46. Hailey

EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD

FORTY-SIX

Hailey was out in the stables, methodically brushing the mare's coat. The day was fading away, the light in the massive stables going dim and tossing a stilled peace through the space.

This was her favorite time of day. When most of the hands had finished their jobs and had gone back to their cabins or left the property if they lived offsite. The horses fed and quieted as the bright light melted into ambiguity and the vague, innocuous shadows came out to play.

Hailey continued to stroke the brush down the horse's side, and the sweet girl gave her a chuff as Hailey pressed close, loving her with attention.

She shouldn't have smiled when she felt the presence emerge from behind. The way it took her whole and surrounded her like an embrace.

Brooke would hate her if she knew the secret fantasies Hailey kept of Cody Cooper.

The way she dreamed of him at night and sought him out far too often during the day.

She'd spent the entire summer sneaking out to catch glimpses of him, purposefully placing herself in his vicinity, too often ending up at his side and under the bath of those warm, honey-kissed eyes.

A tingle spread across her flesh, and she peeked back at the man who'd invaded her senses. Sparked her desire and curiosity. A man who'd never even touched her, but she couldn't stop from imagining the way it would feel if he did.

"Hey." His voice was rough where he was hidden in the shadows, so low she knew he was keeping her a secret, too.

"Hey." She whispered it as she fully turned.

Dread clenched her chest when he stepped forward and into a spray of light that slanted in from an open door in the distance.

His expression was contorted in an apology.

That same grief she'd seen him wear so many times that summer etched deeper than before.

Stark and distinct.

Cody glanced over his shoulder, undoubtedly worried someone might catch them. When he found it clear, he slowly moved through the gate she'd left open.

Energy ricocheted through the enclosed area.

Powerful and dark.

Her heart pumped with something she barely understood. With something she didn't quite comprehend.

"I wanted to tell you goodbye." It was coarse coming from his tongue.

He was so handsome it was hard for her to speak. "Are you done for the day?"

Mirthless laughter rolled from his throat, and he shoved his hands into his jeans' pockets. "No. I'm done here, Hailey. With the job. With the ranch."

Anguish jumped into her consciousness.

Sharp and gutting.

That tightening in her chest twined so tight she felt a piece of herself break.

"Oh." Her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip as she fought the moisture that instantly burned at the back of her eyes and raced the length of her trembling throat.

"Fuck," Cody grunted when he saw what was so clearly written on her face. She couldn't hide it. Not right then.

He crossed the three feet that were separating them, and one of those big hands she'd been dreaming about came to her face. He cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking along the hollow of her eye. "Don't cry, darlin'. It fuckin' kills me to see you sad."

She shouldn't be.

She had no right to be.

Sad.

But she tasted that sorrow like a bitter pill.

A tear streaked free, and the words were dropping without her permission. "I don't want you to go."

An emotion passed across his face that she couldn't discern. "I don't want to go, either."

Hailey got brave, and the brush in her hand dropped to the ground as she curled both hands into his tee. "Then stay."

His forehead dropped to hers. Pain poured from his being. She'd gotten good at reading him. When he was torn or sad or struggling. And he was struggling right then.

Just as she had been since the moment that she'd first seen him standing across that field.

Struggling with what she felt.

His aura was all around her.

Spice and cedar and earth.

She wanted to slip into it. Disappear. Give herself over to something that called to her like she'd been missing a piece of her soul and it had finally found its way back to her.

Insane since this man could never belong to her.

He shifted a fraction.

Their mouths were so close to touching.

His breaths pulled into her lungs the same as hers were given to him.

A war went down in his eyes, and his hand curled tighter on her cheek when she whispered, "Cody."

"I can't do this, Hailey."

She was jarred back when he suddenly pulled away with an agonized groan, and the man turned and stormed out without giving her an explanation.

Shaken, Hailey watched him go, that piece of her she was just recognizing splitting in two.

But it was the pained gasp that echoed from the other side of the stables that broke Hailey's heart.

Brooke stood across from her, and she could barely make her out where she was hidden in those shadows, though she could clearly see the betrayal that was slashed all over her best friend's face.

"Brooke." Hailey croaked it.

Brooke's only response was to run, her feet pounding in the opposite direction of where Cody had gone. It took half a second for Hailey to come to her senses, to realize what she had done, and she took off after her, slamming the stall gate shut and racing to catch up.

By the time Hailey made it out to the far end of the stables and into the encroaching night, Brooke was in the distance, running toward the house.

"Brooke!" Hailey shouted behind her. Her boots crunched on the leaves that littered the damp ground.

Brooke ignored her, and she increased her pace, flying up onto the massive front porch and tearing through the door.

Hailey pushed herself as fast as she could go, clambering through the rambling house and up the stairs to her room.

Guilt splintered through her when she found Brooke dragging her bags out from under Hailey's bed.

"What are you doing?" Hailey begged.

Brooke swatted at the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "What does it look like? I'm leaving."

Brooke ripped open the top two drawers of the dresser that Hailey had given her to stow her things while she stayed there for the summer, and she wadded up two armfuls and shoved them into the suitcase she'd tossed onto the bed.

"No, please don't go."

Brooke scoffed an aggrieved sound. "And stay here with someone who is supposed to be my best friend and instead would betray me like this? I don't think so."

"Brooke…" Hailey surged forward. "Let me explain."

Brooke's laughter was bitter as she stormed across the room to the dresser and gathered up another wad of clothes. "Explain what? That you're fucking the guy I'm in love with? After you know how I feel about him?"

"No, of course not?—"

"You can save it because I don't want to hear it. I saw everything I needed to know."

"Please, Brooke…just listen to me. I didn't…" Hailey tried to grab Brooke's hand to stop her. "I would never. Cody and I are just friends."

The second Hailey said it, she knew it was a lie.

Brooke whirled on her. The treachery Hailey had cast was emblazoned in her features. "I saw, Hailey. I saw, and I know."

"Brooke." Shame blistered through Hailey.

Brooke zipped up her suitcase, dragged it to the floor, and hurried across the room. Only she stopped in the doorway and looked back at Hailey. Tears blurred her gorgeous face. "You broke my heart, Hailey. I would never do something like this to you."

"Brooke—" Hailey started to rush back across the room, but Brooke stopped her with the shattered belief written in her expression. "Just leave me alone, Hailey. Leave me alone. I never want to see you again."

Brooke turned and walked out, and Hailey crumbled.

Shame dropping her to her knees.

How could she have done this to Brooke?

To her best friend?

To the one person in the world who had ever really been there for her?

She'd make it right. Apologize. Grovel. Beg. Never look at Cody Cooper again. The way she never should have done in the first place.

She'd find a way.

She'd find a way.

"I promise," she muttered at the vacancy of her door. "I promise, Brooke, I will make it up to you."

Hailey awoke groggy, the hour early, the wispy night still clinging to the earliest hours of the day.

She immediately reached for her phone, going directly to the thread labeled Bestie Brooke.

Hailey had sent at least fifteen texts last night.

Hailey

Please, come back.

Hailey

Can we talk about this?

Hailey

I'm so sorry.

Hailey

I admit it, I've had a crush on him, but I never acted on it. Only because I care so much about you. I never wanted to feel the way I do, but I couldn't stop it. Please understand.

Hailey

You mean so much to me, and hurting you destroys me.

Hailey

Please, Brooke, talk to me.

Agony curled through Hailey's guts when she found all of them unanswered, the same as the phone calls she had made.

Weary, she dragged herself out of bed. She was still wearing the same clothes she'd had on last night, and she shoved her feet into her boots, needing to get out of her room before the walls closed in on her.

Brooke would forgive her. She had to. She just needed to give her time. She'd make her understand.

She prayed for its truth as she let herself out the front door and moved down the long trail toward the stables in the distance. The sky was still darkened, just hinting at gray, a smattering of stars still littered overhead.

Which was why she wasn't sure how she even noticed the shape off to her left, in the covered exterior stalls where the stallions were kept during the summer.

The lump that disfigured the normally flat ground.

She slowed as she squinted, trying to make the shape out, and then she was moving in that direction.

One step.

Then two.

Then panic shocked through her nerves and sent her flying into a frenzy.

She ran for the stalls.

Toward the fence that Brooke had sworn she'd never go close to.

And it was her name that was tearing up Hailey's throat.

"Brooke! Brooke!"

The stallion whinnied, agitated, tromping around the confined space.

But the lump in the middle didn't move.

"Brooke!" Hailey screamed it, terror lighting her through. "Brooke!"

Hailey was scaling the fence and throwing herself into the stall, not caring that the stallion was in there.

Because Brooke was, too. Unmoving, her limbs bent at odd angles.

Blood everywhere from where she'd been trampled.

Hailey skidded onto her knees, and she gathered her into her arms. Agony raked from her chest. "Brooke! Brooke! Please, oh God, no, please!"

She hugged her best friend to her chest, rocking her, wailing, besieging toward the sky, "No! Please, no!"