On the Record (Record #2)(67)

She wasn’t going to cry. His words weren’t going to bring her to tears. No. She could control it. She could keep the pain away.

“I understand,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. A tear trickled down her cheek.

His hands reached up automatically and wiped it away with his thumb. “No tears for me, baby. Soon enough you’ll forget I ever existed . . . just like you wanted.”

Liz shook her head, wanting nothing more than to turn her cheek into his palm, to find the warmth and comfort in his touch that she so desperately craved. But instead she withdrew from him, pushed open the door, and walked out. She didn’t have a clever retort or a final word this time. Brady had made his point. Loud and clear.

Liz should have called Hayden straightaway. They had so much to talk about, but she couldn’t face him like this.

He might have been an ass, but her calling Brady and driving off with him had been worse. Kissing him and almost sleeping with him had been much worse. Hayden didn’t deserve that. She felt like a coward not facing him after what she had done, but it was the middle of the night, she had no idea where he had gone, and she just wanted to sleep off the depression that was crushing her heart.

Falling into the front seat of her car, she drove home in a blur. She didn’t really remember the drive, but she hadn’t gotten in an accident, so it didn’t matter. Lights were on in her house. Liz checked her watch. Half past midnight. She really thought it was later than that. It felt as if she had been out all night.

The last thing she wanted was to run into anyone looking like this. She just hoped that Hayden hadn’t come over here when she didn’t respond to him.

With a deep breath, she pushed the door open. Victoria was sitting on the couch in sweats and a low-cut T-shirt, eating popcorn, and watching reruns of some nineties television show. She jumped when she saw Liz walk through the door. She scrambled out of her seat and tossed the popcorn onto the coffee table.

“Where the f**k have you been? I’ve been calling you for hours!” Victoria shrieked.

“What?” she asked numbly.

“Hayden called me and he came by to try to talk to you, but obviously you weren’t here. He told me you guys got into an argument and thought I knew where you would be. What the f**k was I supposed to tell him?”

“That I wasn’t here?” Liz offered. What else was she supposed to say? “Sorry you had to deal with that.”

“Oh, Hayden, psh,” Victoria said, pushing her hands to the side. “I don’t care about him. I care about you, and the fact that I had to cover for your ass.”

“Cover for me?”

“Where the hell did you go after you guys had that fight if you weren’t with someone else?” Victoria demanded.

Liz blanched. No. No. No. No one could know about that. Brady was out of her life. Brady was gone. Whatever they’d had didn’t even exist anymore. She couldn’t tell anyone about it now.

“I was just driving around . . .”

“Bullshit! For over three hours?”

“What do you want me to say, Victoria? ‘Thank you for talking to Hayden for me because I’m not ready to’?”

Victoria shrugged and ran a hand back through her dark hair. “I don’t want you to say anything. I just don’t want to have to cover for you when you’re not even going to give me the juicy details of your sexcapade!”

“It’s too late for this,” Liz said, shaking her head and pushing past Victoria. “I’m not having sex with anyone but my boyfriend, and after our argument, I’m second-guessing that.”

“Wait . . . so are you like actually going to break up with Lane?”

“I think I should sleep on it.”

“Wow,” Victoria said, clearly stunned. “I never saw that one coming. I thought you two were getting married and having twelve babies on the farm and shit.”

Liz narrowed her eyes. “On the farm, Vic?”

“You know what I mean. But what happened?” she asked, walking back and grabbing her popcorn. She stuffed some into her mouth and waited for Liz’s response as if she were watching a movie.

“We fought. He was an ass**le. He said I was letting the paper turn to shit because I had other things going on. And then when I left I saw him smoking and he punched the door,” Liz summarized.

“Hayden smoking?” Victoria asked. “Hot!”

“What? No, it’s totally disgusting!”

“Come on! You don’t think that Mr. Stick Up His Ass getting a little rebellious and breaking some barriers is hot? Just a little?”

“No,” Liz told her flatly. That had been the farthest thing from her mind when she had seen Hayden smoking. She had been disgusted and she felt betrayed. How long had he been smoking? How long had he been keeping it from her? What else was he keeping from her?

“Okay. Well are you going to talk about it with him? I can come with and whip his ass into shape,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “Literally.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I guess I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“Hey,” Victoria said, reaching out and touching Liz’s jacket. She actually looked serious for a change. “I’m sorry about what happened. I know you really like Hayden. I wouldn’t have made fun of him so much if you didn’t. I hope it works out. You know . . . for your sake. I don’t want you as sad as you were last fall.”