Renegade

Little Girl

Hailey felt like she was being watched as she pulled away from Kolby. She turned on her heel to see Brantley sitting on the deck with a water bottle in hand. She peered up at Kolby to let him know she was going over. He nodded and watched as she made her way to Brantley. Amber came walking out of the house, red solo cup in hand. Great she thought. 

"Hey, B." 

"Hey, darlin'." Brantley greeted Hailey with a hug as well. Amber stood next to him, glaring at her. 

"Hey," Hailey offered up a small wave in acknowledgement that went unnoticed. 

Amber gave a half ass smile, rolling her eyes. "Brant, we should get going soon."

"We just got here, baby." His low husky voice almost too quiet to be heard. He placed his arm around her waist, pulling her in to him. 

"Well, I told you if we were coming I couldn't stay long." Amber whined. Hailey shot her a look. She could bet a million dollars that had something to do with the guy she saw her with in the parking lot two nights ago. 

A light bulb went off in Hailey's head. "I can drive you home B, if you want to let her take your truck back." 

Amber's head swiveled faster than green grass through a goose. Brantley looked between the two girls before answering. 

"Here." He grabbed his truck keys out of his front pocket, handing them over to Amber. Her jaw dropped in disbelief. 

"Really, Brantley. You are making me drive your truck back?" Her hands placed on her hips, she was copping an attitude the size of Texas. 

"I'm not ready to go home yet, babe. So take the truck back. Hails said she will give me the ride home no problem." He stood up. "I'll walk you out." 

Hailey tried not to smirk, but felt fairly pleased with herself. She grabbed herself a drink while she waited for Brantley to come back. 

She was bent over, rummaging through the teal colored Yeti cooler, when there was a smack on her behind. She jumped up, placing her hand where someone else had just done the same. 

"Brantley Keith!" She yelled out. He let out a big ol' belly laugh, seemingly in a lighter mood than he was before Amber had left. He grabbed the bottle from her hand and popped the top off, handing it back. She raised it up as a thank you and took a swig of the hard seltzer. Kolby looking over his shoulder every few minutes. 

"Hey, B. I wanted to talk to you about something." Hailey swallowed, unsure if this was the right time. However, knew there never was going to be that right time for anything. 

"What's got you're knickers in a twist, sugar?" He asked, peering at her under his black baseball cap. His green eyes brighter than she had ever seen them. 

She waited a minute, contemplating on how to put it. But decided it was best juts to get it out. "B, I saw Amber the other night. With another guy." 

"Her brother's in town. She had said that they were going to get dinner." He replied nonchalantly. 

"Does she kiss her brother on the neck by chance?" Hailey's voice getting a little higher. 

Brantley looked at her confused. 

"Brantley, I know you might not want to hear this. But I think Amber is messing around on you. I have seen both of her brothers before. And I am fairly certain that she doesn't do that when she greets them." 

Brantley paused, searching her blue eyes. His fists starting to ball up at his sides. He leaned his head back looking up at the sky, running his hands over his face. Hailey stood still, not sure what was running through his head at this very moment. She went to put her hand on his arm, when he yanked it back. 

"Hailey, what are you trying to do here. Huh? Are you still mad about the other night?" Brantley was practically growling at her now, forcing her to step back in surprise. 

"No, no I..."

"You seem to have such a problem with Amber. I love that girl and I'll be damned if I don't marry her one day. I need my best friend to have my back. Not stab me in it." 

Tears started to form in her eyes. Those words stung like stepping on a bee in the middle of summer. She couldn't believe that he would ever say something like that to her. 

"Going to stand up for your little girl now?" Brantley yelled to Kolby, who was watching the whole thing unfold in front of him. 

He pushed passed her, brushing his arm against hers as he made his way through the house and out the front. Hailey wasn't sure what he was doing. And quite frankly, she didn't really care. She wiped furiously at the tears starting to fall. Taylor came running around the side of the house. 

"What in God's name is going on?" She asked, looking between Hailey and Kolby. No one said a word. It was like time had stopped. Every person at the party was eerily quiet. You could hear the frogs croaking and the peepers coming out to play.