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Dedication: TannerBroadstone for creating a playlist for this story! Thank you!

Recap:

I stood there, breathless, my knees wobbling together as I heard the front door closed.

I felt my eyes screw shut as I clutched my shirt in my hand, my chest aching.

This was it. Hayden was going to find out.

We were done.

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Playlist for this story:

https://youtu.be/FM7MFYoylVs

After Hayden ignored my call for the third time, I draw the conclusion that he knows.

Panic flares through my chest and courses through my veins. I feel nauseous at the thought of Hayden never wanting to talk to me again.

With trembling fingers, I dial Harvey's number.

"Hello?" he answers in a cheerful voice.

"I think he knows."

"You might need to be more specific."

"I think Hayden knows. I pushed Mia last night. I think she sent him the photos. He's not answering my call," the words tumble from my mouth at an alarmingly quick rate as I begin to pace the floor of my kitchen. "What should I do? I don't even know how to explain, like, he might not want to even listen. Harvey, I can't lose him."

"Slow down for a second," he says calmly. His voice is soothing to me. I inhale a deep breath and exhale loudly, feeling slightly better. "Are you okay?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know."

"Why don't you go over to his place and see him. You're freaking out and overthinking things. You never know, he might be doing the same thing. The best way to deal with this is to go talk to him. Give yourself a chance to explain everything."

I mull over Harvey's words in my mind. They make a lot of sense, why didn't I think of that?

"You're kind of amazing."

"I know."

"You're a lifesaver."

"I also know that."

"Thank you," I tell him earnestly. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Me either, honestly," he chuckles and I can see his friendly smile appearing in my mind. "Now calm yourself down before you go over there. Just be cool, yeah?"

"Cool, yes, I can do that."

"Good luck!"

When he hangs up and I focus on slowing down my breathing. I change my clothes into something a little nicer, before making my way towards Hayden's house.

As I get closer to his driveway, I notice there are a number of cars parked on the lawn and down the street. There's a murmur of music coming from the backyard.

I go to the front door and press my ear to it. The music is definitely coming from inside. I knock and step back, waiting. After a few moments pass, I knock again. After waiting, looking like an idiot, I jiggle the handle.

Poking my head inside, I hear voices but none close. Slithering through the door, I wander through the house and out the back. I freeze when I see a series of people and children gathered in their backyard. Heather is sitting beside an elderly couple, speaking with them. Over the music, I can hear the children's laughter as they chase each other.

I totally crashed a family gathering.

Turning my back on the scene in front of me, I plan to bolt out the door.

"Excuse me?" a voice asked. "Can I help you?"

Damn.

"Oh, hi," I smile, turning around to see a young girl. When I say young, I mean older than me but no older than mid-twenties. She has vivid, green eyes, mirror to Hayden's. She has the same, tanned complexion he is blessed with. Her hand, that sparkled with a pretty looking engagement ring, rubbed her swollen, pregnant belly absently as she waited for me to explain myself. "I'm Grace, a friend of Hayden's. I didn't realise he had family over. I didn't mean to intrude."

"Oh, you're Grace," she smiles knowingly. "Nice to meet you! I'm Amelia, Hayden's favourite cousin. I think he's in his room with Allan," she explains. "My other son," she ads, noticing my blank face.

"Right. Thank you," I say politely.

Great. I have to see Hayden and explain myself when he has all his family over. This is going to make me look even worse.

I'm walking towards the stairs when I hear a voice.

"Carrie?"

My first initial reaction is to keep walking, my brain not connecting the fact that the person is talking to me, obviously mistaking me for Hayden's ex.

"Carrie, hey," the voice says again, but this time, fingers wrapped around my upper arm. I stiffen and jerk in surprise. "I haven't seen you in so long. Why haven't you replied to any of my messages?"

I turn and the boy's eyes almost pop out of his head. He steps back instantly, shock written all over his face.

"Woah, sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"I get that a lot," I tell him with a polite smile. "I'm Grace, Hayden's friend."

"Oh, right. I'm Andy, one of the cousins. Sorry about that. I was, er, friends with Carrie."

I quirk an eyebrow as his cheeks flushed crimson red. It is obvious he had liked Carrie more than a friend, by the way he was so embarrassed and the way he touched me. I suddenly feel so repulsed, looking like her. She already cheated on Hayden with Ashton, she could very well have done the same thing with his cousin, too.

I smiled at him instead, before walking up the stairs. I feel his eyes on me the entire way. Shaking off the weird vibes, I knock lightly, before entering Hayden's room.

Hayden is there, holding a young boy in his arms. He is smiling down at him. The smile he has on his face is something I haven't seen before. It holds such genuine kindness and love that I feel my heartstrings tug inside my chest. He looks so attractive with his tanned, muscly arms wrapped around such a small, little child. I feel my lips part as my tongue basically flops out of my mouth.

"Oh, hey," he suddenly greets with a smile. "I didn't know you were coming over."

The smile on his face has relief washing over me in ginormous waves. He doesn't know. I was worried for nothing.

Right now, anyway... my subconscious reminds me, tauntingly.

"Yeah, sorry to gate crash," I reply. "I tried to call."

"I actually came up here to check my phone," he explains. "Grace, this is Allan."

Allan is wriggling around in Hayden's arm, desperate to get out of his hold. He glances at me, giving me a big, rosy-cheeked smile before he continues his quest of getting free.

Hayden finally releases Allan and he crawls in circles between us. I watch him with a smile on my face. I was the youngest of my cousins, so I never got to see kids. His eyes hold so much excitement as he explores the floor of Hayden's room.

As I had been so focused on Allen, I hadn't noticed that Hayden was striding towards me. Placing his hand lightly on the small of my back, he pulls me to him. He swiftly presses his warm lips to mine. I think it was meant to be just a peck, to greet each other, but once our lips met, it was a different story.

He places his hands either side of my face, as he deepens the kiss, his tongue invading my mouth. I lean into him, seeking his warmth as I respond. After running his hands down my back, he rested them on my butt, squeezing gently.

He pulls back, before pressing his forehead to mine. I smile at him as I look through my lashes, meeting his bright eyes.

"I really wish that kid would crawl out of this room right now," he murmurs to me, his voice raspy.

"I agree," I reply, my voice thick with emotion.

Bringing his hand up, he runs his thumb over my bottom lip. I nip at it with my teeth and he lets out a soft groan, squeezing his eyes shut.

"You're a tease."

After leaning in and giving me one more kiss, he steps back. His cheeks are flushed pink as he runs his hand through his hair. I bite my lip softly. 

"We better join the party," he says to me, still affected by our kiss.

"Sure," I smile, suddenly feeling quite nervous. "Uh, Hayden, I need to talk to you about something."

"All right," he replies, scooping Allan up into his arms. I almost forgot what I was going to say I stare at the picture in front of me. Hayden smiling down at Allan, tickling him, making him giggle with laughter. My insides melt. This is way too cute and it is making me slightly emotional. "Shoot."

"Well, a couple months ago-"

"Hey guys," Andy calls, sticking his head through the door. "We're going to do the cake soon."

"We're coming now," Hayden tells him.

I sigh, a little annoyed I can't just tell Hayden and get it over and done with.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Don't worry, I'll tell you later," I assure him even though I can feel myself shrinking internally.

Maybe this is a sign...

Maybe you're making excuses, my subconscious whispers.

I follow him down the stairs, debating with myself.

"Who's birthday is it?"

"Allan's," he replies.

I dramatically gasp. "Is it your birthday?"

He nods, his ringlets bouncing around his face.

"Happy Birthday!"

He claps his hands together in excitement.

As we make our way out the back, Amelia waddles over to us.

"Here's my handsome birthday boy," she grins, taking Allan into her arms.

"Amelia, have you met Grace, yet?" Hayden questions.

"We have," she smiles.

After Hayden introduced me to a few more of his cousins and his grandparents, I wwander over to Heather and say hello. We speak for a few moments, before Jackson, Amelia's husband, appears with a ginormous blue cake, in the shape of a car.

As Allan blew out the number 3 candle, everyone claps and flashes of cameras come from every direction.

Hayden draws an arm around my waist, pulling me to him. I wrap my arms around him and rest my head against his shoulder as we watch Jackson cut the cake.

"I'm really glad you're here," he murmurs to me.

"Me too," I reply.

No matter how perfect and wonderful this moment is, I can't squash the niggling feeling that it is all about to come to an end.

***

I am sliding my gym bag onto my shoulder when I hear Hayden's ute pull to a stop out the front of my house.

Getting to my feet, I hurry down the driveway, hoping they he had the heat on. I scurry into his car and sigh in relief when the warm air was blasting from the vents.

"Cold?" he asks with his adorable dimpled smile.

"Yes, hence the scarf, beanie, and track pants," I laugh, gesturing to my mismatched outfit. "I don't even think this beanie is mine, but it was in the spare room so someone must own it."

"Looks cute," he smiles, reaching over and pressing his lips to mine.

This had become our thing, just over the weekend. It was so couple-like. It felt so natural and normal to kiss him.

As he drives, he reaches over and wraps his hand around my own. I smile the entire way to school, loving the feel of his skin on mine.

We walk, hand in hand, towards the gym. I love that he feels comfortable doing this.

After a tight squeeze, he drops my hand as we walk through the entrance. When we reach the locker room, I am surprised to see Mike's arms around Mia as she cries into his chest.

One, I didn't think Mike had it in him to be the supporting type.

Two, I didn't think Mia had emotions, other than hatred, let alone show them off in front of everyone.

Hayden and I exchanged an uneasy glance. We walk over towards them and I hung back, dropping my bag onto the bench. I pull my jumper over my head, dreading taking off my warm clothes and shoes. It is freezing this morning, the temperature has dropped significantly. Luckily, the pool was heated.

"Hey," I hear Hayden say to her. "What's wrong?"

"My dad," she chokes out. The room is silent, except for her breathing and sniffles. We all awkwardly go through our usual routine as Mia spoke to Hayden. "He had a heart attack Saturday morning."

"Oh shit," Hayden replies. "Is he all right?"

"Yeah, he is now," she sniffles, wiping at the corner of her eye. "When I got home Friday night, he was up. He was saying he didn't feel very well. We sat up and watched Suits, because that's his favourite show."

"I know," Hayden says softly.

"And then, on Saturday he woke up, still not feeling well..." she hiccups, wiping at her eyes again.

Coincidentally, Saturday morning was when I was meant to have brunch with mum and her new boyfriend, but she got pulled into heart surgery. Go figure, it was Mia's father she had to operate on.

"As long as he is alright now, is the main thing," Hayden says to her and I am impressed that he was being so kind and supportive, even if it was to Mia.

As the Coach isn't here yet, not that I was looking forward to seeing him, I slip my jacket back over my shoulders. My skin is covered in goosebumps. I bounce on the balls of my feet, trying to keep warm.

I walk over to the group. "Sorry to hear about your dad, Mia."

"Fuck off you are," she growls, narrowing her red-ringed eyes into slits.

"Well, if that's what I get for being nice," I shrug, turning, completely unaffected by her words.

"Hey, no," Hayden interjects, grabbing my arm and pulling me back. "Mia, I know you've been through a lot this weekend and you're still upset, but Grace was only being nice. Aren't you two sick of being at each other's throats all the time?"

She runs her tongue over her teeth. "Thanks, I guess."

She only said that because Hayden is here.

"Especially considering my mother was probably the surgeon who operated on him," I say casually, unable to help myself.

"What?" she asks slowly, looking like has seen a ghost.

"My mum is the top cardiovascular surgeon at the private hospital. She rang me and told me she was pulled into emergency heart surgery on Saturday morning."

Mia's mouth hangs open as she gapes at me.

"See," Hayden says to Mia, nudging her arm. "You should be thankful for Grace and her family."

I am surprised when Mia offers me a small smile, instead of saying something about how I wasn't there or that I didn't have anything to do with it. Again, she probably would have if Hayden hadn't been standing right next to me.

"Alright ladies and gents," Ashton booms, materialising at the doorway. "Let's get out there and warm up those muscles before we all freeze."

I follow the others, rubbing my hands together, when I hear Ashton speak again.

"Hayden, a word?"

I feel my heart plummet into my stomach. I stop, looking in horror at Ashton, who stands there with an arrogant smirk twisted onto his lips.

"What, are you two a package deal now?" he teases, his tone slightly menacing. "Run along, Connaway. I need a word with the Captain."

I swallow uneasily. Hayden seems unfazed as he steps back, leaning against the locker door, folding his arms across his chest. His usual, tense self was back. The skin on his jaw taunt.

My legs feel like lead as I walk out the doorway, my heart feeling heavy in my chest.

I am in serious trouble.

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Do you think Ashton is about to come clean about him and Grace?

Instagram (I have been experimenting with some bookstagram shots of my current reads -- if you check them out, let me know what you think!): laurenj_22

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