Page 99 of Best I Never Had

He suddenly stands, putting on the jacket that he laid neatly on the back of the sofa.

“You’re going to head home?”

“I’m going to walk you to the restaurant.”

“What? Why?”

“You can’t go out alone in the city looking like that.” He stands, looping his arms through the sleeves of his jacket as he walks up to me.

I laugh. Not necessarily because I find anything particularly funny, but the tension between us is so tight, all I can do is laugh. But Hayden’s not laughing. He’s not even smiling. As he inches closer to me, his face becomes even grimmer. His lips are pulled together in a tight line, and his eyes narrow. His brows come together to shield his eyes, making them dark and a little unnerving.

I roll my eyes and smile nervously. “Thanks, Dad, but I think I’ll be fine.” I reach for my faux leather jacket hanging off our coat rack before looping an arm through the sleeve.

He leans forward, wiping the smile off my face. “Let’s go, Natalia.”

“How’s your mom doing?”

We walked eight blocks in absolute silence, save for my heels clicking against the hard pavement. Occasionally, the clicking would speed up to catch up with Hayden’s long strides, making our silence sit even louder.

“She’s doing better,” he answers, bobbing his head up and down with a light scowl that hasn’t left his face since we walked out of my apartment. “My aunt is staying with her for a couple of weeks. So she won’t be alone.”

“Oh, that’s nice of her.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to visit her again after she leaves. Maybe check on her and help pack up my dad’s things if she’s ready.”

I reach out to smooth the sleeve of his jacket and give him a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sure she would really appreciate that.”

He moves his arm away to run his fingers through his hair, causing my hand to fall back to my side. He doesn’t go into further detail about his mom or anything else surrounding his dad’s death. We continue to walk in silence.

When we come to a stop in front of Buca’s, I see Shawn through the window. He’s seated at a small table that’s perfect for an intimate party of two, and he’s hunched over his phone.

“My date’s already inside,” I whisper. My hair flows sideways in the same direction as the cool breeze that blows by, somehow creating more distance between us. I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear and look up at him as we both pull our gazes away from the window looking in.

“Well, have fun on yourdate.” His teeth grits as he enunciates the last syllable. It’s such a simple sendoff, but he adds a small hint of ridicule to embarrass me. Teasing me as if anything about tonight can’t possibly end in any sort of happy ending. He turns to walk away. His body sways, and his hand comes up to his forehead to salute me off.

“What was that?”

He turns his head, his body still facing away from me. “What?”

“‘Have fun on your date?’”

“Was that not what I was supposed to say?”

“Hayden,” I whisper with a defeated sigh.

“No, no. You’re right,” he says as he finally turns, stepping closer to face me. “What I meant to say was that I hope you have a horrible time tonight.”

I frown, my brows knitting together as his voice turns dry, riddled with rude sarcasm. “I hope that this is the worst date you’ve ever had. And that he doesn’t get off that fucking phone of his and he makes you pay for his dinner.”

He comes so close to me, I can feel his hot breath hit my cold cheek.

Then he lowers his voice. “I hope that if for some god-awful reason you end up fucking that guy, it’s the worst sex of your life.”

Tears start to pool along the rims of my eyes, my throat constricting as all words leave me. My ears ring as my ragged breaths echo and vibrate through my chest.

“Was that what I was supposed to say to you?” His voice is deep, raspy, as the pain seeps through everything he wanted to tell me since I told him I was supposed to go on this stupid date.

We both stare at each other, this heat that sparked between us kindling into something confusing and unsure. And everything stands still. Nothing moves around us. Or if it does, I don’t notice a single thing except his dark eyes and the thick space that stretches from me to him.

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