99

99
HAYLEY’S P.O.V

Kate was panicking and it was pissing me off.

It wasn’t that I didn’t empathize with her- I did. I couldn’t begin to imagine how she felt in the moment. I was just strung up as it was and she was making it worse.

“Are you alright?” she asked for what felt like the tenth time in one minute and I nodded.

I sat on the cold bathroom floor, my hands on the toilet seat simply because I didn’t have the energy to move. My stomach was still churning and my head was pounding like crazy. The last thing I wanted was to get up and throw up again.

“Do you need me to call Jake?” she began before stopping herself. “He’s with the police, of course I can’t call him. Perhaps I could pull your dad out?”

“Dad is his lawyer,” I cut her off. “They have to be together.”

“Should I call an ambulance?”

“I threw up, I’m not dying,” I dragged myself to my feet slowly and made my way over to the sink to clean up.

I hated the after taste that vomit left in my mouth more than anything.

Behind me, Kate was still pacing and staring at me with wide eyes and concern.

“I know you’re not telling me something. You don’t seem like the person to throw up because of the police unless something happened.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what-”

“I threw up because I’m pregnant, not because of the police. Now will you please stop pacing, you are driving me insane.”

Her steps ceased and she turned to me with her jaw open. She tried to speak but no words would come out. She just looked between me and my stomach and back to my face.

I rolled my eyes, brushing past her as I made my way back to the bed. I still felt a little dizzy so I curled up on Jake’s side. The pillow still smelled like him, and I pulled it closer to my chest.

“What the fuck?” Kate asked, finally snapping herself out of her stupor. “You don’t just get to drop a bomb like that and say nothing.”

“There are more important things to handle right now.”

“There is a baby inside of you. Don’t you realize how serious that is?”

“Really?” I turned to her with a bland expression. “I didn’t know that. Thank you for informing me what pregnancy is.”

Her cheeks tinged pink. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound condescending. I just- I’m out of my depth here.”

“And that is the way it has to be.”

Before I could say more, the door opened and Jake walked in. As soon as I saw him, I sat up, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Katherine, please leave,” he began slowly.

I expected her to nod and walk out but instead, she crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. “No. You don’t get to throw me out of the room now.”

“Katherine. This isn’t a game. This is real life and it is dangerous.”

“You had me lie to the police already. I am sure that I am already in danger. I deserve to hear the truth at least.”

I turned to Jake, wondering what he would say about it but at the last minute, he just sighed and turned away from her. “They didn’t come to see me.”

I sighed in relief.

I hadn’t realized just how worried I was until now that he was safe. I opened my mouth to speak when a revelation hit me. If they weren’t here for Jake then-

I immediately turned to dad. “You?”

He nodded slowly. “I just happened to be here at the moment.”

“What did they want?”

“Nothing serious. They wanted to see the both of us actually. I think they were just probing around and trying to see if we would have any reaction.”

“Do they suspect anything?”

He shook his head. “They think it is a robbery gone wrong. It is going to remain that way and this conversation will never leave this place. Am I clear?”

I nodded. “Crystal.”

He turned to Kate who turned a bright shade of pink before nodding. “I swear it.”

“Good.” Dad ran his fingers through his hair. “I swear I have aged at least ten years since this year began. It has been one issue after another. I hope for all of our sakes that we don’t have any more of them.”

I couldn’t help but mumble in agreement as I lay back against the pillows.

I was exhausted.

I closed my eyes to take a breather and heard footsteps make their way over to me. I felt a warm and callused hand brush my curls away from my face as the bed dipped beside me.

“As much as I love having you all inside my room, I need everyone to get the fuck out,” Jake said without missing a beat.

There was a moment of shocked silence before dad spoke. “We have things to discuss.”

“I know that, and we can talk about them later.”

“I may not be free later.” I could almost hear the amused taunt in dad’s voice.

Jake sighed. “I have the utmost respect for you, Michael, but get the fuck out of my house, right now.”

I opened my eyes just a little to find dad fighting a smile.

I was relieved that he was finally coming around and getting used to the sight of Jake and I together. He whispered a good-bye to me before walking out of the room with Kate behind him.

Only when they were gone did Jake finally lean down and press a kiss to my temple. “Your skin is warm.”

I shrugged. “I was worried for you. I thought they found out.”

“They will never.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“I hired the very best of the best. Every piece of evidence has been washed off and the murder weapon is in another state very far from here. It will take years before they piece together what happened.”

I swallowed deeply and placed my head in his lap.

I wasn’t naïve, I knew how things like this worked, but the truth was, I didn’t want to know the details. It was better to not know the truth.

Sometimes I wondered if I was flawed, if there was something very wrong with me that I didn’t feel bad over Charles’ death. Sure, he was a bastard, but he wasn’t the worst of the worst. There were people far worse who deserved death, and I wouldn’t go out of my way to end their lives.

And yet, I had killed him and allowed Jake to cover it up for me.

“Do you sometimes think that it would have been easier if we just went to the police in the first place?” I whispered. “We wouldn’t have to be so secretive.”

He was silent for a moment. “I don’t like to think about what ifs We cannot change the past.”

“True, but now we’re stuck together. We cannot leave each other because we have each other’s deepest secrets.”

The corner of his lips turned up. “That works for me because I never planned on leaving you. I’m going to make an honest woman out of you, Hayley Davis, and I’m going to have you by my side for the rest of my life.”

“That’s a long time,” I whispered, sitting up so I could face him.

“Not long enough.” He pulled me into his lap so that I was straddling him and kissed me slowly. “You are the perfect antidote to a bad day.”

He kissed me again, his fingers trailing up my thigh, taking my skirt with it as his tongue slipped into my mouth and his hips rolled into mine.

“Jake-”

“I need you right now, baby girl, and I’m not patient enough to go slow. If you tell me to stop-”

“Don’t,” I moaned. “Please.”

I needed him just as much as he needed me.

My fingers made quick work of his pants and I pulled him out.

We didn’t take the time to undress each other, that wasn’t what we needed, not right now, at least. He just pushed my panties to the side and slammed me down hard on his cock.

For a moment, every thought, every whisper of logic flew out of my mind, and it was perfect.