Chapter One
“I can’t believe I’ve let you talk me into this,” Haley James mumbled as she sat in the back of the taxi with her older sister.
“Are you still complaining?” Taylor griped. “Talk about ungrateful.”
“Ungrateful?”
“Yeah, ungrateful. I’ve been looking forward to this party for ages and I figured I’d be doing you a favour by letting you tag along with me but no. You’d rather stay at home and mope some more. You were the one to end things with him, Haley-Bop, so I don’t get why you’re so damn miserable.”
“Don’t, Tay…” the brunette warned.
“Don’t what? Tell you that we’re all worried about you ‘cause we are. All you do is go to school and then work your shift at the café before coming home and spending your nights holed up in your room. Well tonight you’re going to have some fun, even if it kills you.”
“That’s a comforting thought,” Haley replied, shaking her head.
Taylor laughed. “C’mon, you’re looking smokin’ hot and tonight’s the perfect night to let your hair down and have some fun. I mean, Halloween’s all about being someone you’re not for the night.”
“Oh, that’s what Halloween’s about, huh? And there was I thinking it actually had a history to it an—”
“No, no tutoring tonight, okay?”
“Fine,” Haley agreed. Looking out of the window, she frowned at their unfamiliar surroundings. “Where exactly is this party?”
“It’s at Duke.”
“What? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” She clenched her fists at hearing Taylor’s answer.
“Because you wouldn’t have come otherwise.”
“You’re damn right about that. I can’t believe you’d do this to me.”
“Haley…”
“I want to go home!” she exclaimed.
“You’re not going anywhere except into that party with me and you’re going to have a good time.” Placing her hand on top of her younger sister’s, she gave her fingers a light squeeze. “It’s a big campus and the chances of him being at this party are pretty slim.”
Haley scoffed at that. “Can you hear yourself? You know as well as I do that he’ll be front and centre at this party.”
“And so what if he is?”
She opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally saying, “I-I’m not ready to see him again and especially not on his turf. I… just can’t, Tay.” Her eyes filled with tears and she squeezed them shut and willed them not to fall. “Please let me go home.”
Taylor shook her head. “No, sorry. I’m not letting you go back to an empty house to binge on more ice cream and watch sappy movies.”
“I hate you, you know that.”
The blonde smirked. “I love you, too, little sis.”
A few minutes later, the taxi pulled up at the place Taylor had directed the driver to and after paying him, she and Haley got out and made their way to the frat house where the “Heaven and Hell” themed party was being held.
“Smile, Haley-Bop… It’s a party we’re going to, not a funeral.”
“Ha ha,” she retorted, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. “It kinda feels the other way around.” Her body shivered beneath the black, knee-length raincoat she was wearing over her costume, knowing it had little to do with the chilly October weather and more to do with the possibility of seeing her ex-boyfriend for the first time since she’d ended things with him.
While she had been the one to break up with him, deep down it had been the last thing she’d wanted to do. She had been, and still was, head over heels in love with him but with the knowledge that he’d soon be leaving for college, her insecurities had gone into overdrive and the comments from a couple of her friends didn’t help matters either. They’d often remind her of his colourful past before he’d started dating her and mused on the prospects of him returning to his old habits once she was out of sight and, more than likely, out of mind.
Before she’d known what she was doing, she’d gone to his house a week before he was due to leave and broken up with him; listing all the reasons why long distance relationships rarely, if ever, worked.
He’d laughed at first, reminding her that Duke wasn’t that far from Tree Hill and that he’d be coming home most weekends and holidays; that in a year she would also be attending there and that they’d see each other all the time.
Haley had been adamant though and told him that it was best to end things now so that he wouldn’t feel guilty if he did meet someone. She bit her lip as she remembered how angry he’d gotten at her insinuation that he would be hooking up with the first girl he’d set eyes on when he arrived on campus…
The loud, pounding bass from the frat house brought her out of her thoughts as Taylor led her inside the large building. Her eyes surveyed the crowded room and she saw a myriad of people dressed as angels, devils, zombies… even a couple of weird looking cherubs. Some of the costumes left little to the imagination and, as she continued looking around, her eyes inadvertently searching for a certain someone, she blushed at how close some of the girls were dancing – or should that be mating – with their partners.
Dry ice swirled around her feet while fluffy white clouds were somehow suspended from the ceiling and heading further inside the place, she noticed a set of stairs leading to what she assumed was the basement and there was a sign hanging on the adjacent wall announcing that it led to “Hell”. She could easily imagine what sort of debauchery was going on down there.
“Give me your coat, Hales,” Taylor shouted over the music as she removed her own jacket, revealing the tight, red PVC costume she’d picked out for herself when she’d first decided she was going to crash the party. Even though she didn’t attend Duke, she knew a couple of people who did and they’d managed to hook her up.
“Do I have to?” Seeing the pointed look on her sister’s face, Haley knew there was no point arguing and with a quiet sigh, she untied her belt and popped the buttons on her raincoat before slipping it off. Taylor had obviously been planning to drag her along to the fancy dress party from the outset because she’d just so happened to have a spare costume hanging in her closet which was exactly in Haley’s size.
While the blonde had decided to be a sexy devil for the night, she’d chosen an angel costume for Haley and the brunette had to admit it was actually pretty nice and something she would’ve probably chosen for herself, although the length was a little on the short side for her liking. The white, lace-trimmed dress hit her at mid-thigh and was an off-the-shoulder style with long, bell sleeves. Her costume was completed with a feather halo and matching wings.
Taking the coat from Haley’s hands, she smiled as she rearranged the wings which had flattened slightly during the car ride. “While I take our jackets upstairs, why don’t you go and get us a couple of drinks from the kitchen which is through there?” she said, gesturing to a door on the other side of the room.
“How do you know where the kitchen is?”
Smirking, she laughed. “It’s not my first time here.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Haley mumbled. “Can’t I come upstairs with you?” She knew she sounded like a whiny little kid but she couldn’t help it. Her stomach was tied in knots and the last thing she wanted to be was alone at a party where she didn’t know anybody.
“No,” she told her, giving the other girl a little push towards the kitchen. “See you in a bit.
“Fine.” Tugging on the hem of her dress, Haley made her way through the packed room and entered the kitchen which, thankfully, was considerably less crammed. Seeing a large bucket filled with ice and cans of soda, she grabbed one and popped the tab, holding it up to her lips and taking a long sip.
A moment later, she reached out to grab a can for her sister and as she did so, her fingers came into contact with someone else’s who reached for it at the exact same time. “I’m sor…” The words died on her lips as she felt a familiar jolt of electricity travel up her arm and turning her head, she had visual confirmation of whose hand she had touched.
“Haley?”
Her eyes widened at seeing her ex-boyfriend standing in front of her, their fingers still touching. “Nathan…”
“Wha… What are you doing here?”
Haley couldn’t speak. Her eyes were roaming all over him, wanting to make up for the couple of months that they hadn’t seen each other. God, he looked good. He was wearing a suit as dark as midnight which she noticed was lined with red silk and on his head he wore a pair of red devil’s horns. She unconsciously licked her lips at the sinful sight he made, wondering if he could hear the wild beating of her heart as it thumped against her ribcage.
“Hales?”
Hearing him call her by her nickname had her smiling but seeing the confused expression on his face had it fading slightly. “Sorry… I, uh… Taylor dragged me with her. She didn’t tell me the party was here though.”
“Right,” he murmured, his hand releasing hers at her admission.
She immediately missed the loss of contact. “I guess I should go and find her.”
“Sure.”
Despite the awkwardness of the situation, it was on the tip of her tongue to tell him how much she missed him and that breaking up with him had been the biggest mistake of her life. She felt her mouth open but before she could utter a word, Nathan walked past her and left the kitchen.
Haley didn’t know what to make of that. Did it mean he no longer cared and was over her or was there a chance he still loved her and was hurting too much to be around her? He’d hardly looked at her so maybe he was over her and had already met someone like her friends had predicted. Her mind was in a total whirl and taking a drink of the soda she still held, she set the can down on the countertop before hurrying after him.
If anything, the main room was even more crowded than when she’d first arrived and she knew she’d have a bit of a task tracking him down. Suddenly feeling a pair of hands on her hips, she spun around to see who it was; knowing it wasn’t Nathan since she’d recognise his touch anywhere.
“Hey, baby… Let’s dance.”
“Uh… no thanks. I’m, uh, looking for someone,” she said loudly, making sure she could be heard over the deafening music that was playing.
“Yeah, you were looking for me. I’m Damien, by the way.”
Haley removed his hands from her body but he grabbed her again, running his forefinger along her bare shoulder. “C’mon, baby… you know you want me.”
“That’d be a big no,” she told him, taking a step back. Unfortunately, the person dancing behind her pushed her forward and she found herself pressed up against Damien.
“Your body language says otherwise,” he told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Let go of me!”
“Dance with me and I’ll think about it.”
From the other side of the room, Nathan Scott watched as his ex-girlfriend was cornered by his sworn enemy. He and Damien West went back a long way, having been rivals when they attended the High Flyers basketball camp as young teens and again when their respective high school teams played against each other.
His fingers itched with the desperate need to pull her away from that little fucker but he didn’t know how that would go over with Haley. He hadn’t seen her since the summer when she had turned up at his house a week before he was due to leave for college and basically ripped his heart from out of his chest. Her breaking up with him had been so unexpected and he could honestly say he hadn’t seen it coming at all.
He’d gone over to her house several times before he’d left but each time her parents or Taylor would tell him she wasn’t home and when he’d tried climbing up the tree in the front garden to get to her bedroom window, he’d found it locked and the curtains drawn obscuring his view inside. And every time he’d called her cell phone, it had gone straight through to voicemail.
He’d tried writing to her, both by e-mail and snail mail, once he was at Duke but he’d never heard back from her which still stung. Even before they’d gotten together, they’d been good friends and as much as he missed her being his girlfriend, he also missed her friendship.
Watching her now… She looked even more beautiful than ever and her brilliant white angel costume was a stark contrast with her recently dyed dark hair which was cascading down over her shoulders in loose curls. The strappy, high heeled sandals she wore made her slender legs look even longer and he had a sudden vision of the last time they’d been tightly wrapped around his waist. His mouth felt sandpaper dry and if it didn’t mean taking his eyes off of her, he’d go back to the kitchen and grab the soda he’d all but forgotten about the second he’d clapped eyes on her again.
“Are you just going to stand here all night or are you actually going to go over and rescue your girlfriend?”
Nathan sighed. Taylor James was still as big a pain in the ass as she ever was. “Hello to you, too, Taylor?”
“You haven’t answered my question?” she said, raising her voice to be heard over the lame dance song that the DJ was currently playing.
“She isn’t my girlfriend and hasn’t been for a while now. You should know that since you helped keep me away from her whenever I came by the house.”
“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that but she’s my little sister and she was hurting… She still is.”
“Hurting? What about me? She dumped me and then ignored me,” he shouted, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. What with the blaring noise filling the place and the bright strobe lighting, not to mention seeing Haley again after so long… he could feel a headache coming on. He was tempted to leave the party right now but he knew as long as she was there, he’d be sticking around and making sure she was safe.
“She still loves you, Nate. Look, I’m not saying what she did was right but she was scared. A few of those so-called friends of hers kept harping on about how you’d be hooking up with anything with a pulse and it scared her. You know how insecure she can be at times and I think they almost got a kick out of seeing her so upset.”
Nathan shook his head. “She obviously didn’t trust me and that’s what it all boils down to. She believed what those bitches were saying instead of having some faith in me.”
“So, have you been with anyone?”
“Are you kidding me? Did she put you up to this little Q and A session?”
“What? No, of course not. She didn’t even know I was bringing her to Duke for this party until we arrived and even then I told her you probably wouldn’t be here.”
“I’ll bet she didn’t believe that for a second,” he said, a smirk tugging at his lips.
“No, she didn’t.”
“To answer your question since I know you’ll just keep on bugging me, I haven’t been with anyone.”
“Really? Hmm…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nathan said, his voice rising as he gave Taylor a hard look.
“I figured you’d think you may as well go ahead and do the crime you were being accused of,” Taylor told him.
“It crossed my mind,” he admitted, “but I knew I wouldn’t have a hope in hell in getting her back if I did it.”
The blonde nodded. “She wouldn’t have had to know.”
“I’d have known,” he simply said.
“Yeah… So you were always intending on getting her back?”
“Always.”
Taylor smiled at his confirmation. “Well, why don’t you get your ass over there and save her from that little munchkin? I’m surprised you haven’t gone over there already seeing as how hands-y he’s being.”
“Is she… Has she, uh…”
“No, she isn’t seeing anyone and hasn’t got a new boyfriend,” she finished for him. If he and her sister weren’t being so pathetic, she’d laugh. “Now, get over there and take her somewhere private so you can finally work things out and both of you can fucking stop moping around.”
Nathan laughed at her words. “What about your parents?”
“They’re visiting Quinn and won’t be back for another couple of days and I’ve got a friend I’m crashing with tonight so you don’t have to worry about anything but each other.”
“You set this up, didn’t you?”
“And the penny finally drops.”
As Haley batted her pest’s hands away for what felt like the hundredth time, her eyes continued to scan the room for him and a surge of jealousy bubbled up in her chest when she suddenly saw him standing in a corner, laughing and leaning into some blonde girl. When the girl tossed her hair back, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was only her sister, although the fact that Nathan was laughing and joking around with Taylor and not her kind of stung.
“So, how ‘bout it, sweetheart? You wanna come back to my dor—”
“No! If I don’t even want to dance with you, what makes you think I’m going to go with you to your dorm room?”
“You’re just playing hard to get,” Damien said, smirking. “I like that… a lot!” The smirk faded when he glanced up and saw his nemesis standing behind his hot little angel. “What do you want, Scott?”
“I want you to leave my girlfriend alone.”
Damien laughed. “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah… girlfriend.” Turning his attention to the girl in question, he asked, “You ready to get out of here, Hales?”
Haley looked at him, a mixture of shock and confusion written across her face. Girlfriend? A wave of disappointment washed over her at the realisation that he’d probably seen her battling with this guy and was just wanting to help her get out of the tricky situation. “Sure,” she said, forcing herself to smile.
Taking her hand in his, he laced their fingers together, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he started leading her off of the dance floor. “See you at practice, West,” he said, throwing him a smirk.
Damien stood there watching after them, his mouth wide open and his fists clenched at his sides. It was like basketball camp all over again.
Several minutes later they were outside in the cool night air and Nathan handed her coat which Taylor had retrieved for him. “Are you okay?”
“Uh… yeah. Thanks. I take it you know that guy,” she said as she pulled her coat on and tied the belt around her waist.
“That’s Damien West… You met him once when we—”
“When the Ravens played Oak Lake,” she cut in, suddenly remembering why the guy had looked a little familiar. “That’s the cocky ass who tried to hit on me while I was waiting for you.”
“Yeah, that’s the one. You look pretty different from the last time you two saw each other,’ he said, tugging on a dark curl that had at one time been honey-blonde, ‘which is probably why he didn’t recognise you.”
Haley nodded. “Wait, Taylor’s still in there and—”
“She knows you’re out here with me,” he interrupted. “Who do you think gave me your coat?”
The pieces all fell into place and she groaned. “This has all been a set up, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah, apparently Taylor and your mom decided to interfere,” he informed her.
“God… Nathan, I’m so sorry. They had no right to do that.”
Shoving a hand into his pants pocket, he focused on the ground as he whispered, “I’m glad they did.”
“Really?” Taking a step towards him, she looked up at him from under her lashes.
Seeing the hopeful look on her face spurred Nathan into action and cupping her cheek in his palm, he lowered his head and covered her lips with his own, kissing her ever so softly.
Haley moaned at the familiar feel of his mouth upon hers and pushing herself up onto her tiptoes, she twined her arms around his neck as she kissed him back. As soon as he parted his lips, she slipped tongue inside to playfully tangle with his. Her fingers scratched along the back of his neck and she moaned into his mouth when he pulled her flush against him and she could feel how hard he was already.
“I… I still love you, Haley… That hasn’t changed,” he told her several minutes later when the kiss had ended. His voice was thick and husky, his breathing ragged.
“I love you, too.” Her thoughts from earlier resurfaced and before she could second-guess herself, she said, “Breaking up with you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, Nathan. I… I was wrong to do it and I’m so sorry. I know it doesn’t make it right but—”
He cut her off by pressing his mouth against hers, kissing her as deeply as he could. His hands gripped her hips under her coat, pulling her even closer to him.
“Can we go back to your room?” Haley asked in a breathy whisper when the need for air had become too strong to ignore.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded eagerly. “I’ve missed you so much and… I know we need to talk but… Right now I just really want to be with you.”
He nuzzled his nose against hers. “I want that, too.”
Intertwining their fingers, he smiled down at her as he led her in the direction of his dormitory which wasn’t all that far away.
“I, uh, didn’t see you when I arrived,” Haley said as they walked across the campus.
“Yeah, I was downstairs in Hell.”
Swallowing, she bit her lip wondering again just what had been going on down in that basement and then decided that it was probably better that she didn’t know.
Her silence told Nathan just where her thoughts had gone and he couldn’t help smiling at the fact she was obviously jealous. “Don’t you want to know what I was doing?”
“Uh… sure,” she finally mumbled. “If you want to tell me but you don’t have to.”
“I was playing video games… NBA Live in fact. The basement is kind of like a den and as well as games consoles, there’s a pool table so I was hanging out down there with a few of the guys… and avoiding the mating rituals going on upstairs.”
“Oh… H-How come?”
Coming to a stop, he looked down at her and gave her a crooked smile. “Because I don’t want anyone but you, Haley James.”
Haley’s heart swelled in her chest and she smiled shyly up at him. Threading her fingers through his hair, she pulled his head down towards hers and kissed him frantically, desperate to make up for all the time they’d been apart. “I don’t want anyone but you either.”
Dropping another kiss onto her lips, he took her hand in and quickened his pace towards his dorm room, eager to get her alone and back in his bed… where she belonged.