Page 41 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

Chapter 21

Hailey

Monday

I wasn't intentionally eavesdropping. Well, not at first. But when I had opened up the door to my bedroom, their conversation spilled into my ears.

Normally I would have chimed in to let them know I could hear them, but something had caught my attention. It wasn't just the words that bothered me. It was the way that Josh had said them. "So you only have a few days of freedom left?"

What the hell did that mean? Tyler had joked around with me about being on the run. But maybe he was the one that was in actual trouble. I would have been hung up on the issue if their conversation hadn't taken a turn toward me.

"So what does that mean for you and Hailey? Does she know?" Josh asked.

"No, she doesn't know." He paused. "She just needed a ride to Pasadena and I was heading out to California anyway. We're just...friends."

I swallowed hard. Just friends? Maybe before this afternoon. But it didn't feel like just a friendship anymore to me. I really liked him.

"Oh. Sharing a bed type of friends?" Josh said.

Tyler laughed. "Can you blame me?"

That asshole!

"No, she's fucking hot," Josh said.

"Yeah. She is."

"So how is she in the sack? Better than that torch you're holding?"

Tyler laughed. "Hails is definitely a ten in bed."

My whole body felt cold. So that's all this was. A conquest? Why had I let myself think for a second it could be more? In just a few days he'd be dropping me off in Pasadena and heading back to New York. I shouldn't have been shocked by his words. But why had he let me fall asleep in his arms then? Why had he held my hand? Why did he tell me I was gorgeous? The answer was clear, but I didn't want to accept it. He did all that just to get in my pants. Like every other guy I had ever met, he was only after one thing...sex. I wanted to punch his stupid beautiful face.

I stood there for a second, trying to calm down. I closed the door hard to alert them that I was coming down. Tyler may have thought we were friends, but I certainly wasn't his friend now. As far as I was concerned, we were acquaintances that hated each other. Because I really, really loathed him right now.

I made my way down the stairs. I didn't want to be compared to the girl he was in love with. I didn't want to be second. There were enough times in my life where I was second best. I wasn't doing that again.

"Hey, guys," I said as cheerily as I could muster. "Ready for dinner?"

Tyler stood up and smiled his perfect smile. It was annoying how handsome he was.

"Yup." said Josh. "You guys are going to love this place."

***

The restaurant was covered in Texas longhorns skulls, whiskey bottles, and barrels of who knew what. We had passed a bunch of chain restaurants on the way out of the city, but I was happy to be in a place that screamed Texas. The odds of me ever coming back to this state were slim to none. And I wasn't going to let some lying ass-wipe ruin this adventure.

"I don't know many girls that drink whiskey," Josh said.

"I'm not most girls." I took a sip from my glass. It wasn't my drink of choice, but I was pretty used to drinking anything. We had gotten a cresce

nt shaped booth and I was sitting between Josh and Tyler.

"I can tell." Josh smiled at me. "So what do you know about the stranger that you've been driving around with for the past few days?"

"Enough."

Tyler laughed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

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