Path of Destruction (Broken Heartland, #2)(66)

I need you to call me. Now.



Another followed closely behind.



Please. It’s important.



She stared at the phone for a full minute before deciding she could handle whatever he had to say. Maybe it was that he was finally done with her and had moved on. Maybe it was one last plea for her to try and be someone she never would be again.

Slowly, she scrolled to his name on her list of contacts. He answered on the first ring.

“Is your dad home?”

Ella Jane snorted. “That’s literally the absolute last thing I expected you to ask me.”

“Is he? Did he say anything to you about me or my dad?”

Ella Jane’s dad hardly spoke to her anymore. He focused on rebuilding the family landscaping business and bossing her mom around for the most part.

“Um, no and no. We don’t exactly have a lot of heart-to-hearts these days.”

“Okay. Well, that’s all I needed to—”

“What’s going on?”

Silence answered her. Then an audible sigh. “The cops were here this morning,” Hayden said carefully. “A detective. With a search warrant related to something my dad is involved in…stuff your dad knew about and threatened me with.”

“What? What are you even talking about?”

“It’s honestly better if you don’t know the details. Trust me. Just…I don’t know. Maybe ask your dad to call off his dogs. Tell him nothing is going on between us so he’ll back off.”

“I don’t think my dad called any ‘dogs’ on you or your dad. Besides, I’m past the age of consent. What could he really say?”

A female voice in the background interrupted whatever Hayden had been about to say. Ella Jane tried not to care who it belonged to. She failed.

“Look,” Hayden began with his voice lowered, “there are things you don’t know about me, about my family, and it’s better if we keep it that way. But somehow your dad did know and he threatened me the day he caught us on your porch. I thought he forgot about it, but judging from the two uniformed officers who ransacked my house today, he didn’t.”

She couldn’t help but want to know more about this. The thought of her dad causing Hayden’s family trouble because of her was unsettling.

“So, let me get this straight. You want me to talk to my dad about a situation with you and your dad that I don’t know about but he apparently does? One that you won’t elaborate on so I at least know what I’m referring to? And I should tell him to call off metaphorical dogs that he may or may not have sicced on your family. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I’ll get right on that.”

Hayden’s response came out harsh and angry. “Do you know what a book maker is? How about a point spread? Better yet, do you know what it means to shave points in sports?”

Ella Jane searched the chip in her brain for these terms. “No. Am I supposed to?”

“No. You’re not. Look, I have to go. I have to take my grandmother to an assisted-living facility today. And I have to do it alone because my parents are at a meeting with their lawyers. If my dad didn’t keep everything in a safe that wasn’t covered by the search warrant, he and I would likely both be in jail right now. So do me a favor and ask your dad to back the hell off.”

She still didn’t completely understand, but the urgency in his voice combined with the profound sadness when he mentioned his grandmother made her compliant. The old her would have offered to go with him to take his grandmother, but she knew that would only be confusing for both of them.

“Okay. What should I say? Just tell me what to tell him and I will.”

Hayden let out a harsh sound that almost sounded like laughter. “Convince him there’s nothing between us and that it’s all in the past and didn’t mean anything. Make him see there isn’t a chance in hell you’d ever have anything to do with me again. I mean, you convinced me. Surely you can handle him.”

“Hayden—”

“And maybe tell him that, if he’s so concerned with his precious daughter being involved with law breakers, perhaps he should have his cop buddies run a check on the company she’s currently keeping.”

Before she could argue, could defend why she behaved the way she did, Hayden disconnected the call.



“There’s nothing between us and that it’s all in the past and didn’t mean anything.”

Hayden’s words had struck a lot deeper in her chest than anything had in a long time. The hollow hurt from the wounds she’d inflicted were clear even over the phone. She sat in her room staring at her phone for a solid hour trying to think of what she could possibly say to make it better. She came up empty.

I never meant to hurt you.

I was trying to protect myself.

I was scared.

I was angry.

I was confused.

None of them felt like a worthy apology. That summer had meant a lot to her and so had he at one time, but so much had changed. She had changed. Looking into the hopeful face of someone who knew you as someone else, who had a whole set of expectations you couldn’t meet, had overwhelmed her in her early stages of grief. Even now, she didn’t know if she would ever again be the kind of girl who could be in a relationship. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Hayden to provide a happily ever after. It was that she didn’t trust herself or the universe to allow it.