Wednesday Briefs--How To Handle Hailey, Episode 2

Wednesday Briefs--1000 words of flash fiction from the following selection of prompts:

This week's prompt:....  Take your hands off him!

Alternative prompts

I cry when I hear that music because....Or 

Use a gravestone, a popsicle and a pair of feathered slippers.Or...There was just something about... that made me want to hide under a blanket. Or ...What do you want from me?
I began How to Handle Hailey on Feb. 22, and was unable to participate for the last couple of weeks. Here's Episode One, if you missed it. I've decided to stick with Hailey's story, so we'll see how it unfolds. I don't know any more about where this tale is going than you, since I'll be working off prompts selected by other members. Stick around, this might be fun.

Episode Two

“Get your hands off him!”

Hailey had seen enough. She’d watched the geeky guy spend forty-five minutes working up the nerve to approach the bitchy blonde. Four double espressos would give even a secure man the jitters. The woman’s put-down had been unnecessarily harsh. And loud. Just another empty-minded cotillion princess in college to get her Mrs. degree. She saw the furious blush creep over the poor guy’s face. She could read his dejection and humiliation in every line of his posture as he rushed back to his own table, scattering pens and a calculator as he hurriedly tried to pack up his stuff.

Watching through narrowed eyes, Hailey saw the blonde play up to her friend as well as the three bitches seated nearby, rolling her eyes as if to ask where the geek got off soiling her space. She knew for a fact those girls despised each other, but they could unite in a heartbeat if they had a chance to make what they considered the ‘little people’ feel smaller.

Encouraged by the laughter, the blonde got out of her seat and started toward the guy. Hailey tensed, her fingers tightening around her Styrofoam cup
.

If only she’d stayed in her seat. Or left the coffee shop and left Paul Lyons to those she-wolves. Hailey wiped sweat from her brow and drove her toe into the front tire of the junker she’d paid cash for in L.A. She’d needed to think. Three days and nights of hard driving proved too much for the little Mazda.

Did she really want to save Paul’s ass one more time? All she had to do was continue to stay under the radar until his trial was over and whatever happened to him, happened.

Hailey knew Paul wasn’t guilty. He was guilty of many things, but not the things he stood accused of. She’d figured that out before she got to Albuquerque. Worse, she figured out who was guilty while eating a taco in Amarillo. Both the taco and the knowledge burned in her gut while she steadily put more distance between her and the intelligent idiot she’d rescued that day in the Chapel Hill coffee shop.

The Mazda was dead, but at least she was back in North Carolina. She wasn’t afraid to stick out her thumb and hop in the front seat with the first guy who pulled over. “Could you just drop me off at the first car dealership we pass?” she asked, settling into his passenger seat.

“Sure you don’t want me to take a look at your car first?” he asked.

There it was. His eyes shone with sincerity. That was what had been missing in California. Sincerity. If she agreed, he’d roll up his sleeves and try his best to start her car, with nothing more in mind than helping her. Shaking her head, Hailey relaxed for the first time in weeks. “Time for something new. Something solid and dependable.”

The blonde sidled up to the already-embarrassed guy, and laid her hand on his shoulder. He jumped, knocking a Chemistry book to the floor, and Hailey was out of her seat without thinking. Hurling her cup, she missed the blonde. Dammit. The coffee hit the wall behind the guy’s small table, splattering his cheap book bag and Star Wars t-shirt.

“I said, get your hands off him! He’s mine.”

The blonde whirled, eyes narrowed and claws at the ready, but Hailey ignored her, glaring at the open-mouthed guy. “How dare you?” she demanded, trying to maintain her false anger when his dumbfounded expression made her want to laugh. “How damn dare you not return my calls? I’m not used to having to chase a man, but I’m here and you’re leaving with me, not her.”

The red Jeep with the cloth cover was exactly what Hailey wanted. The sticker price was less than the dress she’d worn to her divorce proceedings. She hesitated before handing over her credit card, but knew it was time to resurface. While the excited saleswoman began to complete the paperwork, Hailey picked up a newspaper and learned her brother was going to make a run at the Lieutenant Governor’s seat. The knowledge saved her from having to put the battery back into her cell phone and call her mother to find out where the family was. They’d be in the house in Raleigh. As far back as she could recall the red brick three-story had been the epicenter of her father’s political campaigns. She gave the family beach house address for place of residence on the paperwork.

She bypassed the exit for Raleigh, heading for Topsail Beach. One more night alone with her thoughts was all she needed. Then she’d hop a plane to D.C. and testify for Paul. Rescuing him was a habit she was more than ready to break. Once she got this final duty behind her, she’d walk away and never look back.

“Woman, we need to talk about your driving.”

Hailey jumped about a foot. Heart pounding, she flipped on a light in the darkened house facing the Atlantic Ocean, staring in shock at the man sprawled on the sofa. His feet were crossed and hanging off one arm while his head rested on the other. Black hair fell over his brow and his blue eyes were intent. His lips curled into the confident smile of a hunter sighting prey. The shiver racing down her spine had nothing to do with fear.

“What about my driving?” Exhaustion was towed under the rush of arousal she got from simply looking at him.

“You must have broken every speed limit between here and L.A.” He moved off the couch with a panther’s grace, crossing the space between them before she could blink.

 “I’ve been looking for you.” His arm shot past her shoulder. He crowded her, pinning her body against the door as he slammed it closed.

 Screw a night alone. She wanted him. “Ever let a woman spank you?”

“Hell no.”

Yes.

Also please check out the other Briefers this week:

Nephylim     m/m

Sara York     m/m

Lily Sawyer      m/m

MC Houle     m/m

LM Brown   m/m

AJ Jarrett     m/m

Julie Lynn Hayes  m/f

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