I kneel beside the couch. “Kyle. Kyle wake up.” I nudge him gently.
He continues to twitch and moan. “Stop!” he cries.
“Kyle.” I nudge him a little harder and he wakes, startled.
He sits bolt upright, letting out quick, uneven ragged breathes. He peers down at where I’m knelt on the carpet in front of him, his gorgeous blue eyes even manage to penetrate through the darkness of the room.
“Hayley?”
“Yeah. I heard you shouting, I think you were having a nightmare.”
Even after everything that happened yesterday at the casino, after everything he did, I can’t help but feel sorry for him, sympathize with him. I’ve had nightmares that have had me questioning what was real and what wasn’t. Nightmares so bad I’ve woken up to find my pillow soaked in tears, my eyes red raw from crying, my throat sore from screaming. Whatever he was dreaming about, it can’t have been anything good.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
His face hardens and he releases me from his gaze, looking away. “Yeah. Go back to bed,” he replies sharply.
“Are you sure? You don’t want to talk about it?”
“No, why the hell would I want to talk about it?” he snaps. He lies back down and rolls over leaving me sat staring at his back.
I sit there in silence, stunned at his bluntness.
“You know, considering what you’ve done, I could have just left you. Sorry for wanting to make sure you were alright. I won’t bother next time.” And with that, I stand and walk away, back into the bedroom.
I crawl back under the covers but no matter how hard I try, I can’t get back to sleep. My mind retraces over everything that has happened in the last forty-eight hours, going over every single detail. I must lie awake for hours. It isn’t until the early morning sunlight fills the room that I finally drift back off to sleep.
Chapter 10
Hayley
“Uncle Jack, hey, it’s me. Look, I know it’s short notice, but could I have the next few days off?”
“Is everythin’ alright? Are you sick?” he asks, I can hear the worry woven into his voice through the phone.
“No, it’s not that…” I trail off, trying to find a suitable excuse, a suitable lie to tell him, “it’s just that, all these extra shifts are taking their toll on me.”
“So, you’re sick?”
“I’m just worn out.” Not a total lie.
He sighs deeply into the phone. “Okay, take a few days off, come back when you feel better. Your dad’s been calling me, asking if I’ve heard from you, are you sure you’re okay, you’re not in any trouble?”
“No, no, nothing like that. I’m fine, I promise.”
He pauses for a moment. “Okay. You know where I am if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Uncle Jack. I love you.”
“Hey, that’s what family’s for, I love you too, sweetheart.” I hang up the phone and toss it onto the bed, next to where I’m sat, my legs crossed under me, tucked under the soft warm covers.
I sit and peer around the room, it’s a moderately sized room, decorated in white and black. It’s not too small that it feels cramped, but not too large that it feels empty and too big. Thick heavy curtains hang at the large window overlooking the city below, casting a beam of light onto the four-poster king sized bed in the center of the room. A tall, wide dresser sits opposite the bed, a small armchair off to the left in the corner by the window.
It’s late morning, I’ve been asleep for hours, if it had been up to me, I’d sleep all day, wanting to avoid Kyle and put off facing him for as long as possible though I’m going to have to face him eventually. What the atmosphere will be after last night is anyone’s guess, but it’s guaranteed to be awkward.
I haven’t got a clue where we stand with each other, I’m not even sure how I feel about him, I should hate him, I want to hate him, I guess I do, but there’s also a small part of me that doesn’t hate him at all.
Of course, I’m angry with him for how he tricked my dad at the casino, how he’s giving me no option but to remain here with him. But I’m also grateful for how he saved me last night, if he hadn’t have been there, I hate to think how the night would have ended, well, I know how it would have ended, the same way as it did the last time. He didn’t have to come after me, he didn’t have to step in, he could have just turned a blind eye and let what was going to happen, happen. But he didn’t.
But he knew exactly what he was doing when he made that deal, he knew that my only choice was to stay here to be able to pay off our debts, if I leave, I leave my dad and I with nothing, we’ll be back to square one.
Now I was paying the price, forced to spend a week with a man that both infuriates me and yet intrigues me at the same time. A man that makes my heart skip a beat, that sends a sliver of electricity down my spine, that radiates throughout my body, that evokes feelings within me that I once considered lost to me.
I just wish I could stop my body from reacting to him, from wanting him so much.
My mind and my body are at war, I just have to decide which side I’m on.
I swing out of bed and head for the bathroom, pulling on yesterday’s clothes that I left
