The Unexpected Series (Unexpected #1-3) (70 page)

Her eyes close and I see her instantly relax. Her chest rises and falls before asking, “What’s the fee?”

When I don’t answer right away her lashes flutter open and she peers over at me. “Ryder?”

“Hadley?”

“Ryder?” She chuckles, hitting me in the chest.

“I want another question answered. I help you, you answer a question.”

Without hesitation, she turns me down. “No.”

I reach over, hitting the button to lock all the doors. Her eyes go wide as she pulls on her handle. It doesn’t budge.

“Open the door, Ryder.” Her tone comes out as a warning.

I shake my head. “You have two options, Hadley. Answer one simple little question and I’ll unlock your door, or climb over me and use mine.” I pat my thighs for emphasis.

I wink at her as disbelief plays over her features and she crosses her arms over her chest. Part of me wants her to answer my question. The other part would love for her to climb up over my lap.

“What do you want to know?”

I turn in my seat, letting my knee lean up against the console. “What happened with your boyfriend that I’m here helping you out and not him?”

For a moment I think she might not answer. Maybe she will make my fucking week and climb over me.

“I don’t really know.” She sighs. “Last night I asked him to go sledding and he said no. Then I brought up his work Christmas party and he practically jumped down my throat about it and left. I haven’t heard from him since.”

She sounds sad. I feel bad for her. It sounds like this Braden douche isn’t good enough for her.

“What does he do? Where does he work?” I ask as I hit unlock on the door.

She makes a tsking noise with her tongue and pulls her handle. This time she is successful in opening it. “Only one question per save, Ryder.”

~~

B
y the time I get to work we have call after call and I have barely any time to catch my breath. After all the training with James a few months ago, he was moved for promotion purposes. As much as I wanted to get along with him we just could never see eye to eye. I got a new partner, Nate, but I see James all the time and right now he is listening to Nate give me shit at the end of our shift on why I’m so fucking happy today.

“You’ve been walking around here lately like your dog died and today you come in here like you got the greatest fucking pussy last night,” Nate says shoving his shoulder into me.

James is leaning against a locker staring at our interaction. His stance is menacing.

“Fuck off,” I tell him. Nosy asshole.

“For real though,” he continues. “You gettin’ some good shit now?”

Nate knows that Wendy and I are just friends but tend to scratch our itches when we need to. We’re just having fun, but I know the reason for my mood change.

“Nah. Something better,” I answer back, desperate to tell him like I’m some teenage chick. “That girl I went to high school with. I saw her last night when our group was up at the hill to sled. She came barreling down and ran right into me. Well,” I continue. “Her car wouldn’t start and she didn’t have a cell to reach that asshole boyfriend of hers so I drove her home. When I passed by this morning I stopped to make sure she had a car and he still hadn’t called, so I gave her a ride to her car. I don’t know, man. Even though she was standoffish I feel like maybe I might be able to get somewhere with her. That guy seems like he is going to make it easy on me.” I laugh, feeling bad for that poor bastard.

Okay, I don’t feel bad at all.

James’ phone rings and he excuses himself. Nate continues to pump me for more info on Hadley.

“This chick has got you strung up this badly, even years later? Even after she dumped your ass without even dumping your ass?”

I don’t expect Nate to understand. He has a wife and a son but they always seem to be the last of his priorities. When I was with Hadley I always put her first. For a brief moment, I allow myself to think about where we could be right now if she would have given me the chance to be there for her. To show her my support of her dream.

Kids? I don’t know

Married? Maybe.

Engaged at the least.

Working where we are? Me? Yes. Her? Hell no. I would make sure that the job she had would be one that she loves.

Maybe she does love event planning but I doubt I would see the love and lust in her eyes that I saw when she painted a picture. I think about that waterfall picture in her house and imagine her smiling with each stroke of the brush as she painted it.

Nate throws questions like rapid fire at me, and I answer them as much as I can always respecting Hadley with each answer. I never really talked to anyone besides AJ about her, and it feels almost therapeutic to get someone else’s opinion. Just like James did months ago, Nate tells me that if there isn’t a ring on her finger, then there is still a chance.

I’m never one to mess with someone’s girlfriend, and I still have no idea why she left in high school without telling me. Now that I think about it, maybe that should have been my question earlier in the car. I could have found out her true reasons for ditching me. Even if the information that she and her boyfriend may be on the fritz can be used to help me out I would still like to know why I couldn’t even get so much as an email when she left.

“I need a drink,” I state clutching my bag into my hand.

A huge smile comes across Nate’s face. “Hooligan’s?”

We get our shit together and decide to catch happy hour with a few of the other officers who do traffic. They all exchange stories of conquests during their days in college and I just sit back and think about how I am going to “save” Hadley again so she has no choice but to give in and tell me why they hell she left me.

I
walk into the office and stop mid-stride when I hear a weird noise. A table scrapes the floor. A chair shifts.

“Yea, Sunshine. Just like that.” A rough male voice groans out.

Oh my God. I can’t believe Noe and Trent are at it again!

I slam my bag down on my desk hoping they hear it and stop their almost daily game of hide Trent’s dick somewhere inside Noelle.

They don’t.

Ever since those two crazy kids got together they never separate. They literally don’t separate. I wouldn’t be surprised if Noelle got knocked up soon with how many times I’ve caught them having sex or how many times she has told me they have. I’m happy for them though. Trent just lost the mother of his son to cancer two months ago and even though they weren’t together he had a rough time with all of it. He’s always had a thing for Noe but I think it took a hard push from Alex, his ex, during her final months to get him to really realize what’s important. Alex wanted to leave knowing that Jason, Trent’s and her son, had a great mother figure around. Noe loves Jason like her own.

I pick up the phone and check our voicemails not daring to make any return calls until Noelle and Trent have finished their rendezvous in the conference room. I’ve made that mistake once and will never do it again. Luckily no one else is coming in today and we have no appointments in the office.

Twenty minutes later, I hear the door open and the fornicators come down the hallway finding me.

“Oh shit!” Noelle yells, jumping back like I scared her.

Trent kisses her on the cheek and gives me a big cheesy smile. “What’s up, Hadley?” he asks just before making it to the door. He looks disheveled and sexy. His Decker Construction polo shirt squeezes the muscles all that manual labor gave him.

I continue typing away at an email. “Obviously you were.”

A boisterous laugh leaves his lips, and I look up finding a proud look on his face.

“Well,” Noelle says walking towards him, running her fingers over his biceps. “I took care of that for you didn’t I, Trent?”

He grabs her face with one hand and pulls her in for a long kiss. “That you did, Sunshine. That you did.”

After he steps out Noe walks down the hallway, probably to sanitize the table in the conference room. When she returns, I inform her about the Christmas party for Braden’s work and how since he pitched a fit about even going last night that he won’t be happy about us planning it.

“Why is he being such a douche?” she asks sipping away at her fresh cup of coffee.

I slump into the back of my chair. “I don’t know. He’s wanted to go every year! Plus, my car broke down last night and I couldn’t get a hold of him. Ryder had to take me to replace the battery this morning.”

“
Ryder
had to take you?” Her voice raises an octave and I almost have to cover my ears.

“It’s not a big deal.” I wave a hand at her knowing full well she will. “Don’t make it a big deal, Noelle.” One girl’s night I had too much to drink and told her all the sordid details. How I was infatuated with him in high school. How he went full force after me once the summer before our senior year started and how he ripped my heart out there underneath the bleachers of the football stadium. Not to mention how just weeks after I left he was nailing down any girl he could hammer. I found out after I confided in Emie.

“I have to call him.” I think to myself, glancing down onto the black and white tile floor of my aunt’s guest bathroom as I chip away the polish on my fingernails.

I take a deep breath and dial the ten numbers to talk to Ryder for the first time in three weeks. Just as I’m about to hit the send button I see Emie’s name pop up onto the screen.

“Hey, Em,” I answer sounding as torn down as I feel. I’ve never felt so alone in my life as I do right now. Sure, I’ve made some friends at the arts school and I talk to Emie on a daily basis but right now, well, I know things are about to change in a major way.

“I miss your face, Hadley. Come back to school,” she replies making me smile for the first time since this morning. When I don’t respond she asks, “What are you doing?”

I look at what sits beside me where I sit on the floor and my stomach drops, again. “I was about to call Ryder.”

“Ugh.” She groans. “Why would you want to do that? If he isn’t even asking about you why should you care?”

After I left I broke down and told her everything, and she has been keeping me in the loop of all things Ryder, even if I don’t want to hear them. Most of them I don’t want to hear.

“He still hasn’t even asked about me?” I ask dejectedly into the phone.

I can hear her blow out a breath into the receiver. “Nope. Not once, and he knows we’re best friends. But he’s too busy with half the cheerleading squad to bother seeking me out to find you. I wouldn’t hold your breath, Hads. Do NOT call him.”

My head falls into my hands as tears threaten to spill. “He’s onto cheerleaders now?”

I hear tapping in the background, most likely on her computer. “Well, he’s really into Bridgette Tate lately.” She giggles to herself before she twists the knife in my chest more. “Mentally and physically if you know what I mean?”

I can see it even through the phone. The wink Emie gives when she turns something innocent into something sexual. But her words strike me like lightning. Bridgette Tate. I hate that girl and now here I sit, my future literally in my hands, and he probably has Bridgette in his. I’m mad. Pissed. At Ryder. At Bridgette. At Emie for acting like what she’s saying isn’t crushing me.

“I have to go.” I lift my finger up to hit end waiting for her to say bye.

“You’re not going to call him, are you?” she asks frantically acting as though she didn’t just rip my heart out all over again.

“No but I’ll talk to you later, Em. Love you.” I hit end and lay down letting the cold tile soothe my heated body.

He’s out there screwing around while I’m here dealing the consequences of our supposed “love.”

I pick up the long white plastic test that lies next to me, gaping at it. The plus sign staring me dead in the face.

Pregnant.

“Someone looks deep in thought,” Noe comments, interrupting my miserable trek down memory lane, while she reads the messages I left on her desk.

Getting myself together I look over and smile at her.

“Kinda,” I start. “I have to go meet Janie this afternoon to talk to her about what she wants to do this year for the annual Christmas party. I have so many great ideas. Do you want to come with me?”

A chuckle escapes from her belly. “I’m good. I just came with Trent but you go ahead. Let me know how it goes.”

I shake my head at her. “I should be shocked by the things that come out of your mouth.”

Her shoulders rise in a shrug. “Usually come goes in my mouth.” She winks and goes back to her messages.

I try calling Braden three more times before I head over there, hoping he has listened to his messages. I’d hate to blindside him just showing up to his work.

~~

M
y car gave me no issues when I started it up and now I’m sitting in front of Braden’s job, trying again to call him and looking at his car wondering how this is all going to play out. I still don’t understand what went wrong. Why he doesn’t want to go. Why he walked out of the house and hasn’t returned my phone calls. Why it seems like we’re back on our downward slope. Why I’m nervous to walk in those doors knowing that he is in there. Somewhere.