Page 43 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

"Nah, Tyler and I are cool."

"You don't want to get back at him? Even just a little?"

Tyler cleared his throat from behind me. "Hails, can I talk to you for a second?"

Chapter 22

Tyler

Monday

What the hell was going on? Before we had shown up at Josh's, Hailey was completely into me. We were in a good place. Yeah, we had a lot to talk about. But I never thought she'd be trying to hook up with my friend right in front of me. What was her problem?

"Just a second," she said. She leaned over and whispered something in Josh's ear and they both laughed.

If this was some kind of jealousy game, it was working. The problem was, I had no clue why she wanted to make me jealous. This afternoon I had thought we were on the same page. Clearly I was a few chapters behind her and I had some catching up to do.

I watched her put her hand on Josh's arm, just like she had with the guys at the bar the first night I met her. I didn't know what was real and what was fake. I slid out of the booth. There was no way I was going to ask her twice. Either she wanted to talk to me or she didn't. I walked toward the restroom. She didn't follow me.

I leaned against the wall. The fact was that I didn't really know Hailey. Really, one of the only things I did know about her was that she needed money. Could that be what this was? Was she really flirting with Josh because it would be convenient to fall for someone who could fix her problems with a snap of his fingers? Fuck that. I wasn't going to put myself in a situation again where I lost a game I couldn't win. Hailey wasn't Penny. But right now, it sure felt the same.

"What's up?" Hailey said.

I hadn't even heard her come over. Something about the casual way she asked me that made my blood boil. She had this way of crawling under my skin. I didn't need this right now.

"Never mind, it's nothing. I'm going to get an Uber back to Josh's. I'm beat. Have a good night." I brushed past her.

"Really? That's how you're going to play this?" she said to my back.

I turned around to face her. "Play what? I think it's pretty clear what's going on here."

"And what is that?"

"You know he's loaded. And you're in debt. It's easy to connect the dots."

She shook her head. "You think I'm hitting on Josh because he's rich?"

"Yeah. I do."

"God." She folded her arms across her chest. "I'm not a hooker. I don't need anyone's handouts. I'm flirting with him because you're an asshole!"

The people sitting near us were starting to stare. I walked back into the small hallway where the restroom was and pulled her with me. "I'm an asshole? You're the one flirting with my friend mere hours after we had sex. Take a look in the mirror, Hailey."

"And what will I see? The sharing a bed type of friend?" She put air quotes around the word friend. "A ten in bed? A conquest?"

Shit. So that's what this was about? She had overheard me talking to Josh? That was just guy talk. She had to know that.

"I was starting to really like you, Tyler. I thought that we could be more than whatever this stupid road trip is. But obviously I was wrong. I've always been a shitty judge of character. It's great to know that all you think I care about is money, though. I'm so glad you have such a high opinion of me." She stormed past me and into the women's bathroom.

Fuck. I glanced back toward the restaurant. No one was on their way over. I had just called Hailey a gold digger. I needed to clear the air. Now. But just because no one was on their way in, it didn't mean the bathroom wasn't already occupied by other women. Damn it.

I walked back over to our booth to prevent myself from following her.

"If you hadn't already slept with her, I'd totally call dibs," Josh said as I sat back down.

Every part of me wanted to punch him in the face. But this wasn't his fault. It was because Hailey had overheard a conversation between us.

"Could you back off a little?" I said.

---