Chapter 12: Claiming What's His

JAYDEN

Most likely, he was imagining it. Hailey had had boyfriends before, the last one for several years, a deadbeat with no job, obviously a selfish bastard judging by Hailey’s lack of experience.

He just fucked Hailey and ghosted her. That thought made Jayden insane. Hailey had a big heart, and he hated the idea of anyone taking advantage of her.

His fingers flew over his laptop keyboard as he opened his private email. Searching, he finally found the email Gavin had sent to everyone when he got engaged. He found her name in the group and started a new email to her:

I need to know you made it home safe and that you’re okay. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll find you.

J.

He hit Send harder than necessary.

Her reply came that evening, when Jayden was home in his New York penthouse:

I’m back in Aspen, and I’m alright.

H.

Leaning back in his desk chair, he closed his eyes. Fuck !He wanted more. Sure, he wanted to know she was safe, but he also wanted her to say more, tell him more or at least let him know how she really felt.

Fuck! He sounded like a woman, wanting to pry Hailey’s feelings out of her until she talked. Usually, he avoided emotional stuff at all costs. He was an only child, no sisters to strangle him with emotional bullshit. If a woman started showing real attachment, he was done with the relationship.

Most times, he didn’t have to worry. He was careful, sticking to women who just wanted sex with no strings. That had worked well for him most of the time.

Hailey King would come with all kinds of strings attached, and she’d already tied some of the knots. Strangely, he didn’t care. Casual sex was over. She’d ruined him. And if he had to wait…he’d wait. Hell, he’d already waited eight years for her to grow up. Now, he wished he hadn’t waited so long.

She’s mine. She’s always been mine.

Eventually, he’d get Hailey King and keep her until they had both fucked each other out of their systems. That was the only way he could think of to get his sanity back.

Maybe then he could concentrate. Maybe the restlessness and loneliness would go away if he slept with Hailey as many times as they both wanted.

He deleted her email and opened his work documents, hoping he wouldn’t have to wait too long.

For the next several months, Jayden tried to give Hailey a chance to get over her loser ex boyfriend. He tried to be patient.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop himself from emailing her at least once a week. He wanted to know if she was okay, and some secret part of him did it for selfish reasons: to remind her he was waiting. His emails were always the same:

I just want to know that you’re doing okay.

J.

Her replies were always two words:

I’m fine.

H.

In January, when he emailed, she was fine.

For the rest of winter, she was fine.

In spring, she was fine.

Then, in early summer, she was getting married.

What. The. Fuck.

Jayden was in Rocky Springs, Colorado, at a charity event when he learned that Hailey planned to marry the same loser he had been waiting for her to get over. He had talked to her brother, Gavin, who gave him the news. Hailey never said a word. According to her weekly two word emails, she was just fine.

She hadn’t told him she was back with her ex or that they were getting married. Jayden, unfortunately, was not fine. He was fucking livid and done with waiting.

He was finally going to get Hailey in his bed and remove the asshole in her life when he did it. He wasn’t opposed to playing dirty if that’s what it took. Jayden didn’t know what this guy was doing to get Hailey to marry him, but the game was about to end.

Unfortunately, even though she planned to marry another man, a guy who didn’t give a rat’s ass about her. Jayden still wanted her for himself. He wasn’t going to give her up until he was damn good and ready, and the asshole in her life was completely out of the picture.

For some reason, she was running away from what had happened between them, but he would catch her, make her admit she wanted him and didn’t love the man she was marrying. If she had loved another man, she never would have been intimate with him over the holidays.

Maybe Hailey thought Jayden was only a jerk on the surface, but she was about to see just how big of an asshole he could really be. When it came to Hailey, he could be a ruthless bastard to have her, to keep her away from someone who would hurt her. She might end up hating him but that was better than being married, miserable, and tied to a bloodsucker.

He and Terrence Roberts, a half-crazy, very wealthy ex-Special Forces guy, put together a plan in Rocky Springs right after Jayden found out Hailey was getting married. It was a selfish, greedy scheme that would change both their lives forever.

Jayden didn’t think twice about doing it with Terrence’s help. Angry and in disbelief, he went full force with Terrence, his only goal to separate Hailey from any man except him. Any other outcome was unacceptable, unthinkable.

Jayden ignored the small voice telling him that ending her marriage plans wasn’t the only reason he was doing this. Instead, he set the plan in motion, shutting off his emotions completely just like he always did in business after deciding to carry out Terrence’s proposed solution. He and Hailey had unfinished business, and he was about wrap it up permanently and completely.

COLORADO _ THE PRESENT

“Is she still out cold?” Terrence Roberts asked curiously as Jayden walked back into the living room of one of the guesthouses in Terrence’s Rocky Springs resort.