Page 66 of The Way I Hate Him
Hayes holds up his hand, a devilish grin on his face. “No, I want to hear this.”
Dread envelops me as I feel all the color rush from my face.
Completely oblivious, Maggie continues, “It was in our dorm right before classes started. We just met each other and she was playing music when I returned from the bookstore. She asked if I wanted her to turn it off, and I told her it was fine. It was the first time I heard your rustic, earthy voice and I was addicted. I asked her who was singing, and she said Hayes Farrow and then proceeded to show me her secret playlist of your music. I remember the first night we tried pot, we stared up at the stars and listened toThe Reasonon replay.” She leans forward and whispers, “I lost my virginity to that song.”
And I want to be sucked into the earth as Hayes stuffs his hands into his pockets and looks past Maggie and straight at me as he talks. “I’m glad I could be of service . . . with losing your virginity and all.”
Maggie goes into detail about the awkward night, but the whole time, Hayes stands there, staring at me, a satisfied look strung across his handsome face. It’s official, I’ll be looking for a new best friend starting tomorrow.
* * *
“What the fuck, Maggie,”I whisper to her once we’re alone in her room, the room Hayes assigned her after she stopped gushing.
“Wow, this place is so nice,” she says, smoothing her hand over the pristine white bedding. “I feel like we’re in a five-star resort.”
“Uh, hello, I’m talking to you.”
“Huh?” She finally looks at me, and I notice the stars in her eyes. Jesus.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and say, “Do you even realize what you said back there?”
“No.” She winces. “I swear I blacked out. I didn’t embarrass myself, did I?” She nibbles the corner of her mouth, and I nearly fly out of my spandex to tackle her.
“Uh, you jabbered on for a solid five minutes while throwing me under the bus about liking his music.”
“Why is that a bad thing?” she asks. “He’s your boss, after all.”
“Because he thinks I hate him.”
“Why, though? Like, why does it matter?”
“Because . . .” I go to answer and then realize I don’t have an answer other than because of Ryland...and pride.
“That’s what I thought.” Maggie shrugs. “As far as I’m concerned, I probably did you a favor. I saw the way he was looking at you. Can I just say, I’m jealous. If that man was looking at me the way he was looking at you, I’d have torn off my shirt and plopped my boob right in his hand, without question.”
“There is something seriously wrong with you,” I say as I flop back on the bed, the most comfortable bed I’ve ever lain on. Damn him.
She joins me on the bed, lies back, and clasps her hand with mine. “Let’s forget about that and tell me why you need me because as far as I’m concerned, it seems like you have a friend in Hayes.”She’s wrong.If there’s one thing that has been so abundantly clear since I landed back in Almond Bay, it’s that I have no one in my corner.Except Maggie...before all her gushing. I’ve just felt so...lonely.
“He’s not my friend and he hates my brother and my brother hates him and my brother hates me and my sister hates me and the only person in this town that seems to care a hint about me is Hayes and I don’t like that. I feel like my sister and my brother should care about me, but all they care about is me going to school and I failed out this semester so what the hell am I supposed to tell them? The only thing they care about when it comes to me is something I failed. They barely talk to me now, they won’t want to talk to me after this . . . oh my God, and if they ever found out about Hayes, they’d hate me even more.”
Maggie takes a deep breath and says, “That’s a lot to process. You’ve only been here for a few days. How the hell did you do that much in less than a week?”
“I work fast, apparently.”
“You do,” she answers. “Why don’t we grab a drink, our burgers, and talk?”
I nod. “Okay.”
* * *
“Here you go,”Hayes says, carrying our drinks out to his patio overlooking the ocean.
“Thank you,” Maggie says. “You’re so sweet. And thank you again for allowing us to stay here. You should see the studio Hattie’s been living in. There is no way we would have fit in there together.”
“I told her she could stay here, but she refused.”
Maggie whacks my arm. “Why would you refuse? It’s so nice here.”
