This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(72)

By the time the cab pulled up in front of her building, I still had no clue what I would say. I scanned the parking lot for her car, but it wasn’t here. Shit.

“Can you hold on?” I asked the driver. “I just need to verify something first.” I dialed her number on the new phone I’d bought after destroying mine against Mason’s wall. She didn’t answer. I called Kayla on the chance she knew where I could find Hailey.

She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

“Kayla? This is Nolan. Do you know where Hailey is?”

“She’s at her parents’. Why?”

“Her parents? I thought they were away on a cruise.”

“She’s house-sitting.”

I was about to thank her and end the call when she added, “She’s been having problems with some of your fans. One started phoning and warning her to keep away from you because you and Alyssa were meant to be together. And then the other day someone slipped a note under her apartment door, explaining why Hailey didn’t deserve you.”

Fuck. “Did she threaten Hailey?”

“No. She wasn’t one of those psychopaths who’ve been making those threats online.”

I gave the cab driver Hailey’s parents’ address. I’d planned to visit my old home while I was back in Northbridge—my therapist thought it would be a good idea, as long as I didn’t go there alone—but this change of plan meant I’d have to deal with the ghosts of my past sooner than I’d intended.

“Where are you?” Kayla asked.

“On my way to see her.”

“And why are you visiting her?” There was a definite smile in Kayla’s voice.

“That’s between Hailey and me,” I said, unable to keep the laughter out of my voice.

I heard a muffled scream. “Yes!”

After I ended the call, my leg resumed its bouncing as the cab drove through my old neighborhood. I tried to focus on happier times and not on what had happened five years ago. I didn’t want to revisit those memories tonight.

Tonight I would tell Hailey how I felt about her, and if things went well, we’d be making love for the rest of the night. I could deal with my ghosts tomorrow.

As the cab drove down the street to my house, I avoided glancing at it and I pointed out which house I was going to. Hailey’s car sat in her parents’ driveway.

As the cab zoomed off, I checked over my shoulder at the home that held so many dark memories. Maybe it was better if I visited it alone after all, instead of with Hailey. I wasn’t sure yet if I wanted her to know the full details of what had gone down that night.

I turned toward my house.





Chapter 46


Hailey


Fear. It’s something we all face at one point or another. Some fears are small and insignificant but real all the same. Like the fear of spiders. We develop an irrational fear that they’ll kill us if we allow them to come too close. Those fears can cause us to freeze up, make us unable to walk away.

Yet those fears are nothing compared to when you come face-to-face with death. Not the irrational fear of spiders and death, but of something very real. When the odds are against you. The only chance you have is hope, as weak as it might be. Hope gives you the extra surge of energy to fight for your life. Hope propels you forward and keeps you from giving up.

I yanked my leg away from his hand and half stumbled, half threw myself up the final step. The hallway at the top of the stairs was dark, but a soft glow of streetlight spilled from my room.

I sprinted to my bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Not that it made any difference.

Using his body weight, Lindsey’s stepfather hurled himself against the door, pushing me back slightly. I could’ve sworn he snarled when he did it, like a giant rabid dog ready to tear me to pieces.

I tensed my leg muscles, hoping it would be enough to keep him out. Purely delusional on my part. The force of his weight against the door caused my sock-clad feet to slide across the carpet.

The pressure against the door slackened for a second, then he threw his body against it again and I flew backward, screaming.

“You’re not escaping this time, bitch.”

The backs of my thighs hit the bed hard, and I tumbled backward onto it. The bedroom light clicked on. I barely managed to twist around before he grabbed my hair and arm. He then pulled me up by my hair to stand.

The sharp tip of a knife instantly dug into my lower back. Not enough to cut me, but enough to prove a point.

I let out a startled cry. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I can’t risk you remembering everything.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Not that it mattered if I knew what he was talking about or not. He couldn’t just walk away after attacking me in my parents’ home. The odds of me telling the cops, even after I promised I wouldn’t, were too high. I just didn’t get why he was doing this. He wasn’t the man who’d put me in a coma. That man was dead.

But then that night came back to me. He was the one who had attacked me in Nolan’s house soon after I found the letters. But I hadn’t just found the love letters to Nolan’s mother. I had found a bunch of legal documents. I didn’t understand most of them, but one thing was clear—Sarah and Nolan hadn’t shared the same biological father.