”

  He nods. “But Darla wasn’t able to get you an early visit.”

  I swallow down the lump welling in my throat. “Did she say why?”

  Remorse reflects from his eyes. “She just said that when she called her contact, they said an early visit wasn’t possible. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s fine. It’s not your fault.” My hollow tone doesn’t match the raging storm rising inside me.

  It’s too much.

  I can’t keep it bottled in.

  Tears pool in my eyes.

  Shit.

  “I have to go home,” I sputter as a tear manages to escape my eyes. I push back from Blaise, but he threads his fingers through mine, holding me in place.

  “Had.” He uses the nickname Londyn always calls me.

  The sound of it causes the storm inside me to explode.

  I break the fuck down, a sob tearing from my chest. This day, losing my sisters, getting beat up by my dad, learning I may have been kidnapped—it all pours out of me. Right here, in the Porterson’s living room. In front of Blaise and Rhyland.

  I need to get out of here.

  But when I move back to bolt, Blaise pulls me against his chest and wraps his arms around me. For an instinctive second, I start to fight him. But as more tears pour out, I curl into a ball and grab onto the bottom of his shirt, holding on for dear life.

  And that’s how I spend the next half an hour.

  Sobbing like a baby.

  And Blaise? He sits there and holds me, letting me soak his fucking shirt with my goddamn pathetic tears.

  Blaise

  Have you ever had one of those life-changing moments where you know you’re never going to be the same again? That’s what today was. Life-changing. In a good way and also a bad way. It’s crazy when I think about it, how a mere twenty-four hours can be so chang
ing—so significant. It makes me wonder what’d happen if you simply lost twenty-four hours of your life.

  Like Hadley has.

  Although, I think her amnesia was for a a bit longer than twenty-four hours.

  The worst part is that I wouldn’t put it past my dad to have taken Hadley. Mel’s owed him for a while. Perhaps he took Hadley as punishment. But then why give her back and not make Mel work off his debt? As far as I know, Mel just started working to pay back my dad. But maybe I’m more in the dark about my dad’s work than I thought.

  “Is she okay?” Blaise whispers as he quietly walks into the room with a bottle of water in his hand.

  After Hadley sobbed into my shirt for a half-hour straight, I managed to get her to lay down on the sofa with me. Almost the instant we laid down, she fell asleep.

  Right now, my arm is tucked underneath her head and her face is nestled in the crook of my neck. I’m not going to lie. It’s strange to be cuddled up this close with someone. But it’s not necessarily bad. Just… new and different and… calming.

  “I’m not sure.” I softly brush my fingers through Hadley’s hair, turning my head to look at her. “She fell asleep about a half an hour ago, but…” I sigh. “I think until she gets her sisters back and takes care of this problem with Axel and our Dad, she’s not going to be okay.”

  “I know.” He sinks into the chair across from me and unscrews the cap from the bottle of water. “We’re going to help her, right?”

  I shake my head. “I am. You need to focus on going to school and running your shop.”

  “It’s your shop too. Sofie and Jay gave it to all of us.” He takes a swig of water then sets the bottle down on the coffee table. “I want to help. There’s no way you can handle all of our problems and her’s.” He rests back in the seat. “Besides, I like Hadley and I want to help her.”

  I comb my fingers through her hair, my muscles constricting as I ask, “Like her, like her?

  He wrestles back his amusement. “Would it bother you if I did?”

  I want to shake my head, but instead I just swallow hard.