Fighting for Love (Second Chances #4)(59)

I handed her the picture of Hayley and Kyle and showed it to her. Narrowing her eyes, I could tell she wasn’t really seeing it because I knew all she could focus on was the face … my face. “Look at the girl,” I said. “Doesn’t she look like someone you know?”

Holding the picture closer to her face, she stared at it for a few seconds before her eyes went wide when she realized who it was. “Oh my God,” she choked in horror. “It’s Hayley. I didn’t look at all of the pictures, so I had no clue.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “Now take a look at the guy she’s with. Do you recognize the tattoos? They sure as hell aren’t mine.”

Covering her mouth with her hand, she gasped and closed her eyes. “How is all of this possible? When I asked Kyle if it was Hayley who helped him he made it sound like she was nothing to him.”

“And she probably isn’t,” I said, “but she lied to you, angel, and so did he. I’m pretty sure she’s the one who’s helping him.”

“How did you recognize her from the picture?” she asked. “There’s no way you could’ve made the connection.”

Taking a deep breath, I blew it out and nodded. “You’re right, that’s where the other part of the story comes in. You see, I happened to have met Hayley once before about eight months ago.”

Instantly, Shelby stiffened and glared at me. “Did you sleep with her?”

“No,” I replied truthfully, shaking my head. “I didn’t sleep with her and that’s what started this whole thing.”

Her whole demeanor changed, and I could see the fire raging behind those chocolate brown eyes of hers. “Tell me,” she demanded. “Tell me everything.”

As much as I hated to, that was exactly what I did.





THE SECOND MATT SHOWED ME the picture of Hayley I thought I was going to be sick. I couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around the fact that she’d played me the whole time and lied to my face. Why would she do that? One thing was for certain, I was going to find out the answers and I didn’t give a damn that it was seven o’clock in the morning.

“Shelby, what are you doing?” Matt asked hesitantly.

Wet hair and all, I pulled it up into a ponytail, and quickly dressed in a pair of jeans I had lying around and the first shirt I could find, which happened to be a plain gray sweatshirt.

Huffing, I slid on my tennis shoes. “I’m going to Hayley’s to find out why the hell she turned on me.” I rushed out of my room, picture in hand, and grabbed my purse from the counter, along with my keys.

“You’re not going by yourself,” Matt shouted from my bedroom.

Emerging in a pair of black track pants and a wrinkled red T-shirt, he ran his fingers through his dark hair and followed me out the door.

Before I got in the car, I glanced over at him and noticed the worried expression on his face. “I’ll be okay, Matt. I got this,” I told him honestly.

Opening the door, I slid in and waited for him to buckle up before putting my car in gear and speeding off down the road. Hayley didn’t live too far away, so I knew it wouldn’t take long to get there … maybe ten minutes.

Matt put a hand on my thigh, rubbing in smooth circles across my jeans. “What are you going to say to her?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll figure that out when I see her. That is if I don’t slap her unconscious before I get the first word out.”

When we arrived at her house, Josh was in the driveway wearing a nice pair of gray dress pants and a blue button down, preparing to get into his black Land Rover. His eyes went wide when he saw me. “Shelby, what are you doing here so early in the morning?”

“Where’s Hayley?” I asked, not stopping to talk to him. I wanted to find her, and if I had to bust down her front door I would do it.

“She’s inside getting ready to work out,” he hollered behind me. “The door is unlocked.”

As soon as I opened the door, I yelled her name as loud as I could, “Hayley! Hayley, where are you?”

Upstairs, she rushed to the banister and peered down at me. “Oh my God, Shelby? Are you okay?”

Glaring up at her, I spat, “Don’t play that innocent bullshit with me, Hayley. Tell me how you found out about me and Matt? I never told you, and Lexi said she didn’t tell you, either. So how?”

She laughed and waved me off. “Shelby, have you lost your mind. Lexi told me about you and Matt the night of my party.”

“I’m not talking about that,” I snapped. “I’m talking about a long time ago, before me and Matt even started seeing each other again. You and Kyle schemed this whole plan so you could throw it back in Matt’s face. I’m assuming with all the pictures that were taken, you guys planned on videotaping the sex if Kyle were to get me into bed with him. That would’ve been the ultimate blow to Matt, but I’m happy to say you failed.”

“I–I have no idea wh–what yo–you’re talking about,” she stammered incredulously.

Gritting my teeth, I charged up the stairs. The moment I got to the top, I thrust the picture in her face. “This is what I’m talking about. That’s you in the picture, Hayley, and the guy who appears to be Matt is Kyle. Do you care to explain what the f*ck is going on? How could you do this to me … to Josh? You’ve been cheating on him with Kyle!”