Off the Record (Record #1)(15)

Liz didn’t want to think about it, but the visual kept coming back to her. Calleigh and Hayden. Hayden and Calleigh. Of course, it made sense. They were perfect for each other. She felt like a fly on the wall as they stared at each other.

“We have to go,” Hayden said finally, ending the staring match. “I don’t know what you thought you were going to accomplish tonight, but it’s not like that. You know that. You’ve known that for a long time. I don’t know how much more obvious I can be. What more do you want me to say?”

Calleigh looked at the floor, clearly hurt by his words. When she met his eyes again, hers were steely. Liz didn’t want to know what she was thinking in that moment. “Fine. It’s not like she’s even a challenge,” Calleigh said, tossing her hand in Liz’s direction and talking about her as if she weren’t standing right there.

“Calleigh,” he said in a threatening tone, “keep it together. You’re embarrassing yourself. Now, we’re going to go. Good night.”

Hayden gripped Liz’s elbow softly and tugged her away from the ticking time bomb. She got one last glance from Calleigh, and she saw only a promise in Calleigh’s eyes…a promise that Calleigh wouldn’t forget tonight.

Liz stumbled out onto the blacktop parking lot. She felt the oppressive summer heat press against her suit, and she stripped her jacket off. Her mind was buzzing with the confrontation she had witnessed. Her body was still reeling. She couldn’t believe what Calleigh had said. Liz didn’t even really know Calleigh. She certainly wasn’t a threat to her. Whatever had happened between Calleigh and Hayden was something Liz wanted to forget…and knew she never would.

She stalked across the parking lot to his car. She hadn’t even realized how furious she was until she started walking. How dared she say those things! Calleigh had power and prestige, but that did not give her the right to treat Liz like this.

“Hey,” Hayden called, jogging to catch up to her long strides, “are you all right?”

“Fine,” she muttered, walking faster.

He latched on to her elbow and pulled her up short. “Are you really all right?”

“What do you think?” she asked, sneering at him.

“I’d say no.” He didn’t let go of her elbow. “I’m really sorry about…all that.”

“What was all that?” Liz asked.

“Calleigh and I were together last year before she took the job in Charlotte. It wasn’t anything serious.”

“She seems to think it’s still something,” Liz pointed out.

He shrugged. “I can’t control how she feels. It’s not whatever she thinks it is.”

“Well, maybe next time you shouldn’t go running off alone with her and then she won’t think it’s something,” Liz said calmly. She couldn’t believe that had come out of her mouth. It was what she was thinking, but never something she would normally say. Maybe Brady’s frankness had gotten into her system.

Hayden dipped his head in surrender. “You’re right. I didn’t mean for it to come off that way.”

“Intentions only go so far.”

“True,” he said, looking up into her eyes. She could see he wanted to say more, do more. But he didn’t. She wasn’t sure what was holding him back.

He was standing only inches away from her, and she knew she would give in to him if he made a move. Even with Brady’s words still ingrained in her head and Calleigh’s stinging words ringing in her ears. She was mad at him, but it didn’t hold back the crush that had been brewing inside of her for the past two years.

Hayden took a step in, and Liz’s breath caught, her heart fluttering at a rapid pace. He was so close. She took a small step forward until their clothes brushed against each other and tilted her head up to look at him. He smiled at her and she sighed softly, waiting for the kiss she knew was coming.

His mouth quirked up at the side and then he backed up. She was so confused. She had given him an open invitation, and he had backed down.

Liz quickly turned toward the car, her face burning.

Hayden cleared his throat awkwardly. “We should get back.”

She didn’t even have the strength to respond, just walked to the passenger-side door and waited for him to unlock it. She didn’t want to know what he was thinking. He had turned down Calleigh, only to reject Liz as well.

She would have been better off staying up in VIP. At least Brady had made his intentions clear. The hot and cold with Hayden was confusing at best.

Liz tossed her jacket inside and slid into the passenger seat of the Audi. The forty-minute drive back to Chapel Hill was quieter than the ride there had been. The radio was playing some hipster music that she wasn’t really into, but it was better than the silence.

He parked outside of the small run-down house she rented on the north side of campus. The neighborhood wasn’t all that great, but it was a short walk to the journalism school and was better than trying to find parking on campus. Luckily Victoria didn’t care about the decrepit nature of the building, because it was so close to the bars on Franklin Street.

“Thanks for the ride,” she murmured, grabbing her jacket and popping the door open. “I’ll start working on the article.”

She was all the way around the car when Hayden stepped out. “Liz,” he called, stopping her from walking up the grassy path to her house. “I’m sorry about earlier.”