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It was two days later and I hadn’t spoken to Hayden at all, not even a brief text message. It didn’t feel like a cold silence. It wasn’t a standoff and to some degree I welcomed the distance. After what had happened the other night, I felt like I needed a little bit of time to get my head on straight. As soon as I actually did manage to start thinking clearly, the panic started to set in.
He was a busy man and I was a woman with too much time to pace around and fume over my situation. Having come to the conclusion that the only way things had a shot of getting better was if Hayden changed Via’s appearance, I was gearing up to call him and actually ask for a meeting. I knew that was incredibly difficult and highly unlikely, but it was something I had to try. As Friday’s work hours drew to a close, I finally summoned the courage to call him. He answered after only two rings. I was thankful to have his personal cell phone number.
“Hayden, I know you’re busy.”
“I have time to pick up your calls,” he replied.
There was awkward silence during which I felt my stomach do a somersault, but I pushed past it. “Would you have time for a quick meeting?”
“Uh-oh, sounds like you mean business.”
He was speaking to me much more casually now. I would have to find out if that was going to help or hurt me once we met. “I do,” I told him honestly.
“Right,” he said. There was a pause before he asked, “Could you come in to the office tomorrow? I’ll even arrange for a driver–”
“I can,” I cut him off, “But no need for the driver. Thanks.” I was straight and to the point, but tried not to be cold. I didn’t want the conversation to drag on any longer than it needed to. Hayden must have sensed it because he ended the call as soon as we agreed on a time. I sat on my bed and stared at the wall. I was going back to his office in less than twenty-four hours and I had no clue how I was going to deal with people gawking at me. I had made it a point not to go out because the trailer for Mind Lash was still making its rounds on TV and online.
I bit my lower lip in frustration and stared at my phone, still clutched in the palm of my hand. Perhaps I could call my brother and ask for a ride, but that would involve filling him in on everything I had been up to. That was something I didn’t want to do. My fingers quickly tapped on the smooth surface of my cell phone before I decided to get my outfit ready for the next day. I was going to cover my face up, just like I had before.
After all, my little disguise had been a success up until I decided to show my identity to the security guard. After putting together an outfit, I soaked in a bath for a while before climbing into bed and reading. It wasn’t long before I dozed off, making a point of ignoring any thoughts that crossed my mind.
The next day when I walked up to the building in my disguise, a small crowd of five people eyed me suspiciously. Maybe they had seen me the first time I had come and were wondering if I was the same woman. I walked straight up to the guard and let him know I had an appointment with Hayden Dunn, skillfully handing him my ID so I wouldn’t have to say my name out loud.
As soon as he read my name, he nodded and let me inside. The lobby was cool compared to outside and definitely a lot quieter. I didn’t dare take off my headscarf and sunglasses until the elevator doors shut. By the time I stepped off on the fourteenth floor, I had fixed my appearance and curled my lips into a soft smile.
“I’m here to see Mr. Dunn,” I told the young woman at the front desk.
It took less than three minutes for me to be sitting in a chair across Hayden’s desk.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” He seemed genuinely happy to see me and I wondered if he thought I had come to make peace. His eyes looked extra bright today and his sleeves were rolled up just enough for me to get a glimpse of his toned forearms as he leaned back in his chair. Flashes of the other night played out inside my head. I closed my eyes for a moment as I tried to regain control of myself.
“Hayden,” I told him quietly, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” I paused and looked around. There wasn’t much up on his walls, not even mock-ups or posters of Via or Mind Lash. His television was on, as always, but nothing related to his game was being talked about on whatever channel he had it set to. “I know promotions have started and things have been released, but don’t dates get pushed back all the time for all sorts of reasons?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hayden, I need you to change Via’s appearance.”
“What?” He stared at me blankly, but that soon morphed into a chuckle. Apparently, he thought I was joking. When he saw my serious expression remain the same, he stopped. “There’s no way Ali.” Hearing him say my name so casually made me angry.
“Just like that?”
“Do you have any idea what you’re asking of me? Have you a clue what all it entails?”
“Do you have any idea what this has all done to me and how much worse it’s going to get?” I felt like I was one breath away from flying off the handle again. I clutched my purse tightly and stood up. I watched as his baby blue eyes pierced through me. Before those same eyes made me weak at the knees, now they only pissed me off even more. Now I couldn’t even look at his face without feeling a million emotions zipping around inside of me.
“This was a mistake,” I said as I quickly stood up and left, not daring to look back. I didn’t even give Hayden a chance to say anything else. The elevator ride down felt like an eternity. My foot tapped impatiently and my eyes stared at the numbers up top. I was so angry and disappointed I didn’t even bother to cover it up. I stormed out of the building past a small crowd of howling onlookers. A couple of them even followed me for a block, but finally gave up when I didn’t even turn around to shoo them away.
The moment I got home, I called Benjamin. I was still upset. It was obvious in my quivering voice. “I just had a meeting with Hayden,” I informed him.
“Hayden Dunn?” Benjamin was in disbelief.
“Yes,” I told him. “I tried to convince him to change Via Mace’s appearance but he didn’t budge.” My displeasure dripped through the last few words of my sentence.
“Why would he?” He asked. It stung. “She’s wildly popular and the amount of work it would take is ridiculous. What made you even think of asking him for that?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “It wasn’t the first time I’ve talked to him and I guess, in my mind, that gave me a shot.”
“Wait,” Benjamin said with pause. “It wasn’t the first time you’ve talked to him?”
I shut my eyes and held back a sigh. I didn’t mean to say that. More specifically, I didn’t mean to invite questions from my brother about my relationship with Hayden. It was too late to turn back now so full disclosure was on the horizon, or at least some semblance of full disclosure.
“I’ve had a meeting with him before. Then we met in the evening and I got to know him a bit,” I confessed. “He’s actually not bad, you know.” Without realizing what I was doing, I was practically confessing that I had feelings for him. It wasn’t explicit in my words but my tone of voice was a dead giveaway.
“You mean to tell me you not only went out with this guy, but you ended up developing feelings for him? Ali, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“What? You got it all wrong!” I felt myself growing frantic. “I didn’t go out with him. It wasn’t like a date or anything.”
“Sure,” Benjamin quipped. He wasn’t going to hold back from expressing disdain for me admitting feelings for Hayden. Even if I couldn’t accept it, he could tell it was the truth. “You say you want things to change, but then you pull this kind of stuff, Ali. You need to stay focused! You need to form a plan and stick to it. You can’t just run around going on pseudo-dates, allowing yourself to get charmed by the man. And all for what? It’s not like all that helped you convince him to change Via Mace.”
I was silent. I had no clue how to respond to him because, on some level, I knew he had a point. I allowed myself to get carried away and the main objective had somehow gotten mucked up. Agreeing to give Hayden the shot he asked for had been a grave mistake and I knew it.
The problem was there was no turning back now. That still didn’t take away the fact that I didn’t appreciate the way Benjamin was speaking to me. But when he interrupted the silence to tell me to set up a meeting between Hayden and his lawyers, I bit my tongue. He was going to help me and I wasn’t one to step on the toes of my older, helpful brother. He had been my caretaker for many years, after all, and much of what I had was thanks in large part to him.
