Page 210 of The Way I Hate Him
“Yes,” I answer.
“Great, call me when your lawyers draft everything up, and we can go from there.” She pats my arm. “Always great seeing you, Hayes.”
And then she walks toward the door, ending the business transaction she came to make, not the visit she should have been making with her son. And as she gets into her car and pulls away, I stand there, lifeless in the middle of my living room, crumpled photo in my hand, feeling so...so fucking broken.How can she still do that? How does she still have the power to shatter my heart?
Robotically, I move toward the kitchen table where my phone is and pick it up. I dial Ruben’s name before crumpling to the floor, where I pull my legs up to my chest and lean against the kitchen island.
The phone rings twice before he picks up.
“Hey, I was just going to call you. I heard back from the lawyers, and the loophole I thought we could use to get out of your contract actually is going to work. So I didn’t send themElectric Sunshine. I want to keep that close to our chests in case you want to go a different route. I think producing it yourself is the best idea at this point. You have the popularity and the fanbase—”
“Ruben,” I choke out, my emotions taking over, that little boy inside me fucking breaking with every breath I take.
“Hayes . . . are you okay?”
“No, man,” I say, the flash of my mom’s smile vivid in my mind.
“What’s going on?” he asks, his voice growing more intense.
“She came back.”
“Who?” he asks. “Hattie?”
“No.” I shake my head even though he can’t see me. “My mom, she came back.”
“Fuck,” he breathes into the phone. “I’m in LA right now, so I can be up to you in an hour.”
“No,” I say as I press my head against the cabinet. “I don’t . . . I don’t want you here.”
“Hayes, you don’t sound good. I don’t want you doing anything stupid. I’m packing my things right now.”
“Please don’t,” I say. “I just need you to work on something for me.”
“What is it?” he asks. “I’ll do anything.”
“She has a sex tape of me, a sex tape I’m pretty sure Matt took. I need security footage from the nights we were in Nashville. I need to see if there was anyone else in that dressing room besides me and . . . the mayor’s daughter.”
“Jesus,” he mutters. “Okay, I’m on it.”
“And if Matt was in there, I want you to handle it with the lawyers. They’re extorting money from me, and I want everyone brought to justice.”
“Understood.” He clears his throat. “Is Hattie there with you?”
“No,” I say, my throat growing tighter. “I sent . . . I sent her home.” Her sad expression finally comes to the forefront of my mind, and it nearly breaks me.
“Do you want me to text her, contact her, get her back to your place?”
“No,” I say, just above a whisper. “I don’t want her involved.”
“She might be able to help—”
“No,” I snap. “She can’t help.”
After a moment of silence, Ruben says, “Hayes, I know you, don’t let this make you spiral. We’ll get it figured out, but don’t spiral. That’s the last thing you need to do right now. Go find Hattie.”Not a chance.
“Just figure out how to pin them for this,” I say. “We’re working on days, not weeks.”
“Hayes—”
