I see the second his words crawl beneath her skin, just as he intended. It's like I can see the doubt take shape in Hailey's mind, can see it in the way her shoulders slump, and she bites her lip in uncertainty.
And the sight of that just earned him some extra time with me.
"Go down to the car, Hailey. Wait for me there."
She turns to face me completely, her eyes widening. "Jax, don't—"
"It's okay, I'll only be a minute behind you," I reassure her. "I just want to talk to him."
She chews on her lip with indecision, but ultimately when I give her aTrust melook, she nods and continues down the hallway.
I watch her until she reaches the door to the steps.
"She'll never go for you, you know," Steve snarls. "She's too good for you—"
I don't hear the end of his sentence, because the second Hailey is through the stairwell door and out of sight, I'm dropping the box and grabbing Steve by the lapels of his shitty suit and slamming him up against the wall. I could just as easily lift him up by the throat so he's dangling in the air, but I happen to prefer looking down on the piece of shit and watching his eyes widen in shock.
"I'm only going to say this once, so you better listen," I snarl. "You two are done. Don't ever contact her, look for her, even lookather, ever again. God knows I'll never understand why she started with you in the first place, but now that she's decided it's over, I want you out of her life for good."
"You can't make that decision for her—" he starts.
"I didn’t. She did. I’m just enforcing it," I growl, pressing him harder into the wall. I feel a pang of satisfaction from the wince on his face. "That girl is worth her weight in gold, and you squandered your chance with her for your bullshit mind games. And to be honest, just knowing you put her through that shit makes me want to put your head through this wall. So you don't get to pursue her anymore. You're done."
To his credit, Steve doesn't look scared. Even in this position of inferiority, of being totally dominated, he's still trying for the upper hand. Still trying to manipulate his way to victory when he says, "She'll never want you. You lost that battle when she had to get over her childhood crush because you were too busy fucking other women. So I might not have a chance anymore, but neither do you."
My lip curls in a sneer as I shove away from him. "You're an idiot. As long as that girl is happy, I don't care what I am to her. Wanting someone to be happy shouldn't be dependent on whether or not you're getting your dick wet, you piece of shit." I hammer the final nail in the coffin when I glance at his crotch with a raised eyebrow. "Although from what I hear, your dick was the only thing getting wet."
It's a total guess—I don't think I could stomach listening to Hailey talk about sex with Steve—but it's not a hard one. I know my comment lands on the mark when his face flames with embarrassment, his mouth opening to snap back with something but nothing coming out.
I shake my head as I bend down to grab the moving box again. And when I turn my back on him in a power move meant to show that I'm not afraid of him, I end the conversation with, "Stay the fuck away from her."
Hailey's waiting for me by the car when I walk outside. She jumps up from where she's leaning against it, biting her thumb in clear worry.
"Did you hurt him?" she asks immediately.
My steps falter, caught off guard by her question. I can't help the small frown that tugs the corners of my lips down at the knowledge that not only is she still worried about him, but that she thinks I would physically beat someone outside of the gym.
She must see all of that on my face because her eyes widen, and she says hurriedly, "Not because I care about him, I just don't trust him not to call the cops or take it out on you somehow if you hurt him. Even now, I wouldn't put it past him to punch himself in the face just so he could say you did it."
My eyebrows rise in surprise.What the fuck? I knew Steve was an asshole, but I didn’t realize he was this kind of fucked up.
But then I process what Hailey said and a relieved breath whooshes through my chest.She's asking because of me, not him."No, I didn't hurt him," I reassure her. "We just... had some words."
Her eyebrow quirks in disbelief. "Just words?"
I shrug, turning to load the last box in the car. "Just words. Although there may or may not be an imprint of his back on your wall now. So maybe don't be surprised if you don't get your security deposit back." At that, something occurs to me for the first time. I turn to face her. "By the way, what are you doing with the lease? If you're worried about him retaliating for the breakup, then what about the lease?"
For the first time in weeks, I see a sparkle of the old Hailey. The corner of her mouth curls with a small smirk, which just makes me raise an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I’m not on the lease," she grins. "We both paid rent, but something told me to make sure my name wasn’t on the papers. His loss." But then her smile drops into a small frown as she considers something. "I think maybe I've known since then that something was wrong. I've had a nagging feeling ever since he suggested we move in together, which I now know were my instincts because that's when he really changed." She winces and looks down at her feet. "That's when he started to alienate me from everything and make me dependent on him. He used the apartment as a tactic."
I step forward and touch a finger under her chin so I can raise her eyes to meet mine. "It didn't work," I tell her softly. "You got out, and you're back with your family, and you're your own person again. It didn't work." I smirk and chuck her chin. "Plus, now he's stuck with the repercussions of using that very tactic. And a very large rent payment."
My reminder brings the smile back to her face, and suddenly all the nerves, frustration, and anger from this morning disintegrate into nothing.
10
HAILEY