Sassy Blonde - Stacey Kennedy Page 0,71

but his feet were moving anyway. When he reached the back door, he flung it open, not sure what he’d find.

The early morning was just the same. The fog. The wet earth. The quiet. He shut his eyes, swearing he could still feel Laurel right there. But when he opened them, he was alone.

16

A ping on Maisie’s window jolted her awake. The clock read 5:02. She slid out of bed, quickly moving to her window. She was completely unprepared when she realized Hayes had thrown a pebble at her window. She opened the window before he could throw another one. “What are you doing?” she called down to him.

He stood near the porch light, the morning fog hanging over the wet earth. He wore a T-shirt and jogging pants, his hair a wild mess. Obviously he’d either not slept yet or had just woken up. “We need to talk,” he called up to her.

She leaned out the window. “Now? I thought we were meeting later?”

“I couldn’t wait. I didn’t want to ring the doorbell and wake everyone up, and you’re not answering your phone.” She always silenced the ringer at bedtime. “Open the window all the way, I’m coming up.”

“You’re coming up,” she repeated, then gaped at him. “Seriously?”

He hopped up on the porch’s railing, climbed the pillar and then hoisted himself up onto the roof. Maisie’s heart raced a little bit faster the closer he got. Admittedly, this little stunt fulfilled some teenage fantasy she’d once written about in her diary.

When he reached her, she stepped aside and he climbed through the window, which she closed after him. She turned to him as he moved to her bed. “I’ve got to say this is probably the most romantic gesture anyone has ever made for me.” He sat down on the bed and then his eyes met hers, and her smile faded at the darkness in their depths, the emptiness there. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk.”

Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. She wanted to move to him, comfort him, and yet, her feet wouldn’t move her there, stuck in the worry that what he was going to say would ruin everything. “Okay. Then talk.”

He shut his eyes thrust his hands in his hair, bowed his head. “This is…this isn’t easy for me.”

The despondent tone of his voice. The shaking of his hands. The curl of his shoulders. She sat on her bed next to him and took his trembling hand. “Hayes, it’s me. Talk.”

He kept his head bowed, looking smaller than she could ever imagine he could. “I killed Laurel.”

She blinked, a cold bite hitting her stomach. “I don’t understand what just came out of your mouth.”

“I wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, but I was the reason Laurel got shot. What you don’t know is, I was working gang crime in Denver. We had a big bust, but I shot the leader in the shoulder, instead of killing him, because I wanted him to be put to justice for the crime wave he spread across Denver.” Hayes gave Maisie a quick look and then averted his gaze again, his voice trembling. “That leader went after Laurel in retribution.”

Her head spun. “But they said it was a robbery gone wrong?”

“The gang’s involvement was kept out of the media because of the ongoing investigation, and because we didn’t want to spread more fear.” Maisie gripped her middle as he went on. “I hate myself for it. I wish I could go back and take that shot again. Or get there in time to protect her.”

Maisie felt the ground drop out from under her. She forced the words out of her dry throat. “Is this why you walked away from being a cop?”

His nod was slow, and he looked so very tired. “I am the reason she is dead.” His voice had never sounded so empty, so full of shame. “I was supposed to protect innocent lives, and I put a bull’s-eye on my wife’s back. I didn’t protect her. I failed her. I failed you by taking away your best friend. I failed everyone, including my honor to the badge.”

Tears flooded her eyes, coldness seeping into all the warm spots in her soul. She heard every desolate word that came out of his mouth, but she realized that, even with the shame he carried, he’d done the unthinkable days ago. He’d ignored his pain, his shame, his fear, and went back to the job to protect Maisie.