Nick's POV.
I had expected a lot of things on my date with Hayley. I had expected that we'll bicker all the way on our drive to the hotel. I had expected we'll have a pleasant dinner, I'd expected to drop her back at her place before midnight; but what I hadn't expected from my date with Hayley was for me to actually enjoy it. I had known she was always easier to talk to, she never judged and she was a good listener, but what I hadn't expected was the conversation between us to flow so easily.
Another thing that I hadn't expected was for Hayley to agree to try the steak which I'd insisted on her trying. I thought she'd maintain on getting a Caesar's salad and that was that. This girl kept surprising me every step into our date – real or fake, that didn't matter what mattered was that I was enjoying every minute of it.
Once the desserts were placed in front of us, I looked up at her and tried not to roll my eyes at her. I'd noticed the moment I'd picked her up from her house, she was nervous and jumpy all through our ride here. I'd thought that it'll pass after some time, too bad, she was still nervous and jumpy even after our meal, all the way through the dessert. She was looking behind her as if she could sense someone watching her, which wasn't far off as I did notice someone in one of the tables spying on us.
I'd texted my bodyguards the minute I noticed them spying on us just few minutes into this restaurant and the moment we're out of this place, they'll be taken care of. Christopher will make sure of that. I really needed to know who they were spying on me for. Maybe they were some old business competitors. Or maybe it was Penny's doing all together, either way, I wanted to know who they were and why they were here.
I didn't want Hayley to know yes, she had a reason to be paranoid. I wanted to give her a good time tonight and that was the only thing she was going to get. In order to take her mind off of anything that could make her uncomfortable, I sighed, calling her name to get her attention, "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"
Her head snapped up and she immediately looked back down at her dessert, shrugging, "Not-" I already knew what she was going to say, so I cut her off firmly.
"And don't say nothing," I shook my head at her, "You were silent all through our drive here which was so unlike you, and then now, you're sitting there and fidgeting like you want to bolt. What's wrong?"
If she told me that the stare on her back was what that was bothering her, then we'd leave this place immediately. I looked over her shoulder at the two men in suit sitting in the farther end of the restaurant, they didn't know what watching someone subtly was – my best bet was that they were new. Our eyes connected for a fraction of second and without even thinking about it they snapped their head away from me. I smirked. Rookie mistake.
"I'm just..." Hayley trailed off sighing bringing my attention back to her, "I'm just nervous is all, Nick."
"The Hayley Dixon is nervous?" Raising both my eyebrows up a little, I asked her in a playful tone.
"Stop being difficult, Nick," she sighed, "This is the first time I've been on a proper date in a very long time. The gala was different since we had so many people around, but this is different, this time we're sitting one on one and it's making me jittery. I know this is not real and all, but it just unnerves me to sit here with you, on a date."
How long had it been since she went on a proper date? How long had it been since she actually dated someone? Had someone courted her recently?
"I understand," I nodded, taking a sip of my water, "This may not be a real date, but I understand why you're so nervous about it. When was the last time you went out on a date?"
"Back in high school, a month before my graduation," she said, looking embarrassed for saying that.
"Whoa," I chuckled, completely shocked to hear her say that, "That's a long time ago."
"Yup."
"How come no one asked you on a date?" I asked, curiously, "You're pretty enough, smart enough, I mean that's what I hear through my dad, who absolutely adores you. I know for a fact that your boss has the hots for you. So, how come you never went on a date before?"
She raised an eyebrow at me. I don't know if I had somehow offended her with my question. I always had the knack for doing that. Just when I opened my mouth to apologize if I'd said anything that somehow affronted her, she brushed it off and started talking.
"I just never had time," she said, looking away, "I have a lot on my plate and adding a relationship to that mess didn't seem like a great idea. That was the reason why I never paid heed to Charlie's interest in me – I mean, I did like him, I guess, but it would've complicated my life some more and not to mention he was my boss."
I nodded, choosing to not press into the topic anymore, "So, I take it, I'm the one you finally gave the chance to take you out."
"Only because it's not real," she said with a grin on her face, letting me know that she was just messing with me.
"Dang it," I said, a grin lighting up my face, "And here I thought you were here because you genuinely liked me."
"Not even close to what I feel about you, Nicholas," she snipped playfully, "And not to mention, this is not the kind of date I'd really enjoy."
Easy to talk to, as I said.
I smirked, "So, we need to change that, won't we?"
"And what do you have in mind?"
"Tell me, Hayley," I leaned forward, looking straight into her eyes. I was issuing a challenge to her and I know she picked it in my voice, "Tell me your idea of a perfect date and let me have that experience with you."
The moment she looked back at me, and her lips slowly pulled up into a smirk, I knew whatever that was going to come out of her mouth will not be what I'd expected.
"Let's go to the club down the street."
My jaw threatened to snap open. Not even close to what I'd expected to come out of her mouth. Without another word, I paid our bill fighting with Hayley who was adamant on paying for it. Too bad, I'd already taken the tab out of the waiter's hands. When I drove her to the club down the street, it was now my turn to feel nervous. I'd not been to a club in about seven years and I'd no idea how much a club atmosphere had changed.
Before leaving the restaurant, I'd texted my bodyguards to trap the men who had been spying on us inside the restaurant. My bodyguards texted me back saying that they'd captured the men and were taking them to the headquarters where Christopher will drill them.
"I can down more than ten shots in one go," Hayley said out of the blue as we navigated our way through the packed club.
"Oh, really?" I asked, shouting over the loud music,.
"What you don't believe me?"
"I don't know," I shrugged, "I've never seen you get drunk. I've always seen you asking only for water with two cherries."
"Then I should show you just how much alcohol I can hold," she grinned at me as we reached the bar.
"Maybe you should."
"On one condition," she said, turning serious, "I'll be paying for the drinks that we're going to have."
I frowned at her, "Now what kind of a gentleman would I be if I let you pay?"
"The real one," she said, narrowing her eyes at me, "Come on, it's only fair that I paid, you paid for our food."
Raising both my hands up in surrender, I nodded at her, "Okay, you can pay."
"I don't need your permission," she said, turning to the bartender and ordering shot after shot. I placed a hand on my cheek as I watched her drown the alcohol like it was water, like it didn't bother her at all. Like the alcohol was not burning down her throat. I asked for a glass of whiskey as I watched the girl in front of me with a renewed fascination.
"Eleven," she declared, placing her shot glass down on the table with a proud grin on her face as she boasted, "I told you I can take more than ten."
I raised both my hands up in surrender, bowing my head down, "I was wrong about you, you could completely hold your alcohol down."
I took a sip of my whiskey as I watched her call the bartender, asking him for some more vodka. Some more? My hand came to rest on hers immediately as she waited for her drink. When she turned to look at me, her eyes were already droopy, "You think that's a good idea?"
"Have a little more faith in me, Nick," she told me, her huge smile partially blinding me, "I want to let loose, just for tonight, just for one day, I won't get drunk."
Even when she said she won't get drunk, I knew that was exactly what she was going to do. She was absolutely smashed in no time, but I wasn't complaining. Drunk Hayley was a woman right after my heart. She was not cautious like the sober Hayley and she threw all the inhibitions into the wind as she pulled me into the dance floor. I sound stupid, but when her hands went around my neck, I blanked for a minute before my hands came to rest against her wait, our bodies swaying to the music.
"You're so stiff," she complained, and in no time made me speechless again when she opened the first button of my shirt, "Come on, loosen up."
She was so not playing fair, but why was my body reacting so much to this woman's touch. Didn't I hate her just a mere month ago? What happened now? My eyes traveled to her soft, pink, inviting lips and I felt a rush of something inside of me. Why do I feel like I want to push her against a wall and taste her lips with mine?
I cleared my throat, shaking the thoughts of her lips out of my head, "I have a girl pressed up against me in a club surrounded by rowdy, drunk teens – an atmosphere I've not been in since I completed my high school which was almost eight years ago," she stumbled as a dancing couple collided into her from behind and I unconsciously pulled her closer to me supporting her weight, "And here you're asking me to loosen up. You're not being very fair, Hayley."
"Well, life's not fair," she disentangled herself from me, pushing a hand through my hair and musing it up a little a few times, like it was so natural for her to do as she said, "God, I'd always wanted to do that."
A ripple of shock traveled through me as her words registered in my mind, "You've wanted to run your hands through my hair?"
"Yeah," she nodded, "Your hair looked so soft, and touching it now, it didn't disappoint."
What was she doing to me? Why did I feel like she had thrust a hand into my chest and was squeezing my heart?
I groaned, not knowing how to react to her words. This was Hayley Freaking Dixon for crying out loud. "Hayley, you're so going to regret drinking so much in the morning."
"Why? The hangover?" she scoffed, "I don't get hung over."
"No, you're going to feel worse than being hung over."
Once she was contented with ruffling my hair, she dropped her hand from my hair and without missing a beat stepped closer to me – her body fitting against me perfectly. I pushed my jaw together as a specific part of my anatomy rushed with blood at her actions. I decided to not question the effect she had on my body and did something I'd wanted to do since the moment I'd seen her in this dress, looking perfectly gorgeous. I squeezed her waist gently, pulling her against me so that there was no space between us. I can tell that she liked this as much as I did.
I took her drunken state to my advantage and asked her a few questions to which sober Hayley would never give an answer. I learnt about the guy who she loved – Logan. I don't know why I felt bitter the moment she mentioned him. Jealousy, a voice inside my head chimed, but I conveniently chose to ignore it. It couldn't be jealousy. Hayley and I, we have a deal. And we're using each other – other than that there could be nothing between us.
Then why did I feel so emotional when I saw her in the hospital that day my sons were born?
I knew why I offered her the job in my company, but it definitely wasn't out of pity. This girl deserved that job, she was super smart when it came to computers. My dad had been right. Too bad I had to be an asshole and insult her to the point of no return when she had come for the interview. Vowing to bring the topic up to sober Hayley – even though it was bound to get boring when drunken Hayley was gone – I put her mind on ease.
She looked like she had still wanted to protest, but then changed her mind as she called out my name. "Nicholas." I decided that I liked the way my name sounded on her lips. So gentle, so sensual – it had never been this way, but today it was driving me crazy. I couldn't even blame it on the alcohol because I barely had any.
I knew something was going to happen between us now. I knew we were about to cross a point of no return. I knew there was no turning back. A part of me was warning me against it, but another part of me, a small part, wanted this. It wanted us to cross the line and never think about returning back.
The air between us suddenly shifted, an electricity running up and down our skin. I had been chalking her behavior to alcohol for so long, but it wasn't just alcohol or Adrenalin anymore. There was something more around us. "Yeah?" My voice had turned husky.
Her fingers trailed down the side of my face, lighting up a path of fire wherever she touched. I could feel every part of her skin touching against mine. My entire body was tensed as I heard her say something in a voice that was barely just a whisper, "You do know that you're devilishly handsome, right?"
Shock ran through my body again, and I forced myself to blink. I didn't know if I was just dreaming, or if this was actually Hayley Dixon – the girl who swore to hate my guts. What was happening to us? So many questions in my mind with little to no answer. I was not used to being caught off guard so many times in a day. Letting out a ragged breath, "Or so I've heard. It's new coming from you though. It's-" Different, I wanted to say.
She didn't let me finish my sentence though, because by then she had leaned forward and placed her lips over mine. My entire body froze and for a minute I became unresponsive. I didn't know what to do. Did I want to kiss Hayley Dixon? I mean, my dad will cut my balls, chop it into teeny tiny bits and feed it back to me if I ever hurt this girl, but could I promise something other than friendship to her? My mind was telling me to stop thinking so much about everything and to just live in the moment. And that was exactly what I did. I took a deep breath and kissed her back, just the way I'd wanted to do for some time now.
The room around us disappeared, the people around us disappeared, the music was gone. It was just me and her.
"Nicholas," she breathed, driving me crazy. When I felt she was running out of breath, I pulled away from her lips, attaching mine immediately to her neck. Gently grazing my teeth over her pulse, as I teased her.
A groan left my mouth as she raked her hand through my hair, grabbing a fistful. Tugging at it, she dragged me back to her lips and just when things were getting heated, Hayley went limp in my arms. The alcohol had finally got to her.
Really, Hayley?
Letting out a groan, this time for a completely different reason, I carried her out of the club to my car after paying the tab at the bar. Gently placing her into the passenger seat of the car, I put the seat-belt over her, chuckling as she murmured something. This girl was going to be the death of me.
Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I suddenly froze. What was I doing? This mushy shit was not at all me. I immediately jumped away from her, my back hitting the car door as I looked down at her. What the fuck is happening to me? She had had me confused. My feelings right now had had me confused. This stupid fake date had had me confused. Everything had had me confused.
Running a hand through my hair, the same hair that she had tousled up so much, I looked down at her. She was sound asleep, and I knew for a fact that I couldn't take her back to her place like that. Deciding to just take her back to my place, I closed the door to her side, and got into the driver's side.
I started to drive, my mind half on the road ahead of us, and half on the kiss and that damn mouth that was going to be haunting me in my dreams for the next week. What the fuck was I thinking? Getting involved with Hayley Dixon was playing with fire. A fake relationship was fine, I mean, when it's fake and both of us knew it no one was going to get hurt, but the moment we'd crossed the line back there, someone was bound to get hurt, and it isn't going to be me. Hurting her was the last thing that I want.
Silently, I prayed to God that she wouldn't remember the events of the night in the morning. I hoped the alcohol had that effect on her brain and wiped her memories clean, because if she remembered what we talked and that sizzling kiss we shared things were bound to get more complicated.
After I pulled the car in front of my penthouse and handed the keys to the valet for parking them in the garage, I gently lifted Hayley off her seat and out of the car as I carried her all the way up the lift to the top floor where I lived in. What awaited me when the lift opened was surprising, since I hadn't expected to see Penny standing in front of my door, pacing at this time of the night – she was probably waiting for me to get home.
Taking in a deep breath, I squared my shoulder and got ready for what was coming. My stalker of an ex-girlfriend stopped pacing when she heard the lift door opening, but her calm expression vanished and her nostrils flared as she turned around and saw Hayley in my arms fast asleep, her head resting against my shoulder.
"What're you doing here?" I asked, rolling my eyes as she glared at me.
"The real question is what're you doing with that bitch?" she asked, crossing her arms as she pointed to Hayley with her chin, her eyes narrowing, "And can't she walk?"
"Don't you have eyes?" I asked, testing her temper on purpose, "She's asleep."
"What's she doing with you?"
"Why's that any of your concern?" I rang the calling bell of my house, waiting for the door to open.
"I'm your girlfriend, dammit!" she scowled at me, as Marcia opened the door, "And even your house maid wouldn't respect me. She said I was not welcome in your house anymore."
"Give me a minute," I said calmly as I walked inside my house, closing the door behind me. Gently lowering Hayley on the couch, I gave Marcia a reassuring smile before stepping out of the house again to deal with Penny. The moment I stepped outside again, Penny's eyes lit up and I raised my hand letting her know that there was something I needed to tell her. "First of everything, Marcia is not just my housemaid, she's so much more than that. And she was absolutely right in telling you that you're not welcome inside my house anymore. And you – you're not my girlfriend, never going to be. The woman I carried in my arms, she's my girlfriend. Hayley Dixon; the only woman who completely has my heart in the palm of my hands. The next time you stand in front of my house, trying to belittle the people that I love, remember that."
"Love?" she growled, taking a step forward, "You hardly know that girl and suddenly you love her?"
"I know her enough, Penny," I said, "Just leave. You're humiliating yourself. Have some self-respect."
"I don't have self-respect?" she yelled and I had to look over my shoulder at Hayley's sleeping form to make sure that she hasn't woken up from the sound, "And your Hayley does? She didn't even give a few months for our breakup to heal before pouncing on you the first chance she got and she has more self-respect than me? Me, who's still fighting for our love?"
"What love?" I chuckled humorlessly, "If you'd actually loved me, you wouldn't have left, if you'd actually loved me you wouldn't have lied to me, if you'd had really loved me, you'd have told me that you were pregnant with twins immediately when you told me that you were pregnant rather than waiting for the right moment to drop it on me like a bomb. You were just using me all along. You didn't love me, Penelope. You never did."
"I made a mistake, Nicho. All humans do," she argued, "And how could some of my small mistakes erase almost two years of our relationship?"
"It could," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "Maybe I was the one who hadn't been truthfully in love with you, because I have moved on – as quickly as I could," I stressed each word for her to actually get it into her head, "You coming to my office, or coming here to my house, or getting people to spy on me, nothing is actually going to change it. I'm in love with another woman, so back off."
"Nicho, you-"
"Look, I've been very patient with you, but you're testing my limits right now," I cut her off, narrowing my eyes at her menacingly, "We're over. We've been over for a long time. You're the mother of my children, so I have little bit of respect for you, so don't spoil that by doing this again and again. And the next time you talk about Hayley, remember that, I'll take extreme measures to shut you up. Now, leave before I call the securities to throw you out of here and ban you from this building forever."
And that was how Penny Dalton left my penthouse.
A few minutes after she had left, Christopher had called. I answered the call, thinking that he was going to confirm my suspicions that the men spying on us were sent by Penny – but what he had said to me was completely different; it threw me off my game.
"Nicholas, those men were not sent by Penny to spy on you, but were sent by Brandon Hastings to spy on Hayley."
"What?"
"Yeah, I have no clue why anyone, much less Mr. Hastings would send men to spy on Hayley, of all the people."
My hand tightened around my phone as I exhaled a heavy breath. Mr. Hastings was not a man to be messed with. Briefly I remembered the less than pleasing conversation that Hayley had had with Elijah Hastings some time ago, and if I had suspected then, now I'm pretty sure there had been something between them in the past. I remembered the hatred with which Elijah Hastings had glared at Hayley and the way she had talked back to him, the way her eyes blazed with pain at his words. But Elijah Hastings was not the man I needed to be cautious about, Brandon Hastings was. That man could single-handedly mess up anyone's life just because he felt like it.
Not that I was scared of an old man, it's just that I'd rather not go around cleaning up messes that I wasn't responsible for – it simply is too much of effort on my side and I needed to think about my family. Anything that threatens the peace and quiet of my family needed to stay as away from me as possible – I sound incredibly selfish, I know; but as I said, my family is everything to me.
I didn't even have to think before saying out the next words, "Get Michael to run a background check on Hayley Dixon. And I want every little detail about her."
For a brief second, I wondered why my dad hadn't run it in the first place. Did he blindly trust her, or did he know something that none of us did.
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