Between the Cracks (2 page)

I waited for Hayden to get out of the car before I did. He looked determined as he walked up the stairs to the massive entrance. There were two sets of doors; the first were elaborately designed wrought iron, the second were heavy, carved wood. He hit the doorbell and waited. The
sound of static brought our attention to the intercom system wired into the side of the house. It was one of those high tech jobs with a screen and everything.

No image appeared to accompany the tinny, female voice, “May I help you?”

“I’m here for Tenley,” Hayden barked.

There was a long silence before
she spoke again. “I’m sorry, Miss Page is not receiving guests.”

Hayden’s jaw clenched. “According to
who?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Mr. Hoffman, sir. It would be best if you called prior to your arrival.”

He turned to me, “I’m going to beat that fucker’s head in.”

“Pardon me, sir?”

I cut Hayden off before he said something to get himself in trouble. “We’re close friends of Tenley’s. We’ve been trying to get in touch with her, but her cell reception must be bad. Think you can cut us some slack?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but Mr. Hoffman has given very specific orders. I’m not to disturb Miss Page under any circumstances. As I said before, it would be best to call in advance.”

“Screw that,” Hayden said. “You tell that fuckhead Trey, he’d better get out here, or I’m going to shove my foot so far up his ass it’ll come out his mouth.”

There were very few people who could rile Hayden up to the point where he lost control. Sienna had been one of those people
for him. She'd never had much of an impact on me, but then I didn't give a shit about her. She made Hayden volatile, though. Putting him in the same room with her was like pulling the pin on a grenade. Eventually, it was going to go off; and when that happened, watch out, because the destruction would be epic. It had been a relief to all of us when he finally ended things with her.

Unfortunately, it looked like this Trey guy, or anyone affiliated with him, had the same effect.

Muffled voices filtered through the intercom, until a man spoke: “Unless you’d like to be arrested for trespassing and uttering threats of bodily harm, I suggest you get back in your car and go home.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I see Tenley.”

The intercom system made a faint clicking sound as it turned off. I waited for Hayden to start beating the door down. Several seconds passed before the small screen to the right of the intercom flickered to life.

Of course the guy was too chicken shit to come to the do
or, which might have been good. Otherwise, Hayden would have taken him to the ground. I doubted even the best plastic surgeon would have been able to restore his face after Hayden got through with him.

The man on the screen had a narrow
, expressionless face. Shadows lined the hollow under his eyes and his nose seemed swollen, like maybe he'd been punched in the face. He looked me over, a slow smile forming as his attention moved to Hayden. In some weird way, he reminded me of Damen from Art Addicts, the tattoo studio where Hayden and I had both started our careers before opening Inked Armor. He had that same snake-ish vibe, like he was gauging the threat and deciding how to take it down.

“I see you brought along one of your bodyguards. I feel it’s only fair to inform you this entire property is under video surveillance, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Hayden looked up to where one of many video cameras was wired into the trusses.

“I suppose it won’t be in your favor to. . . what was it you said? Ah, yes, shove your foot so far up my ass it will come out my throat? Do I have that right?” He adjusted the collar of his shirt, his smile was smug. “Very eloquently stated. You’re quite the purveyor of violence aren’t you? Tenley’s taste has clearly suffered since her move. Or maybe it’s her guilt that’s the problem. Either way, it’s a good thing she came back with me when she did.”

Hayden’s fists clenched at his sides. He was working hard to keep a lid on his anger, but it didn’t look like he was going to win the battle. “Like you gave her a choice?” he spat. “I want to see her, I want to talk to her,
now
.”

“I imagine you do. However, that’s not going to happen. Tenley had a very long night. You know how dramatic she can be, always making everything about her. Regardless, she finally calmed down enough to fall asleep an hour ago.”

“So wake her the fuck up,” Hayden snapped.

“Considering the amount of medication it took to
subdue her, I have my doubts anything short of an apocalypse could wake her.”

“You
sonofabitch. What the hell did you do?”

“Nothing she hasn’t done to herself on countless occasions in the past.”

Hayden grabbed the door handle and reefed on it, but it didn’t open.

“Have you already forgotten the cameras above you, recording your attempt at breaking and entering,” he said
coolly.

“You’re lucky this is as close as I can get to you,” Hayden snarled.

“It’s closer than you’ll get to Tenley while she’s here with me.”

Hayden was too worked up not to react. He slammed his palms against th
e iron frame, making it rattle.

I grabbed his shoulder and said quietly, “You
gotta get a handle on yourself.”

He shrugged me off. “I’m not going anywhere. Not without Tenley.”

“Like hell you’re not. You’re going to leave my property, or I will call the police. With your appearance and the video feed I have, I don’t think it’ll take much to convince them you’re not welcome here.”

“Let’s bail, H, we can come back later.”

“If either of you so much as drives by my house again, I’ll have a trespass order issued. I’m sure you don’t need to add any more criminal offenses to your record.”

Hayden snorted. “If anyone’s a criminal here, it’s you. Maybe I should call the police and tell them you’ve kidnapped my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend? Is that what you think she is to you? You’re more delusional than I thought,” Trey said with derision. “You go right ahead and notify the police of her whereabouts, but I’m well connected. I’m not sure you’d get very far with such an inane lie.”

“You manipulated her into leaving.”

“I’m sure you’d rather believe that than the truth. Tenley made the choice to come with me. I didn’t have to work hard to convince her it was for the best.”

“I’m sure you didn’t have any problem
guilting her into it,” Hayden said.

“All I did was
remind her of how unstable she’s been over the past year and how difficult it was for me to take care of her when she was released from the hospital. Of course, you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? Tenley’s not always forthcoming. I’m sure she wasn’t interested in sharing those details with you.”

“I don’t buy it. I think you’re full of shit.”

“Think whatever you want. Tenley was the one who told you to leave. You are the one who followed her here. And for what? To rescue her? Did you honestly believe she would turn around and go back with you?” Trey laughed. “Of course you did. When you called her repeatedly on your way here, she chose not to answer.

“As much as she rails on about hating me at the moment, she still came with me rather than stay with you. If you’ll excuse me, it’s been a long night and I have better things to do than argue with you regarding your misperceptions.”

The screen went blank. Hayden stared at it, silent and unmoving for the longest time.

A static buzz came from the intercom and the housekeeper’s meek voice filtered through. “Mr. Hoffman has called the police. He suggest
ed leaving if you wish to avoid charges.”

“We should just go, H.”

As much as I wanted him to get what he came for—Tenley—that wouldn’t happen if we ended up in a jail cell.

Hayden
exhaled hard. “Yeah. You’re right. Let’s get out of here.”

He turned and walked down the steps to the car. I followed, glancing over my shoulder to check the windows. I was sure we were being watched by that jackoff. Hayden dropped into the passenger’s seat and dragged the belt across his chest.

When we were a few miles away, I found a gas station and pulled in. “We can go back later. Maybe that Trey dick will leave and we can convince that housekeeper to let us see Tenley.”

“What’s the point? Trey’s not going to open the door and he’s not going to let Tenley answer it. If we show up there again, he’ll do the same thing and call the police.”

“But Tee’ll have to leave the house at some point, right? It’s not like he can hold her hostage.” I said, hoping I was right.

“
Even if everything he said was bullshit, Tenley didn’t tell me she was leaving. She just went with him. I don’t even
know
her. Not like I thought I did.”

“Sarah said she wasn’t making sense. She was probably just confused. That brother-in-law of hers is a
fuckwad.”

“He’s not her brother-in-law,” Hayden said.

“Sorry, you know what I mean. I can only imagine the crap he spewed to make her think she had to come here.”

Hayden shrugged. “She would have stayed in Chicago if she wanted to.”

“You can’t know that unless you talk to her.”

“That’s not going to happen anytime soon.” He sighed. “I need a drink.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him. He’d been up for more than thirty-six hours and a lot of bad shit had happened in a short time. Getting him drunk might be the best plan. His not knowing what was true and what was a lie was going to mess with his head. Without answers from Tenley, Hayden was going on the assumption that all the things that douche said were true.

After finding out who she’d lost, especially the way he did, he’d have a hard time trusting Tenley again—even when she did come back. If I got him wasted, I could buy some time until I figured out a plan. We’d have to grab a hotel room and stay the night in Arden Hills; then we could try again tomorrow. It was better than taking him home with nothing but Trey’s asshole comments floating around in his skull.

“I’ll find us a bar.” I put the car in reverse and drove out of the lot.

It turned out there weren’t that many bars in Arden Hills, and we ended up at a tavern. They served beer and they had flat screens, so I was game. Hayden was disappointed in the selection of scotch, an
d the draft wasn’t much better.

H
e opted for the bottled variety, doubling up on the first round. Hayden rarely did draft because he didn’t want to risk drinking out of glasses he suspected weren’t clean. His options were limited, though, and I wasn’t going to cruise around looking for another bar.

If I did, he might decide he wanted to get out of Arden Hills. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Tenley in that house with that fucker Trey. Even if Hayden believed Tee had gone with him by choice, I didn’t think the decision was that simple. Hayden was too wrapped up in his own fears to see Trey was manipulating him, too.

When our waitress, a tiny redhead named Linda, came back to check on us, I ordered him another double round and some food, even though he insisted he wasn’t hungry. Linda looked a little nervous to be serving our table. Hayden was like Eeyore with a black cloud of doom hanging over his head, and neither of us fit the profile of most of the guys in the place. The crowd was a cross between hicks in their mid-to-late twenties and guys over sixty.

Several hours later, Hayden had polished off a dozen beers. The more he drank the less he said. He kept rubbing his eyes until they were completely bloodshot. He had to be wiped. I was. The sun had already gone down, and we couldn’t get his car until the morning.

“Why don’t we settle up here and find a place to crash for the night. We can get Tee in the morning.”

“There’s no point,” Hayden slurred
. “Let’s just get my car and go back to Chicago.”

“No can do, bro. You’re hammered. You need sleep and a few gallons of water. A shower wouldn’t hurt, either. Besides, we can’t get your car until morning, might as well stay put.”

He didn’t have the energy left to fight with me, which told me how messed up he was. I paid the tab and got Hayden out of there without too much stumbling. Even in his drunken stupor, he still managed to make it difficult to decide on a decent hotel. He balked at the Quality Inn, but I wasn’t paying for the Hilton when there was a good chance he would puke.

Securing the room was just as much of a challenge as finding a hotel. As far as piercings went, I only had the eyebrow ring, and all my ink was covered by my jacket. Hayden wasn’t so inconspicuous. Besides that, he looked like h
ell and he was half in the bag.

When the concierge told me there were no rooms available, Hayden pulled out his platinum credit card and his ID. He shot the guy behind the desk a murderous glare.
“One room. Non-smoking.”

“Two beds,” I added.

After that, there didn’t seem to be a problem.

Before I was allowed to go into the room, Hayden checked out the bathroom and the closet. It was normal for him to do that kind of thing. Because of his parents
’ murders, he was diligent about making sure things were safe.