What A Lie Looks Like | ✓

1.25: sephine

I woke up Saturday morning still completely wiped from the rehearsal the night before. When I check my phone, I see a missed call from Hayes time-stamped at twelve forty-two am, and my mind's gears are immediately asking why the hell did Hayes call me after midnight?

I press the call back button, but instead of him picking up, his voicemail does. "Hey, you've reached Hayes Benson, leave a message after the beep, or just text me like a normal person."

When I don't hear from him for another thirty minutes, I can't stop thinking about the worst-case scenario. When Ethan called, and I didn't answer- I- No. Hayes isn't Ethan. But I can't shrug the feeling that something is wrong.

I'd only been to Hayes house a few times, but I'm good enough with directions that I could get back; however, I didn't think about getting past the security gate.

"Please, I need to make sure he's okay."

The guard looks at me sympathetically, "Look, hun, I believe you when you say that you know him, but you wouldn't be the first one trying to get past to see him."

That goddamn asshole with morals. I grab my phone and pull up the missed calls, "Look, he called me at midnight, and I just want to see if he's alright. Please."

He adjusts his hat and stares at me carefully as if trying to see if I'm a trustworthy person, "I'll let you in, but next time you had better be on the list. What's the name?"

"Sephine Montgomery."

He shuts the window, and I breathe a sigh of relief as the gate opens. I pull my car forward into the neighborhood full of houses three times the size of mine. Jesus Christ, these are huge.

Getting past the next gate should be easier because the lady there should recognize me, considering I was here earlier in the week. Lucky for me, she does, but I don't recognize the BMW sitting in front of the steps?

I park behind it, and I have to admit that it's a gorgeous car, but I prefer Hayes's Audi over the BMW. Only a moment or two has passed before a maid opens the door and smiles warmly at me, "Hi, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Hayes? Is he here?"

She shifts her feet, "Well, yes, but-"

I'm sure I look insane, but if this is even remotely close to last time, I'm not sure I could go through it again. "I need to see him, it's important."

She purses her lips, "Do you know how to get to his room?"

I nod, and she opens the door to let me in, "Go on up then."

I smile gratefully at her, "Thank you so much."

The only reason I knew which room was Hayes's is because I made a comment last time I was here on the painting that hung by his door. It was an abstract one that looked somewhat familiar, and I asked Hayes about it. He looked at it and shrugged, "It's a Picasso but not one of his well-known ones." Pretty safe to say that my jaw was on the floor by that point.

I knock tentatively on the door, and Hayes opens it a second later. It's hard to put into words the amount of relief I felt at this point, and I instantly wrap my arms around him.

"Seph, what are you doing here?" He asks, closing his arms around me. I don't say anything because I just need to give myself a second to breathe after allowing my brain to go to the worst-case scenario.

However, instead of telling Hayes what I'm doing there, I pull him down to meet my lips. He complies immediately and cups my face gently. I don't want to talk. I'm just glad that he's okay. My hand rests on his bare chest, and he groans into the kiss.