Page 49 of Cocky Prince
She picks up a piece of red string from the floor and twists it between her thumb and forefinger, reminding me of the pine needle she played with during the bonfire at Zach and Nessa’s. “It was like this ripple on the lake that first day. So subtle, you know? But that ripple grew and grew. By afternoon, one girl had shoved me into a picnic table and bruised one of my ribs. I stayed home for a couple of days, just to get away from it.” She looks up. “I heard what they were saying, but I couldn’t figure out why anyone would believe something so stupid. I mean, this was me, right? I wasn’t a sexy minx.”
I beg to differ. Hayden was a quiet, sexy nerd. She just didn’t know it.
“Anyway.” She takes a sip of her beer and stares back at the string. “I returned to school, thinking the rumor had died out. But it hadn’t. It was worse. They were so angry, Adam.” Her hand drops to her lap and she closes her eyes. “The entire school, not just the students.”
The urge to hold her overwhelms me. I give in somewhat and settle for placing my hand on her knee. “I remember. You picked the wrong teacher to start an affair with,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.
She lets out a long breath that ends on a nervous laugh. Her eyes flutter to mine, moisture and pain in their golden-brown depths. “Mr. Miller was handsome, wasn’t he?”
It kills me to see her like this. I shrug. “If you like the tall, athletic sort.”
Her lips soften. Not quite a smile, but it’s something. “Every girl had a crush on him. And the guys wanted tobehim. Even the stoners paid attention in class, he was that inspirational. And the school made him leave because of me.” Her voice quavers.
Fuck. Why did I bring this up? “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Everyone thought it was.God.” She wipes her eyes and lets out a shaky breath. “I can’t believe this still bothers me. It was just so humiliating. I felt powerless. And poor Mr. Miller… The only good thing that came out of it was that he didn’t get blamed. Everyone pointed the finger at me. He denied the affair, of course, and they decided not to prosecute because the only thing the police had to go on was the anonymous call that had tipped off the school. I heard Mr. Miller found a job in a different state.”
I stare at the ground. “I’m sorry both of you went through that, and I’m especially sorry for causing you more pain at the time…after what I said to Jaeg.”
She shakes her head. “Having my boyfriend dump me—well, I’m not going to lie, it sucked. But it wasn’t my biggest issue. The rumors were so convincing, you know? A small part of me couldn’t blame people for running with it. The person who’d tipped off the school said I’d met the teacher on campus after I got off work one day, and Ihadbeen on campus that day. The security cameras caught me there. I’d gone to grab a book I needed. No one could have known those details except—”
“Jaeg’s ex,” I growl, and lean back, shoving my hand through my hair. “Jaeg finally ran her out of town, but she was a piece of work.”
“The funny thing is,” Hayden says, “I never suspected her, even though we worked together at the ice cream shop. She knew I was headed back to campus to pick up the book the day everything went down. I didn’t put it together until it was too late. Never thought anyone would do something like that just to get to my boyfriend.”
“If it makes you feel better, she put Jaeg through the wringer.”
“It doesn’t,” Hayden says, and stares at her hands. “Makes me sad. I’m glad he found Cali.”
I let out a sigh. “Jaeg survived, but what about you? Did you talk to the school?”
“After I pleaded with the principal and the superintendent that the rumors weren’t true, and they didn’t believe me, it felt impossible. Like I was going up against the world. And my family—my mom… She was a teacher at an elementary school.” Hayden’s expression turns stony. “They couldn’t fire her, but everyone at the school did what they could to let her know she wasn’t welcome. And the kids at our school made itpainfullyclear that I wasn’t welcome.”
I don’t like the sound of that.
“My parents decided to make a fresh start outside of Lake Tahoe. We tried to sell this place, but no one came to the open houses. A young family from Carson finally showed interest, but they looked into the schools for their son and heard about the rumor connected to the owners and that was the end of that. My parents weren’t willing to lower the price below market value. They rented it to tourists—people who didn’t care about small-town gossip—and we moved to Reno.”
It’s amazing how easily a lie can ruin a family. If something like this had happened to a Cade, our lawyers and public relations people would have squashed it before it could take flight. But Hayden comes from a middle-class, all-American family that suffered for no good reason. Because they didn’t have the power to do anything to stop it.
In some ways, I don’t blame Hayden for being leery of Blue Casino and wanting to make sure nothing bad is still going on. She’s trying to protect people, because that’s Hayden. I also suspect it has something to do with not having others do the same for her when she needed it.
A mix of emotions washes over me. Anger, frustration, that weird need to comfort her…and guilt because I did nothing to help Hayden back then. In fact, I made it worse by convincing her boyfriend to dump her because I didn’t want to see her with another guy. Especially not my best friend. Oh, that’s not what I told myself at the time. I convinced myself it was the best thing for Jaeg, shithead that I was.
Hayden was too good a person for me then, and she damn well is a better person than me now.
I blink back the realization and begin taping the wall, ignoring the tightening in my chest. “You wouldn’t have a problem selling this place now.”
“No,” she agrees, “but that’s not why I bought it.” She abandons the string and peels off another piece of her beer label. “It sounds crazy, but when we left, my life was so out of control. No one but my parents believed me about the teacher. Not even my boyfriend…” Her gaze flickers over, as though she’s catching herself.
A stab of guilt and something feral burns through me. “I’m sorry, Hayden. For my part. I didn’t care what they were saying. I never believed it.”
“You didn’t?”
“Of course not. Anyone who watched you with Jaeg could tell you were hooked. You would never have cheated.”
She swallows and studies me, her hand squeezing the bottle. “And you know this because you watched me?” she says carefully.
I don’t look over. “Yes. I should have said something. Should have stopped it.”
