The Very Naughty List

40. Hailey

40

HAILEY

When I come fully awake again, I can tell that it’s the next day by the bright, early morning sunlight coming through the window blinds in long golden streaks.

I look around me and blink in surprise as I realize that all three of the Cooper brothers are still here.

Did they stay with me all night?

There’s only one chair in the room, which Reid is sprawled out on, sound asleep and breathing deeply. Both Sebastian and Nick are on the floor, leaning up against the wall. Sebastian has his head tilted back, his dark brown hair messy and tousled, and Nick’s bearded chin is tucked against his chest as if he’s a hibernating bear.

None of them look particularly comfortable, but they all stayed. They stayed for me .

I lie still, staring at the three of them as they sleep and feeling my heart swell. I wish I could have read their expressions better when I lied to my brother about this being “nothing.” And I wish I could have somehow conveyed with a glance to them that my words couldn’t have been further from the truth. To me, this feels like everything .

After several minutes, there’s a very soft knock at the door before it opens and my sister walks in.

A smile spreads across my face at the sight of Pippa. I could use a little girl talk after all of the elevated testosterone from yesterday.

“Hey,” she whispers, keeping her voice low when she sees that the guys are all still asleep. “I came by to visit with you for a bit.”

She walks over and sits on the side of my skinny hospital bed, and I scootch over to make room for her.

“The doctor says that you’re perfectly fine and that you’ll be discharged today. That’s good news, right?”

I nod, but Pippa can clearly tell that there’s still something on my mind. She rests a hand on my leg and smiles.

“I know there’s a lot of bullshit online right now,” she adds quietly. “But try not to let stuff get to you.”

That’s definitely easier said than done.

“Is it still going on? The social media stuff?” I brace myself for an answer that I already know I don’t want to hear.

She grimaces, wrinkling her nose. “Yeah, unfortunately. It’s just so odd how it managed to go viral so quickly. Like, it’s spreading around so fast that people in other states are now leaving comments about your relationship with three guys and your sex life.”

I lift my hands to my face. This is so much worse than I ever thought it could get. I know my mom tried to warn me, but even she didn’t see something like this coming. Who could have ever guessed that my sex life would be plastered on the internet nationwide for random strangers to comment on and judge?

I groan through my fingers. “How could this have happened? And why did I ever have to get involved with a prick like Dylan Montgomery? I thought he’d already done as much damage to my self-esteem as he possibly could, but I guess he still found a new way to try to ruin my life.”

“Yeah, assholes have a way of asshole-ing.” Pippa reaches out to pull my hands away from my face, then pulls me into a hug. “But don’t worry, sis. I promise I’ve got your back, no matter what.”

I smile at her as she draws back, bolstered a little by her reassuring words. I know Lucas is probably still furious, but it feels good to have my sister on my side.

“How are Mom and Dad taking it?” I ask.

She shrugs. “You know they love you.”

I do know that they love me—they love all three of their kids beyond measure. But I also know that they already had a lot on their plate to deal with even before this whole scandal came out that I’m at the root of yet again.

“Can I ask you something?” Pippa blurts suddenly.

My brows draw together as I nod. “Sure.”

“What’s really going on with you and the Coopers? Is it just sex, or is it something more than that? I mean, I’ll support you no matter what. I just want to know what it is that you’re going through so that I know how to help. Dylan is painting you out to be, like, some kind of wild sexaholic or something, and Lucas feels like they took advantage of you when you were in a vulnerable place. But what do you think? Do you really care about all three of the Cooper brothers, or is it just a fling? A bit of holiday experimentation?”

I chuckle at her phrasing, but my stomach twists as I contemplate her question. I want to spill my guts, to tell her the whole truth. I’m sick of keeping stuff a secret from my family, but I can’t quite find the words to answer right now. I have too many unsettled emotions in my head and heart, not to mention the unreadable emotions that I picked up on the men’s faces yesterday, and Lucas’s feelings about all of this.

“Because if it’s just about sex,” Pippa continues when I don’t speak, “then I get it. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially since you’ve been single for a while now and?—”

“Yeah, it’s something along those lines,” I interrupt her just so we can stop talking about it. Even though my answer isn’t really truthful, it’s similar to what I told my brother, so at least I’m staying consistent until I can figure things out.

Pippa nods, dropping it for the moment.

“Well, however things end up playing out, we’re sisters, and that means we always need to stick together. We may be kind of opposites in some ways, but I love you to death. You know that, right?”

I reach out and hug her again, smiling against her shoulder. “Yeah,” I whisper. “I know, and I love you too. Thanks for being my wing-woman.”

Pippa grins as I let go of her. “Always. Although next time, if you’re going to get involved in something as scandalous as screwing our brother’s three best friends, please give me a heads up first.”

She laughs lightly, then pats the bed and gets up to leave.

“There won’t be a next time,” I say as she heads toward the door. “Trust me, this is enough drama to last a lifetime.”

After Pippa is gone, I look back at the men and startle with surprise when I realize that Reid’s eyes are open. He’s awake, his gaze locked on me.

My chest squeezes, a knot growing in my stomach. Did he overhear my entire conversation with my sister?

Just like I did with Lucas yesterday, I told Pippa that it was basically just sex and downplayed all of my feelings for the Cooper triplets. If Reid heard that, then it’s the second time in less than twenty-four hours that I’ve flat-out lied about how much all of this means to me—how much they mean to me.

Everything feels wrong. Everything is spiraling out of control faster than I can figure out how to rein it back in.

I want to say something to him to explain myself, but I hesitate, because I don’t even know what I can say to make this all better.

Before I can get my sluggish tongue to work, Sebastian and Nick wake up too. Nick makes a noise in his chest as he stretches his muscled limbs, and he and Sebastian both turn their focus to me as if their gazes are drawn by a magnetic force.

“Good news, Hailey.” The doctor who was overseeing my care yesterday walks into the room, breaking the tension. “I’ll be signing your discharge paperwork shortly. You’ll be released within a couple of hours.”

Sebastian and Nick stand up from the floor as the doctor asks me how I’m feeling, checks my vitals, and tells me to monitor my symptoms. He signs a few papers, tells me to have a nice day and be mindful of that black ice on the roads, and then leaves.

Within the hour, the nurses have unhooked me from all of the invasive monitors and the IV, and I’m climbing out of the hospital bed, watched closely by the Cooper brothers.

None of us have spoken much since I woke up, but all of the un spoken words between us are like a cacophony in my brain.

That feeling of wrongness pervades everything as they help me gather my things. Their movements and postures seem stiff and awkward, but they’re all still as attentive and protective as always. None of them say more than a few words to me, but I can see them watching to make sure that I’m okay.

Nick gives the room a once-over to make sure I have everything before we leave and folds up a copy of the discharge papers and doctor’s orders to stuff in his pocket.

Sebastian asks me if I want to ride a wheelchair out, and I’m tempted to laugh at what I think is a joke—but then I notice his serious, worried expression, so I just quietly shake my head.

“No, I’ll be okay. I can walk.”

All three of the brothers surround me as they escort me out of the hospital. It’s strange to feel as if there’s a rift between us, as if the conversation that usually flows so freely amongst all four of us has been stunted somehow. But it’s also reassuring to realize that even when things are so messed up between the four of us, their devoutly protective nature stays the same.

I blink in the bright light as we step out of the small regional hospital, heading toward the parking lot. But we don’t get far before a voice I don’t recognize calls out my name.

“Hailey Bennet?” A man strides up to us. “Hi, I’m Leonard Shaw, a reporter for the Frontline Journal , an online paper. I’m interested in covering your story as a special interest piece. Since your story went viral, it’s sparked a lot of conversations about non-traditional relationships and polyamory, and I’d love to get a quote or two from you.”

Leonard holds up his press badge to show me. He’s middle-aged, with a friendly smile, and although his demeanor isn’t confrontational or judgmental at all, I flush with embarrassment all over again.

As if my sex life hasn’t already been made public enough? Now an online newspaper wants to ask me questions about it? When is this going to end?

I open my mouth to tell him I’m not interested, but before I can get a word out, all three Cooper brothers step up in front of me.

“You need to back the fuck off,” Sebastian growls at the reporter as he sweeps his hair from his eyes, looming over the shorter man. “It’s fucking stupid to judge people for their consensual choices in this day and age.”

“Hailey Bennett has a lot more important things to be known for than this,” Nick chimes in. “She’s an incredible singer, and a devoted daughter who’s trying to help her family’s diner stay afloat.”

“Yeah. She’s funny and smart and ten times the woman that all those Diva princesses who’ve been talking shit on social media are,” Reid chimes in. “If you were a decent reporter, then you’d be reporting on all of that, instead of looking for fifty shades of gossip to use as clickbait.”

All three men are standing shoulder to shoulder in front of me, clearly trying to make it impossible for the reporter to snap a photo of me leaving the hospital. As I stand behind the protective wall they’ve made, I blink away the tears that well in my eyes.

Even after what I said to Pippa this morning, and what I told Lucas yesterday, they’re all still defending me. I don’t feel like I deserve it, but I tuck their sweet words away in my mind, wanting to remember them forever.

Surprisingly, Leonard doesn’t try to push harder. From a small gap between Reid and Nick’s arms, I see his eyebrows shoot up. He actually seems intrigued by the way the guys all defended me, and he holds up his hands, nodding to all of them.

“Okay. I understand. If she changes her mind, she can call the Frontline Journal offices and ask to speak to me. Take care,” he adds, lifting his voice a little to address me. “I was sorry to hear about your accident. I’m glad you’re all right.”

The moment the reporter turns to leave, the men relax slightly. Keeping a wary eye out, they escort me straight to Nick’s car.

“I’m glad to be heading home,” I murmur with a sigh of relief once I’m settled in the front passenger seat.

But none of them say anything to me, and I can feel tension building in the car as the silence grows heavier. Despite all the nice things that they just said about me to that reporter, it’s clear that the mess between us still hasn’t been resolved.

I don’t say anything else for the entire ride back, because I don’t know where to begin or how to sort through all of my emotions. But as soon as we walk into the house and Bruno lifts his head from where he’s sprawled out in the living room, the awkward and uncomfortable feeling lingering between the four of us is more than I can bear.

“Thank you for the hospitality, and for giving me a place to say. But, um… I should probably go,” I say with a lump in my throat. “I can crash on my sister’s couch, and we can be done with all of this. I really appreciate everything that you’ve done for me, and I don’t want to keep making things any more difficult than they already are.”

Reid stares at me, his expression unreadable and his jaw tight. “Is that really it? You’re just gonna let it end like this?”

I fight back the tears that have been threatening to fall all morning, reminding myself that this is how it was always going to go. This was always going to come to an end and there’s no sense in dragging it out any longer. It’s just going to make it harder on everyone.

“This was just a fling.” I steady my voice to keep it from shaking. “But we’ll always be fr?—”

He interrupts me with a growling voice.

“Go ahead. Say friends. I’d love to put you on your knees and fuck the lies right out of that gorgeous mouth.”

My heart jolts inside my chest, and my body warms all over, heat blooming between my thighs and my breath sticking in my throat.

“What?” I whisper.

He doesn’t look away, his challenging gaze locked on mine. “You heard me.”

I want to be brave enough to say the words, to ask the question that’s been at the tip of my tongue and the front of my mind for weeks now. And even though my stomach is churning with nerves, I force myself to spit it out or risk never knowing.

“Was it more than just a fling?” I breathe. My heart threatens to pound out of my chest as the words pass my lips.

It takes only a second or two for Sebastian to answer me, but it feels like I’m hanging on for an eternity.

“You fucking know it was.”

I stare at him with my mouth hanging open as his words wash over me. I think a part of me always knew—or at least hoped—that they felt like this was real too, but hearing Sebastian say it makes it feel undeniable.

“Ever since the moment you first came into the garage to talk with me after school, this has been real to me.” Sebastian pauses as if he wants to make sure that I understand the gravity of what he’s saying. “Hailey, it’s always been you.”

A hiccupping sob pours from my mouth as the emotions that have been roiling inside me since yesterday finally crystallize, expanding in my chest until it feels like there’s no room for anything else.

“For me too,” Nick murmurs gruffly as he takes a step forward and sweeps a strand of hair away from my cheek. “I started falling for you the first time I met you, and that feeling only gets stronger with each passing day. Hell, I can’t breathe sometimes when you’re around me, because I crave you so badly.”

Reid is the last to speak, and I can still see the flash of anger in his eyes from earlier, although it’s tempered by something warmer and softer now.

“Trouble,” he says, tilting my chin up. “How could you ever think that none of this was real? It’s been the realest thing in my life. A once-in-a-lifetime thing that most people only dream of finding. You mean the world to me, and the thought of having you leave and losing you is the one thing that could literally hurt me the most. We should never have let the lie go on as long as it did—not the lie that we were telling everyone else, but the lie we were telling ourselves when we claimed this was fake. Because it’s not. It never has been. Don’t you see how much we care about you?”

I stand like a statue in the foyer, my gaze bouncing between the three of them as my mind struggles to process the declarations they just made. It feels too good to be true, and some part of me is panicking, trying to brace myself for the fall back down to earth when I wake up from this dream.

All this time, it really hasn’t been in my imagination. It hasn’t just been me being a fool and falling for three men I could never have.

The Cooper brothers have fallen for me too.