Page 99 of Redemption
“Are you serious right now? He was mean to her, Hayes, and you and I both know it didn’t do us any good to let Langston walk away.”
“Hey,” he says, tugging my arm, “look at me.”
I want to fight it, to deny what he’s asking because I’m angry—with Tanner, and him, and Langston too for leaving—I’m angry at it all, but I give in, tilting my face up and letting him pull me to him just an inch.
It’s hard to swallow past the sadness that’s filling my throat. Hayes’s fingers slide down my arm and interlace between mine.
“I’m letting him walk away for your sake, not his. You’re mad right now, and I get that, but once you cool down, you’ll regret handling it this way. I don’t want you to have any more regrets.”
“Do you think we are ever going to get through to him?” I whisper around the tears.
“I don’t know, baby, but we can’t give up on him. He needs us.”
“But are we enough?”
Hayes’s eyes are sad as he remembers a time when another boy needed our help, but no matter how hard we tried—we weren’t enough.
“Maybe we aren’t, but we have to keep trying.”
Chapter 30
Mallorie Jade
“Everyone gather around.” Hayes’s voice rises above the chatter of the boys clumped together on the sidewalk.
We are standing outside of an industrial brick building two counties over.
The neighborhood is run down. Trash litters the alleyways, and grass grows through the cracks in the sidewalks. The stoops on the buildings sag, but it’s the men who stand watching on the other side of the street that make me nervous. Instead of focusing on them, I drag my attention back to Hayes, waiting for him to explain what we are doing here.
Confusion mars the boys’ faces as they turn toward their coach. Hayes stands on the bottom step of the bus, looking out over them.
I’m at the back of the crowd, and unless he’s looking for me, Hayes can’t see me. The boys in front of me are just tall enough to provide me with cover but short enough to study Hayes without him knowing.
Authority is etched into the corners of his mouth as he waits for the team to quieten down, and as he stares out over them, their voices lower to murmurs and then disappear altogether. The gray in his eyes is darker today, more pronounced in the sun, and when his eyes meet mine, they darken even more, his eyelids becoming hooded.
He was looking for me.
It shouldn’t be a surprise because he’s always been the first person I look for in a crowd, but it is because that look he’s giving me feels like he’s looking into the deepest parts of me—seeing the person I want to be.
A shiver runs down my spine.
“You’re both playing with fire,” Campbell says, his voice coming from behind me, and I nearly jump out of my skin, breaking eye contact with Hayes and knocking into the boy to my left. The boy sends me a dirty look, and I apologize before turning to face Campbell.
I don’t know how long I was standing there staring at Hayes, but the raised eyebrow and knowing look on Campbell’s face says that I probably wasn’t all that subtle about it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.
Campbell purses his lips, not falling for it, but I stick to my guns, crossing my arms and planting my feet wide.
I’m as stubborn as it comes, especially when it comes to things I’m hiding from myself.
“Don’t worry,” Campbell smiles, “I’ll be here waiting for it all to burn to the ground so I can pick up the ashes for both of you.”
The man speaks in riddles, and it drives me nuts.
“Say what you mean, Campbell.”
He shrugs. “Fine. This idea that you guys can be just friends is a joke. We all know you were always meant to be more.”
